The Colibri “Master Signature”

[Tango]

Tang, when you switched the cartridges, did you adjust the arm heights at all? I wonder if there is a slight variation in the distance from top of cartridge to stylus tip, or of the VTA. I recently watched a video of AJ vdHul make a cartridge and he seems to apply adhesive to the parts to keep everything in place. I wonder if this accounts for some variations in dimensions. I suspect each individual sample needs to be set up precisely and independently in each arm.

I did adjust the arm height. Imo the MS has its character. Try to tame it so much you change a tiger into a cat. Cables and power cords can pronounce the SS from the MS too. More head ache now right?

I am glad you are happy with your Colibri. I think it is even more satisfying knowing how to can get it to work as it should.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[sujay]

Hi Peter, this is sound advice, thanks. While I currently use relatively short screws, they are the conventional ones. I will try the polymer ones and see I can reduce the weight further. My arm weighs 12g as well and there’s no compatibility issue. In fact, the heavier sibilance is an issue only with a few classical rock LPs and vocals at times. I find the issue more pronounced on Columbia records.
FWIW, the MSS is still my go to cart for all classical.

 

[PeterA]

Peter,

Are you using the black polymer screws that SME used to supply with the Series 3 tonearm?

I am not sure. These screws came with my SME V 12.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

last Saturday i moved the Tosca-Anna D to the Saskia (arm board for the Telos still not here....maybe soon), so i did move the Telos Sapphire with the Master Signature onto the NVS. been listening back and forth since to both the Saskia-Tosca-Anna D and the NVS-Telos Saph-Master Sig.

the Master Signature has mostly been sounding quite nice but rearing it's rough edge here and there. mostly i'm getting the 'they are here' type presentation from the Saskia combo, and the 'you are there' from the NVS combo. last night i just played small combo jazz on the Saskia and it was heavenly. crazy good. i was gobsmacked.

tonight i have been going back and forth, the first hour or so i played small combo jazz again and the Saskia combo continued it's stellar sonics, sucking me in. the NVS combo not bad but still a touch rough upon direct comparison.....maybe not fair as the Saskia-Tosca-Anna D could be the very top of the mountain for small combo jazz. then in the space of 5 minutes the NVS combo somehow cleared it's throat and the smoothness factor jumped by a huge degree. the Master Signature is now at around 13 to 15 hours. i then switched to some big music and the difference between the two turntables really jumped out. the NVS-Telos-Master Signature, on big music, really separated things much better in the soundstage, the Saskia had a much more compact view. the NVS combo had almost unlimited space and scale, the Saskia in direct comparison diminutive. but the NVS really excels at space.....objectively the Saskia is fine.....just not in direct comparison.

scale and dynamics, along with ease and effortlessness, with big music are things really important to me. so hearing this maybe actually set a new standard in these areas was a relief. it will be interesting to see how the GFS might compare for big music.

right now i'm playing a chamber orchestra where both turntables are in a comfortable place and the Master Signature really is delightful and showing it is very refined. i had not heard this before quite to this degree. the flow with the NVS combo is outstanding. the energy is jumping from the grooves.

i'm encouraged as the Master Signature up until tonight had not been up to expectations. now it really is.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you for the update, Mike!

I will be curious to hear about the Master Signature versus GFS comparison!

 

[Tango]

I think the NVS with GFS or Red Sparrow will be the grand daddy of all separating things in sound stage. They have the same strengths therefore compounding what they already good at. The Master Sig on the other hand could compliment the NVS adding something additional. So no loser just what fit Mike's bill more.

I do listen to different musics with different combo. This is one major advantage of having more than one arm cart.

Tang

 

[PeterA]

Mike, Thanks for that report. Those must be two quite nice combinations. You keep referring to the Saskia v. the NVS. Do you attribute most of the sound from the two respective cartridge/arm/turntable combinations to be mainly from the two turntables? I would think that the two arms being from the same designer and at the top of his range might be fairly similar, but that the two cartridges and tables might be somewhat different, but it is really hard to know. I look forward to when you can compare the same cartridge/arm combination on each of the tables. You may then be able to attribute specific attributes to each of the individual components.

