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Used Morch DP-6 or modified Origin Live Silver?

Hello vinyl-philes,

Thanks largely to this forum we've shattered the piggy bank and will soon be the recipients of a Teres 265 + Shelter 901. Now I'm stuck for a tonearm. TWL and others warn against unipivots for this cartridge. We understand and agree, so we've come down to the two arms mentioned above. Either one will just about bust the budget, so going up in price is not viable at this time.

Morch DP-6 (used, $800 + phono cable)
- offers adjustable azimuth (does it matter?)
- offers adjustable vertical damping (does it matter?)
- horizontal damping controls stiff cartridges (right?)
- ease of setup? ease of use? reliability?

OL Silver with TWL's mods ($800 + $1.79 fishing weights)
- no adjustable azimuth (does it matter?)
- no adjustable vertical damping (does it matter?)
- TWL's HIFI mod controls stiff cartridges (right?)
- ease of setup? ease of use? reliability?

Has anyone compared the sonics of these two arms with a low compliance cartridge? Your observations would be especially welcome.
dougdeacon
waltersalas's avatar
waltersalas
952 posts
 

Damn it, Tom. You tease...

Can you give us a hint?
twl
3,251 posts
 
You must be kidding! On the day that I found out that my tonearm mod just got picked-off?
4yanx
1,576 posts
 
Listen here, Tom. This issue is bigger than all of us. And then there is my retainer to consider. All together now, "SUE, SUE SUE"!
dougdeacon OP
3,338 posts
 
Hey, I go out of town for one day and this thread goes over the top. Slow down folks, I just got the Shelter today. Still waiting for the TT, stepups and an arm.

Gregm,
Mahler 8? I can't wait! Oops, I don't have Mahler 8 on LP, yet. Can you recommend an available version?

4yanx,
"Silver Bullet", excellent.

I don't know who "Sue" is. I thought audio-tweaking was largely a guy thing. And let's keep dental hardware out of this thread. Who cares about your retainer?! Mark Baker clearly owes Tom Lyons big time. How about a free rewire of Tom's arm with the cable of his choice? Seems only fair.

Twl,
I thought long and hard about the Silver vs. Encounter vs. Illustrious vs. Signature. The larger yoke of the higher end arms looks like it would go part way toward what the bullets do, but only part way. The wiring descriptions seem identical. The only clear differences are the arm tubes and mounting plates. You're far more qualified than me to estimate the relative merits, but my un-educated guess was that diminishing returns set in in a serious way once you go beyond the Encounter. If I had $1995 to spend I'd buy a new DP-6 with a 12" arm. Clear benefits there.

I HAD noticed that the computer generated image of the Silver on OL's website changed recently (in the last two weeks). Guess they were showing the Silver II, at least in concept. Congratulations on a significant compliment from Mark Baker, even if it goes unacknowledged by him.

QUESTION: will the Silver II still accept the Hifi mod? Is there a way to attach the bullets? That way I could end up with a Silver Bullet II. If the II won't accept bullets I'd love to see your shootout results. If a Silver Bullet beats a Silver II, maybe some dealer will still have a Silver I in stock that I can modify.

If I add both your side weights and your counterweight, will I have a Swinging Silver Bullet?
kingbeezer
13 posts
 
Hi Tom,

I'm interested in seeing what the hanging counterweight looks like. Any pictures you can show without giving up your future fortunes;-)?

For everyone else including Tom, where's the best place to get the Expressimo Heavywight (East Coast)? Also, I just took delivery of Ozzy's Bluenote Borromeo, so fairly soon I'll be comparing it to my HiFi OL Silver...

Beez
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