Cartridge ISOLATION; What Say You?

string quartet in the mastering room….what an idea….

w both high speed tape and a really good ADC ( Wadia 17 ), imagine that….

Or direct to disc.

The simple answer is the device may compensate for some design flaws in lesser arms/tables and may change things in a way that some find to be better. While it may be a universal truth that it changes things, it is not a universal truth that it makes things better

+1 exactly and eloquently stated. I was trying to beat about the bush so as not to insult anyone's system, but this is the nub of it.

I once had the experience of hearing a modestly skilled sax player perform in my listening room, standing between my pair of Sound Lab 845PX speakers. Now THAT was a real lesson in comparing live sound to reproduced sound in my system.  I was actually quite pleased with the degree to which my system could sound "live" next to the real thing.  But single instruments in free space are easiest to replicate.  I don't pretend my system could do as well with a full orchestra, if that was possible to demo in my listening space.  One thing that always strikes me when I get to hear musicians live and unamplified is the dynamics.  Live music is first of all more dynamic than most of us can achieve at home, or at least that is the biggest challenge to replicate.  All that audiophile stuff about imaging and depth is nice to think about, and establishing those two senses is a worthy goal in stereo, but in real life one cannot always place the musicians in space with eyes closed, either side to side or front to back.  What one can sense is the startling undistorted SPLs effortlessly achieved by live musicians.

With all due respect to fans of TOP (I am not one), I am thinking that a casino PA system is not likely to enchant me.  But for all I know, the named venue is set up like a real concert hall.

the majority of our live experiences today are amplified. individual acoustic guitars with pickups, upright bass with pickups, mics, guitar amps with speakers, stage located speakers (musician monitors and front facing), wall of sound, ceiling hung speakers, ....

The many times we saw him, Tony Bennet demonstrated filling Radio City Music Hall a capella with no mic, all the way to the upper decks, but he sure sounded better using a mic and the house system.

the space's acoustics; which seat's you get; sound system engineer's skills; some are awesome, some truly suck, big medium or small.

lps, the recording space, the equipment and engineer's skills and all the subsequent decisions by all the people at every stage  are paramount to enjoyable or superior playback.

IOW, it's hit or miss, live or recorded, and I could care less about the difference between .... and .... just gimme something really enjoyable.

I've walked out of many live performances, refused to go to certain venue, .... knowing it SUCKS compared to what I enjoy at home.

the footpath upward if not well worn is at least visible, especially if one were to be introspective and look backwards…. Yes Ralph, i agree. D2D. Such is your and other greats history; Direct Grace, M and K Real Time, Sheffield Labs, Chasing the Dragon, Water Lilly…

Carry on !

for those seeking unified field theory of a Tower of Power and reference grade recording, seek out the excellent Sheffield Labs Thelma Houston release. For the discerning get both the D2D and Treasury ( made from RtR realtime copy )…..

I believe a robust comparison, level matched is instrumental in educating the ear/brain…

fun