Audiophiles Once Loved Direct Drive, Now They Seem To Hate It

1/4" mount (which is the distance between the two mounting holes in the cartridge/headshell).
But does it also support overhang?
Otherwise the overhang wouldn't be correct when the stylus tip is further or closer to the mounting holes of a different cartridge.
The headshell looks a bit different from the Aristona 1312 I had, that one had a sliding tray that you could slide out, the tray itself had oval shaped holes for alignment, just like any other headshell.

Edit:
The tray I mean looked like this:


If it's a tray like this one:


It could become tricky. Those type of mounts came with an adapter to mount different cartridges.

 

Thanks

screw slots 1/2" outsides
Body ~1/4"

I'd like to try one of the inexpensive AT's
VM95C
It is 1/2 the $ of a MP100 stylus

 

Ah yes, 1/2" indeed.

You might be able to replace the plug in tray with one that has wires like the one I showed (Philips 312 headshell tray).

Looks like they're sold for about 20 to 30 bucks, maybe cheaper:
Original Phillips Headshell sled for Philips GA 212 222 312 437 Turntables | eBay

 

That's a Nagaoka MP (Moving Permalloy) cartridge. From what I understand, the newer MP series styli fit it. If you go look on eBay, Ed Crockett of Vintage Electronics has a replacement stylus for this listed, why not get one from him? It's an excellent cartridge.

 

Obvious example would be peoples preferences for different volume levels....each persons preference is correct for them...there is no set/correct level....it can't be measured to a standard/correct model

 

How do you measure dimensionality, soundstaging or imaging?

 

Ha!
Those are the things that keep me hooked on vinyl.

 

there is no such signal component
Only a voltage in time

That is perception, it is inherent in the initial recorded signal.

Some people will experience it, some will not.
But the same sound pressure will strike each persons ear.

Much of what we think is in the signal is actually a construct, our ability to immerse ourself in the music.
Everybody 'hears' (subject to the same air pressure variations) the same thing, but interprets, enjoys, immerses differently.

Not unlike a painting. It is the same physical image for everyone, but it is interpreted and responded emotionally differently for each.

This is a GOOD thing. It's not the gear that separates us. It's the fact we can derive so much enjoyment from the sound, the same sound the others hear, but don't appreciate.
We can't measure ones ability to generate 'joy' from things. We can only try to do it.

 

So much mental masturbation in this thread. I'll get a mop.

 

After the previous post I need hip boots.
The shyte is getting deep

 

I understand enough, to know I don't know enough! Studying to Diploma level, but having little interest in Transmission Line Theory and several pages of proving equations. As for remembering those equations for exams - ridiculous!

I have seen and have big respect for your technical exercises, though can understand some would think the thread has gone astray - I don't. Personally speaking, despite working at a Radio Communication company for a number of years and having some technical knowledge, I listen to music with my ears and measure the equipment by how it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

The only time I spent directly comparing a Technics SL-1200GR to the SL-1200G, the G communicated music to me better, the hair on the back of the neck test "measured better! I personally don't believe that any cartridge, phono pre-amp, pre-amp, power amp and speakers can bring that back if that magic is lost at the source. Music played on a Rega Planar 3 for example, can also make the hairs on the back of my neck of my neck stand up.

The first oscilloscope I worked on by myself was a Techtronic 545B



This is the first time that I've looked at the RHS of that particular 'scope since the early eighties!!

When I turned the oscilloscope on, it had a very noisy trace. The big boss noticed this and said:

you're about to learn your most important lesson about electronics, "earths". He picked up a screwdriver and went around the chassis tightening screws, before my eyes the noise floor reduced.

It was an incredibly important lesson which has staid with me all my life and not surprisingly is just as important in industrial printers and domestic Hi-Fi equipment.

@Ingenieur, you are correct in that you can measure many more parameters (with correctly calibrated test equipment ), but mostly we don't, or don't have the knowledge and good enough test equipment to do this.

Whole I was lodging at a mate's house, I bought a full range active system which had an on line frequency response of 20Hz - 20KHz plus or minus 1dB. He was an electrician and so we ran six new spurs directly off a brand new fuse board to ensure clean power. The sub-station was only a few hundred yards from the bottom of the garden and with only three very detached houses nearby, the chances of a clean supply was high.

Before hooking up my new system, I wanted to find out if I could hear an improvement using the original house wiring, with a good quality distribution block in comparison to the new spurs. I cleaned all the sockets and plugs by insertions and extracting the plugs half a dozen times.

I plugged in his turntable and amp, a Linn Axis turntable, which had a very clever electronic control board, which reduces noise to the motor, a precision ground flat belt @BillWojo and yes, ensured correct orientation (I strongly suspect that a round sectioned belt is a much harder proposition) and his amp, a sub-£150 QED design into the old house outlet.

I listened to a short section of music and then plugged the amp and turntable into one of the new double sockets from one of the new spurs. I was genuinely shocked at the improvement, so did a blind dem of the comparison for a couple of friends.

The new board, spur outlet wasn't snake oil, but did indeed make a repeatable and very noticeable improvement. In the context of the system it was intended for and with free labour, it was a cheap "upgrade".

I'm not sure if I was pleased or not that after measuring both outlets with a ground loop impedance meter, the new circuit had a lower reading. So there was a measurement to back up a subjective observation.

That was back in 1993 and yes, I have recommended separate spurs to colleagues and friends. Unfortunately the results will vary from location to location, but both the houses which I bought after that date, my old friend (who I first met in Calibration and had trained to calibrate oscilloscopes!), installed separate spurs for me. No, I didn't measure them, just enjoyed the music.....

 

Interesting post - thanks. To be picky, what you are talking about is a radial, not a spur. A spur is a single cable taken from a ring, to feed eg a shower pump or an additional lamp. A radial is single feeds taken from a consumer unit.

Incidentally, I have more Tektronix gear than is safe to contemplate!

 

Seems You're bragging a bit.

 

Next time I speak to my mate I'll ask him if he calls them radials rather than spurs! Anyway, we installed six of them off a brand new consumer board taken straight off a new henley block with uprated tails.

It was common advice to run one, or two "radials" (I've always called them "spurs"), but the first time I've had the opportunity to compare and measure. That there was an audible improvement wasn't a shock, but how obvious it was from a system way under £1,000 with a £109 amp, genuinely surprising.

Techtronix equipment always seemed to be good quality and I still use it at work.

Those old 535 and 545 oscilloscopes really showed me that even 40 years ago valve (tube) performance, reliability and life expectation was a complete and utter crapshoot.

 

we call them a branch circuit, lol
We only use radial, spur, etc. for actual power distribution, not residential

a radial has a couple of configurations
Could be a loop
Could be a series circuit

a spur to me, is a branch off a radial

 

Tek used to grade valves/tubes. At the very least they burned them in using purpose-built racks. And graded them for matching, particular characteristics, microphony for use in low noise sensitive units etc.

https://w140.com/tekwiki/images/0/0a/Tek_tube_aging.pdf
https://w140.com/tekwiki/images/1/14/157-_checked_and_tested_tubes_specs_and_procedure.pdf

 

Goodness knows how many I calibrated every six months over a three year period, but I had to change multiple valves.

 

You are absolutely right in your observations. Belt drives ruled back then according to the high end press.