Natural Sound

[PeterA]

The thing is, you have to document what the correct setting is, which is more than just the thickness of the LP. The cutting angle is also an issue, which is an approximation of 92 degrees since a good mastering engineer will set the actual cutting angle for lowest noise rather than simply 92 degrees.

I agree. What I’m trying to do now is to reduce the compromises. One could never account for every record unless he goes to the trouble of setting up each one and recording the settings. My first attempt is simply to set up two of the same arms and cartridges, one for thick and one for thin records. In the 20 or 30 records, I’ve listened to since I did this, the thick records sound the same because the arm cartridge set up remains the same and the thinner records all sound better. So the net result is positive. Of course it’s not perfect. It is easy though, because my table can accept for arms and one set up, no adjustment is needed. I just write the record weight on the sleeve of the record.

 

[MrC.]

In Brinkmann I only like the balance, not the other models.

I don't have enought exposure to PC. the field coil arm seemed excellent at Mike's, I wasn't impressed with the non-FC arms. I must say all DDs look visually nice to me because of small footprint

That’s too bad. I’ve heard the balance switched back and forth with the bardo playing through the same system and speakers using the same tonearm and similar cartridges by the same manufacturer. I was going to buy the balance but was shocked by the bardo. The sound on the balance was flat and uninvolving. The bardo was lively and toe tapping. Given the similarities of platter material I can only put it down to drive mechanisms. I bought the bardo. I have a td124 and a micro seiki but the bardo is my reference.

 

[djsina2]

I like my arm that has no adjustments, nothing to think about.

 

[Urowolf]

Outside DDK, who else has a world class horn system that has a open door for visitors.
I would love to hear a good horn system again. Its been a while. I think I forgot what one sounds like. As a reference to where my setup is at.

You are welcome to Central Florida for TAD TSM1 experience

 

[Kingrex]

You are welcome to Central Florida for TAD TSM1 experience

I'm in Boynton Beach in July. Are you close?

 

[PeterA]

 

[PeterA]

I just added a third NOS 3012R. Two arms with Ortofon cartridges for thick and thin records. The third arm has a vdH Colibrí.

 

[Joel27]

I just added a third NOS 3012R. Two arms with Ortofon cartridges for thick and thin records. The third arm has a vdH Colibrí.

View attachment 151214

I got to admit I'm jealous of the ability that you have to easily A/B so many different variables. I have multiple arm wands for my VPI but I'm seriously thinking of permanently mounting a second / different style tonearm just for kicks.

 

[PeterA]

I was lucky to find a New Old Stock SME 3012R for sale. The age and colors match my other two arms. There were slight variations with some arm lift housings being black and different sized weights for the bias thread. The tonearm cable is also the same. These too changed over time. It was pretty cool to open the plastic bags and hold an arm that has not been handled since it was packed up at the factory. My guess is that it is from the late 1980s headed to the Japanese market. Everything works beautifully.

 

[Lagonda]

I was lucky to find a New Old Stock SME 3012R for sale. The age and colors match my other two arms. There were slight variations with some arm lift housings being black and different sized weights for the bias thread. The tonearm cable is also the same. These too changed over time. It was pretty cool to open the plastic bags and hold an arm that has not been handled since it was packed up at the factory. My guess is that it is from the late 1980s headed to the Japanese market. Everything works beautifully.

View attachment 151232

Nice find Peter !

 

[PeterA]

Nice find Peter !

Thank you. The weird thing was that it was not even advertised as being NOS, just in excellent condition. I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived.

 

[ajant]

Very incorrect statement. To start with, there are very few full range quality drivers. The only one I have heard is AER BD4 and 5, till 3 is not good enough. You might be comparing lowther. There is Feastrex, but I haven't heard it and very few people have.

With that kind of coherence and sensitivity, swings are amazing, best lows to highs, no need to touch volume on full orchestra. A good system should do dips and highs without touching the volume.

I have a friend who has spent the last 25 years trying to help a friend make 'full range' drivers work (he still is, which seems to have a lot in common with hitting yourself in the head with a hammer; it feels a lot better when you stop). He doesn't seem to get why it sounds congested at higher volumes. At low volumes they sound great and he likes to listen at lower levels and to fairly simple material like a blues guy that is only playing guitar. But if you throw something complex at them the bass causes all of them (he's got a room full of drivers he's tried) to make Doppler Effect distortion which does not sound good. If you prevent the bass getting on the driver the Doppler Effect is vastly reduced and the result is much smoother sound with improved detail. But now there's a crossover, which seems to be against his religion. He's always had subs, but the whole thing only works to a certain volume depending on the material; at some point the Doppler Effect takes over and the system just doesn't sound right.

In addition, if the highs are there you have to have your head in vise to hear them. That is why a rear firing tweeter or the like is handy so if you're slightly off axis at least the tonal balance doesn't suffer so much. Even the 12"units have this problem, even the field coil powered ones do.

I keep telling him that the main driver doesn't have to have a high frequency crossover, just something for the tweeter. Actually if you just bite the bullet and actually use a good tweeter its a lot better if you cross the main driver out so there's no comb filtering (which sounds harsh). So the upshot is you can get the system to sound a lot better if you have a crossover for the woofer and the tweeter. But if you don't play at higher levels (which you might if you're really close to the speaker or the room is small and lively) then they work great.

Joining the party late here, but you said that the guy was trying to avoid using crossovers. That's not my goal, and so I hope that either of you could advise me as follows:

From what I’ve seen of main horn directivity charts, it’s usually some versions of tractrix horns and most of the JMLC horns-such as https://horns-diy.pl/horns/jmlc/jmlc-350/ -which, beyond a single listener and/or listening position-could cause “head in vise” headaches. Though how that might be much worse than listening to average sized Magnepans or Quad ESLs, I wouldn’t know, as I’ve had no chance to hear any of those nor JMLC speakers. Lynn Olson hired Bjorn Kolbrek to perform the calculations which produced the smaller AH425 horn.
https://www.azurahorn.com/azurahorn_horns.html

Pierre used it for some years as a two-way, first with Yamaha JA6681b and later with EQed Radian 745neoBe drivers. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/beyond-the-ariel.100392/post-5140640 Note the off-axis curves and Marco_gea’s reply. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/beyond-the-ariel.100392/post-5140648

Sadly, I am no kind of diyer, so experimenting on my own is out of the question. Instead, I have to rely Joseph Crowe to finish my speaker build with these cloned midwoofers I sent him https://josephcrowe.com/blogs/news/altec-416-8b-in-100l-sealed , and to either use his horn

ES-450 Biradial No.2143

In this blog post I test the new ES-450 Biradial No.2143. Horn Features 450Hz cutoff frequency (Fc) 2" throat diameter 30cm high x 55cm wide (12" x 22") ES horn flare curvature with full wrap-around Rear extension for positioning of super tweeter Rubber ball pocket feet (rear ball can be...

josephcrowe.com

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...ot_2023-10-14_170306_480x480.png?v=1697317415 , which narrows with higher frequencies, but is not as beamy as the AH425 horn likely is.

Or choose one or another constant directivity horn, which you might recommend for a two or three-way design. Please advise if possible. .