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In Reply to: RE: more worth the.... posted by hifitommy on March 22, 2012 at 23:49:24
Loved the speed, very fast transients. Philly Joe Jones drum kit on Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section never sounded better.
But the stylus tip didn't handle sibilants as well as I would have liked, mounted in the Technics' standard pivoting arm, so I traded it for a different cart that did.
Too bad I didn't hang on to it; would have been great with linear tracking, but using a Shure/SAS now and in some ways it's better than the Grace. Not as fast, but makes the Grace sound a bit thin.
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The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
Edits: 03/23/12Follow Ups:
My Grace Ruby still with its original elliptical stylus sounds anything but "thin". It sounds rich and gorgeous (in a good way) and detailed at the same time. Most striking is its portrayal of soundstage depth. I have a second Grace Ruby with no cantilever which I was going to have rebuilt by SS with their ruby cantilever/LC stylus, like yours. Perhaps what you hear is a difference between elliptical and LC styli in the context of the Ruby. Which makes me re-think what to do with my broken Ruby.
I never though the Grace was thin-sounding either, just that it sounded a bit thin in comparison with a V15III/JICO SAS. It was faster on transients than the Shure, however.
I still have some archived LP rips that I made with the Grace and they're good enough that I've never felt the need to re-rip them. Like I said in my original post, it's too bad I didn't hold onto the cartridge long enough to use it with linear tracking. I'm sure the sibilance issues would have been solved.
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The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
Edits: 03/23/12
why do you say that linear tracking will reduce the sibilance of the Grace Ruby (or any other cartridge)?
Provided that the cantilever is lined up correctly, the stylus tip has the same tangency to the groove wall that the cutting head did when the master was cut. With a pivoting arm, the stylus is only tangent to the groove at the null points. There's no skating force either.
On-the-fly VTA helps, too. I know which of my records have the worst problems with sibilance and change VTA to compensate.
With straight-line tracking, a micro-ridge stylus, and judicious use of the VTA adjuster, I've been able to just about eliminate all sibilance from my listening experience.
I'm probably more sensitive to sibilance than most. It's always been my LP pet peeve.
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The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
Edits: 03/24/12
Personally, I don't believe the small amount of tracking error from a properly aligned pivotal tonearm can cause sibilance distortion. I guess the reason I believe that is because I have never had a problem with sibilance distortion. In fact, I thought that a conical stylus would cause sibilance distortion, but I have never heard it with either my DL-103R or my DL-103SA cartridges.
I'm not sure exactly what causes sibilance distortion other than the recording itself. None of my audiophile pressings seem to exhibited sibilance distortion even with conical styli. Some of my older records that had the problem had especially long playing times per side. Anyway, I think that sibilance distortion is caused either by a worn stylus or by the recording itself. Come to think of it, another reason might be loose cartridge mounting bolts or excessive play in the tonearm bearings.
Best regards,
John Elison
The Grace wasn't exactly spitting like an angry cat. I was in love with it until one song on one album came up sibilant as hell. Once that happened I started listening for it all the time and things went downhill from there.
I replaced it with an AT150MLx which did a much better job of taming the sibilance on that particular song (it was "Don't Break the Heart" from Laura Cantrell's When the Roses Bloom Again . The track is mid-side, where tracking error is probably the greatest) but it was still spitty.
I moved the AT to a Rabco arm and all the sibilance was gone except for two instances. To my mind, removing the 2-degrees of error (or whatever it is) from the pivoting arm smoothed out those sibilants.
Now, with the Terminator arm and Shure V15III/JICO SAS combo, all but one instance of sibilance is gone from that track and what's left is barely audible. I hear it because I listen for it. Can't be helped.
As far as the source of sibilance, I think you're first guess is right. It's the recordings themselves. It seems to be a problem on recordings in which the vocals are mixed loud and "forward."
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The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
i would blame the technics arm for the sibilance. i have never had that problem with the MMT and when i had the grace on the rabco SL8E it likewise didnt have that characteristic.
i am currently using the mmt/f9e combo in my break from the fidelity research cart and again, no sibilance to speak of.
i also have an f9L and i should put its stylus into the f9e body and give it a listen.
...regards...tr
And if I recall, Peter from Soundsmith warned me that might be the case (not that I'd have a sibilance issue, but that the Technics arm might not be a good match for that cartridge).
I'd love to have it playing in the Terminator today, that's for sure.
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The little old ladies wait in wild anticipation for the meetings of the Double-A-C-ASSN...
The NOS RS9E stylus I got for my F9 only has 200 hours on it.
Opus 104
bastrich! (in my best johnny dangerously tone).
...regards...tr
Fargin bastidge . . . Icehole!! One of my favorite Michael Keaton flicks. Ray Walston and Joe "88 Magnum, shoots through schools" Piscopo stole the show.
Best line was Marilou Henner's "Did you know your last name is an adverb?"
Opus 104
Sommanabetch!
I also loved the period ghetto blaster in that movie.
operation momma needs this week? Maureen Stapleton was great.
Opus 104
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