Reed tonearm w/ Raven One table-how's the match ?

Hi Opus,

Once you start playing with reed arms and acustic tables you are starting to 'tinker' with some pretty fancy toys! You are now the head chef and connoisseur of sound.

Tonight i was shooting out a tron 7 reference with my audion quattro! The tron going into the linestage of the audion with a zen silver mk2 cable and cardas golden going from quattro to audion elite amp.

This is a good example of 'connoisseurship' wow...two great phonostages! Spitting hairs to find out 'best'. The differences are so fine and you have to really listen carefully. Its interesting to watch my ear develop over the years to be able to discern and pick up whats going on or not.

Then the results are somewhat effected by cabling and synergy its so fine it could go one way or another. I do try each component with a few different cables to try and make sure i am getting to the bottom of a component but there are so many variables that with a different system, who knows how the results would come out. This doesnt bother me , i just find it fascinating.

I mean audion quattro, tron 7 reference, this is pretty big league stuff! These designers are putting their all into these preamps and they are great but you can still hear their frailties.

Opus, did you know that at 40 years of age hearing slowly and naturally begins to drop off? Our ears are a pretty important component in the playback chain!

I guess i mention this because i am aware that i can have the most stellar playback but my ears are slowly starting to say good bye. Its ok with me. I'm just aware of this reality and we should come to terms with the degree of playback possible and come to terms with it and be grateful for what we do get. Tell you something you dont know!

I came close to buying a talea tonearm awhile back but ended up with a breuer 8c mk2.

I see components as colors on a painters palate and you and i are the painter. The talea like the breuer and the reed are great paints to begin to paint with. They're no silver bullet though... These are better than others out there because of the quality of their materials and design but more important than the paints is what the painter can put together. You're the painter! Use the best paints available as a starting point and create something unique and beautiful! The more you paint the better a painter you become. Its highly unlikely your first painting will be a masterpiece but just keep painting. Eventually we'll gain insights and get better. I speak to myself too.

I may be wrong but i believe putting together a system is an art that transcends 'this is better than that' so that good sound sometimes transcends price and hype. Make a system that transcends price, convention or hype!

May you love your sound! Good luck in your quest.

Have a good night. good night.

06-29-11: Mikelavigne

in fairness to the Reeds, the Talea is more money; the Reed is still the best arm i've heard other than the Talea.

Hey Mike, can you better describe/quantify what you like better in the Talea arm ? What kind of wood did you use for the wands on the Reed's ? What is the wood for the Talea ? Does Talea offer different kind's of wood for their wands ? TIA.

Vertigo...You've got me smiling, because I know exactly what you're saying when you talk about fine differences in sound, age related hearing loss and using cables for tonal coloring like the painter uses his brush. Like you, I'm certainly familiar with these things. I'm 68, and it's been nearly 45 years for me in this hobby(?). You're right, it is fascinating, and at times can be frustrating, mystifying, and let's not forget rather costly. But when they arrive, the rewards are quite substantial. Without going into details, I'll simply say at this moment I'm a bit off track in terms of where I was a short while ago. I'm confident things will bounce back fairly soon, but first I must try a few minor adjustments, and if those don't satisfy, possibly a front end change. Anyhow, thanks very much for your concern and your kind comments. My best wishes to you too for enjoyable listening!!

I heard Reed 2P on Raven One today, with Cocobolo arm, copper phono cable into ASR Basis Exclusive Phono into Soulution pre/power (the stereo amp one) with Magico Q3. Cartridge was Miyajima Kansui. I was very impressed although the speakers are brand new and not burned in yet.Very very smooth, a touch on the warm side. Unfortunately I could not compare it to any other arm directly but the combination certainly works. I heard the same Raven One with Raven arm and Miyajima Shilabe in the past but Raven arm does not really match with Shilabe due to Miyajima's compliance so it is probably not a fair comparison for Raven anyhow and I have not heard Shilabe in direct comparison with Kansui in the same system yet. But Kansui/Reed combination certainly outperform Shilabe/Raven from what I can tell by a wide margin.

Rockitman,

one of my Reed 10.5" 2P's had Red Cedar, the other had Cocobolo.

the 1st generation Talea has Jatoba wood in the arm wand, the 2nd generation Talea has Brazilian Rosewood. i have one of each. there is no choice of woods with the Talea.

i'm not sure this thread is the place to get into why i prefer the Talea arms over the Reed, ask me that on my system thread or a new thread and i'll be glad to get into it....with all due respect.