Just recently followed up on this hobby for almost 3 years now (Used to play around with dad's system when i was a kid: Pioneer turntable, Akai reel-reel, Pioneer & Sansui receiver & speakers), i almost finish my systems (main and office). Just want to share with you guys my humble systems and wish to learn more of this addictive hobby. My musical taste leans heavily towards classical (anything from solo piano, violin, chamber, orchestral, opera with composers from Josquin de prez to Chopin, Schubert..Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff...Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Miklos Rozsa) and developing the love for Jazz (from Diana Krall, Holly Cole, Patricia Barber, Tord Guvstavsen, Stan Getz, Ray Brown, Miles Davis..etc). Also some acoustic music, pop and rock. Please feel free to check out my system and post recommendations...i will deeply feel honored and appreciate.
Incredible tonearm. Very easy to setup, very smooth sounding and does magic with sibilance. Very little damping fluid (just touch the bottom of the square shank) is much to my liking.
Morch Moerch DP-6
Dual Pivot , detachable and very tweakable arm.
Ortofon AS-212S
New Ortofon AS-212S static balance tonearm.
SME Model 20 mkII
Quiet, great speed stability!
Thorens TD-124
Thorens TD-124 restored very carefully by myself. Woodsong Audio plinth.
Thorens TD-124 mkII
Schopper Thorens TD-124 MKII acquired through Octave Audio
Garrard 301
Loricraft restored. Oil bearing. Woodsong Audio plinth. Love it!!!
Lenco L75
By Steve Dobbins. Stripped down to retain only essential parts. I just rebuilt the motor 2 weeks ago and it is so much quieter now.
Clearaudio Maestro
Clearaudio's flagship wood body MM cartridge. Excellent sounding and great tracking.
Audio Technica AT33PTG
Best tracker ever! Very smooth sounding. GREAT for the money!
Bryston BDP-1
Hi resolution digital player.
Bryston BDA-1
44.1-192khz, 16 & 24bit DAC
Manley Laboratories Steelhead
After 3 (yes, three) Aesthetix Rheas gone noisy on me in just 3 weeks, I acquired this Stealhead in a rage. LOVE the sound and functionality..not so much so for the look..but oh well.
Manley Labs Steelhead V2
Signed by EveAnna herself!
Cary Audio Design SLP-05
Very musical preamp, great headphone section. Running with NOS Russian metal base 6SN7 with black
Cary Audio Design CAD 211AE
Magical 3D presentation, though sounds a tad more laid back than BAT VK-150SE, they are still very dynamic.
Tannoy Prestige Kensington SE
Makes magic with the midrange!
Tannoy Kensington SE
Pepperport (Curious why it's called as such)
Tannoy Kensington SE
Five way terminations
Element Cable Signature Titan Ag
Detailed, smooth, transparent !!! Using it between my Bryston BDA-1, Manley Steelhead and Cary preamp, I dont miss ultra expensive cables!!!!
Acoustic Zen Silver Reference RCA-Balanced
Made for me by Mr. Robert Lee (Very cool guy!). Running between Air Tight ATC-3 pre (RCA) and BAT 150SE Monos (Balanced) with a real balance config, not adapter.
Acoustic Zen Silver Reference
Between phonostage Manley Steelhead and Air Tight ATC-3 preamp. I compared this IC with others in its price range up to twice its cost (from Discovery, Kimber Cable, Crystal cable, analysys plus..etc) and still prefer it over them.
Acoustic Zen Hologram II
My old, trusty speaker cable. I compared this with $2,400 - $3,500(dont remember exactly) cable from Crystal, and Nordost Heimdall (last week) and i prefer this due to: tighter , faster bass, more focus imaging, more transparent , hence, more detailed.
LAT International IC-300 Signature
Run between Ayre C-5xe Universal player and Air Tight ATC-3 preamp. My 2nd favorite in under $1,000/m/pair category. Not sure what to replace when the upgrade bug bites again..cuz i have to pay so much more to gain so little.
Audience Powercord.
Used for all components except Acutus power supply, for now.
Panamax MAX 5510 AC Regenerator
Used for all front-ends and preamps. Cant wait to compare this combo (Max 5510 ACRegenerator and Max 4400-20A) to the on-order PS Audio Premier.
Panamax Max 4400-20A
Inductorless Noise filtration, no current limit (reviewed in Stereophile together with MAXX 5510 Pro ACRegenerator). Used for BAT VK-150SE monos.
