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RE: Tweeter difference problem with 3.3Rs and more

Posted by Satie (A) on September 13, 2010 at 13:54:49

In Reply to: RE: Tweeter difference problem with 3.3Rs and more posted by Davy on September 13, 2010 at 04:43:47:

Re Cleaning

If you can avoid leaving the cleaning solution on the record more than few mins then swelling is not an issue. swelling takes time so a couple of minutes is fine and if you like your brushes use them.

Static - the moisture from the record cleaning solution should keep you from having static buildup during cleaning. Same when using the microfiber on the vacuum attachment.

Playing the wet record for stylus cleaning. I use distilled water on a good record that can use a mild cleaning, or use a record that I consider trash and use cleaning solution, as none of my cartridges proved sensitive to isopropaanol.

Re Apollo, I missed the class A output stage, that should make a significant difference, that and the memory buffer would make for a great player, I never got to listen to the Apollo, so I don't know how well it went, but I loved the Planet in its time. The reviews were great and it is still highly regarded. They still go for $600 used here - it was a consideration for me too, (the saturn at 1100-1200 used here was out of the question for me) but with better DACs having so much more flexibility and my old heavily built Sony 707ES (the first single bit player and granddaddy of DSD) for transport, I was looking more for a DAC and a cheap universal player to feed it digital from SACD, DVDA, USB memory sticks (best option), and the computer. I gave up on SACD digital output, and skipped the DVDA in favor of hi rez computer audio and bluray audio (digital output) in the future. These days you can get a used Esoteric basic universal player/DVD for the VRDS transport from a prior generation for a steep but not unrealistic price and add later a good DAC, like the Trivista or the Monarchy or a new discrete output one like the DAC2 from Wyred4Sound. Still the Sony 5400 is tops in real price SACD/CD playback in an integrated unit. The Trivista DAC is still a value standout in the used market as being just one generation behind the current technology and having a killer output stage - with upgrade potential.
I was a cheapskate on the digital since technology obsoletes stuff so quickly and well executed upsampling seems to be very close to high bit formats. My Musical Fidelity HTP Pre/Proc/DAC played as well as the 840C but has better bass and endless flexibility and big 10V output and preamp functions. I found a couple of reviewers who used it as an HT pre for 2 channel too, and did not realize (or care) that their analog was being digitized and played back from digital. That convinced me to go that way, particularly as lacking HDMI made it useless for most folks into HT it was dirt cheap - one third of the cost of an 840C, 40% less than a used MF 3.24 DAC. I don't think I would but it today, as it is not really hi rez compatible - but then I don't intend to go into hi rez till discount software is available on the second hand market.

I still have not researched the Quad 99, so I don't have anything to say yet.

The Japanese golden age lasted from the late 70s till 1990 and marks the last time large scale corporations dedicated serious engineering talent to design high end audio equipment and production equipment for it. Though the latter 80s saw quality slipping, it was still beyond what any large scale corporate producer did outside of Japan. These days we see a revival effort in corporate audio producers with Marantz Harmon (Revel, JBL, Mark Levinson, Infinity) Sony ES, and TEAC's Esoteric division churning out serious high end products with real engineering content. Even Luxman is back. Old stalwart big boutiques like Cambridge, NAD and MF are coming out with a new generation of high end product to compete in the Asian High End market - now bigger than the US and EU one since noveau riche are more appreciative of high performance and nameplates than old money.

Re carts: I would not worry about how the DL304 sounds like on the technics player, you will have it on and find out. Besides, with easy VTAF, you can easily adjust to get a slightly fuller sound, and the Technics is not a light sounding table like say the Oracles. The absence of the midbass bloat will probably turn out to be a benefit.

Good thing with the Troika. Maybe you can finally get the benefit of analog classical. The opening of the Rachmaninov PC1 is really a grand test, isn't it.

I'm with you on spending on carts, though mine lasted way longer than I had ever imagined they would. I am wary of dumping significant money into a cart, so I normally buy new or lightly used, and only at a big discount to new. Never more than 50% of original street price. The Denon DL-S1 does seem attractive if you can get a good deal on it - but it goies for $600 used here, which is a little more than I would put into a cartridge.

Don't worry about the non standard crossover values, the difference only amounts to shifting the crossover point 1/2 a tone, and nearly nothing in phase. Besides, I took the more current schematic from MUG for back calculating the crossover and came out well over 10% off - which did make a difference - 2 tones+.

Good luck on the remaining repair, hopefully the repair will hold!!

Re JBL, their best stuff was the pro audio stuff under the JBL pro and Urei pro from the 70s and more recently Revel and Infinity Prelude, and the new horn loaded JBL label speakers. The vintage JBL consumer speaker to hear is the later L200, which was a modern redo of the L100 centuries. My friend here had a Revel Ultima Studio (not the bigger salon, and it was rather impressive), but I think my modded Tympani sound better. Definitely bass was tighter in my setup and midrange was significantly more defined on my Neo8 and the soundstage orders of magnitude greater.

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