The fun never ends!

[Robert Young]

Update…new favorite mm cartridge: I had a bit of free time around Thanksgiving and decided to spend a bit of effort on a cartridge i was going to sell - a Pickering XSV-3000 with original stylus. I mounted it on the SME 3009 in an Oyaide carbon headshell, and dialed it in…and i’m keeping it. What a performer!! With the VTA adjusted a bit butt-high at pivot it sounded full, precise, and fast, and with a tremendous sense of spatial accuracy. I was playing mostly the new Beatles Revolver remaster. I’m constantly amazed at how much better the mm cartridges of the 70s and 80s are than i remember, probably because the rest of the equipment i owned back then was crap. If you’ve never heard a Pickering XSV-3000, hunt one down: you’re in for a treat.

 

[Robert Young]

Update…new favorite mm cartridge: I had a bit of free time around Thanksgiving and decided to spend a bit of effort on a cartridge i was going to sell - a Pickering XSV-3000 with original stylus. I mounted it on the SME 3009 in an Oyaide carbon headshell, and dialed it in…and i’m keeping it. What a performer!! With the VTA adjusted a bit butt-high at pivot it sounded full, precise, and fast, and with a tremendous sense of spatial accuracy. I was playing mostly the new Beatles Revolver remaster. I’m constantly amazed at how much better the mm cartridges of the 70s and 80s are than i remember, probably because the rest of the equipment i owned back then was crap. If you’ve never heard a Pickering XSV-3000, hunt one down: you’re in for a treat.

Well, maybe the fun does end at some point. I may have gotten a bit over-enthusiastic about this turntable and the variety of arms and cartridges with which it can excel. Most of the arms just sit on a shelf collecting dust. I think the two best with it are the SME 3009 II unimproved, and the Signet XK50 (same as the AT 1100). As awesome as the old wood Grado is with the Shure M7D cartridge, I just don't use it often enough (maybe twice). And the Infinity can be a bit of a pain: for some reason, it seems to adjust itself when not in use, so I have to set VTF every time I try to use it. It is sexy though. Anyway, I think there will be a garage sale in my future. I have a really clean NA spec Lenco motor and may build a special deck with it for the Gray 108. One more project that will result in more frustration from the wife. The funds need to come from somewhere far removed from her inquisitive eyes.

 

[shadowlight]

Well, maybe the fun does end at some point. I may have gotten a bit over-enthusiastic about this turntable and the variety of arms and cartridges with which it can excel. Most of the arms just sit on a shelf collecting dust. I think the two best with it are the SME 3009 II unimproved, and the Signet XK50 (same as the AT 1100). As awesome as the old wood Grado is with the Shure M7D cartridge, I just don't use it often enough (maybe twice). And the Infinity can be a bit of a pain: for some reason, it seems to adjust itself when not in use, so I have to set VTF every time I try to use it. It is sexy though. Anyway, I think there will be a garage sale in my future. I have a really clean NA spec Lenco motor and may build a special deck with it for the Gray 108. One more project that will result in more frustration from the wife. The funds need to come from somewhere far removed from her inquisitive eyes.

Are you building a new Lenco along with the slate ptp?

 

[Robert Young]

Are you building a new Lenco along with the slate ptp?

Yes! I am thinking about a few “improvements” on the slate L75/ptp6: i’m modifying the motor to run on DC for battery power; changing out the tapered motor spindle for a straight one, using a speed controller instead (like peter’s offered on the ptp site); isolating the motor, the bearing, and the tonearm from each other; and using 3 stacked but isolated layers:2 slate and one cast iron. I’m having a platter cast that will be just slightly taller than the typical lenco platter, but almost twice as heavy. Proportionally i’d like the plan of the table to mimic the Luxman PD 144, maybe even stealing the Luxman armboard concept. I’d like the long arm (a 14” Gray 108) to be along the back, and the shorter arm (a SupaTrac Blackbird) on the right. Lots of other thoughts…should take me only the rest of the decade to complete!

 

[shadowlight]

Looking forward to your adventure with the new Lenco build.

 

[Robert Young]

Looking forward to your adventure with the new Lenco build.

So’s my wife…not! Lolz.
She still can’t accept that to me it makes sense to have 4 turntables, but no digital.

