Tarheel TJ

Newby question here. Thebes (or anyone else who can answer), I have never swapped cartridges before (this is the only TT I have ever owned). I know a thorough setup is required when swapping carts, but what about just the stylus? Do you have to re-align everything if you just swap the stylus, or is it plug and play?

I have definitely been intrigued by the Denon styli over the years. They do seem to get great reviews. Are you using it with a step up transformer or a MC phono stage, or will it work with a normal, MM phono stage?

Thanks for the response. At this point, I would like to try to stick with a high compliance cartridge. I have read that the TD-190 has some problems converting to heavier cartridges. The counterbalance weight doesn't extend out far enough to properly compensate. It seems that it really was designed exclusively for use with a lightweight headshell/cartridge.

I am in the process of completely redoing my basement music room and home theater. Our sump pump failed during a rainstorm that followed a 14 inch snow storm back in December (that is a LOT of snow for NC). This led to a wet basement with flooring and drywall needing to be replaced. Thankfully, none of my speakers or electronics were damaged. All of the work is almost done with, so I will soon be putting the system back together. I also just recently purchased an ultrasonic record cleaning setup from cleanervinyl.com. My plan is to clean all of my records, one by one, before returning them to the shelf in the newly refurbished basement. Most of them are thrift store purchases in various states of (un)cleanliness, so this should make for a big improvement in sound quality. What better way to capitalize on a newly cleaned record collection, than a nice new cartridge? My turntable is a Thorens TD-190, currently using an Ortofon OM-10 cartridge. It is a modern Thorens, not one of the storied classics, but it has worked very well for me. It uses a lightweight arm, which is supposed to pair best with a high compliance cartridge. The obvious upgrade would be to simply replace the stylus with an OM-30 or OM-40 stylus (~$300 and $365, respectively). My question is, is this the best upgrade for my money? Are there any other high compliance cartridges that I should be looking at instead? Lets put the budget at $400 (maybe stretch to $500 if it is REALLY worth it).

I have an MP-301, which I used as a power amp for many years (just turn the volume knob all the way up), with a separate preamp. For the money, it was a pretty good amp. It definitely did sound quite different with different tubes. I tried 6l6, KT88 and EL34 with it, all had a characteristic sound. I eventually went to a Latino ST70, as I could never quite eliminate the hum from the MP-301. It would probably be unnoticeable on most speakers, but it was annoying with 103dB La Scalas. I'm not sure how Fortes would fare here. Probably would be ok. There are also some mods out there that are supposed to eliminate the hum and provide more capacitance to the power supply. I actually bought the parts to do this, and never got around to installing them, as I got the ST70 around that time. All in all, not bad for a ~$400 investment. Will definitely give you a taste of the tube sound, but definitely not the end-all be-all. A true SET amp (using a "real" triode like 45, 2a3 or 300b) will be much more expensive. SEP can give you a taste of that sound for a lot less. If you like what you hear, you can always upgrade to something better down the road.

Chris, I seem to remember that at one point you were working on an MEH kit were you not? I believe you were talking about something that could get a similar result without having to cut holes in a K-402. Is that still in the works? I would love to build a set of MEHs, but I have a tough time spending $2000 on horns just to drill into them. If not, I may try to cobble up something myself. Thanks!

I tend to agree with the OP. When I tested out my Latino ST70 on my Heresies, it had more balls in UL mode. Now that I use it from 500hz and up in a multi-amped setup, triode mode sounds sweeter.

" In contrast, a push/pull amplifier, which uses a pair (or more) of tubes, splits the plus/minus of the music signal, then it has to put them back together to form the complete musical wave in each channel. " I believe the author is confusing push/pull operation with class A/B operation. They are not the same thing. Push pull operation uses two tubes in opposing polarity to push and pull the signal at the same time. A/B operation splits the signal and uses one tube to power the positive half of the wave, and one to power the negative half of the wave. This signals are then recombined. This is in contrast to a class A amplifier, which passes the complete signal (positive and negative) through one tube (or set of tubes). A/B operation suffers from crossover distortion, class A does not. Though they are not particularly common, it is entirely possible to build a class A, push/pull amplifier. Someone correct me if I am misunderstanding this.

