ZYX Airy 3x/SB vs. Dynavector XV-1 or 1s

Ca2284,

Glad to see you're making progress. Keep at it!

SirSpeedy,

Alls well that ends well.

Interesting results you're getting moving the Herbies, and it makes sense. A tube in its socket should vibrate more at the top than at the base. Moving the dampers upward should dampen that movement better.

I have two Herbies on each tube in my preamp/phono. Two sounds better than one and I'd use three if I had the space. Herbie's website warns about "overdamping", but I have a hard time imagining how ANY vibration would improve the performance of a tube. If damping a tube makes the system sound lean or dry, there's a problem elsewhere in the system.

Doug,As from what "The word on the street",about you(and Paul)IS--You really have picked up on the finer points,in this hobby,fast!!Sort of reminds me of these two little thirteen year old girls,whom I was watching play tennis,last week,in my local club.As their proud fathers watched,I was SHOCKED as to the INCREDIBLEY high level,these little "Shrimps" could play!!SO high a caliber,I doubted if I was wasting my time,playing the game.I would have had a problem even returning their serves,and I consider myself a fairly advanced player,and have taught the game,yet there is always that next level.Scary!!

While I won't give up on audio,I have to say that the Herbies are by far the best dampers I've tried.I've played around with about a half dozen types.Too low,on my tubes tends to overdamp.I like them towards the top,for more life.Funny thing--When I first added them,I was able to take out a bit of the "maddening" damping fluid,from my 2.2,which opened up the sound,even more than I'd previously thought possible.I was now able to hear differences in tracking forces as small as 1/100 gm,and easily.This was fun,but a two sided sword as well.From this(and this is only conjecture),I came to the conclusion that the tubes/phonostage/cartridge/arm/table/suspension/support/shelf/arm cabling was one BIG circuit(sort of),with each layer compounding the influence of the other.I SWEAR I'd rather just listen to my music,but after hearing so many performance variables(that I liked),in some of my pals' superb set-ups,I said "let's GO for it",and see how far I can go with my own system!I,fortunately,have been pleasantly surprised,yet it has made me a "Madman",but an informed one,at least!!

Best regards,and keep up the good work.!

Oh,yeah--Forgot to mention that where you are,as of now,in your discoveries of music/lp collecting etc.,is/was the most enjoyable part of the hobby,to me.I envy you for this.Not that I don't still get a real bang out of it all!!

Sir S,

Perhaps we need to meet. If Paul or I remind you of thirteen year old girls your visual problems must dwarf your audio ones.

I've been listening to LP's since 1959. I figure if my learning curve were any slower I'd be going backwards. ;-)

Dear Ca2284: +++++ " Has anyone tried both cartridges and offer an opinion? " +++++

About your original question please read these links:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1132299685&read&3&4&

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1132299685&openflup&16&4#16

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1132299685&openflup&16&4#16

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Thanks, Raul.