SP10 Mk II vs Mk III

Lonestarsouth, Read the thread for an answer to your question. One person here sold a Walker Audio Proscenium after he got his SP10 MkII up and running in a custom wood plinth. This suggests that a properly set-up SP10 is competitive with anything out there. But the same is true of Lenco and Garrard, IMO. However, consider too that the tables have different characters, and one person is not necessarily going to agree with another on which is "best".

Also, if your SP10 is really NOS, you might want to put it on a Variac and bring the voltage up very slowly at start-up. The electrolytic caps in your unit may need replacing or at the very least they need to be treated gently at first. They are ca 30 years old and have never been charged up. Applying full voltage could damage the caps and also damage irreplaceable parts that they subserve.

Radicalsteve, I am very surprised at your slight preference for the Oracle among the three tables you've compared, but you obviously know what you're doing. You might feel differently if your SP10 was in a proper slate or wooden plinth. Do you have any plans to try that?

Lewm

I am using the NOS machine for nearly 4 months now with no problem. It is indeed NOS. I was the first to remove the plastic baggies around all the parts taped shut with that anti-tamper green sticky tape. It was like pure sin.

I realise that the RB300 arm is not the best.

Lewm, my plinth would qualify as a CLD heavy plinth (50lbs) a la Johnnantais so I am not sure there would be much benefit from anything much heavier, but a slate job would definitely look nice - it is something I might think about.

I believe if the Oracle is set up properly, which is not that difficult, it can be incredibly open, dynamic, with a big soundstage, and truthful in pitch. Some say it is a bit ligh or dry in the lowest bass registers - which is analagous to the same characteristics I found in my old Quad 63's. I put that down to accuracy or quality over quantity. Anyway, I cheat, because if I want more low end I just turn up the volume on the crossovers on my transmission line loaded woofers!

I also find the SP-10 is also very accurate in the low end, no bloat or overemphasis here.

One of the great virtues of the SP-10 in a heavy plinth is that it seems to be agnostic to different tonearms and makes every kind of arm perform as it should. I did not find any particular synergies or mismatching with various arms I have tried. My old Triplanar worked nicely as did a Fidelity Research FR64x. Based on the arms I put thru their paces I would settle on the Dynavector 507 Mk2 as being a really good match.

Dear John and Shane: About mats I'm testing with the SAEC SS-300, Audio technica AT666, Sota Acrylic, Audioquest, a carbon fibre one and a self propietary/design blend materials one.

I have to say that with all them I have good performance but with our mat design and the vacuum from AT is where I like the best, I'm not finish about because I'm trying not only with different mats but with different clamps too.

There is no picture on the SP-10 set up but it is so easy: three Audio technica pneumatic footers ( AT-616 ) directly at the square metal TT base, that's all.
Btw, in my AS TTs I'm using the same kind of footers with additional metal large tiptoes ( up side down ) that are the one that are directly to the metal plinth on the AS, I test the same configuration on the SP-10 and was awful/bad for the quality performance. I try too with two plinths that I own ( heavy ones ) but IMHO with out plinth is how my SP-10 performs better.

Of course that this is not an " absolute " and that's why I say: try it and be the judge in your own system.

Btw, other than to up-date the caps it is interesting too to change all the internal/external power cable.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I should also add some fuel to the fire here ... I forgot to mention that my SP-10 was outperformed by my Victor TT-101 in a very heavy japan designed lead plinth. Unfortunately when I went on a business trip I left the TT-101 on for a week and when I got back it failed to go around anymore!

I don't know if it was the the table or the lead plinth that made the difference, but the 101 was just sublime. I might just try the SP-10 in the lead plinth next week - but that is a major decision to cut out the lead to fit the Technics.

Anyone have any ideas what might have burnt out on the circuit board?