Eye Candy

[Bill Hart]

Eye Candy to my liking. Just set this up today - fully restored Garrard 301 with FR64FX arm (silver) and a Goldring 1042 PU. Plinth by Russell Collinson.

View attachment 6960

Gorgeous.

 

[Soundproof]

Gorgeous.

Can't be helped - the music sounds better and more engaging when the components look as if they're capable of singing.

I've been informed that my tonearm is an FR64FX II, one of the last tonearms out of Isamu Ikeda's Fidelity Research. It's doing a wonderful job together with an MM cartridge, following a tip I was given about the combo (though that tip didn't specify the Mark II version).
The turntable's been screwed tight onto the massive plinth, without any damping between chassis and wood.

 

[MylesBAstor]

 

[MylesBAstor]

 

[MylesBAstor]

 

[PeterA]

Boy, Myles. You get around. Those are some great photos. Thanks for posting.

 

[MylesBAstor]

 

[XV-1]

WOW. A Linn Ittok not on a Linn

 

[MylesBAstor]

WOW. A Linn Ittok not on a Linn

DaVinci table and cartridge.

 

[DaveyF]

Cannot imagine why you would use a Linn Ittok on a DaVinci...very strange pairing, IMHO.

 

[XV-1]

Cannot imagine why you would use a Linn Ittok on a DaVinci...very strange pairing, IMHO.

Agree, total waste of the Ittok arm

 

[MylesBAstor]

Agree, total waste of the Ittok arm

I don't think it's fair to comment unless one has heard the equipment. Just as politics make for strange bedfellows, so can certain pairings in audio. Not every interaction is predictable; that's why reductionism doesn't work.

For instance , Bill didn't think the Ikeda would work in the VPI yet it did very successfully. Perhaps the DaVinci cartridge/Linn arm make for a great combo. And I'm far from a Linn apologist. Been there, done that.

 

[XV-1]

I don't think it's fair to comment unless one has heard the equipment. Just as politics make for strange bedfellows, so can certain pairings in audio. Not every interaction is predictable; that's why reductionism doesn't work.

For instance , Bill didn't think the Ikeda would work in the VPI yet it did very successfully. Perhaps the DaVinci cartridge/Linn arm make for a great combo. And I'm far from a Linn apologist. Been there, done that.

Myles,

Chill man

You couldn't see I was joking around with my wink emotion.

Btw, I owned an Ittok for 6 years, great tonearm.,

 

[MylesBAstor]

 

[XV-1]

Wow Myles, that Simon Yorke Aeroarm is plain scary. Does anyone know someone that owns one?

Some verbage from his web site

The earliest technical drawing I have relating to the aeroarm dates from 1985. One could therefore call it ‘a life’s work’. I consider it the single most important work I have ever accomplished. Not because it is linear, nor uses an air bearing, but because it challenges what we have come to accept concerning analogue disc reproduction. I also consider its design and architecture ground breaking. A ‘product’ this is not.
The aeroarm is not for the faint-hearted. It is not a “fit it and forget it” device. It was neither designed as a ‘product’ nor propaganda of promises. It will not buy you time nor ease your life. Indeed, it may drive you crazy…
The aeroarm will not work unless it is perfectly horizontal. It will not work if its air supply is contaminated or inadequate. And, as with any other ‘surgical’ instrument, cleanliness is vital: if it is ‘unclean’ in any way, it will clearly tell you so. It must be aligned and operated with understanding, constant care and exactness. However…

This is the ‘fastest’ analogue device I have ever encountered. Being so small, it reacts with astonishing speed to transients (4.6 times faster than normal?) and, having such little mass, doesn’t store energy for later colouration, blurring and sloth.

http://www.recordplayer.com/en/turntable/aeroarm/specifications.html

 

[MylesBAstor]

Wow Myles, that Simon Yorke Aeroarm is plain scary. Does anyone know someone that owns one?

Some verbage from his web site



http://www.recordplayer.com/en/turntable/aeroarm/specifications.html

Is that an AudioNote cartridge in the arm?

One wonders how they get around the issue of a "short" arm like the Souther and its sensitivity to warps.

 

[BlueFox]

While hell will have to freeze over before I get back into vinyl, the engineer, nerd in me is drooling over some of these tables.

 

[audioarcher]

Is that an AudioNote cartridge in the arm?

One wonders how they get around the issue of a "short" arm like the Souther and its sensitivity to warps.

Use flat records I guess. No other way around it with that arm. I have not listened to any of the airbearing arms that have very short arm wands, but I would think warps would really mess up SRA and alignment.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Use flat records I guess. No other way around it with that arm. I have not listened to any of the airbearing arms that have very short arm wands, but I would think warps would really mess up SRA and alignment.

While I'm thinking of it, the Versa has/had a short arm too. But it had a vacuum hold down that eventually worked

 

[audioarcher]

While I'm thinking of it, the Versa has/had a short arm too. But it had a vacuum hold down that eventually worked

Yeah, the Versa arm looked like it was even shorter. An arm like that might work well on the AF1 if you could find a place to mount it.