Thanks for the offer. I have a few of these records. I see them fairly often on eBay however I usually pass because I don't have a good player for them. Some old Christian recordings and political speeches/lectures are 16rpm and I collect records related to both subjects.
Very nice Thing Fish! The whole idea of the stacked platter is fascinating to me. I like how the Linn arm fits right in with the stock top-plate. Very nice balance between hot-rodded mods and vintage stock design! I'd love to keep my Lenco L75 with the stock plate, but my motor is the European model and I'm in the US. Still considering how I'm going to proceed with my restoration. Thanks for the info on the arm! Cheers! --------- Chris
Oops, I included a snap of my SR-838 but forgot a snap of the BHL kit, this is still in a working box and yeah, the wires are longer than what they will be once It's finished and in a nice case. It's just easier to work on in this MDF case at this stage. In some systems this picks up the hum from hell the way it is, in my system it is dead quiet Crap pic I know...
The return of the black beauty..... I'd been running my Aluminum 103R, potted and with the $250 Soundsmith retip, for about 2 years now and probably approaching 1500 hours, so shipped off my ebony 103R (also potted and with the $250 Soundsmith retip and used for a couple of years previously) to Peter a while ago. Opted for the $350 OCL stylus on this one and am very happy with the outcome so far!
Guy: I committed the cardinal sin of changing two things at the same time: when I switched the cartridge over (from aluminum with $250 retip to ebony with $350 retip) I also switched cartridge leads from stock Jelco leads to new AT 6101's. I'd had the 6101's cryoed and then sent them to Gene at Takefive where he burned them in on an Audiodharma cable cooker. To be honest with you I can't remember whether I'd done that with the Jelco leads-I may not have. I did the same kind of switch on phono leads when I had previously changed cartridges a few years ago-at that point I was moving from the ebony bodied 103R to the Aluminum body. Both potted and with the $250 stylus. I had been using Nordost Valhalla leads with the ebony (they came with a custom headshell I own) and switched to the stock Jelco leads when I installed the aluminum body as I felt the silver leads with the aluminum body might be too much of a good thing. When I did that switch I was surprised at how similar the ebony and the aluminum sounded; I'd say that the aluminum was probably a bit more dynamic, a bit more explosive in the bass department and perhaps a bit more extended in the high frequencies. But all in all it was pretty close. This time around there is a pretty significant difference and I'm not really quite sure how much the changed phono leads are contributing. There is a bit more sense of integration from top to bottom. High frequency info like cymbals seems to be more a part of the whole performance as opposed to really highlighted on its own if that would be an accurate way of describing it. Bass performance is similar (perhaps a little "rounder" this time around) and overall the sound is warmer in both bass and treble regions with this switch, which is what I would have expected with the move from aluminum back to ebony but which I really didn't experience with the move from ebony to aluminum the last time around. So part of that could be as a result of the change in phono leads in each situation. There is, however, no doubt that the $350 retip digs deeper in terms of information retrieval, although it has a reputation for being very critical of proper setup. I aligned using a Mint LP and have things dialled in pretty well, but I'll go back to really confirm things with alignment and possibly experiment a bit with VTA/SRA and VTF when I have another 10-15 hours on the cartridge-I probably have about 10-12 hours on it now. But no question that I am hearing more information, particularly in the midband, and things are very easy to listen to. While I may have had a bit of listener fatigue at times with certain recordings in the past, those times are going to be greatly diminished or eliminated with the new setup-there is no doubt about that. And the really good recordings sound better and excellent as well. The difference in information retrieval is not quite as dramatic as moving from the stock Denon conical to the $250 Soundsmith line contact, but it is still pretty dramatic. In that sense I think the $350 retip is a bargain for the extra $100, but some have reported they don't like it because it is very finicky to set up. No doubt in my mind though: when my aluminum body goes back to Peter to be done again, it will be for the $350 OCL retip.
Blakep, thanks very much for the info. It's very helpful as I've got one stock 103R in a blk/white african ebony body from golden Age Audio, which I planned on a retip from Soundsmith. I have another with the 250. upgrade plus the potting and Soundsmith wood body, and am quite pleased with it, but couldn't decide which way to go with my other one. Thanks to your information , I will go with the 350. upgrade. Thanks again for your detailed info. It's been very helpful.
No problem Guy. I think you'll be thrilled with the $350 retip and find the extra $100 to be a no brainer and money well spent. I had my concerns about it after reading about the need for very precise setup on it which is why I went with two $250 retips previous to this one. In reality though, I have not found it particularly difficult to dial in-I may have to do some very minor fine tuning but I think I got very close on the first crack with the Mint which probably took me less than 45 minutes. Adjustable azimuth is important with this stylus profile but in the end I made no adjustments for azimuth as I think I was well set up that way previously (along with Peter's work being stellar and very consistent) and was working essentially with the same cartridge (just new cantilever and stylus) all over again and am pretty familiar with both cartridges as I've been using them exclusively in these bodies for about 5-6 years now. I've continued to throw all kinds of music at it in the last 24 hours and am really impressed with it. What I have now is tremendous detail retrieval without any sense of being analytical or clinical; it's a really nice combination. The VTF window does seem to be very narrow on it but that was true of Peter's $250 retip as well in my experience.
Hey Dave, How much does that table weigh? It looks like it weighs a ton but with the top being larger than the base and it being on carpet, is there any danger of it tipping?
not as esoteric as much of the fine equipment pictured here....but this "old boy" still sounds good to these "old" ears
Hey, I have one of those beauties. Replaced the tonearm, though. Still sounds good to my old ears too!
