Best MC for a Linn/Syrinx

Hi John,
Thanks for all that. The Grado sounds very nice on the Linn.
The arm is indeed one b--r of a thing to set up !
It is very musical and I may try the acoire - not until the arm has been re-wired though - the originals are a dogs breakfast.

As to the xerxes, I have stripped it down & will take your advice re the material for the toplate - seems easier all round & probably best as you say.Not sure on the replacement motor or a dc kit - price will probably be the issue.
Thanks, I'll keep you posted.

Rgds Simon

Of course, the best motor out there is the one on the Lenco...But since the Roksan motor's peculiar mounting (free to roam to eliminate belt-wow via its spring), will you be able to spring-load a different motor as well? This is a large part of the reason the Roksan sounds so good: an oblique approach at getting more of the speed stability a good idler-wheel drive can give you ("This advertisement brought to you by..."), as the rotating motor casing eliminates much of the belt-reaction which plagues belt-drives in general. To change the motor is to interfere with the central design aspect of the Roksan's sound. I would simply call Roksan for a new motor, which has got to be cheaper than the OL motor (buy a Lenco and do it right instead!), and perhaps wiser too. Just me being cautious.

Regards,
John...
And Lenco!

Hi John,
The syrinx was a pain to set up but the Grado sounds amazingly good on the linn! To many years of mega money mc's.
Roksan want £295 if they can source a new motor - I am looking at alternatives - I could amlomost buy a recon car engine for this price let alone a turntable motor.
Someone must have the know how to recon my existing motor.
Ah well gives me more time to source a new toplate.
Incidentally there are so many areas of the xerxes that are really shoddy, I am modifying bits here & there.
Rgds Simon

Simon, I often use my Grado Platinum on a low-mass tonearm as well, on the Ariston RD80 (very similar to the Linn) on the Black Widow, and on my Lenco/Decca International. MMs in general really open up on low-mass tonearms, but since they are almost invariably put on such arms as the Rega (medium/high mass), no one really hears what a good MM can do. I find the sound of the Platinum in this rig so good that I have no need to know what a Sonata or higher Grado can do! Since hearing a Shure V15VMRx on a good 'table, I've been drifting away from MCs, which to my ear cannot match MMs at Prat or more subtle rhythmic interplays, or for swing or overall "analogue" sound. Hearing a Grado for the first time on a low-mass tonearm showed me the possibilities.

Re. 'tables, as far as I am concerned there are the classic three-point suspension decks with metal platters (which major on Prat and musicality), there are the idler-wheel drives in solid non-resonant plinths with metal platters (prat, bass, dynamics and information), and there's nothing else, as high-mass belt-drives cannot compete with suspended designs for Prat, or with the idler-wheel drives at anything else or Prat, and acrylic subtracts a large part of the frequency spectrum, being grossly coloured to my ears (they lose the mid-bass where much of the "meat" resides: bogus clarity which passes because our ears are now accustomed to digital sound). Good luck with your Roksan project, and beware, as the Platinum on a low-mass tonearm on a 3-point suspended design will seduce you to the "Dark Side", (and "neutrality" - I think actually another gross colouration - be damned!), and your Roksan will lay fallow!

In addition to the Ariston set-up, I've just restored what I believe to be a NOS Thorens TD160 MKII (it missed the wall-wart and belt), and I can't believe how good this 'table is, or the arm (TP16 MKII)! A plastic Grado is on it to hear what it can do, and it can do lots! That bass has to be attributable to the (heavy) metal platter. And being another 3-point suspension, it has the usual musicality. Unfortunately, this one is being sold to a vinylphile in need, boo-hoo.

Rgs,
John

Hi John,
re vta for the Grado - I have set the suspension on the Linn and it's sounding nice but trying to get a balanced sound via the vta & tracking weight is driving me nuts.
The best' balance' has the arm pillar set with the arm running uphill to the bearing end, which then fouls the lid.
The bass is great but the vocals are very subdued in the mix.

On the Roksan front - how do you think your suggested Finnish Beech ply - about 18mm, would be affected by a thin Corian plate (about 7mm)bonded to the top of it ?
It's just that the cut out in the toplate goes much wider after the initial 7mm & would be easier to manufacture as two pieces?
I was also thinking about using aceytal as an armboard so that different ones could be made up - a bigger circumference hole at the arm base with a round plate bolted to the toplate - would love to hear the syrinx on the xerxes.
Rgds Simon