 

[Solypsa]

4 tt = awesome. No digital? Get her a Lynx Hilo and put that to rest

 

[Robert Young]

I wouldn’t even know where to begin with anything digital. I haven’t had a silver disc player since i sold a Bel Canto universal player a few years back. I still have about a thousand redbook cds, and maybe 100 sacds, but nothing to play them with! I’ve been contemplating used Ayre, the PS Audio kit, and going a different direction, an Innuos. I just would rather spend my limited budget on more tonearms!

 

[Ron Resnick]

Dear Robert,

If you want to resuscitate those RBCDs an older Pioneer Elite disc player or something like an Oppo BDP-105 is an inexpensive but, it turns out, a perfectly legitimate transport, and the entry-level Lampizator Amber 4 is a high sound quality per dollar DAC, all for less than $5,000.

This is what I have done recently myself (Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai and Lampizator Baltic 3). I even just bought a CD!

 

[Robert Young]

Dear Robert,

If you want to resuscitate those RBCDs an older Pioneer Elite disc player or something like an Oppo BDP-105 is an inexpensive but, it turns out, a perfectly legitimate transport, and the entry-level Lampizator Amber 4 is a high sound quality per dollar DAC, all for less than $5,000.

This is what I have done recently myself (Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai and Lampizator Baltic 3). I even just bought a CD!

That Lampizator kit is very sexy! Maybe i need to sell a turntable or two…

 

[chet atkins]

There's an NOS one on eBay at $695 but I think that's just too much.

i bought that one for 695 i offered 600 and he accepted

 

[chet atkins]

I used to think i would be satisfied with an Allaerts and an SPU….then i had Joseph repair a Shure v15 iii to put on a newly-restored SME 3009 series 2 non-improved. I added a Stanley wood body, and loved it! I’d gotten a few random cartridges with the TD and arm from my Dad, and discovered that i loved one of them too: an Empire 880p. They were all so different, yet had some incredible attributes. The Allaerts was magical on a Schroeder Reference, but the M-A on a Signet xk50 was super close, and actually is better on transients. The Shure is still great on the SME. The Empire sounds like a good cocktail on a cold day mounted on a Grado wood…GE RPX on a Gray 108…you see, i have a tonearm problem too!

i looked at some of the current listings for M-A 3002. There are two, right? Both look like complete and original…but my gawd, i got mine for $125….

i just bought one of those NOS ma-3002. looking forward to hearing it and also the pickering 3000

 

[Robert Young]

i just bought one of those NOS ma-3002. looking forward to hearing it and also the pickering 3000

Wow!! I think at $600 you paid a fair price for an NOS. My 3002 had a broken cantilever when i got it, so i never got to hear it in original state. So i’m looking forward to your report! Mine, with Joseph Long’s masterful rebuild, is just a great cartridge. I used to think reviewers writing about how “fast” a cartridge was was just another example of critic’s bs. Not any more!! I get it! This thing is fast. And the Pickerings and Stantons are also wonderful. I could live with just an M-A, a Pickering xsv-3000, a Stanton 881s, a Sonus Blue Gold, a Grace F9e, a Signet TK10ml….and i do! (And it’s become a problem.) Now if i can sell a few of them i might be able to follow some of the recent recommendations for getting started (again) in digital.

i didn’t love MM carts back when they were at their high-point. Maybe it was my other equipment not being good enough at the time, but i remember when i mounted a Benz Micro Glider on my Rega Planar 3 with RB 300 arm, it was revelatory. But now, as good as that original Glider was, using the phono stage (MM) in an Air Tight preamp, the MM carts I identified are sll superior. I work harder at VTA for these (the age of the carts often means the suspendions have given up a bit) and i tweak the loading (47 k is not always best!), and i try to find the perfect arm fit…but in the end, these cartridges are the biggest bargain in audio.

