2. analog
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Are there other Artisan Fidelity TT owners aorund?

So after being an audio hobbyist since my uncle got me going down this demented path some 17 years ago I finally purchased a TT. I had flirted with the idea for a very long time but honestly I've heard a number of TT's at shows and at buddies homes and none of them moved me. Now obviously many many variables are involved. Lets start with, was their TT setup correctly (superlatively).., I don't know. Was the arm/cartridge combination simpatico.., again, I don't know. Was the phono preamp just so-so or great and if it was great was the cartridge loaded correctly.., you get my drift.

So with my digital down through the years easily besting (to my ears) the analog I'd been privy to, I found no reason to spend the money required to involve myself with analog. My former Bidat easily dispatched a SOTA Cosmos Vacuum TT in a head to head listening session. Ditto for my former Dynavox Dynastation.., same with my AMR DP777...etc.

At Axpona last year I listened to the $170K Clearaudio TT along with about $85K worth of Pass Amplification and perhaps $200K worth of JM Labs speaker and cabling only to be more moved by the sound from the Playback Design MPD-5 in the same room.

Finally I realized the only way I would ever find out for myself would be to purchase my OWN TT and make sure it was expertly setup and dialed-in. I had a rare chance to purchase a latest-revision-pristine example of a Graaf GM70 Phono Preamplifier. I have a soft spot for Graaf as Mr. Mariani simply builds the finest gear I have laid ears on. So now I have this phono pre sitting in the box for a few months when I see a SP 10 MK III come up for sale in Agon. So, I threw caution to the wind and contacted Chris at Artisan Fidelity; after some conversation I hung up having just commissioned the building of a SP10 MKIII Next Gen TT.

I was happy for about a month then the fear started to creep in, "what have I done?". What if this thing SUCKS!!!! and my digital system which is very very very good if I do say so myself stomps it!

During the build I researched and read tons of user reviews (I don't really pay attention to so-called pro reviewers) on arms and cartridges. I finally settled (with a lot of talking to Chris and other friends and a lot of late night web searching) on the Kuzma 4 Point and the Ortofon MC Anna.

So, here we are today and I have had my TT for a little over 3 weeks now and I have about 150 - 160 hours on the rig. Early on it sounded ok, you know.., good but nothing special. I liked it but my digital was fully up to the task and in some cases much better :) (now I'm scared)

Ok, so fast forward to 100 hours.., ok, I think I'm starting to understand all this analog hype :) better and better. now we are at 150 hours.., the word SUBLIME comes to mind. The spaciousness, openness and natural continuity of the analog is addictive. The dynamics seem to go on forever along with a naturalness that is very difficult to put into words. I did purchase the Furutech Demag, the Destat II, a scale..., all the toys to go along with it :) Again, I wanted to know for myself and the only way to do that was to take the plunge.

So how does my digital hold up? Well, my well run-in long time AMR DP777 has NOTHING to be ashamed of. It sounds great and I can easily go from the TT to the DP without too much shock (the AMR guys are big vinyl heads and use vinyl as a reference when designing) BUT... when I have two equally well recorded pieces of music (Best of Eva Cassidy comes to mind or Diana Krall Live in Paris 24/96 vs 180g/45) as good as my digital sounds the SP10MK III simply walks away. Again the digital is not trodden underfoot and indeed 20 seconds of the digital and you will be into it fully, but the analog rig beguiles with its effervescent ease and infinite continuity of musical flow.

Ok, so to end this long synopses.., I am now deeply into analog and have been going to local used record stores and burning up my cc on Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds...etc.

The folks at Artisan Fidelity are the real deal and they built me a museum quality +180 pound Porsche Basalt Black TT/piece of art that sounds AMAZING!!!!

I also ordered a Bassocontinuo Apogeo rack for the table which should arrive in about 2 weeks. I am enjoying my foray into the land of analog!!!

THANKS CHRIS!!!!!!!
audiofun
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
Audiofun, Congratulations on your SP10 MK3. The photographs are beautiful and the plinth that Artisan Fidelity designed seems very well suited for the purpose. I have read many reports about the superior performance of this turntable, particularly from fellow member Albert Porter. I have a local friend who has an SP10 MK2a in one of Albert's Panzerholtz plinth.

In fact, your Panzerholtz plinth seems to be a very similar design to his Porter Plinth that many people use for their Technics turntables. I don't know much about the discussion concerning modifications to these tables, but I have learned a little from this thread about what is involved, and it is fascinating.

I'm curious if you have tried any form of isolation under your unsuspended MK3. Albert and I both use Vibraplane platforms which work very well. MikeL uses an active Herzan platform and reports excellent results.

Welcome to the world of analog. You have entered it in very fine fashion and it seems as though you are really enjoying your LPs. Congratulations again.
audiofun OP
799 posts
 
Hi Peterayer: Thank you :)

I know that Chris built a plinth that was modeled after the original MK3 plinth the SH10-B5 which is a design that has been around for about +30 years, but I do not have that design. I have the NG design and I do not believe it closely resembles the SH10-B5/Porter design/efforts.

