Ortofon MC A90 cartridge

Shane, I have my A90 pretty close to horizontal...perhaps just a touch up at the rear going by the Phantom's mircopoise bubble level (but well within the centre guide lines).

The cartridge still sounds good if VTA is a bit off, but you don't get that same image 'pop' and presence - nor the bass snap - that you get when it's right.

If you do mount the A90 in your Phantom (on the Raven) I have a tip. Try some Caig Pro-gold on the Phantoms cartridge clips, arm wand pins, DIN and RCA connections. I hadn't done this since purchasing the Phantom and I was amazed at the obvious improvement in both image palpability and fine textural detail - leading to even greater musical involvement and flow.

I don't recall ever hearing such an obvious improvement when treating with Pro-Gold on previous occasions. These are no doubt critical connections, but I think the A90's great clarity and performance potential makes the treatment very worthwhile.

Paul

I set the A90 on the Phantom / Raven on Sunday when the family was out.
You are right, the A90 sounds great regardless. I am sure with my back slightly up it sounds better than it did several mnths back with the Phantom.
Obviously with the Phantom you can easily experiment over time.

I don't have any Craig, but I think I might have some kontact around somewhere.

Anyway, try the A90 with the arm slightly up at the back and see if you feel it is an improvement.

Shane,

Any further thoughts on the A90 and/or the Raven AC now that you moved the A90 from the P3 to the Raven AC/Phantom?

Andrew

Hi Andrew

Any further thoughts, Yes, that the millenium mat is now an obvious weakness.

When I put the A90 back onto the Raven (I had not really played it for two mnths when the A90 was on the P3), I felt that the raven was just too reserved and big easy smooth. It could not compete with the P3 on speed, drive and tempo.

Took it off and just used no mat - copper top. WOW big difference. A lot better drive in the bass and music sounds better with great tempo. copper top might be a bit too much in the upper frequencies

The millenium mat is a little laid back tempo wise and soft in the leading edge and bass a little rounded.

playing around with a few mat options at the moment, however the raven is a lot closer to the P3 with the millenium mat gone.

The A90 lets you hear it all :-)

What mat do you use?

cheers

Shane,

Great ears hear alike. Great minds think alike too. You are spot-on with your opinion of the Millenium mat.

I was using the Millenium mat until about 9 months ago. I removed the mat and heard the same type of observations you noted.

The mat obscures microdynamics and slows the speed and tempo.

The soundstage is much clearer and larger without the mat. One can "hear into" the recording better without the mat. The mat flattens the soundstage height/depth.

Just about everything improves with the copper top only compared to the Mellenium.

By the way, I had tried different mats and trying the copper top only about 1.5 year ago when I had my Triplanar. The triplanar was not able to detect the differences between the mats like the Phantom 2 does.

I don't use a mat any longer. Let me know if you come up with something better than the copper top only.

Andrew