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Technics SP-10 Mk3, new plinth, Reed arm, first impressions.

Posted by mikel (A) on May 10, 2009 at 10:08:36

Last weekend the Steve Dobbins plinth'd SP-10 Mk3 finally arrived, in all it's retro glory. Friday night i drove the 1000 mile round trip to Boise from Seattle to pick up the Mk3 with the new plinth, another Triplaner, a new 12" arm, the 'Reed L', 2 brand new Allnic Verity Z cartridges, a Lyra Olympos, and.....Steve and his friend Keri.

a great 6 hour drive filled with talk about analog, more analog, and cars.....boys and their toys.

Steve and i had talked frequently about which arm to use on the Mk3. we had considered another Triplaner, the SME 312s, the Schroeder Ref SQ, and some others. We had somewhat settled on another Triplaner in addition to the one i already had on the Garrard.

we arrived at my home around noon Saturday. my friends Jonathan and Dale (from Portland) met us at the house at noon and stayed into mid-day Sunday.

Steve set up the 130 pound SP-10 Mk3 on the GPA Monaco stand between the Rockport and Garrard. Steve installed both the Triplaner and Reed L arms on the Mk3; both with the identical new Verity Z cartridges. my now 35+ hour Verity Z cartridge was still installed on the Garrard/Triplaner.

First we compared the 2 arms; and to my surprise the Reed sorta kicked the Triplaners butt. more detailed, more energetic, and more vivid, more impactful bass.....we had them both plugged into the Allnic H3000 phono stage so were able to quickly A/B. i had very much liked the Allnic Verity Z/Triplaner combo on the Garrard and so was surprised at how much better the Reed sounded.

i'm no expert on arm design; the Reed L is a 12" long gimbaled bearing design with a wood arm wand. the fit, finish and assembly quality appear to be first rate. it's retail will be under $4k.....i think a great value. i will be keeping the Reed.

first impressions of the Mk3 were wonderful. this is a great tt. very very low noise, lots of detail, amazing energy, PRAT to die for. music literally jumps from the grooves. musical lines are well delinated. big soundstage. i was likeing everything i was hearing.

i love the look of Steve's plinth design in person. it has a presence and form which looks right. to install the SP-10 Mk3 motor and platter into the plinth Steve removes the 70's casework and speed controls; and only the motor and platter are inside the plinth. speed control is then done from the power supply. Steve feels that the performance of the Mk3 is optimized by this design as it eliminates the limitations of the 70's sheet metal casework in terms of controlling the huge amount of torque of the Mk3 motor. in any case; what i hear from this tt only validates Steve's approach.

in addition to the work on the plinth; Steve also does a few things to the power supply; including new caps.

after the arm comparison, we mounted one of the new Verity Z's on the Rockport so we could compare the Rockport to the Mk3. we spent the rest of Saturday night into the wee hours doing this comparison. and now, a week later, i am still forming conclusions. there were various impressions around the room as to how the tt's compared. i will only speak for myself.

provisionally; the Steve Dobbins plinthed, Reed armed, Mk3 is in the ballpark of the Rockport Sirius III in performance......when using these identical Verity Z cartridges. the Mk3 slightly betters the Rockport in terms of energy and bass impact. it has a slightly higher sense of vividness. the Rockport has more texture and detail. the Rockport is more refined and nuanced. in terms of nosie floor; you hear deeply into the music with the Mk3.....but more so with the Rockport.

what the Rockport does well is unique to the Rockport.....and it comminicates the music on a unique level.

other tt's do some of what the Mk3 does. but it is also on a special level for the ability to pull you in. i'm not completely ready to yet make any definative comparative statement; only that i continue to investigate these 2 great tt's.....and that i am completely happy with Steve's work.

sometimes when we descibe wonderful gear we forget it's about the music. i want to make the point that all through this wonderful exhausting weekend it was the great music we played which was the main event. we were all having trouble focusing on objective gear issues with so much great music. i wish i would have written down all the great cuts we played.

it's Mother's Day so i must go enjoy the day with my family. later i will descibe more of the weekend.....we mounted the Lyra Olympos on both tt's on Sunday (the Olympos is still here a week later). Monday am i dropped Steve and Keri at the airport. it took me 3 or 4 days to recover from the drive and 2 days of intense listening. as intense an audiophile time as i've ever spent.

mikel

Edits: 05/10/09

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