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
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.
audiofun OP
799 posts
 
I have heard that your turntable is one incredibly built machine and built to extreme tolerances.

I found that the Halcyonics (Accurion) had the same effect on all the gear I mentiong above except for the Ayon, and that is a truncation of the decay. It was very apparent and basically shut the music down. I can't speak for other's experiences with active isolation but I found it to be profoundly deletarious to the sound. The Silencer worked on 6 degrees of freedom with 8 sensors but whereas it may be awesome for microscopy, IMHO, not so much for audio.
It is a stunningly beautiful piece of gear and I hated to let them go but I couldn't listen to them and it was a lot of money tied up so off they went :) At least I experienced what they were capable of :)

If you google Halcyonics Silencer you will see some images of a Silencer on a Necreous Blue Bassocontinuo rack with an AMR DP777 on it in one image and others with a Graaf GM200.., that is one of my systems. I was trying different components on the units trying to make it synergize with something, but alas.., my attempts were futile :(

I have thought about a virtual page, but I would not keep it up :) I enjoy more of the occassional posting and reading.
audiofun OP
799 posts
 
One thing I missed, the Silencer did perform very very well with my AMR Dac initially, but when I replaced the stock output caps with the Duelund VSF Blacks the Silencer became a very big detractor to the AMR's sound. I never came to a definitive answer as to why that was the case. Interesting to note that the Ayon used Mundorf output caps and I think the stock AMR output caps are an OEM Mundorf device.., so maybe that is it. Perhaps the Mundorfs respond well to the active cancellation whereas the Duelends respond in exactly the opposite manner.
audiofun OP
799 posts
 
Beatlebum: You are correct sir, I now have "Tears of Joy" and this is an awesome work of art. Turns out I had it in the form of CD but was unaware that it was in my possession as a friend had lent me his binder of (CD) picks for fantastic music. I was looking through it this morning and was shocked (pleasantly) to see the title.

I now of course have to get the title on LP if they have it but I must say this CD is recorded EXTREMELY WELL, nothing to sleep on :)
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