Definitely interested in this topic. Though I am mostly focused on 2-channel, I do have a pair of Heresies running surround duties in a 4.1 setup with a phantom center. I mostly use 2-channel for music and the full surround setup for movies. To be honest, I haven't really tried any multi-channel music with it, but I would be very interested in checking it out. I wonder if the severe mismatch in capability between my fronts (DSP EQ'ed and Multi-amped) and rears (stock Heresies powered by the receiver) would create an issue? For movies, it is fine, since the surround sound channels are mostly used for ambient sounds or the occasional car or jet streaking from back to front. It seems like for critical listening, the mismatch might be more noticeable? Any recommendations on some multichannel material to try out? I am mostly a rock and roll guy, but I like just about everything.

I am currently running the B&C DE750TN. It is the only 2" driver I have tried and all I have to compare it to is the stock K-55. It is a pretty huge upgrade from the K-55, but I guess any 2" driver would be. It takes some pretty serious EQ to tame the spike in response at ~15khz (Ti diaphragm breakup), but it sounds good once you do. I am crossing at around 500hz. I think it would struggle to hit 400hz, though maybe with a big enough horn..... I am keen to try out some beryllium diaphragm drivers in the future. Would love to try TADs, but am very tempted by the Radian Be offerings due to price. They seem to be much more affordable than the TADs. Also curious about the JBL Be offerings.

I know this setup is still very much a work in progress, but what are your overall impressions of the TAD beryllium vs. the BMS co-axial? Which produces better highs?

Chris, Can you expand a bit on point #3? How does one measure reverberation times? I have a feeling this is one area I may need to address.

I think this really gets at the heart of why I started this thread. If you hang out here long enough, you will get the impression that K-horns, or if not those, then certainly Jubes, are the absolute top of the mountain and that nothing else compares. I too fell into this way of thinking. The speakers I have are very similar in many ways to Jubes. I also have had similar experiences to what Chris A describes. Once you get a very low-distortion speaker setup in a well-treated room and EQ it flat, a lot of other differences melt away. I can easily tell the difference between tube and solid-state, or even various types of tube amps when used with a stock pair of Heresies. With my multi-amped DSP setup.... not nearly as much. My general feeling after reaching this point is that there just wasn't that much more improvement to be made. After all, if you stop hearing much difference where you used to hear it before, what is the point of continuing to change things? That is why my experience in front of the kilo-buck system was so interesting. His system did not resemble my own, and it did not resemble the "top of the mountain" type systems you often see on here. And yet, it was really, really good. I have been doing some listening to my own system since, and it is also really, really good, although a little different in presentation. However, I can't help but miss a little bit of sparkle and magic that his had. Again, I think a lot of this was source related more than speaker related. I guess my main point in posting was to marvel at the excellent results this gentleman was able to achieve from such a drastically different approach. His passive crossover, non-horn speaker, non DSP setup easily equaled my own in most areas, and far surpassed it in others. Granted, he has some 40 or 50 times the investment that I do, so I suppose this shouldn't be too surprising. It is just interesting to me that there appears to be more than one way to skin this cat. I still definitely believe in the approach that I and others (like Chris A) have taken. It absolutely appears to be the most effective way to achieve what we are all looking for..... but as I have learned, it is not the only way.

Interesting stuff Chris. I love seeing measurements like this! That reminds me of another interesting point. Having just stepped into R2R playback this year, I was particularly excited to sample his Tape Project reel. The sound was superb, no doubt (was a Nat King Cole tape). However, I think I came away more impressed with his vinyl rig. To me, it sounded just a little bit better even than the tape did. I was always under the impression that high speed tape was the best analog format available. While this may indeed be true, I was surprised that the vinyl was able to keep up (maybe even beat it). Glad to know it, as there is a much greater selection of music on LP than there ever was on R2R.

Thank you for your kind offer. A front-end upgrade is definitely on the menu for me, haha. I could definitely stand some improvement in that arena.

