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To those with multiple tables/arms/cartridges

How do you 'play' your system?
For 30 years I had only one turntable, one arm and one cartridge......and it never entered my mind that there was an alternative?
After upgrading my turntable nearly 5 years ago to a Raven AC-3 which allowed easy mounting of up to four tonearms......I decided to add two arms.
RAVEN
A few years later I became interested in Direct Drive turntables and purchased a vintage 30 year old Victor/JVC TT-81 followed shortly after by the top-of-the-line TT-101 and I designed and had cast 3 solid bronze armpods which I had lacquered in gloss black.
TT-101
By this time I had over 30 cartridges (both LOMCs and MMs) all mounted in their own headshells for easy interchange.
STORAGE

Every day I listen to vinyl for 3-4 hours and might play with one cartridge on one arm on one table for this whole day or even two or three days.
I then might decide to change to a different arm and cartridge on a the same table or perhaps the other.....and listen to the last side I had just heard on the previous play.
I am invariably thrilled and excited by the small differences in presentation I am able to hear....and I perhaps listen to this combination for the next few days before again lusting after a particular arm or cartridge change?

Is this the way most of you with multiple cartridges/arms listen?......or are there other intentions involved?
128x128halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Dear Thuchan,
why are we talking about limiting? The word limit itself is something I do very hard in most life environments. Maybe better: Take it to the limit... vroom!
You know.....I think you're right! :-)
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
And when a 8k cartridge is absolutely inferior in comparison to a 2k cartridge, then there are only 2 ways: To deny that, or to think about that.
This is what I also found.
When a 21st century $4,000 or $5,000 or $10,000 dollar LOMC is outperformed by a 20th century $1,500 LOMC......I shake my head.

And when a 30 year old vintage MM cartridge can be better than ALL of them.....I simply wonder at the gullibility of audiophiles world-wide.

There are fortunately, some amongst us....like the Professor (Timeltel)....who has the knowledge to 'philosophically' INVENT a new cartridge?
A 'Franken-cartridge' whereby he takes the body of a vintage MM like the AT-13Ea....and by modifying the stylus assembly of the AT-155Lc....he melds the two together to produce a cartridge for a few hundred dollars which just sounds amazing!
Yet so few will ever hear one?
timeltel
830 posts
 
Regards, Halcro: Good to hear you're enjoying the Frankencart. If given a name, as is sometimes done, Serendipity would be appropriate. Like John Bunyan's hero Pilgrim, some wander, hoping for a certain destination but meanwhile find the way strewn with lessons.

Fifteen or so varieties of headshells here, just an enthusiast. If audio aficionados were to be described as univores/omnivores----

Peace,
wrm57
1,046 posts
 
Nandric, try this Blakean riddle on for size:

The truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed.

Translated into audio: if the music moves you, the system does, too. That's a truth known to all music lovers if not all audiophiles.

Timeltel, your reference to Pilgrim is right on. As a sometime mountain climber, I usually find the peaks to be the least interesting part of the climb.
griffithds
852 posts
 
Hello all,

I have just found this very interesting thread and discovered many familiar prior acquaintances.
Hi Halco, Syntax, Pryso, my comrade Nadric, Lewn, Sonnyboy 1956, The Professor (Timeltel), Thuchan, and others. Do I smell muntinity?
I hope I'm welcomed aboard. Reads like this could be quite a fun/informative thread. Already on my 2nd reread!

Regards,
Don
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