What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?

@whart , I am very familiar with the HQD system having personally replaced 3 ribbons and two toasted Quads from overexuberant use of the go knob. They sounded so effortless tied to 6 Levinson amps, all the way to death. They were far from perfect. Their image was not realistic probably because they had an inconsistent radiation pattern going from point source to line source back to point source each driver with different dispersion characteristics. We made a system with stacked Acoustat Monitor 4s and RH Labs subwoofers that was so amazing I  continue to use that format 40 years later.

Although you did not specifically invite me over, I have been invited to the Ducati Tent at next years MotoGP race. I also intend on seeing the Formula 1 race at some point. The Circuit of the Americas is in your back yard I believe:-)

@mijostyn - my oversight and certainly not meant as a slight to you. Consider yourself invited. Formula 1 is crazy town here. All restaurants packed, many locals used to leave town during the music portion of SXSW, but they've scaled it back and the film festival part is actually civilized. 

Didn't know you did bikes. My first bike was a Ducati Monster-- somewhere around 740 cc-- it was fun. There's a custom bike shop down the street that is over the top expensive but they have a bunch of interesting things. I stopped riding a while ago. Have you ever been to the Birmingham, Alabama bike museum and track? It's a pretty amazing facility- if you are into cool bikes, you'd know the guy-- he supplied most of the machinery that was on display some years ago at the Guggenheim Museum. 

If you do come down please let me know. Maybe a home cooked meal and a hang. The track isn't too far out of town but the traffic can be sinister. This was a cowtown 30 years ago. It's now a boom town for tech + UT. It's nice here, too hot though. Feel free to PM me at any time. 

@whart , At this point I'm just washed out. While my throat still hurts I can swallow now. Worst sore throat I can remember having. Every night I swallow my vitamin pill with orange juice. It was like taking a torch to my throat not to mention the coughing fit that followed. The best remedy for sore throats is Ginger Ale ice cubes. The cold numbs up your throat and the Ginger Ale approximates normal saline so it does not sting at all. Canada Dry is going to give me a seat on the board.

Thanx for the thought! 

Mike

@whart , I was in the public health service for 4 years in Haleyville, Alabama, 30 miles northwest of Birmingham. I met my wife there. I never got to see the exhibit in New York but I have a beautiful hardback of it with pictures of every bike.

The Monster is still the two wheeled riot act it was back then. I have a 2022 Diavel S. It is a sport bike for old men. 

Earlier in the thread someone mentioned that the SME V can sound constrained, and that is a good description I hear with the Transfiguration Audio Proteus. Everything sounds on track in terms of tonal balance, it tracks well, and at the macro level dynamics and output levels are fine, but the sound lacks that bit of life that I want from the system. It is not that the sound is bad, it is very good, I just feel there is a bit more performance that can be had from the analog system. 

Does this mean an arm rewire will push the table over the hump? Does it mean a different cartridge for the SME? Or a wholesale replacement of the arm. That is the question I am trying to work out. I am still waiting on the completion of service for the Ortofon Verismo, and then I will put it on that table. I have a ZYX 4D that has gone to Australia along with my second MC2000 that I am having fit with a boron cantilever, but apparently Australia Post has lost it, or its having issues getting to customs. I sent it out on December 8th and it still has not cleared customs. My other cartridges are at a lesser level, a Shinon Red that Soundsmith retipped with one of their ruby cantilevers, and an Ortofon MC3000 II. The Ortofon MC2000 I have could go on it, but the original review by JGH showed an incompatibility when he put it on a SME V. 

So that is what I am trying to suss out, and the reason for this post. Arm pods and 12 inch arms really have nothing useful to add to the conversation as the SOTA tables can only accept 9 to 10.5 inch arms, and I am not setting a static pod on the cabinet with a table that is designed with a suspended sub chassis.