Ortofon/Dynavector ? cartridge characteristics

Dynavector dealer disclaimer upfront.

Glai blew through the budget so this discussion is moot. :-)

But I'm not sure if I would recommend dyna to Dr_John, based on Shindo and the type of music he listens to. I find the suggestions in the OPs original post interesting. Folks are recommending a cart that is vivid and dynamic to match with the Shindo. I have no experience with Shindo and I certainly don't know what Dr John's sonic preferences are, but this sounds like tone control advice to me. Kind of like what people say when discussing cabling. "Well, components X and Y are very bright so you need to use a warm sounding cable to tame the brightness."

AND! What the hell is Dr John doing listening to opera and chamber music?!? Sorry, I'm more familiar with another Dr John. ;-)

Oh, there's no problem with the XV-1s on the Triplanar, the combination works very well. Very well indeed. I've used it for close to 4 years and know folks who have used it even longer.

The A90 was a very good cartridge for money, but as Raquel points out, they don't make them anymore. It does have a clean, clear sound, but I am partial to the XV-1s as I have found it's character more to my liking on a wider selection of music. However, the A90s I have heard have not committed any sins to my ears. Interesting stylus shape as well. Reminds me of Jurassic Park.

Soundsmith's Strain Gauge seems to get opinions all over the map. I have never heard it so I'll just strongly suggest anyone interested to have a good, hard listen first. Also, it requires the use of the specially made preamp. So the $5500 is for the entry level strain gauge cart/preamp system. Peter is one of the nicest people and his retipping service is excellent so have no second thoughts about what kind of person you would deal with.

So, after all of my babbling I'm not going to recommend anything specific for the good Dr. I have friends who listen to very similar music, opera, chamber music, etc. It is wonderful music but not where my interest and experiences are. Based on what I have learned about what traits these folk value I would have suggested a ZYX Universe back before ZYX changed their world. I have no experience with the newer ZYX at all.

Dr_John I have a Shindo Vosne Romanee and use this with my Ortofon A90 and it is a great match. I am using the internal Shindo step-up. As mentioned above it is a very neutral cartridge. I am getting deep and tight bass with my 2A3 amps.

Spkr cables are Transparent Reference out of the 4-ohm tap to the Wilson Sophia 3's. These new speakers do handle bass much better than the prior Watt Puppy 5's which had a murderous mid-bass hump. Thanks for your lead on the SoundSmith.

Dr John, Great system.You might want to contact Jonathan Halpern at Tone Imports.He's the US distributor for Shindo. Jonathan is a vinyl lover and very helpful.

I would call Kevin Hayes at VAC and ask him which tap the 70/70 tends to sound best with - I can never remember, but I think it may be the 8 Ohm tap. I use the 8 Ohm tap because my speakers average between 6 to 10 Ohms. I've used the 4 Ohm taps for other speakers and always had success, but I would ask the question and in any event give 8 Ohms a try - my recollection is that the Sophia is relatively easy to drive (especially for a Wilson), and the output transformers on the amp are very high quality (that amp will drive 2 Ohm loads).

As for the Transparent Reference, they are certainly a fine cable, but I know that Kevin does not like speaker cables with network boxes with his amps. If you have anything else laying around, you may want to give them a shot. I've used Kimber Select all-silver and all-copper, the surprise being that the all-copper, which is comparatively much cheaper, was nearly as good as the all-silver. For the last five years, I've run Jena Symphony, which is the best match I've found.

Regarding Soundsmith, my suggestion is to call Peter Ledermann (he is "Soundsmith") and just talk to him. As noted above, he's one of the lovely guys in audio and he's not a salesman - he'll tell you what he thinks will work best, regardless of cost. He's a great person to talk to anyway, as he is also one of the few extremely knowledgeable people in audio (he's a former research scientist with IBM). Telephone is 914 739 2885 - wait for the options and then dial "9" to talk to Peter. Tell him Drake told you to call.

Good luck.