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!!
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!!