PS Audio PS Audio Premier
New Power plant from PS Audio
Nespa Professional Optical Disc Finalizer
Improve readability of optical discs. More obvious on some than other.
We have similar type of music preference. Have you heard the Gerrard 301 and compared with your TD124? If you have, looking forward to hear your experience on both TT. Else just let me know what you like about TD124. Many thanks.
hi Scar, Thank you for your compliment! You used to restore Thorens but never owned a 124? So you only worked with other models before or you just did it for your clients or something? I have 3 Thorens 124 (One MK2 and two MK1) and I LOVE them.
I have never had a chance to compare these arms because they are of different mass (my Morch is 6gr) so they cannot work with the same cartridges nor could I mount them on the same table to compare them, but I am very confident about Morch arms (or at least my DP-6). It's a great tracker and musical arm when used with Clearaudio Maestro MM cartridge. This combo on my 124 tracks at least as well as the Phantom-Lyra Helikon, and they sound really really good too.
Jaytea, very nice collection of equipment, Congrats! I use to restore Thorens in my free time so I can appreciate your tables, never actually had a TD-124 though. How does the Morch compare to the Phantom B-44? I also use Morch DP-6 in my setup.
In the last few months, my main system has changed dramatically. The BAT VK150SE were replaced by Cary CAD211 AE together with Cary SLP05 preamp. I bought and restored two Thorens TD-124MK1. One of them is mated with a Morch/Moerch DP-6 and finally married to a Clearaudio Maestro (after 3 failed marriage with Shure V15 VxMR, Soundsmith Aida and The Voice). The sound of this Thorens-Morch-Maestro is simply musical and problem free. Love it!
After 8 long months waiting, I finally took shipment of a Schopper-restored Thorens TD-124MKII completely restored, repainted with new Schopper bearing, aluminum upper platter, plinth and a new Ortofon AS-212 arm, through Brinkmann Audio This combo is mated with a Cardas Heart. The sound is more refine, smoother but just a tad less dynamic compared to the Thorens TD-124MKI - Morch/Moerch DP-6 - Clearaudio Maestro.
SGS, You don't HAVE TO position the P-44's headshell exactly 53mm away from the edge of the platter (this applies only to the SME arms as specified by SME).
I think the better way to do this is to put the P-44 arm on the arm rest and swing the whole thing outward away from the platter until the back of the arm clears a safe distance from the back right post. Now, remove the arm from the arm rest and swing it back toward the spindle just to make sure that when the needle reaches the last groove of the record, its counterweight still clears the VTA tower (make sure you dont move the arm rest in this step). Make adjustments if needed to make sure the arm is clear of anything when it's on the arm rest , and at the end of the record.
Jaytea, Appreciate the response. I had assumed as much after viewing your system and others. Never thought of asking Bob with his current family situation going on. I've had another P-44 in for service since Nov and feel bad enough asking for an update every 30 days or so without a response. I plan on measuring the headshell resting position to the platter and making sure I have the 53mm you specify.
Sharp eyes! You were right..the arm rest of the Phantom isnt parallel with the edge of the SME 20/2.
I was unsure of this when i first bought the Phantom so i dropped Bob Graham a call, and he told me that the Phantom, when being used on SME 20/2 table, it should be positioned in the same way as the SME arms. And SME arms on SME turntables are not parallel with the edge either (because the edge of the head shell must be around 53mm away from the edge of the platter in order for the Anti-skating to work properly).
So..when the Phantom positioned this way, it well clears the rear right post !!!
Did you have any issue with Graham and the SME 20 concerning the VTF clearing the rear right pillar as it piviots. It appears from your photo that the arm rest is not parallel with edge of tt.
if I was on a tight budget, the SLP98 would do just fine..for double the price, the SLP05 provides a more refine performance all around. It was a tough call but i am happy with the move up.
