+ Headshell = ortofon. Does the Sumiko or LpGear ZuPreme lock into place well? In my setup, I can twist the ortofon even when it's screwed down. There is quite alot of excess tolerance around the pin / tone arm connection.
--The Sumiko and ZuPreme headshells have TWO locking pins, one above and one below. If you don't get a rock-solid connection with these headshells, then your locking collar needs tightening or fixing. Read Needle Doctor's
customer reviews of the Sumiko headshell and you'll get an idea of what it brings to the party.
+ Fluid dampener - yes, this was one of the upgrades on the list. I was also going to rewire the tone arm. I hear it's a PITA, but well worth it.
--Yep. I never did the tonearm rewire because the M5G and GLD versions have OFC wiring in the tonearm. I admit that some high purity litz like KAB is selling would be even better, as would upmarket interconnects, but I'm getting very satisfying sound now so I'm leaving it as-is. I added the fluid damper and was very happy with the results once I got the fluid level sorted out. Hint: don't add too much. Fill the trough about 1/3 full. It also tracks like a mo-fo.
+ The 1/4 in. mat does a pretty good job. I can't really tell a difference between the 1/4" and 1/8" mat -- i've only been using the 1/4 mat for about a week.
--Try putting a felt mat under the rubber mat and you might herar more improvement. Also, I'm using sorbothane instead of rubber, which absorbes and dissipates vibration whereas rubber tends to bounce it back.
+ This is the record weight that I've been using: www.amazon
I've only had it for a couple weeks. Not sure it really does anything with my 180g records.
--Nice grip; nicer than mine. But the cool thing is how a clamp or grip makes thin records sound more like 180g records. Also, I notice a slight reduction in noise overall with the grip.
+Hmm. So the feet i haven't though much about. The stock feet allow for level adjustment which I need. johnnyb53 - how do you level your table with the vibrapod cones?
--The stock feet are TERRIBLE! I use 3x5 index cards to shim the feet until I get the TT level. If this bothers you cosmetically, then use a Vibrapod to trace appropriate-sized circles of card stock for shimming. They should barely be visible then. You could even blacken the edges with a Sharpie pen if desired.