I also find interesting that you describe a particular combination to be better with a particular genre of music. Large scale (classical) v. small jazz combo, for instance. I had been of the opinion that one combination should be favored by a particular listener and then sound great on everything, but, the more I hear in my own system, friends' systems and from reading, I am increasingly open to components being specialized. (Edit: and now Tang mentions it in the post above, right now). Recently, I have begun to think about why that is the case. People with multiple tables, cartridges, tonearms often describe one combination sounding particularly good with a particular type of music. Same for speakers.

I have a friend who describes cartridges as either having the "Japanese" or the "European" sound. Both of the cartridges in this report are "European". He describes the Japanese cartridges as "aiming to please" and the European cartridges (Ortofon and vdH) as being all about resolution and accuracy. From my limited exposure to cartridges, my AirTight Supreme and vdH Colibri XPP do conform, more or less, to his general description, with my MSL Sig. Gold being somewhere in between. Do you find that Japanese and European cartridges can be described in these general ways?

 

[bazelio]

I think the NVS with GFS or Red Sparrow will be the grand daddy of all separating things in sound stage. They have the same strengths therefore compounding what they already good at. The Master Sig on the other hand could compliment the NVS adding something additional. So no loser just what fit Mike's bill more.

I do listen to different musics with different combo. This is one major advantage of having more than one arm cart.

Tang

I was also thinking Red Sparrow on NVS would be quite a combo. Is GFS in the same league all around as Red Sparrow?

 

[bonzo75]

I was also thinking Red Sparrow on NVS would be quite a combo. Is GFS in the same league all around as Red Sparrow?

Totally different. GFS is big soundstage, macro slams, imaging etc.

 

[bazelio]

Sounds interesting. 16g and highish compliance though.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, Thanks for that report. Those must be two quite nice combinations. You keep referring to the Saskia v. the NVS. Do you attribute most of the sound from the two respective cartridge/arm/turntable combinations to be mainly from the two turntables? I would think that the two arms being from the same designer and at the top of his range might be fairly similar, but that the two cartridges and tables might be somewhat different, but it is really hard to know. I look forward to when you can compare the same cartridge/arm combination on each of the tables. You may then be able to attribute specific attributes to each of the individual components.

I also find interesting that you describe a particular combination to be better with a particular genre of music. Large scale (classical) v. small jazz combo, for instance. I had been of the opinion that one combination should be favored by a particular listener and then sound great on everything, but, the more I hear in my own system, friends' systems and from reading, I am increasingly open to components being specialized. (Edit: and now Tang mentions it in the post above, right now). Recently, I have begun to think about why that is the case. People with multiple tables, cartridges, tonearms often describe one combination sounding particularly good with a particular type of music. Same for speakers.

I have a friend who describes cartridges as either having the "Japanese" or the "European" sound. Both of the cartridges in this report are "European". He describes the Japanese cartridges as "aiming to please" and the European cartridges (Ortofon and vdH) as being all about resolution and accuracy. From my limited exposure to cartridges, my AirTight Supreme and vdH Colibri XPP do conform, more or less, to his general description, with my MSL Sig. Gold being somewhere in between. Do you find that Japanese and European cartridges can be described in these general ways?

a few weeks back Joel Durand was at my home with jazdoc, and we switched the Tosca/Anna D back and forth between the Saskia and NVS. same cartridge and arm, just different turntables.

those same attributes of the Saskia being more a 'they are here' turntable with optimal small combo attributes.......images more forward and organic with supreme tonal density, and the NVS being more 'you are there' and bigger sounding, more organized soundstage and soaring with scale and authority.

i think before we lay that all at the feet of the turntable, we have to consider that my system tends to particularly allow for scale and precision and so allow that part to surpass the same gear in other contexts. for three main reasons i think.

1--Taiko Tana active platforms under the whole signal path including the tt, allow big music to stay coherent.
2--room is dialed in big time and supports big music.
3--exceptional bottom octave performance and coherence.

so the typical turntable differences get pushed out farther.

