Blueberry is back from day spa, Cartridges have been auditioned, PHOTOS

[Travis In Austin]

Here is Brian from Sound Mind Audion doing the initial set up. We have taken the turntable off of the wall mount so he can get at things better. He got all of the adjustments on the Vector tonearm the way he wanted in and here he has intalled the Shelter 901 and is getting the tracking force close to where he wants it to be on his Wins stylus weight scale.

[Travis In Austin]

After Brian had the major adjustments done we put the unit back on the wall mount, where he finished making all of his adjustment, turntable level, etc.

[Travis In Austin]

Here is a photo with the Shelter 501 on the Vector 3 tonearm.

Well enough of the photos, as to the cartridges, here are my thoughts. The first night was the Shelter 501 ($850), Shelter 901 (1,500) and Benz Ace (550). The prices were really not relevant to me in the sense that I didnt really think I would be able to tell the differences between these cartridges with my hearing issues. I really thought that the Benz would sound as good as the others and this would be simple. Was I ever wrong, however, I decided early on that I was not going to fall into the "more is better" trap. I have only included the prices as a reference.

First, this was the first time I really got to see how the Vector tonearm performed, and it was absolutely incredible. (Thanks Gary and Larry). Brian said he has not found a cartridge yet that will not track good on a Vector, and now I can see why. It takes a bit to get it set up, but when he has it dialed in you can just see how well the stylus wants to ride in the grove. I cannot recommend this tonearm highly enough.

We started with the 501 and it really knocked my socks off from the get go. Great detail, bass was solid, and it really brought out the midrange, much more then what I was used to.

Then we heard the Benz Ace, a great sounding cartridge, one I would probably be very satisfied with if I hadnt heard the others, but isnt that the way it always goes. We did not spend much time with that cartridge since I had already kind of made the 501 the baseline.

Then the 901 went on. We spent a great deal of time with this cartridge. It made lps I was very, very familiar with sound new for the first time. It is extremely detailed, more on this in a minute, it had better high end definition then the 501. To my ears the 501 and 901 had about the same bass definition, the 501 possibly a tad more, but the 901 was a tad clearer in the high end. This "clearer" in the high end for my ears was a bit harsh. Symbols were clearer, where the drum stick was striking the cymbal edge was more discernable with the 901.

As we listened to more lps I began to notice that I was not really caring from some recordings, you could tell, I am not kidding, how a singer mouth was positioned relative to the microphone. This was true with recordings that you knew were done in one room with a few mikes set up. You could tell when a singer turned to look over at someone else.

For my ears it was TMI, too much information. The 901 was so detailed, so accurate, whatever the word is, that on some recordings it was a distraction. Case in point: Supertramp Crime of the Century, MFSL recording. This has always, in my mind, been a great pressing; to me it is better then the original. On the track School, after the first verse, Roger Hodgson strums his guitar slowly twice, then starts to dig into some deeper notes and you can clearly hear the pick or his fingernail, as the case may be, drag across the pickup. This "irregularity" was brought to the forefront by the 901. I have heard that song no less then 100 times and I have never heard it before. It was so abrupt I looked over at the turntable to see if something fell, or if Jack knocked somehow got up there and was up to no good. I asked Brian if he had ever heard that before and he said he hadnt, in all the times he heard the song as well. We played it again and determined it was clearly the pick dragging across the pickups.

During the same intro of school there is that solo harmonica that is joined by the others. With the 901 you could really hear the extreme modulation that Rick Davies (?) plays through that harp. I prefer the 901 in the ability to pick up the detail of that modulation, but it picked up so much detail it was distracting to the music. I asked Brian to put the 501 back on which he did. You can hear the pick/pickup collision but it is not at the forefront of the music, you hear it but it is not in your face. Likewise you get a good sense of modulation in the harmonica, but not the depth you get with the 901. Brian explained this was the trade off between those two cartridges.

To get things set up and the three cartridges a fair listening chance took about 3 hours. Brian asked me which cartridge he would like me to leave to listen to before Round 2, and I wanted him to leave the 501 on.

More on Round 2 later, which were the Koetsu Black, Shelter 90X, and Benz wood-body.

Travis

[bhendrix]

Travis,

I sent you an email. Did you receive it?

[Travis In Austin]

Travis,

I sent you an email. Did you receive it?

I am not sure, what was in the subject line? My spam program may have eaten it.

I will send you one and you can reply, maybe it will get to me that way.

[maxg]

Travis,

Interesting thread. Might I suggest that before you take the plunge you test out a Denon 103. Judging by your comments on the 501 Vs the 901 you might even prefer the 103 over the 501. Obviously - whilst I know you are not looking at prices - the 103 has definite appeal over the other options in this area.

I made this same suggestion to someone else on this forum - Josh I think, and from memory he actually prefered the 103 over the 901 which he had broken and was planning to send off to be fixed - for more money that the 103 cost.

As I repeat as nauseam on this forum it is not the cartridge itself that is so important - it is how well it matches with the arm on the table of choice. Sadly I have never played with a Vector arm so I cannot advise in this case - will be very interested to hear your feedback if you do test it.

Just a thought.

[Travis In Austin]

Travis,

Interesting thread. Might I suggest that before you take the plunge you test out a Denon 103. Judging by your comments on the 501 Vs the 901 you might even prefer the 103 over the 501. Obviously - whilst I know you are not looking at prices - the 103 has definite appeal over the other options in this area.

I made this same suggestion to someone else on this forum - Josh I think, and from memory he actually prefered the 103 over the 901 which he had broken and was planning to send off to be fixed - for more money that the 103 cost.

As I repeat as nauseam on this forum it is not the cartridge itself that is so important - it is how well it matches with the arm on the table of choice. Sadly I have never played with a Vector arm so I cannot advise in this case - will be very interested to hear your feedback if you do test it.

Just a thought.

Max,

I wish I could try the Denon, ZXY, and the Transfiguration, but alas, my dealer does not carry them.

Travis

[lwhaples]

Travis, Did I miss round two? What did you end up with?

Larry