Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Hi Peter: you're becoming like Microsoft :-)!! No sooner one thing bought than it's already been superseded and it's time to upgrade!! But sonically they are identical, so what the hey, I'll STILL be rebuilding my own MKI top-plates (one blank for the Maplenoll tonearm, the other a two-tonearm version), having bought two HUGE ones. I'll play with washers, I still remember when a difference of 1 mm on the ball bearing destroyed the Lenco sound way back when when I lost the little thing (in the early days four years ago before we discovered new sources of ball bearings and all sorts of stuff), so some auditioning ahead to make sure sound quality is not affected. I'm sure the bushings in the main bearings can be pushed around to compensate.

Hi Mike, great to hear there's no audible hiss, the one failing of the also ultra-light MG-1 tonearm, which is made of carbon-fibre and plastic. There'll have to be a Shootout, and I'll throw in the primitive blunderbuss ultra-high-mass Maplenoll tonearm to boot, which made the Maplenoll 'table incredibly dynamic and with THUNDEROUS bass (before my discovery of the idler-wheel superiority in this respect). It'll be interesting to find out what is doing what.

And yep, I can't believe just how amazing those Technics speakers really are, with incredible clarity and detail and speed. Brightness is from the accompanying electronics and system, the SB-4s sounding lush when the C-J PV-7 is in the circuit, and now with the system reconfigured, no brightness whatsoever from the Lenco/JMW 105i/Decca Super Gold/C-J PV-8/Mitsubishi DA-A10DC system. Now the C-J PV-8 is also sounding better and better, and I'm in Music Heaven daily with either pre (and having fun switching back and forth according to taste and mood), in this new abode which is more conducive to extended auditioning and experiments. While the PV-8 doesn't have the incredible midrange of the PV-7 (but not far behind), it is far better at the frequency extremes, and in terms of gain: it is MONSTER of phono gain, which means LO MCs can be run directly into it, for those looking for a reasonably-cheap but superb and adaptable phono stage. The PV-8 is also much more flexible than most PV line C-J preamps, having a mono, stereo reverse, and so on switch. I'll try my Denon direct into it for some more fun and report on this soon. Both the PV-7 and PV-8 blow the crap out of any sub-$1K separate phono pre I've ever heard. The fellow who sold it to me wants to hear a Lenco through it: he won't believe what this preamp can REALLY do in terms of detail, air, dynamics, bass and clarity, as he has only heard it so far with digital sources. He's also curious about the Idler Thing :-).

Ah the Ortofon M15E Super, I can't wait to hook it up too, was again and again my fave cartridge of all time, and see how the AKG P8ES measures up, they being similar-sounding. The new address means lots more experimenting and auditioning to come, it's got an attached workshop to double my fun, AND a better soundroom! Many more experiments to come all, hope you're all having as much fun as I am!! Good luck in building your new phono pre Mike!!

And speaking of phono pres all, I have been going crazy in my slowly-developing new soundroom, as in addition to the CJ PV-7 (incredible HUGE midrange) and PV-8 (hugely dynamic, incredible bass and clarity) I also scored an EAR 834P and decided to have a big shootout to see which I will keep. This via the Leak Stereo 20/Technics SB-4s or the Mitsubishi/Technics SB-4s. The speed and agility of the little 12-watt Leak continues to astound, as once again it comes out sounding like the big 100-watt SS amp (powerful and DEEP bass, hyper-speed, mighty dynamics to suit the Mighty Lenco) while the big SS amps come out sounding gentle in comparison. Wait until I get the big Klipsch Cornwalls into the living room, the neighbours are going to LOVE me ;-). The Klipsch, in addition to being hyper-sensitive, also having 15" woofers...and being THE most actually neutral (as opposed to a "dry" dessicated sound masquerading as neutrality) speaker I have ever heard. AND, contrary to popular belief, the Cornwalls sound great with SS too (being actually neutral and all ;-)). BUT, the Technics SB-4s have incredible clarity and speed (AND real neutrality), and incredibly musicality, so that the innocent next-door neighbour, a musician utterly innocent of audiophile concerns, loves just coming over with beer (being a musician) and saying "So, what'll you play now John?" As all truly experienced audiophools know, its the innocents who are the true judge of the musical success of a system, audiophiles in general being far too prejudiced and often unaware of the concept of "musicality" as opposed to sound.

Now I post this for those looking for high-end sound on a budget, in the great Lenco tradition :-)!!Anyway, I used, of course, the giant Lenco as platform, and tried the MAS 282/AKG P8ES (superb, the MAS having been designed by Mr. Ito of Ittok fame, the MAS having impressed me so much I now have an Ittok, though it was fashionable in the early days of the Rega RB-300 to crap on the Ittok); the JMW 10.5/Decca (always incredible, and about as fast as it is possible to be, especially on a big idler-wheel drive) and the JMW/Clearaudio Concerto.

Now, the Concerto is not cheap (but not especially expensive these days in terms of high-end cartridges), but it has a musical magic, repeatable across systems, tonearms, electronics and speakers (the first in my experience consistently so, others only reaching this level of musical magic when the stars are in the right alignment) which makes it, in the context of incredible detail retrieval and so forth, the best cartridge I've ever heard. Because I place musical magic/shivers/hairs rising up on your arms above every other audio experience. Which is also why I champion the Lenco and other big idlers above all other 'tables. But, like the Lenco, the Concerto is not ONLY about magic and musical power (gestalt, PRaT, SLAM, etc.), it is also, being a Clearaudio, excellent at detail, speed, transients, and dynamic shadings. Though the Decca STILL has it for transients and speed, and possibly bass, it cannot match either the AKG P8ES (a close second to the Clearaudio in terms of magic, and perhaps better at retrieving air and resonances, like the Grado, which makes me suspect moving irons are quite simply superior to MC in this respect, just as idlers are quite simply superior to everything else :-)!!) or the Concerto (and perhaps the Denon DL-103 and a few other MMs including Grados) for this indefinable magic. You can see I've been busy ;-).