System edited: My system was going through some drastic changes in the past few months. While i was in the middle of a battle against LP's sibilance, one of my BAT VK-150SE monoblocks desided to blow fuses. BAT said one of the diodes inside might be defective so I shipped it in for a check-up and ended up trading them for a pair of Cary CAD 211AE. Compared to BAT VK-150SE, the Cary 211AE are less agressive, more laid back. While the BAT are extremely transparent , dynamic upfront and detailed sounding (sometimes too in-da-face ), the Cary are a little recessed (i like this match with my Avalon Opus Ceramic a little bit more), still dynamic and detailed but the sound is more romantic. What i love most about the Cary that i didnt feel with the BAT was the 3D presentation of female vocal. Somehow the Cary manage to push the solo voice infront of the mix and give a better 3D illusion. Perhaps this is the reason why with the Cary, there is a clearer sense of soundstage depth that i did not feel with the BATs. Feeling that a Cary preamp is, by default, the best match for my new Cary amps, i traded my Cary SLP-98P in my 2nd system for Cary's top of the line SLP-05 and use this in my main system in place of the Manley Neo-Classic 300B preamp (which now resides in my upstair system, together with Air Tight ATM-2, Harbeth SHL5, Audio Aero Prima CD player and Zu Audio cables). The changes in amps & preamps requires me to move the Avalon about 1 foot apart (closer to sidewalls) from the old positions in order to uncluster the soundstage. After that, everything snap back in focus and the system can produce wall-to-wall soundstage and more important to me: DEPTH. After 8 weeks of waiting, the Graham's Phantom finally arrived!!! My version is a gold accent (to match the SME 20 Mark II table), and much to my surprise, it's really easy to set up. The reason why i got the Phantom is that i want to try different cartridges on the same turntable and tonearm. Even though the idea of having one turntable with multibple tonearms is still aching inside me, i figure this solution will do at the moment for a cheaper price. I planed to put the SME VI.Vi on a Thorens TD 350, but seems like NO ONE are using this table :( So there's no user's reviews whatsoever online..so i decided to put the IV.Vi on sale...we'll see how this go..i might end up keeping it for my "future" tonearm collection ! The Phantom is great looking, almost 1.5 time heavier than the SME and looks like a very high quality arm. Set up is real easy but cartridge installation with the guage is a bit tricky..takes time to get use to it. I tried to setup both my Koetsu and Lyra using both conventional Baewald and Graham's own schemes, and ended up prefering Graham's. With Graham's the stylus is set back about 1-2 mm (less overhang), and sound more focus with cleaner sibilance. All of this drastic changes took a lot out of me (i'm obssesed with my gears) and finally, I can sit down and listen to music again. Hopefully It'll be kept that way for a while before my idiot audiophile side of me kicks in again and make me change another thing or two !!!!!
Tbooe: Stop hanging around me wont do you any good in term of saving you from "upgrading"...you KNOW we are as bad as each other :) well...i am worse..you are smarter in managing your money, i admit. hehehe
jaytea, you are my hero!! I cant wait until next week when we go pick up more gear...i need to stop hanging around you, my bank account is depleting fast, but its fun though!
System edited: Found out that my previous analog setup was great with classical/jazz, but not so for vocal, so, for a change, i sold the Avid Acutus and Origin Live Tonearm and get the SME 20/2A combo instead. Also with the addition of a Lyra Helikon and another Finite Elemente Pagoda Signature. I think the detailed and fast sounding Lyra complements the SME well. Done for now (Yeah right !)
RandyK: Not yet, i really wanted to..but it's kinda expensive.hbehe...but sooner or later, when i got the green, i 'd definitely try them out. Thanks for the suggestion. Do you have a virtual system?
You have such a beautiful system! BTW, have you tried a set of Cerapucs under your Pagode Sig rack? They replace the spikes and make leveling the rack much easier. Sonically, the music has more ease and clarity. Got them from Music Direct -- no risk money back guarantee.
These days, I have precious little time to listen to much music. Despite the holidays, work is keeping me busy!
The other night, though, my wife and I spent some time listening to the Bach French suites for solo piano. And, I got an early Christmas present in Paolo Beschi's Bach cello suites... Definitely hope to spend more time critically listening to those!
HI all, Thank you for your compliments..Wish you all a great Holidays Season..and Happy listening.
Tboooe: Yes yes..i'm still waiting for you to come over and give me some feedbacks...please send my regards to your wife and hope your kids getting over the cold soon to enjoy Xmas. Drop by when you have some free time, bro.
Eric: Wonderful ! What are you listening to now? I find out that my listening has different phases..sometimes i spend a few weeks listening to classical piano...or chamber music (especially Ravel's trios or Violin sonatas)...right now..i'm enjoying Stravinsky & Prokofiev & Tchaikovsky suits from Ballets (prolly because of the holiday spirit).