 

[bonzo75]

Mike, I was thinking the same "i think before we lay that all at the feet of the turntable, we have to consider that my system tends to particularly allow for scale and precision" after I read your para before that

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Thank you for the update, Mike!

I will be curious to hear about the Master Signature versus GFS comparison!

Me too.

My next thing will be the Telos Sapphire on the Saskia with both the Master Sig and the GFS and see how those compare.

I think that the Tosca arm and Anna D really synergize.

 

[PeterA]

Me too.

My next thing will be the Telos Sapphire on the Saskia with both the Master Sig and the GFS and see how those compare.

I think that the Tosca arm and Anna D really synergize.

Mike, have you tried the Telos and Master Sig on the Saskia yet? How many hours on the MS? I'm curious how the MS compares to the GFS. My Master Sig has 42 hours on it now and it is smoothing out and sounding glorious. I am finding it very well balanced, extremely resolving, very high in energy at all frequencies. Recording space acoustics are the best I've heard from any cartridge. This is now my favorite cartridge for classical music, large scale and small, as well as choral music.

There is still some sibilance, but it is diminishing with break in. I only hear it with some jazz reissues and pop vocals. No sibilance at all with my classical LPs.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, have you tried the Telos and Master Sig on the Saskia yet? How many hours on the MS? I'm curious how the MS compares to the GFS. My Master Sig has 42 hours on it now and it is smoothing out and sounding glorious. I am finding it very well balanced, extremely resolving, very high in energy at all frequencies. Recording space acoustics are the best I've heard from any cartridge. This is now my favorite cartridge for classical music, large scale and small, as well as choral music.

There is still some sibilance, but it is diminishing with break in. I only hear it with some jazz reissues and pop vocals. No sibilance at all with my classical LPs.

12 days ago, in anticipation of a visit from Emile and Ed from Taiko, i removed the vdH MS from my Telos Sapphire, and installed the GFS, so i would not need to rationalize any break in niggles. the GFS sounded so good i've just been enjoying it since and not yet returned to the MS.

at about the 15-18 hour point i had been at with the MS things were definitely smoothing out and it was finding it's cohesion. but all was not settled. mostly the issue were as you mention, particular vocal sibilance, or crescendo splashiness. many records sailed through perfectly. of course, huge soundstage and projection of energy. and as you mention; that 'live' open window unfettered presentation.

 

[bazelio]

Today I heard @mountainjoe 's system with the African Blackwood Master Signature. Personally, I feel the sibilance issue is overblown. To me, sibilance in this system was true to the recorded material. The cartridge never seemed to worsen sibilant recordings, nor add sibilance to records that I know to be energetic in the treble region. Garbage in, garbage out. Beauty in, beauty out. Give it well recorded and mastered material; it rewards you. Give it something lesser; it lets you know. And the Master Sig is capable of speed and ease of delineation within complex musical passages. Overall, a very fine cart in my estimation.

 

[PeterA]

 

[bazelio]

Whoa, PeterA. I thought you'd never! Congrats. Is that an outboard arm board made for the table or something custom?

Any listening impressions yet?

 

[PeterA]

Whoa, PeterA. I thought you'd never! Congrats. Is that an outboard arm board made for the table or something custom?

Any listening impressions yet?

Thank you bazelio. It is my own custom design arm pod. I plan to open a separate thread on the topic so as not to dilute this thread. I posted the photos only because I first mounted my vdH Master Signature on this new arm. It is too early for any real listening impressions. So far so good though. I have some additional comments and more photos on my system thread, Sublime Sound.

I will say that the Master Signature seems to be an excellent match for this SME 3012R arm.

 

[kodomo]

If anyone wants one, I can sell mine for a very good price. It is under 100hours and is a 1.1mV one out of African Blackwood. I am getting an Ortofon Anna diamond and only have one arm on my stabi M so this will go to spare locker waiting for an sme arm in the future or can be sold in the meantime.