And I trusted a doctor to actually sew my Achilles tendon back together this summer. I think he used a sailor is knot. Bob is correct I trusted my ears on my first Colibri so I ordered a second.
Sublime Sound
- Thread starter PeterA
- Start date
And I trusted a doctor to actually sew my Achilles tendon back together this summer. I think he used a sailor is knot. Bob is correct I trusted my ears on my first Colibri so I ordered a second.
I can sort your back out for you. Prefer to leave surgery to the hacks. Peter, it seems you do too Lol.
You still didn't get it - that was at Al's expense
Yes, I got that.....
You still didn't get it - that was at Al's expense
Well, I wanted to be gracious about it, hence my post #554, which acknowledges that you also DO have good humor
.
All that subtle, layered British humor and clipped, icy zingers. The Yanks need a syllabus and a seeing eye dog.
Sometimes when the General fires a broadside i have to use google, the Michelin restaurant guide and discogs and do still not get it
I tell myself i’m not stupid, it’s just a language problem
I tell myself i’m not stupid, it’s just a language problem
You still didn't get it - that was at Al's expense
Oh I got that fine, but I was the one who paid for the cartridge.
Anyway I’m enjoying my new vdH. It is improving with time as I now have about 16 hours on it. Al will be coming over Wednesday evening to hear it.
I have an update on how my Master Signature is sounding after about twenty five hours.
Al M. came over last night for dinner down the street at our favorite local hang out. (We had rack of lamb with mushroom risotto). After dinner, we listened to my system. Al demonstrated again his superior listening skills. He gave me some VTA advice based on his recollection of the sound of real instruments, mostly violin tone, the piano’s highest register, and male versus female massed voices. If things sounded the slightest bit off, Al did not hesitate to mention it. This is one of the things I find so refreshing in our Boston Audio Group. This attitude leads to learning.
The Master Signature is riding on a knife’s edge. I am finding that the VTA has to be dialed in for each LP to sound its best, but when that angle is right, you are rewarded with a very special sound. My MS now has about twenty five hours on it. We listened to some Beethoven string quartets, Cantata Domino, Beethoven’s Appassionata, Bach’s solo violin partita, and Holst's Planets.
Ack has described to our local audio group the European cartridge "sound" (Ortofon, vdH, Lyra, Clearaudio, Benz, etc) as being primarily about Resolution and Accuracy. I think that is right and I am learning what he means. I prefer the terms Energy and Tone, because this cartridge has so much energy across the frequency range, that you just hear more. You hear the origin of the sound if it is close mic’d and the energy of the cello body vibrating and the piano’s soundboard. You hear the bow against the string creating friction. You hear the vocal cords of the soprano. You hear the sound reverberating around the recording venue.
By Tone, I mean timbral accuracy in the same sense I think Ack means it. The individual instruments in a string quartet are more distinct, not only in space and distance, but in timbre. There is a purity to the tone which I don’t quite get from my other cartridges. It seems less colored, more neutral, more real. Individual voices in choral music blend as one in a coherent mass of intense beauty, or they are heard slightly separate, in space and tone from their neighbors. Individual violins in an orchestra have the same effect, depending on the recording, or the intent. This cartridge just makes me more aware of it.
Al used one word to describe what he heard from this cartridge: "Articulation”. That should make Ack smile.
Thanks for coming over last night Al, and thank you for helping me to better dial in the cartridge on some LPs. I really appreciate your companionship and ears in both dinner conversation and music listening.
Al M. came over last night for dinner down the street at our favorite local hang out. (We had rack of lamb with mushroom risotto). After dinner, we listened to my system. Al demonstrated again his superior listening skills. He gave me some VTA advice based on his recollection of the sound of real instruments, mostly violin tone, the piano’s highest register, and male versus female massed voices. If things sounded the slightest bit off, Al did not hesitate to mention it. This is one of the things I find so refreshing in our Boston Audio Group. This attitude leads to learning.
