Mighty Favog Posted February 22, 2002 Author Share Posted February 22, 2002 Hey Mike!! I just got two nice and pretty VN5MR styli this morning via UPS. So I guess it's official; the old body I have is now a V15V-MR with a spare claw! Can't wait to get home from work, chuck this thing in and go diggin' for some vinyl. Just hope a review can be completed by the this weekend; just have to keep the girlfriend outta my hair (and the house...oops, damn! it's her house). ------------------ Tom's Money Pit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted February 22, 2002 Share Posted February 22, 2002 I still haven't received mine yet but expect it by the end of the day. Why did you get two styli? Let me know what you think of a new stylus versus an old one. BTW, did that guy do the price match? Mike ------------------ My Music Systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted February 22, 2002 Author Share Posted February 22, 2002 Well, I got home from work and got the cartridge mounted in a headshell. Went to line it up and noticed the tip was a little starboard of center. With no give latterally in the cartridge or the stylus unit I decided to give it a little nudge. Much to my screaming voice as I saw the shiny twinkle of light reflect off the tip as it fell to the floor no longer attached to the mount via the beryllium tube. DAMM-IT!!! Twenty bucks gone! Get out number two and if I had a Valium to take.....The second one was the same way, but did I touch it? Hecky naw. Got the new mount in the tonearm. Go to rebalance and noticed that the new xMR is a bit heavier than the old MR. No problem though. The first, and so far the only, album to go on was Culture Club's "Waking up with the house on fire". Not what I usually listen to but that may have an advantage to it. The old ctg. was a bit flatter in the HF and quite neutral in the MF. There was a bit more bass than I remember with the old, now worn out, stylus. But it still didn't have as much bass slam as the new xMR. And the new ctg. definitely has plenty of that. Maybe the new model just needs to be broken in more. I've read where the new ctg. needs about 24hrs. of playing time to reach it's Nervana. There was a noticeable amount of surface noise with the old ctg. which when turned to considerable attenuation levels made me wonder if a sudden loud program came though the system.....well, it reminds me of the days when I would run to the volume control as to not give anyone within 50 yards a coronary. I have since learned to always check the volume control BEFORE the 'play' button is pushed. I may even be so bold as to say if it weren't for any clicks-n-pops and surface noise the new model comes rather close to anything read optically. After it fully breaks in it may be a different story. Back when I first got this old beast in 1984 I was working at a local store that sold Mid-FI equipment where the high end was Yamaha, Carver and dare I say B*se. Behind the salesmen counter there was the usual clutter of ratty boxes, catalogs, invoice forms & keys. This where the box-o-stuff for turntable needles and other esoteric parts were kept. If you took an empty quart bottle of milk and filled it with loose headshells, screws, nuts, headshell wires and the occational stylus pressure gauge and dumped it into a cigar box then you got the picture of what was in there to root through to find what you strange part you needed. As I was just doing that one day I came accross a V15 body. Loose and missing the stylus. I offered to buy it. One of the other guys said "Sure, we can't sell it as new so, five bucks.". Keeping my new purchase, and not really knowing what I had, I put it in with my other personal effects that were kept at the store. About a week goes by and sure enough, came accross a stylus that looked like it might fit. Tab A in Slot B. Great!! I want to the same coworker that priced the body. As he was walking away from me to go to lunch he waved him hand in my direction saying "Guess you found the other part to it." The deal was done. A two-hundred dollar phono cartridge for five measley dollars. Back then $5 was an hour and fifteen minutes wages. About four months go by and I wanted a back up to the little jewell. Went to the stock room and picked out a new stylus. Good thing too. The first one was broken by a clumsy repair tech when the TT went in for a new anti-skate control, they wound up replacing the entire tonearm. So the back up went in and has been on duty ever since. Not sure why I kept the broken stylus but...oh, well. So both of them went to Barbara to take advantage of the exchange deal. I figure at what was now $40 for one replacement I was still ahead buy at least $85. I never did get an answer from Audio Advisor on the price match issue. Guess I'll have to call them on Monday. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit This message has been edited by tblasing on 02-22-2002 at 09:09 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted February 23, 2002 Author Share Posted February 23, 2002 Called AA this morning and they said "Naw-Baby-Naw" to a price match. Grrrr.... ------------------ Tom's Money Pit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted February 25, 2002 Author Share Posted February 25, 2002 Sent off an e-mail to Ken Mull at Audio Advisor and both he and a lady named Beth Thomas replied promptly to say that I would be credited for the $46 difference. Yayyyyy!! ------------------ Tom's Money Pit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted February 25, 2002 Share Posted February 25, 2002 Excellent, Tom! I'm glad to hear they came thru for you. I just received my stylus this morning and spent a couple of hours setting it up. I used the Tracking Force Gauge and the HFN Test record to calibrate. After thinking I had it set up correctly, I played my first LP, Heart's "Dreamboat Annie". This is an outstanding recording on vinyl and it sounded better than it ever has! Magic Man is the first song and it didn't disappoint. The drum sweeps that move from left-to-right sounded lifelike. Next I put on Al Dimeola's "Elegant Gypsy" and played Mediterranean Sundance which starts out with the percussion solo (Steve Gadd) and then went into the two guitars (Dimeola in one channel and Paco Delucia in the other) and it blows away the CD version! Lastly, I put on Santa Esmeralda's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and played side 2 in it's entirety. This is another outstanding recording with lots of brass and strings. I just can't get over how big the soundstage is! It extends beyond the speakers and just fills the room. The bass kicks arse and I had my sub off! Suffice it to say, I am ecstatic with this cartridge and phono stage. If I didn't tell you previously, I am using the following: Denon 4800 used as pre-pro Acurus A200X3 amp Dual CS-5000/ShureV15V-MR AES PH-1 phono stage Klipsch Chorus I speakers I have since purchased a pair of 300B SET monoblocks (Laurel IIX) that I will be using in place of the Denon/Acurus as soon as I can find a preamp that will match the amps. I am currently looking at the AES Superpreamp DJH signature model if I can find one used. Here are the Laurel's I just bought but haven't received yet... http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ampstube&1019698218 I'll keep you posted... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted February 25, 2002 Author Share Posted February 25, 2002 Aw!! No fair, your goin' to tubes! Now I'm jealous . Watching and waiting.... ------------------ Tom's Money Pit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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