My current speakers are not anything like stock La Scalas. They are more like a Jub-scala than anything else, and with a very powerful horn-loaded sub to boot. Stock Khorns or Cornwalls would be a downgrade for me. I have never heard full Jubilees so I can't comment. I have no doubt they are lovely. I considered the expectation bias thing, but I don't really think that came into play here. If anything, I was not expecting his setup to be so good. It is true, his room was setup well and included room treatments etc, but so is mine. I have heard my system (maybe $5-6k invested) best $30k+ systems before. Furthermore, his system was built around ideas that I don't normally associate with great performance (lower efficiency, high amplifier power, expensive cables and boutique electronics). Thus, you can imagine my surprise when it performed so fantastically well. He did play it loud, surprisingly so in fact. It held up well. Bass was strong and punchy, and it never got distorted or congested sounding in the least. Very dynamic. It may not be able to hit live rock concert levels like a good pair of horns can, but it got plenty loud enough, and sounded good doing it. I really think his very high end sources had a lot to do with it, and those are things that could easily benefit my own system as well. After all, I am running a sub-$1k turntable with a ~$50 cartridge on it. Not really fair to compare to his setup, which costs as much as a nice compact car. Same for the tape setup, I have a basic 7" reel Teac, playing pre-recorded 7.5ips tapes. He was running a $10k Otari with $450 tape reels turning at 15ips. I'm really bringing a knife to a gun fight in this area.

His room was treated. Was similar in size to my own, but with the benefit of a higher ceiling. Veloceleste, if anything, the opposite was true. My system excels at the large scale stuff. It consists of large speakers in a large room. It can get quite expansive! The detail is exactly what was so impressive about this high-dollar rig. It just gave so much more information from the records. So much inner detail, harmonics, sparkle, etc. The kinds of things I have only heard through headphones before now. This makes me think that the sources are where my system is most lacking. That, and perhaps the highest frequencies. I don't think my 2" compression drivers are extending quite as high or as cleanly as the diamond tweeters from those Martens.

Over the holiday weekend, I had the opportunity to listen to a truly state of the art system. Went over to a family friend's house and listened to a 2-channel system valued at around $200,000. The system consisted of Marten Coltrane 3 speakers, EAR tube amplification, a very high end Grado phono cartridge, Otari R2R with Tape Project tapes, etc. I spent about two hours listening to a variety of sources including CD, phono and tape. I could have easily stayed and listened to the wee hours. I was absolutely blown away by the clarity and detail of this system. It was like nothing I have ever heard before. Without trying to toot my own horn, I regard my own system very highly. I am running an active system with La Scala bass bins, 2" compression driver HF horns and a BFM THT sub. I use a mix of tube and solid state amplification. It goes from 20hz-20khz with excellent clarity and dynamics and a flat frequency response. I have only heard it bested once or twice, and that was by very high-priced systems in audio stores. The system I heard this weekend, however, was a whole different ball of wax. It had clarity, dimension and depth the likes of which I have never experienced. It truly changed what I thought was possible to do with audio reproduction. I definitely now have the itch to upgrade, but it is a bit disheartening to think about. No matter what I upgrade, the end result will certainly not be able to match what I just heard. Anyone else have such an experience?

Thanks Emile. Just ordered it!

Thanks for the advice everyone. Sounds like this is potentially a DIY fix? I'll order a belt kit and download a service manual and go from there. Any advice on the type of grease to use?

Anyone out there experienced with Reel to Reel machines? I am new to the format and I have a question. A few months ago, my father-in-law gave me his basically brand-new Teac A-2300. He bought it decades ago, used it very little, and then stored it for a long time. When I got it, it was still in the original box, without a scratch on it! Like I said, basically brand new. I bought a take-up reel for it and a few pre-recorded tapes. I have been using it without any problems for a few months. Now, however, the machine does not seem to create enough tension in the tape to keep playing. I can start a tape, it will play for a few minutes, and then the tension arm on the right-hand side of the machine will drop down due to lack of tension. The machine will shut off as if the tape had run out. Any insight into what might be causing this? Is there a worn or aged component that needs to be replaced? Perhaps an adjustment somewhere? The machine has seen very little use, but it is almost 50 years old. I am totally new to these machines, so I really don't know what I am doing yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am sure there are other ways of doing it, but I used epoxy and filler to do mine. It worked very well.

Wow, helluva deal. I thought I stole mine when I paid $350 for the pair. They were in FAR worse shape than yours and took a lot of work to make them look and sound good. Enjoy!

The answer is simple. Biamp and use one of each.

I have bought several items from Massdrop. Knives and watches mostly. I did buy a very cheap ($99) tube amp off of there, mostly to have as a back up in case one of my main units goes down. Like others have said, there is a bit of a wait, but I have never waited more than 3 or 4 weeks. Their prices are great and I have never been let down by any of their products.