I've heard them side by side on a couple occasions with the same cartridge (and alignment) in the same system. The XL sounds more like a direct drive to me whereas the M sounds more like it takes something from idlers and something from belt drives. I'm not sure if that description is meaningful. PM for more detail if interested.
XL-DC has a bass weight to the music scape. It creates a foundation where the rest of the music comes on. The feeling of "solidly planted".
OK, thanks for the heads - up. I have decided to stick with my Stabi M for now but...I have changed up to the Kuzma 4Point 14" tonearm - all I can say is WOW! It's a revolutionary product!
I think you can use the 14" on the M as long as you don't use the lid, right? My friend has the 14" on his XL DC. It can sound very good with the right cartridge. But it does limit your choices with it's high effective mass.
Yes you can, but.. you have to change the arm mounting plate! Ouch! That cost £1,150.00 GBP. I have never used my lid as I prefer the look without it! Definitive Audio / Living Voice - Kevin Scott - the UK Kuzma distributor, does a modification to the lid side panel, machining some slots to enable the necessary clearance so it can work with the lid closed! I have no idea of the cost of this mod, but.. I do think it would be well worth the investment though...once you try out a 4Point 14" tonearm it would be very tough to go back to the original 11" version. Everything appears much bigger and has much more depth, much stronger in the bass response, much better highs, and the speakers almost completely disappear!
Regarding the arm mounting plate, I can say that absolutely no way does reversing the orientation of the original plate work! It's a totally different cut - out! The mounting distance is 291 mm and the distance for pivot to spindle is 342 mm. The original 4Point 11" tonearm mounting distance is 212 mm and the distance for pivot to spindle is 264 mm. And also, the holes are countersunk for the allen screws on the top side of the plate, together with the machined cut - out for the cables would look completely wrong if the plate was reversed! I am sorry about all that but...I always find that it's very important to get all the geometry absolutely correct! Even the tonearms headshells off - set angle is a completely different (19.5 degrees as opposed to 15.35 degrees for the longer arm).
I still have the CAR-40, but I just bought a LP-S two weeks ago. Have not mounted it yet!
Great! You will love it I'm sure! Yes, the Nagaoka MP - 500 - MM is quite special! And more importantly have you heard of; (The Vinyl Source Ltd Custom Protractor). Designed and manufactured in Scotland UK. They specialise in cartridge set - up protractors tailored for individual tonearms, I purchased one specially designed for my Kuzma 4Point 14" tonearm, and the set - up was spot - on! There is an arc that you follow between the two null points that sets up the Overhang i.e. 11 mm for the 14" or 18 mm for the 11" tonearms. Cheers.I have been using the CAR-40
I still have the CAR-40, but I just bought a LP-S two weeks ago. Have not mounted it yet!
I would also like to try the MP-500 one day, just to get back to the MM flavor.
