Trans Temp W, Magic Diamond cartridges - comments

I'm loving this thread, everybody is being so civil and informative! Thanks Raul, Reb, Speedy, et al. I'd like to know what everyone has found to be the best loading for the Transfiguration series. I'm using 100 ohms with my W right now. It's a convenient preset on my (ML 25s) phono preamp. Perhaps I should customize it up or down? What are the rest of you using?

Nsgarch: +++ " From the foregoing, you can understand how I came to the conclusion that the cartridge (and arm) should be parallel to the record surface, and that I should expect to see the stylus "point ..." +++++

You are right. But as you know this position can change with a different audio system/ears/music priorities.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Nsgarsh,you are a GOD.Thanks for prodding me into a bit more experimentation!As I have just(last week)gotten my SOTA COSMOS back,from the latest update,and added a Symposium Ultra Shelf as a support,I did some more experimentation last night.Stayed up 'til 3:00am.Well guess what?You are right.My tip sounds best a WEE BIT tilted back.Unbelieveable!!That does mean my 2.2 is tilted down,in the rear.AND my instructions print,as your's do.Thanks for questioning me.

One thing I've learned here,is NOT to take myself too seriously,as I can always learn new stuff,about "The art of music reproduction in the home",by being open minded!

As for loading,I am at 47k,but there could be a better setting,for all I know.I have tried all the settings on my phono's outside switch,and the 47k sounds best to me,but,what do I know?I'm not about to start sodering resistors,inside the unit,unless I had real confirmation,about optimum,in my own gear!I did find 100 to be slow,on my set-up,but all set-ups are different.Thanks,and good luck to all,who have replied to this interesting topic!

By the way,I have a BEAUTIFUL LP,of a handbell concert,recorded in a Church(in Princeton NJ)using bells weighing up to 17lbs.Incredibly detailed an dynamic,with multiple bells adding to a true room filling,and floor to ceiling perspective.This has been a FABULOUS disc,to dial parameters into,due to the fact that it is really easy to "get off" on the incredible open, lilting and almost vaulting sound.However if the cartridge parameters are not perfect,you lose the metallic sound,and the bells begin to sound glassy.Especially the tiny bells.If you have all set correctly,and this is where I MUST thank you,Ngarch,the final vta,yields some of the LOWEST distortion,sweet and airy bell tones(one really must hear this disc to believe how great it is)imagineable.So STUNNING,in fact,that I laughed,last night,at the thought that I did not own diamond tweeters,and only had "lowly" titanium drivers,that were ONLY ruler flat to 25k!

The name of this treasure is-The Pealing Bells Of The Westminster Handbell Choir!Cost me a buck,at the Princeton Record Exchange.Finding gems like this,to me,is what this hobby is all about.Not, how much technical knowledge I have picked up over the years.The knowledge we obtain,should only serve the "accuracy"of our systems.Being open to questioning,of our own practices and experiences,only furthers our understanding and ultimate enjoyment!!

PS-If anyone could add experiences as to the subject of phonostage tube rolling,I would be very interested.As my amp is a modded Rowland(2 chasis)8t,with switch mode power supply in second chasis,I only have 3 tubes to deal with,which are in the phono section of my Pre.Thanks to all!!

My V will be delivered on Tuesday. I plan to start with VTA alignment by ignoring the body and taper of the armtube. Concentrating on the angle the stylus is at when VTF is at 1.9gm. I have the ability to infinitely adujust VTA with my set-up. From there, I'll spin the tunes and not be too picky until break-in occurs. I tend to prefer minimal cartridge loading. In my case, the phonostage I'm using allows 22k and down. My experience with loading down MC's has not been very positive.

RE: cartridge loading and stylus rake angle:

Maybe the reason some of you are getting seemingly better response with the cartridge/arm at a negative angle is because that would compensate for the kind of non-linear response created when the cartridge load is set way too high (like 47K ohms)

The recommended load for the W is >9 ohms (>3 ohms for a V)
so I think it behooves one to start at the lower end of the scale and work one's way up. I tried 30 ohms (the lowest preset on my preamp) and the response was great in terms of information retrieval, but not much focus, no "sparkle" and bass was a little "wooley." A friend who tried 50 ohms said that 50 ohms wasn't quite enough either, and that I should try a little bit higher setting. Well, my next two higher presets are 100 ohms and 825 ohms. I had already tried 825 ohms when I installed the Temper W because that's where the preamp had been set for my vdH Frog. But that had sounded very bright and lacked bass and body. So this time I only went up to the 100 ohm setting, and it was magic -- HOWEVER -- please bear in mind that all this was with the arm/cartridge parallel to the record, meaning the stylus was raked back (from the side it looks like it's leaning forward) the standard 1+ degree or so that the cutter heads are set for.

Groove undulations not only wiggle from side to side, they also angle forward, because a cutter head has to point backward (at 1 degree) like a chisel, so the wax cuttings will fly away as it's making the goove. If you have a spherical or elliptical stylus, it doesn't matter a lot if the stylus is vertical, or leaning a little forward or backward, because it fits in the groove more or less the same (inaccurate) way in all three cases. BUT, with the new generation of micro-ridge styli, vdH being one of the first in the early 1990's, (if not THE first) it's a whole 'nother matter. These styli are chisel or "spade" shaped, almost like the cutter head itself. If they sit vertically in the groove (or -yikes!- tilted backward) then their sharp side edges actually scrape over, or "clip" the tops of the forward-slanting groove undulations! Paradoxically, even "mis-set" that way, they still sound better than conventional (old-type) styli because their very tip (at the bottom of the groove) can still "see" information that elliptical styli miss.

To extract all the information in the groove, these new styli must "see" the groove from top to bottom, and the only way they can do that is if they can lock into the groove by leaning forward at exactly the same angle as the cutter head.

Now, one can go on and on expounding on the vagaries of different systems and components and tubes and rooms ad nauseum -- however, there are certain scientifically proven mechanical and electronic rules that must apply "across the board" regardless of the equipment or the room. I have just described a couple of them.

Happy listening.