Moderators Travis In Austin Posted February 28, 2007 Moderators Share Posted February 28, 2007 Mark, consistent with his reputation for high quality and fast service, has advised me that my BBX is back from it's day spa treatment in Northern Cal., and should be arriving back any day now. Mark, if you see this, I know from our prior conversations that the Blueberry's Jensen step-up transformers match up very well with the Koetsu, and I asusme the same would be true of Shelter and Benz. I would think the Benz L2 would be fine with the amount of gain. Are you aware of anyother cartridge matching issues or benefits with any of the cartridges below. (I am not asking you to try and reccomend a cartridge, just wondering if you have received feedback or noticed yourself if any of these cartridges tend to mate really well with the BBX w/c and or if some were not a good match. So that means it is time to have my audio dealer bring some cartiridges over to audition. I just got off the phone with him and he is bringing a Shelter 501, 901, 7000, 9000, and 90X, a Benz woodbody, and a Koetsu Black and Koetsu Ureshi. Not sure how many we will get to listen to the first go around, but he said we will listen to all of them for as long as it takes for me to be comfortable and happy with my selection. I don't think I am even going to let him take that Ureshi out of the box. I will let you know how it goes and have some photos. Stay tuned, Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Travis, your comparison and evaluation will be fascinating. I listened to a very expensive Koetsu, maybe the Urushi, several years ago and was not impressed, at least relative to the expense. Looking forward to it! Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 2, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 2, 2007 Bluebery arrived as promised! I got the Blueberry from Mark right on time as promised. I posted lots of photos when I first got the Blueberry last fall and at that time our cat, Jack, was absolutely fascinated with the preamp. He would not leave its side. I was never a cat person, never owned one before and never really cared for them, but I lost a bet with my wife and poof, we got a little baby kitten about 10 months ago. Cats sure are intuitive, at least this one is. He figured out I would warm up to him if he curled up in my lap every evening. He sucks up to my wife by sleeping by her feet every night and keeping them nice and warm. Well tonight I started to take the Blueberry out of the box and he came running and it was like he had his old best friend back again. I thought it might just be a fascination with boxes, wrapping material, etc. but I have opened lots of other boxes and he might give a look, or attack the bubble wrap for a minute but then he is off just as quick as he came. Not with the Blueberry, he curls up with it, and he is just enamored with it. So, needless to say, my opinion of Jack has risen immeasurably, after all, a cat that is into a preamp more then I am cant be too bad. I think I can officially say that the Blueberry has once again passed inspection by Jack and he has given it his Official Seal of Approval. Either that or he is getting high off the tung oil.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Here is a couple of photos of the BBX, and then a couple of the turntable. The Basis Vector tonearm at the back of the unit, and that is the one we are working on finding a good cartridge to match with it over the next few days. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 2, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 2, 2007 Jack 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 2, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 2, 2007 Black Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 2, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 2, 2007 Nottingham Spacedeck Turntable, Vector and Hadcock tonearms 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 2, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 2, 2007 Nottingham 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 3, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 3, 2007 Your cat is very suave! Are you going to be auditioning those carts with the BBX soon? I don't know about suave, but he has great taste! Yes the cartridges start coming over this weekend, Koetsu, Shelter and Benz, those ones I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I did some more checking and the outputs for Shelter are listed as follows: 501 0.3mv 901 0.5mv 7000 0.5mv 9000 0.6mv The Benz wood body of course comes in 3 output variations, 0.3mv, .8mv or 2.5mv The Koetsus are .4mv. So I am looking forward to trying all of them in one confguration or another, all except that Ureshi that is, think I will just look. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Nice pictures of that preamp........and the cat knows you must like it too.....lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardsweb Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 SAWEET! Looks like it's time for me to have another long listening session at Casa Travis. [8] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arky Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 That's one phat cat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 So is Jack (the attack cat/the shredder) still attacking anything that moves and shredding it? This is the Jack I remember from the Klipsch party. It sounds like he is calming down. I thought he would but dang he was a handfull!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 He did have a few calm/cute moments, usually after shredding whatever was moving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 3, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 3, 2007 James, I forgot about those photos, that is when he still had blue eyes; now deep green. He has mellowed out a lot, but he can still have his moments. Kelly's hands and arms are not nearly so torn up and scratched. He can be scrappy once in awhile, but I like that. I figure better us them the grill cloth-I sure would have to go down for killing a cat. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 8, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 8, 2007 Last night we got in the 501, 901, Benz Ace, photos to follow soon. So far 501 is in the lead. Edit: Here is a photo of the cartiridges from first night Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 very interesting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 I agree, very interesting. Have you listened to the Koetsu yet? Benz's aren't among my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttrhp Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Travis please report back and let us hear your experience with these cartridges. I am using the 501 at the moment and have the urge to upgrade.this isa very interesting thread. tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 8, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted March 8, 2007 I agree, very interesting. Have you listened to the Koetsu yet? Benz's aren't among my favorites. Koetsus are tonight, with the 90x. Will report further and post photos. Gotta run, Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Cool... surprising you preferred the 501 over the 901. Not familiar with the specs on either, but curious if it just mated better to the arm it was on? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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