Raven One

I was previously running a Well Tempered Classic with black damped platter, on goldmund cones (much better than the rubber feet) and with upgraded arm wiring.

My existing cart is the Sumiko Celebration, which was on the WTT and now on the Raven.

What I found is that for me, the Raven One sounds much better without the Millenium mat.

Dynamic contrasts are outstanding. Guitar riffs on MFSL AJA just solo'd themselves from the background on cue.

The Mat (CF side up) seemed to deaden this sensation. The guitar riffs never jumped out at me. It just wasn't as dynamic and high resolution. It was smoother and seemed to benefit from using the Millenium clamp, though.

Without the mat, I think I like it a bit better without the clamp. Piano transients are very bold without the clamp (maybe too much so?), and tempered a bit with the clamp in place. The clamp seems to make images a biut more polite, recessed and more center filled, as opposed to a wider more up front soundtage. I still am testing to see which is better.

I even tried the super thin "mat" from the Sumiko Analog survival kit. This is actually film lighting diffusion, and a very thin open weave. It too tended to blur details.

Has anyone else found it to be the case that the bare Delrin is just more dynamic and high resolution?

The Raven One, to me is so much more akin to hearing a master tape vs. my old table.

The bandwidth of each instrument, and the entire spectrum is so much wider.

Even a few instruments have popped up in recordings where there none, or just further down in the mix.

Image solidity is outstanding as well. And all in a way that doesn't distance you from the music as being purely spectacular.

Pianos are fuller with better distinction. Voices ring extremely natural and extended, giving the impression of a singer right there in the room.

Joe Jackson's Body and Soul is a wonderful, though digital recording and the sense of the the acoustic space of the converted Mesonic Temple here in NYC where it was recorded has never been so present as with the Raven One/Phantom combo.

The bass drum on that LP was positioned up on a platform and far back but has never displayed such authority, speed, solidity and solidness of tone.

I used to drum a bit so I'm sensitive to how drums and cymbols sound. All drums are a relevation with this table.

The bass I am experiencing is very fast, deep and articulate.

And this is all without the table truly being set for VTA. I will start playing with that soon.

BTW I have the bronze armboard upgrade.

I know tables are hard to hear and compare these days, but anyone thinking about a table in this price range can safely purchase the Raven One without hesitation. I can't see anyone not being impressed by the sound it throws at every point in the spectrum. It would be an intersting match however to hear it stacked up against a Gavia, which I think is in a similar price range. For me though, the compact dimensions and smaller weight of the One were a better match to apartment living.

I eventually want to try it on a Sistrum stand or their new Stage 2 rack system.
The Sistrum stands were an amazing improvement to the monitor section of my speakers.

Hi Emailists

Seems you've been having a great time the last few days:-)

Theo

I recently had the pleasure of a visit from none other than Thomas Woschnik, from TW Acoustic, who tweaked my table and and combo even further.

The One is already in the "super table catagory" I and other owners feel, and I am going to try it on a Sistrum stand over a 1&1/4" piece of Slate, as well as get my Tron Seven Phono stage running in the system next week.

It should be fun for a cheap little analog set up.

I just got my Raven One up off it's feet and onto a Sistrum SP004 stand sitting on a new 1" slab of slate. I wanted to order the Sistrum sp-1 but they are currently backordered, and I should get it in 3-4 weeks.

I was actually pretty shocked hearing the table up on the stand/slate.

On Joni Mitchells new Blue pressing the first time I heard her voice it was quite a bit more realistic and jumped out at me. It seemed thinner but more extended at the same time, as if clarified.

On Oscar Peterson's Night Child LP, the last cut, 'Teenager' has some nice cymbal work that always impressed me in it's realism, since I used to play the drums. The bell is mostly played, and up on the Sistrum/slate the presentation was quite different.

As opposed to the nice bell sound I was getting, I am now getting a midrange wide scope of metal being hit. There are quite a bit more textures being displayed. I'm sure some drummer some place could now tell exactly what size and manufacturer it it, and even that maybe it is even a little flat in spots.

There are some other fine details that pop out of the recording in other cuts, like one of the musicians humming along maybe? I'm not quite sure, but I do think that in some systems, this could be an ideal platform for the table.

The table just sounds faster as well, and I think I am getting more bass since I seem to be turning down my bass amp more, and maybe hearing room mode more. I dont think this is feedback, but maybe more bass energy being transmitted, which of course will exacerbate any room modes.

It has only been a few hours since seting this up, and I have noticed with my Sistrum stands under my speakers that they do get even better after a day or two (but I fail to understand why, but Starsound indicates this can happen)

I also get the impression of everything being shifted down in the frequency spectrum a bit. Maybe this is simply a function of the table being new tuned to a different resonance point?

So the cute little Micky Mouse eared table gets even better.

I'm not sure if Starsound has a 30 day return policy, but I think anyone with a Raven One or AC should try this. (though as I said the SP1 or even SP-101 may be a better match, especially for the size of the AC) Thomas from TW seemed to think it may be a good idea to try this combo out, and he was the one that suggested the slate.

ADDENDUM:

I am getting getting acoustic breakthrough with this setup tapping the wooden stand the table sits on. With the Millenium feet attached, there was no breakthough, so obviously they were well designed and provided some type of suspension.

The trick for me now will be to keep the profound benefits of the Sistrum stand and try to eliminate the breakthrough that I feel may be muddying up and increasing the bass a little bit.

Also my table is within a few feet of my speakers, so this may be more of an issue for me than for other people's rooms.

I'd like to find people with other unsuspended table using Sistrum stands to see thier setups.

Someone suggested a Minus K platform, but I understant that while excellent, is rather expensive for the level of improvement.

I think what I plan to do is once I get my preamp back and can play CD's (I'm analog only right now) I will

put the needle on a record that is not spining, then play a CD and pink/white noise, then take the output of my phono pre and

hook that up to my computer and analyze the breakthrough I am getting to see what level I am getting and at what frequencies.

This I suppose could help in determining how I want to proceed from there.