Sirius and Walker

Syntax said: The table was in a condition which was unable to navigate more than 3 tracks...

First the disclosure, other than a happy user of the Rockport Capella II and the 6000 arm in Hong Kong, I have no connection with Andy Payor, Jonathan Tinn or Mike Lavigne.

If what Syntax said is true, then I am absolutely sure this Sirius III, at least the arm, is not set up properly or it is somehow defected! While we can have difference preference on tables, and one could prefer XXX over the Rockport etc., it is hard to imagine a highly regarded table like the Sirius III cannot navigate more than 3 tracks?!!! The Sirius III was in production for many years before it was discontinued, how could it have this serious problem and kept on selling, especially at $75,000 if I remember correctly!

As I mentioned in my earlier post, if Unoear’s Sirius III arm is set up like what he posted in another thread

http://i44.tinypic.com/cj5s8.jpg

then I am sure the wire arrangement is not what Rockport has intended. As a matter of fact, I have never seen wires arranged like that on any Rockport arms.

Again, I am not claiming the wire does not affect the arm’s tracking at all, but I have had no problem with my 6000 arm for nearly 10 years, so it is unbelievable to me that the wire, if set up as Rockport has intended, has such an effect as to prevent the arm from navigating more than 3 tracks!

What am I missing…. You auditioned the Sirius table at the former owner’s home and you did not experience any tracking problems. You purchase the table and set it up in your own home and now you have tracking problems. Sounds like a setup problem, plain and simple.

Jonathan Tinn should be declaring his interest as a manufacturer when passing comment on turntable performance. Reading his profile and system it is clear he makes subjective comments on competing products performance without declaring his interest.
By contrast J Carr when commenting on cartridges restricts himself to design aspects and does not tend to make comment on overall performance.
My advice to you all is to ignore JTinn comments as it is biased and certainly I wouldn't take advice from one who designs turntables that cannot be transported without damaging the main bearing and goes on to present a faulty turntable as a state of the art product as he did with the NVS.

Dover: Everyone here is biased. You are biased to the products you own as is everyone else. I am not talking about my product in any way. I am talking about two products with much different approaches and am simply answering the question based on my experience with each table. Nothing wrong with that.

You do not know what you are talking about and you should research the word libel. Do you really want to continue this?

my hope is that Unoear enjoys the Rockport completely. until a few days ago i was not aware of this mis-tracking problem.

in that context, as the 8 year owner of that particular Rockport, i know that there are a few different issues which could potentially cause this mis-tracking that is mentioned. as i recall, i did cover most of these issues with Unoear when he visited me. i suppose that Andy Payor may know of other possible causes.

(1) looking at the picture i'd guess that the wires are twisted compared to my memory and pictures. somehow when the arm wand was moved or installed an extra twist might have occured. this is the most obvious reason for the mis-tracking.
(2) there might be some sort of contamination on the arm shaft. cleaning with acetone would resolve that.
(3) the arm might not be level. leveling the plinth would solve that.
(4) mositure in the compressor. if left on for more than 2 hours without stopping, the air lines will accumulate moisture. the mositure would get on the arm shaft. the air lines would need to be dryed out with compressed air.
(5) the arm is too high and the cartridge actually does not have enough VTF on the inner grooves.
(6) the nut on the end of the arm shaft might be loose. the arm could bind up.
(7) dust build-up on the arm shaft. always move the arm back and forth once before using so any dust is moved aside.

#2 thru #7 are unlikely based on the 'talent' that has observed the Rockport at Unoear's place; but possible. at various times i did observe each one of those conditions.....although all of those were in the first few years of ownership....the learning curve. since that time there has been no problems with this issue.

i sincerely hope that this 'problem' can get resolved and Unoear can be fully happy with this great tt.