Anyway, the EAR, in almost every review compared against older CJ preamps, does indeed sound great. I used it as a complete phono preamp (mine has the volume pot), using it directly into my amps. The EAR is completely stock, down to the no-name tubes. It does indeed blow away all stand-alone phono preamps I've tried (nothing too exotic mind), sounding smooth, detailed, lively and with great air and imaging. Something about it is methodical. At first it sounds kind of boring, but as time goes on, this grows on you, as it indeed retrieves quite a lot of information, including dynamics, quite a bit of detail, and imaging information. You get the feeling it is just getting on with the job at hand, and in a civilized manner, at a rather high level (if you recognize yourselves in this description, then this is the phono preamp for you). I find it closer to the CJ PV-7 than to the PV-8, as the EAR's bass simply does not compare with the bass from the PV-8, which is Decca-tight, fast and resolved. The PV-7, on the other hand, has a gentle pillowy bass and an equally pillowy high frequency range. The PV-7, though, has it for the midrange, being better than either the EAR or the PV-8 at resolving information here, and being quite simply HUGE and lush with larger and more spaced images. Perhaps too much so, but rivetting nevertheless. Now the PV-7 IS that classic tube preamp, and with a healthy dose of that hypnotizing musical magic common, I now see, to the vintage CJ preamps, and the late, lamented ARC SP-8. I'm not sure about the PV-7's highs as compared with the EAR's. Is one better than the other? I suspect the EAR is more matter-of-fact neutral here, but I'm not sure, as though the PV-7 sounds rolled off (like the EAR) there actually is quite a lot of delicate high-frequency detail.

The PV-8 is quite simply killer. It is liquid, more detailed than the EAR everywhere, much more dynamic and lively, with higher highs and lower lows. It is exciting, and makes the hairs go up on my arms, as does the PV-7 (which, however, doesn't have the PV-8 dynamics). But, I have to say that so far, the EAR hasn't done it for me, though it's obvious I like excitement and am not interested so much in "the Truth" (which I think is a frumious bandersnatch). Those who want the truth will find it in the EAR. I didn't tube-roll with the EAR, but then again I didn't with either the PV-7 or the PV-8. I might end up experimenting with all three, as in many ways it's a close-run race. The PV-8 has that thunderous excitement, allied to liquidity and extended frequency extremes. The PV-7 has that HUGE midrange, and can be improved with little effort (this is in the works for mine) and, like the PV-8, can raise the hairs on your arms (with both the AKG and the Concerto). I'm hunting around for some tubes to roll into the EAR for now.

I hope those looking for some more vintage fun will benefit from these experiments. More experiments coming up for the long-delayed Rek-o-Kut now my new workshop is rolling, as well as the Ittok and other tonearms and cartridges and turntables (the reappearance of the superb Sony 2250 for one). Have fun all, and Vive la Idler Wheel!!

John, you will never know what the EAR is capable of without modifying it. The PV7 and 8 are what they are - short of tube rolling - but the EAR is capable of far more than what is in the little black box. I meant to sell mine several times but always forgot. Then, after reading some of Romy the Cat's guff one day (his "end of life" - Russian for "best and final" - phono pre is based on the 839P), I decided to try Thorsten's mods - including the air variable caps (actually radio tuning vanes - in this case, the dielectric is air as opposed to teflon or poly). The air caps are usable in this unit because the RIAA cap values are so small.

The best way to describe the outcome is that everything you like about the EAR - DOUBLE IT! Better output caps and an improved power supply with better diodes and bigger caps are the main modifications. You can easily do the mods without the air caps, BTW - they were so over the top I couldn't resist. If this thing was Stereophile Class B before - it is easily Class A now and I still haven't ever gotten around to putting an MC through it.

Thorsten's mods can be found in one post on the Audio Asylum and recently, Romy's own forum shows pics of how he implemented the air caps and his final circuit modifications.

Mike

Hi Mike, don't want to keep you on tenterhooks, I'll be doing some tube-rolling with the EAR and see what happens, but haven't had time yet. But, I have to say, it's a matter of the heart: I LOVE the CJ preamps (both of them, though in some ways they are polar opposites, they both share that ability to make the hairs stand up to attention!), while the EAR is, in comparison, more of an intellectual exercise. But I've got vintage tubes on stand-by to juice up the EAR :-). I'll post more when I get around to it (in the middle of moving, packing and unpacking, arranging and rearanging).

I can dig it - I loved the 500C at first - but then after a while, missed the seeming perfection of single ended. In reality though, if you love listening to something, how can it be wrong?

Nevertheless, many people describe the stock EAR as being tooby and euphonic. I seem to remember the stock EI tibes playing it pretty straight compared to Telefunkens and other NOS tubes. Am I right in assuming that both of the CJ's have old tubes in them and the EAR has the stockers? Could account greatly for the difference. I find that all new production 12AX7's sound pretty lowsy and changing them out for NOS makes a huge amount of difference in the natural sound of hifi or instrument amps.

The modifications described above, take the EAR to a level far above a simple tube change - think natural timbres and all the other audiophile cliches while retaining the tube warmth and utter listenability of the stock unit.

Mike