Wow I just got the KAB strobe

With my direct drive turntables with pitch control, I found that--compared to the tempos Basie set--even a 1% variation made a significant difference in how engaging his band's presentation was.

And this, good sir is why Regas typically measure fast - so that they're more "engaging". Louder and faster is an age old demo room trick. If you're liking "dead-on" 33.33, maybe you'll like 1% faster more, or even playing a 33 at 45.

I'm just kidding about playing at 45, but my main point is to try to ascribe the correct causality to what you're observing. We all fall into this trap from time to time.

The kind of speed stability that results in "better" sound isn't observable with a strobe disk. Having said that, the KAB is a very nice tool, as is the Hagerman UFO.

For those of us blessed with perfect pitch, I suggest we get out a tuning fork or a musical instrument strobe tuner and listen - to verify that playing at dead-on 33.33 actually reproduces music on pitch - that the disk was actually cut on speed (e.g. A=440 or thereabouts).

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Thom, I agree with you about using a tuning fork if the test record has a 440 hz tone band on it. Like Stringreen, I am a violinist and as you know we tune the violin to A 440hz. I have a Stereo test record that must be 25 years old and it has a 440hz test band and I play that and adjust the speed until it matches the tuning fork. I have found that it works great.
Carter

10-02-08: Thom_mackris

JohnnyB53:
With my direct drive turntables with pitch control, I found that--compared to the tempos Basie set--even a 1% variation made a significant difference in how engaging his band's presentation was.

And this, good sir is why Regas typically measure fast - so that they're more "engaging". Louder and faster is an age old demo room trick. If you're liking "dead-on" 33.33, maybe you'll like 1% faster more, or even playing a 33 at 45.

Ah, but Mr. Mackris, notice I said "1% variation." I didn't specify if I meant fast or slow, and that is one of the keys to Basie and those who follow him such as Quincy Jones. Basie was the absolute master of swing, and swing has to have time to ... well ... swing! And that means knowing when to be languid as well as energetic. A 1% increase in his tempos will wreck the vibe as surely as a 1% decrease.

But overall your point is well taken, and also relates to raising the pitch slightly above A=440Hz. I am a percussionist, and both vibraphones I've owned were tuned to A=442, presumably to cut through the mix a little more. I have heard that Leonard Bernstein tuned his orchestras to A=442 also, to give them a little more snap and brilliance.

Rega's slightly-faster-than-standard is--as you said--a demo parlor trick, similar to having one system slightly louder than the other. When I was in audio retail in the mid-70s in SoCal, the Big Box stereo store down the road from us often set the tweeter controls of the national brand speakers to the -3dB position so their high-margin house brand speakers would sound "better" to buyers in a quick audition.

Thanks for the additional tips on using the KAB with a record and clamp attached; that would create additonal drag. I will try it today and see if I can get it even closer to the correct rotation speed.

Hifimaniac, my Shindo/Garrard 301 needs two different corrections for 33.3 and 45. Initially, I failed to mark them, but I could immediately hear that 33.3 set at the 45 speed adjustment was wrong. Depending on the mass of the platter, the music might affect the turn table's speed, but I prefer to keep it as set for the maximum benefit.

I doubt if the KAB is better than others, but it certainly is easy to use.