Panzerholtz is a cool and material which I found out about..,I believe around 2003 or '04 not sure when searching a database comparing the densities of various woods. It has some incredible properties and lends itself to plinth usage very very well. I started my own speaker design about 10 years ago and it employs Panzerholtz in key locations.

Concerning support, I purchased a Bassocontinuo Arpoge dedicated stand for the table and the table itself rests on 3 or 4 (I have it currently configured for 4) Stillpoints Ultra 5 feet. I have owned 2 Halcyonic Silencers and while they work, I found the active nature of those units to hurt rather help most items. Examples: The Silencer had negative affects on my AMR DP777 (which now has custom Duelund VSF Black caps on the output stage); my former Music First Audio Reference TVC was adversely affected (transformers are electromechanical and very subject to vibration); my Graaf Modena was adversely affected as well. In the end, the only device that responded well, actually very very well was my uncles $12,500 Ayon CD5-S which I was breaking in for him. I opened the Ayon up and I may know why; the CDM2 PRO drive unit is supported by nothing more than 4 metal rods, with NO type of isolation at all, I was a bit shocked at how it was mounted, certainly not what I expected to see in a $13K CD player/dac, just metal to metal with off-the-shelf stand-offs.

I had been in talks with the owner of Minus k before the Silencers arrived and told him I would let him know my thoughts (which I did). I am going to try the Minus k solution to see what results I can obtain. At this point I seem to have no vibrational issues but you never know until you try:) If the Minus k is a big plus, I plan to have a dedicated countersunk stand which I am in the process of designing built to hold the table.

I would like to know what MikeL's findings are with his active solution though I think MikeL has since moved on from his Dobbins SP10 MK3. I think (please correct me if I am mistaken) he went to the Kodo Beat and then the Wave Kinetics NVS.

My table sounds superb (to me) as everything has settled in and now it does that weird holographic thing where images are literally out in the room, I've actually looked to my side and behind me a couple of times thinking something was going on in different parts of the room only to realize it was the systems imaging capabilities.

Next up I plan on the addition of the Kuzma Airline Linear Tracker with a London Reference and I have my Garrard 401 build underway. I had a chance to hear on the Artisan Fidelity Garrard 301's with the Statement Inverted Bearing and Platter (Ikeda 407 + 9TT). The cartridge only had about 20 hours and the arm only 6 hours but it was promising, very good flow with great energy. Literally made me feel like I was at a table at an intimate Jazz set.
audiofun OP
799 posts
 
I found the following information on the KAB site extremely interesting:

-----www.kabusa.com/myth4.htm----
audiofun OP
799 posts
 
Peterayer:

You mentioned that I entered the world of analog in fine fashion (thank you for that :). I sorta laugh when I think about the way I went about this excursion :) I could have got in at a lower price point to see if it were viable but as I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, my digital has been quite a bit better than most analog I have been exposed to, so I figured I had to start a bit higher. I also considered that by the time I purchased various tables/arm/cartridges and sold them (at a loss) on the way to the next step up I would probably end up spending more (with the losses I would inevitably suffer by selling the gear to be replaced) in the long run than just going for it :)

I am glad I did it the way I did. I am, however, in a funny position when it comes to people asking me about lesser tone-arms or cartridges :) I don't have much to say/contribute because I started with the 4 Point and a MC Anna. I have very little "hands-on" experience with other arms/cartridges. I plan to experiment with the Garrard 401 as the Ikeda arm I am installing has a detachable headshell so it will be easier to experiment with MM and other MC cartridges. I am also installing a Jelco 10.5" arm in the secondary position of the 401 and will probably run a mono cartridge in that position. The Jelco will be rewired of course. This is fun and my older analog buddies are having a good time introducing me to the jazz masters from yesteryear.
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
That all sounds wonderful, Audiofun. I'm surprised by your results with the Halcyonics units, but then, I've never heard them.

I admire your approach into analog. As you can afford one of the best tables, you saved yourself a lot of time and some money by not trying our lesser tables first. The SP10 MK3 is one of the few other tables I considered before buying my rather substantial SME 30/12.

I hear that same sound filling the room all around me while listening to the best recordings. I think this is a result of two things: 1) having a very resolving system, and 2) having the proper speaker/listener relationship to the room. They all have to work together to create a believable presentation, but once you've experienced it, it is very hard to settle for less.

You are right about the turntables that MikeL has tried. There are lots of details on his system page and I find the discussion about his latest tonearm quite interesting. He also has the Anna.

You may also want to contact Albert Porter about arm/cartridge combinations on the SP10MK3. He has tried many and now uses two identical arms with two different cartridges. His and MikeL's are two of the systems I would love to hear someday.

I'd be very interested in learning more about the rest of your system. Have you considered creating a virtual system page? You could update followers in that thread who want to learn more about what you are doing.
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