 

[chet atkins]

Wow!! I think at $600 you paid a fair price for an NOS. My 3002 had a broken cantilever when i got it, so i never got to hear it in original state. So i’m looking forward to your report! Mine, with Joseph Long’s masterful rebuild, is just a great cartridge. I used to think reviewers writing about how “fast” a cartridge was was just another example of critic’s bs. Not any more!! I get it! This thing is fast. And the Pickerings and Stantons are also wonderful. I could live with just an M-A, a Pickering xsv-3000, a Stanton 881s, a Sonus Blue Gold, a Grace F9e, a Signet TK10ml….and i do! (And it’s become a problem.) Now if i can sell a few of them i might be able to follow some of the recent recommendations for getting started (again) in digital.

i didn’t love MM carts back when they were at their high-point. Maybe it was my other equipment not being good enough at the time, but i remember when i mounted a Benz Micro Glider on my Rega Planar 3 with RB 300 arm, it was revelatory. But now, as good as that original Glider was, using the phono stage (MM) in an Air Tight preamp, the MM carts I identified are sll superior. I work harder at VTA for these (the age of the carts often means the suspendions have given up a bit) and i tweak the loading (47 k is not always best!), and i try to find the perfect arm fit…but in the end, these cartridges are the biggest bargain in audio.

ya according to Raul on audiogon 47 is not best for MM carts.

 

[chet atkins]

ya according to Raul on audiogon 47 is not best for MM carts.

have you heard the empire 4000 d 3, i have a few of these NOS

 

[Robert Young]

have you heard the empire 4000 d 3, i have a few of these NOS

I haven’t, but i understand they are really good. I have a few Empires i really love: all the same motor, but different stylus profiles (one original). That’s the 880p, which looks like something from a Star Wars model shop, but sounds delicious to my ears. There’s a pic of one on the first page of this thread. I think i may be the only person on the planet who likes these, though…

 

[mtemur]

If you want to resuscitate those RBCDs an older Pioneer Elite disc player or something like an Oppo BDP-105

In that regard I can easily recommend pioneer pd-91. It’s an excellent transport. Also top stable platter mechanism pioneer units with marigo labs 3D mat perform great. One little issue, they’re not cheap anymore.
Or NOSed top philips and marantz units as player which I still prefer over modern players.
Or now extinct RME adi-2 fs with AKM dac in NOS mode, shun mooked, used with M1 macbook pro and now extinct Audirvana 3.5.50. I like it more than any Roon and switch stuff.
Or now extinct Kondo or concert fidelity dac with cec tl 0 sound heavenly.

 

[Robert Young]

In that regard I can easily recommend pioneer pd-91. It’s an excellent transport. Also top stable platter mechanism pioneer units with marigo labs 3D mat perform great. One little issue, they’re not cheap anymore.
Or NOSed top philips and marantz units as player which I still prefer over modern players.
Or now extinct RME adi-2 fs with AKM dac in NOS mode, shun mooked, used with M1 macbook pro and now extinct Audirvana 3.5.50. I like it more than any Roon and switch stuff.
Or now extinct Kondo or concert fidelity dac with cec tl 0 sound heavenly.

Thanks for the recs! Indeed, many of the better players of the past are no longer the bargains they were a couple of years ago. My challenge with unsupported used digital is that i can’t effectively try it out, and vompare it to my L75/PTP6 or TD 124….

 

[shadowlight]

Thanks for the recs! Indeed, many of the better players of the past are no longer the bargains they were a couple of years ago. My challenge with unsupported used digital is that i can’t effectively try it out, and vompare it to my L75/PTP6 or TD 124….

I have one of the pioneer elite and Denon dvd/sacd players. I will look up the model numbers tomorrow in case your want to try them in your setup. I am in NJ. I am using a Lampizator GG2 with Qobuz/Deezer for digital listening.

 

[Robert Young]

I have one of the pioneer elite and Denon dvd/sacd players. I will look up the model numbers tomorrow in case your want to try them in your setup. I am in NJ. I am using a Lampizator GG2 with Qobuz/Deezer for digital listening.

That’s a very nice offer! Right now my only amp (a ridiculously rare collaboration between Don Garber (fi) and Nori Komiro) is being given a health check, so i’m out of action for a while…hence my wandering brain imagining new projects and alternative equipment.

Maybe it’s my natural inclination to pinch pennies, but i find the prices of most equipment indefensible. So the idea of a previous generation bit of kit performing at an appropriate level for the rest of my system, my room and my ears, definitely appeals.