At least it shows you keep a clean house. That beam of light would show every speck of dust, if there was any.
@willboy Hi! I've got a Rotel rp-855 and I'm thinking of replacing the stock feet with spikes like you have done, but how on earth did you remove the old feet? Cheers.
Beautiful table! My dealer has the Xtension 10 attached with the EMT TSD 15 cartridge. That table really sounds amazing! I've never heard Clearaudio products, could you shed some light on the Performance table suggestion?
My new to me Marantz 6170 direct drive table literally as arrived, requiring a mains plug being put on, RCA's to replace the Din plug for the output and a smidgen of tlc to the mechanics and controls. That's the Shure M35 fitted but I use either the Ortofon Concorde with type 10 or Stanton 681EEE with it.
This has nothing to do with the sound qualities of the Project, it does sound amazing as you said. This is about the unit itself when compared with it's German counterpart. The Project is an Austrian manufacturer that makes their TTs in the Czech Republic. It targets affordable low budget clients, made for the masses. But when they up scaled their product with the 9, 10 & 12 Xtension series they entered a market niche dominated by many reputed competitors, that the Project felt short matching their superior built qualities for the same retail value. The major defect of the Project turntables is their magnetic feet system that refuses to be leveled, no mater how much effort is put into. This is compared to a wonderful spikes and nuts system that the Clearaudio sits on. Also, the project comes with a flimsy carbon fiber tonearm that is very uncomfortable to lift, not to mention the very awkward switch that operates the on/off, 33 and 45 rpm in one button. My latest purchase, 3 months ago, was a Clearaudio Ovation that I got for my brother, a state of the art reference engineering marvel.
That's not totally correct with the Pro-Ject's. Not all who own this table experience what you are saying. The feet have been found to be great and many report they are level. the arm isn't flimsy at all...and as I recalled ....Clear-audio made a table with the switch in the back some time ago...I think it was the Clearaudio Performance SE. There is nothing wrong about those Pro-Ject tables in that price range.
Here what others have to say, Strange how 2 owners experienced the same things, Anyone Using the Pro-Ject Xtension 9 Turntable? »
Hi CorinJ, It's pretty easy to remove the stock feet. Obviously you need to remove the base board first. The feet are held in place by small springy steel clips. I carefully prised each one off with a screwdriver. You need a screwdriver with a thin end to begin with so you can get it under the steel clip to start releasing it. A dull edged knife will do just as well. Be careful as the clips have a habit of springing off never to be seen again............................................................... The way I went around things was to buy inexpensive spikes to begin with. The reason for this was not much money wasted if I did not like the different sound the spikes produced, and it was different, by a surprising amount. Just so happened that I was very happy with the results so then bought the more substantial, and more expensive, spikes shown in my pics. Before you try some spikes you need to be aware that they do not isolate the TT from external vibrations like compliant feet do, but actually couple the TT to whatever supports it. Spiking can lower the TT's noise floor by transferring internal resonances from the bearing, motor, etc into its supporting platform. So care needs to be taken as to what the TT sits on as it can also work the opposite way by transferring vibrations from a flimsy stand or platform back into the TT, something we obviously don't want. I decided to go for something heavy and inert - the homemade sandbox I use seems to work just fine. The RP-855 has a good quality bearing and a very quiet motor so I was surprised by how much the spikes lowered the noise floor. I think the main culprit for resonances within the RP-855 come from the box type plinth, which can vibrate a bit by all accounts. Hope the above isn't too off putting - just though it best let you know what's involved. Get in touch if you need any more info.
