Congratulations, Mike. I noticed what looks like the Durand saphire mounting plate between the cartridge and headshell and then read on the website that it is indeed a saphire plate but is part of the cartridge. It should have been obvious to me because of the mounting holes. Anyway, sounds like you have reached the end and closed the chapter on this particular turntable/arm/cartridge combination.
thank you Peter.
that sapphire plate does link back in my experience both to that sapphire plate with the original Telos wood arm wand, then later to my Sapphire Telos with all it's sapphire bits. material science is our friend when challenging the possible for our gear. it can matter.
i have reached an end of the initial sorting out period with owning 3 turntables. i feel i have three synergistic tt/arm/cart/phono combinations. i have a feel for how this might go musically and listening relevance wise, but the proof will be found over time. at the moment i'm under the spell of the CS Port/Etsuro Gold magic and no signs of it abating at all. this morning my plan is to go back and forth with that and the Saskia to get a feel for how that might be.
I will be interested to learn in a year or so whether or not you spend a majority of your vinyl time with one of your three turntables the way Tango and Rockitman do. That will tell us more than the detailed descriptions that readers have been asking you to write. I understand you wanting to simply listen to music and not analyze differences. I am increasingly less focused on sonic attributes, and more and more simply in the emotion of the music and listening experience.
Thank you for continuing to share your changes on the forum.
agree that actions speak louder than words.
my guess is that the gravity pulling me toward one turntable combo or another might involve my record acquisition direction. and obviously for me, the area where i am drawn is classical; seemingly the strength of the CS Port/Etsuro Gold. but possibly not all classical would be best served there i think. differences <-> preferences. these are questions only time will answer.
my first move will be to take advantage of all the work Master Tang (and others) have done on his long running thread. i'll start at the beginning and pocketbook willing sample the wares so to speak. i have a nice collection of classical but it will grow.
sonic preferences and mindfulness <-> musical preferences and mindfulness.
one other telling thing maybe not thought about is my digital/vinyl ratio and how i do expect that to adjust. over the last 2-3 years it's been 2-3% (or half that for long periods of time) tape, 15-20% vinyl, and around 80% digital, the last 2-3 months maybe 25-30% vinyl, now i'm expecting close to 50% vinyl. (i've been 95% vinyl since the Etsuro Gold arrived.
).
maybe that does not sound like a lot of time but i listen to my system more than 30 hours a week.
i still love my digital and all the new music......especially all the new classical i can sample so easily.
we will see what actually happens.