The Master Signature is riding on a knife’s edge. I am finding that the VTA has to be dialed in for each LP to sound its best, but when that angle is right, you are rewarded with a very special sound. My MS now has about twenty five hours on it. We listened to some Beethoven string quartets, Cantata Domino, Beethoven’s Appassionata, Bach’s solo violin partita, and Holst's Planets.
Ack has described to our local audio group the European cartridge "sound" (Ortofon, vdH, Lyra, Clearaudio, Benz, etc) as being primarily about Resolution and Accuracy. I think that is right and I am learning what he means. I prefer the terms Energy and Tone, because this cartridge has so much energy across the frequency range, that you just hear more. You hear the origin of the sound if it is close mic’d and the energy of the cello body vibrating and the piano’s soundboard. You hear the bow against the string creating friction. You hear the vocal cords of the soprano. You hear the sound reverberating around the recording venue.
By Tone, I mean timbral accuracy in the same sense I think Ack means it. The individual instruments in a string quartet are more distinct, not only in space and distance, but in timbre. There is a purity to the tone which I don’t quite get from my other cartridges. It seems less colored, more neutral, more real. Individual voices in choral music blend as one in a coherent mass of intense beauty, or they are heard slightly separate, in space and tone from their neighbors. Individual violins in an orchestra have the same effect, depending on the recording, or the intent. This cartridge just makes me more aware of it.
Al used one word to describe what he heard from this cartridge: "Articulation”. That should make Ack smile.
Thanks for coming over last night Al, and thank you for helping me to better dial in the cartridge on some LPs. I really appreciate your companionship and ears in both dinner conversation and music listening.
Thank you, Peter, for the opportunity to hear your new cartridge and for your kind words. The rack of lamb with mushroom risotto was delicious indeed, and it was a fun evening.
Your write-up is excellent. As you say, the cartridge needs to be dialed in precisely for each LP in order to achieve the most believable timbre, but the result can be really special in terms of clarity and articulation. I thought the choral music and the piano sounded the most impressive. There was not the least bit of blurring on the phenomenally played direct-to-disc Apassionata piano sonata. Each note in the fast runs in the high or even low register was distinct, and there was a rare tonal differentiation and detail.
There can be no doubt that we have not yet heard the cartridge at its full potential. I will be eager to hear the progress of further breaking in. With your other Colibri the progress as it accumulated playing hours was profound.
Congratulation Peter. Your new cart will give you so much joy on classicals. You are now experiencing the goodness of MS with good recording on piano the 45 Appassionata. It is a highly spotlighted recording. May I suggest you buy some old records of Pollini, Gilels, Cziffra, etc. They would really entertain you with great performances on piano that can really stretch the leg of MS. These old records are not expensive and can be bought around 40 bucks on discog. Old records are not cult. I just find it so hard to find new records that deserve the capability of a good high end system.
Kind regards,
Tang
Kind regards,
Tang
Last night I heard again Peter's system. Very good sound as expected, and I was most impressed with the piano on the direct to disc Apassionata and a Schumann violin sonata. Totally explosive, even brutal dynamics, with incredible speed on some of those hard hits on the keys. I guess, if they would hear that, those who think Magico can't do dynamics would be shocked -- absolutely shocked.
The brutal start-stops of the hard hitting piano on the Schumann violin sonata reminded me vividly of similar music that we heard live close up in the large living room of the Ayer Mansion in Boston recently:
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/four-hombres-from-boston.29284/
And yes, that new cartridge is quite something. It's still breaking in.
The brutal start-stops of the hard hitting piano on the Schumann violin sonata reminded me vividly of similar music that we heard live close up in the large living room of the Ayer Mansion in Boston recently:
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/four-hombres-from-boston.29284/
And yes, that new cartridge is quite something. It's still breaking in.
Last edited:
Yes, we do read such BS left and right over here; just like those who think they are sterile. I bet most people don't even know how many keys there are in a baby grand piano either.
I think this is a “red herring.”
I think knowing this particular fact is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition to knowing anything about the hobby of high-end audio.
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |