How obessesed are you with the setting up your audio system components?

From what I understand, all four are interchangeable from a “will it fit?” perspective. The Black/Bronze cartridge offers slightly better specs than the Red/Blue cartridge. I’ll be able to confirm once my 2M Black arrives.

 

I think the stylus will fit, but if I'm not mistaken, the Black/Bronze have a different generator assembly than the blue/red. So it'll still work and will yield some improvement but not the full monty.

 

If I spent the money on the black stylus it would drive me nuts not having it on the bronze or black cartridge. Is it performing at its true potential thing.

 

Pretty obsessive until I got it where I wanted, then pretty much leave it alone.

 

Actually I really am. The speakers have been in the exact same location for almost 17 years now except for the 2-3 hours of placement movement flurry. IC and speaker cable swap outs are in a different league though.

 

a steep curve of activity vs. enjoyment at first and then it becomes more shallow, but never
levels off completely.

 

Agreed! I don't spend too much time (in consideration of what others do) on this.

M~

 

That's one of the reason why I run have two tonearms. If I want to change the sonics, I change swap out the arm/cartridge with another. I'm going to buy one more (used) and maybe send it in to have Soundsmith rebuild and install my Carmen on it.

M~

 

Sometimes it takes some time for me to acknowledge that something needs further set up. I spent almost three months with the same turntable until I realized I had an azimuth misalignment, that happened about three days after I had put a new cartridge in a new headshell. It just occurred me to check the headshell with a bubble after these three days. And, voilà, a bit twisted. I corrected it and my soundstage suddenly got centered and the channels got balanced. Could I say I spent three months setting it up? Or maybe three days?

 

The Bronze / Black cartridge is way ahead of the Red / Blue. While the blue is a nice sounding cartridge, the different motor and the way better Shibata stylus on the Black, sets it into an entirely different league. The Bronze is incrementally better than the Blue.

You will see, when you get yours.

 

When I have an idea, I will screw around with the system any way that I need to in order to get the results that I was expecting to get.

It pays off big time in the end. My listening system is a bit more complex than the average system.

 

I have owned some truly great mc cartridges....the 2m black has the dynamics of the best mm cartridges and the detail of the mc cartridges ....make sure you drop the back end of your tone arm down a little...shibata stylos is very detailed

 

What he said, +1.

 

Moved a lot in the '70s, '80s and '90s, it was always a delight to check it off my list when moving in, because it was always a chore to do it with all those boxes sitting around the living room. I had one of those Carver Sonic Hologram Generators in the loop, and it was always a challenge to tweak before I'd gotten anything else in the room situated.

Over the past 20 years thouogh, it's more about obsessing with which cables go where, and holy crap I can't do that I need that cable over there and waitaminute I can't put the sub there, that's where the small bookshelf is going and dang it, this needs to be one shelf closer to the receiver but that means I'd have to put the...

..just because the systems are more complex now, it's a nightmare, and a whole coulda/woulda/shoulda inner dialogue just waiting to happen...

 

This guy gets my vote for honorary mayor of SH.TV.

 

I'm of the same mind, but it took a while to get things set up in my new place. Not just the mechanics of assembly, rough placement, wiring (or before that, the work done by the contractors to pull power wire, stiffen floors, pulling air lines for the tonearm through walls back to the compressor, etc.), but even after it is set up, it took me a while to dial it in.
When I lived in NY, turntable set up people were readily available. Not so in Austin. I had certainly done my share of turntable set ups back in the day, but the idea of mounting these tres expensive cartridges.... Well, I wound up doing it myself, and just took my time. The balance between where the arm moves perfectly and dead level is almost impossible to measure--it has to have just the slightest cant inward, toward the label (lateral tracker). That's not so bad in theory if you have a plinth that allows leveling, but I've got 231 lbs of turntable and plinth sitting on an anti-vibration platform (Minus K) and it isn't the easiest thing to move around. You basically have to disassemble most of the turntable and move the assembly an inch or two, this way or that, to get the mass centered, but still allow that slight angle for the arm. That took a while.
There is a degree of upkeep too. I keep an eye on that stylus--I want it to last as long as possible, so I'll periodically double check basic adjustments. I just installed new input tubes on the Lamms today- plug and play, but still requires attention, especially when you replace the power tubes and your bias settings are thrown out the window.
Dust- a devil- I keep it clean not just out of obsessive compulsive need, but because it affects tone arm performance.
Does the tone of your system change between winter and summer?
My aim is to listen to music but too often, I get caught fiddling with something. I've been doing this long enough to know the mindset-- it could be a smidge better. I'm not doing that as much now, but there's still a degree of nervosa- whoa, that record sounds like it is mis-tracking, is it the record or is something off on the set up?
By contrast, I set up that vintage Quad system, I turn it on, it sounds beautiful. Apart from some teething problems when the stuff first arrived (a bad connection that got loose from shipping), I've invested far less time, money and effort in that system. Maybe it has something to do with expectations, but for a system running 50-60 year old components at its core (all restored), it has magic and doesn't seem to require much attention. (Knock wood).

 

This.
I tweak for days, or months, until it is right then leave it alone until it dies.

My last change was a preamp and I tweaked settings for a month dialing it in. Even had it up for sale until it dawned on me to adjust the speaker toe in to fit the new pre. Bam! Everything was better.

 

I fiddle endlessly, cartridge set up, speaker placement etc, etc, etc. I find it to be the difference between a nice sounding system and a spectacular one.

 

I agree that’s what makes the difference, but what needs endlessly fiddled with once you have it sounding spectacular?

 

And part of it is mindset. When you are in analytic mode, listening for flaws, you aren't really enjoying the ride, you are evaluating what can be improved. And it truly is a treadmill. You'll always find something. And you'll always be trying to improve it. That in itself can be rewarding up to a point, but then, you stand back and say, 'wait a minute, I keep listening to the same XXXX record because I'm analyzing the system.' At a certain point, you just gotta let go. This was not an easy lesson for me, being a tad compulsive....

 

I have the I have the ultimate audiophile firewall. High frequency reduction in my right ear from surgeries. I can never really know if this is as good as it gets ( in reality ). My brain balances the difference so I don’t hear it. I enjoy my audio reality.
The Audiophile world (old men) synonymous right? Maybe upgrade itus is just ‘us’ compensating for our worsening hearing
Then there’s equipment...So delicious to pine for, research and own/sell.
Oh and lava lamps!!!

 

That's where I found myself. I found that I was consumed by the desire to "listen for the faults in my system and try to fix them," rather using my system to " listen to the music to enjoy it." Now, I'm at the other end of the spectrum, I buy music and listen to it. I buy equipment listen to it for a bit, fiddle a bit. If it doesn't lock in out it goes. But... and there is a but, over the years I have found out which manufactures components produce the kind of sonic signature that I love e.g., Shure, Jico SAS, Goldring, Soundsmith, Conrad Johnson, Vandersteen, and Morrow Audio. I don't seem to have to spend a lot of time to dial those components in. From this I come to my present state, maybe a result of false analysis and false reasoning, who knows. However for now, I am where I am.

M~

 

Love it! We have got you to come down here for a visit with us.

I have this feeling that we can have some great audio related fun.

 

Well said.

 

Not at all obsessed. Set and forget.