vinyl upgrades; Dava, FCL tone arm, EMIA silver Phono Corrector, MC Trio

i've finished my digital push....and been working on a few odds and ends to fine tune my vinyl. had my 3 tt's for 3 years now, thought long and hard about consolidating the 3 into one 'big-boy' tt, but at the end of the day have decided that the three tt's cover state of the art vinyl rotating and so they are all keepers. i like what each does too much, and nothing else enough, to change. i will likely sell my 4th tt, the EMT948 i got a year ago, as i'm rarely listening to it.

a month ago i ordered the DaVa Ref (field coil) cartridge and did post about that. it's still approximately 3 months away. so May. it will replace one of my 3 Etsuro Gold MC's.

i've been working on a new tone arm for the last couple of months, and did finally order the 12" Primary Control FCL (field coil) tone arm last week. that's also scheduled to arrive in May. my initial plan was to combine the DaVa field coil cart with the field coil arm. but i've learned that is not a good idea. that arm/cart combo not synergistic. so the DaVa will be mounted on one of my Durand Tosca's. the FCL arm will then have one of my Etsuro Gold's.

right now, the plan is to mount the FCL arm on the Wave Kinetics NVS, and keep the Tosca on the Saskia with the Dava cart. but i will have arm boards for both arms, for both turntables. so i can play around with the best combinations. my goal is to have the best jazz/blues arm/cart combo on the Saskia, and the best classical/pop combo on the NVS to compliment the CS Port linear tracker for classical/pop. the Durand Telos which now has my Miyajima Infinity mounted will be moving on, and my other Tosca will now do both my Infinity Mono carts.

lastly; i have ordered today the EMIA Phono Corrector in silver, with 2 power supplies. it will hopefully be here in late April. it will replace my CS Port phono. once the DaVa cartridge arrives; Dave Slagle will work with me to identify the best SUT as a match for it, and Dave will then combine that SUT with a silver SUT for both Etsuro Gold's into an EMIA MC Trio. i'll trade my current pair of silver 1:10 EMIA SUT's in on the MC TRIO. so the Phono Corrector will service all three cartridges, leaving the mono carts for the darTZeel phono. the MC Trio will also have a mono switch, so i can use it for the mono's if i like.

to help pay for all these items, i'll be selling the EMT 948 with Durand Kairos arm, one Etsuro Gold, the CS Port phono, and one of my Studer A-820's (without the head switch and with 1/4" and 1/2" guides and head blocks) i have not been using. so there will be some pain, but not crazy amounts of it. it will be a few months, but i can ride off into the sunset once these things are in place and dialed in.

at least it's a plan. and checks have been written.

 

Ahh ok, I thought Trio was the name of the phono pre and all the SUTs were internal to that. So you do have a MM input and can do the compare maybe someday, with a cable swap.

 

Ahh ok, I thought Trio was the name of the phono pre and all the SUTs were internal to that. So you do have a MM input and can do the compare maybe someday, with a cable swap.

yes, correct. since the EMIA phono corrector has only one input; trying a separate SUT would involve a cable swap.

it is confusing. the whole SUT & 40db MM input concept is confusing. the concept of the MC Trio is confusing. it took me a while to grasp it. and i still really can't 'talk' SUT much. i look at the idea very simplistically and defer to Dave Slagle. it only matters that HE understands it completely.

 

.. it only matters that HE understands it completely.

Good one!!

 

i did receive my EM/IA phono corrector today and am mighty impressed. rather than go deep into my experiences for that product on this thread, i figured i should jump on the thread already on that (EM/IA phono corrector) topic to keep feedback on that together with previous info. so if interested here is where i posted about it.....including pictures. thanks.

EMIA LR Phono Corrector (review)

On the future of a handmade Emia MC phono cartridge: tl;dr don't hold your breath right now. Dave says he wants to offer a field coil MC cartridge. He has spent a fair amount of time prototyping and also modding the Denon 103, only retaining a few of the metal peices. It will be quite some...

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

Primary Control FCL arm and DaVa Ref are both inbound to me. FCL might land tomorrow, just got my arm board done (17mm thick stainless not trivial to cut out) for mounting on the NVS.

6 months in and we are finally here....some analog fun for the summertime.

 

Primary Control FCL arm and DaVa Ref are both inbound to me. FCL might land tomorrow, just got my arm board done (17mm thick stainless not trivial to cut out) for mounting on the NVS.

6 months in and we are finally here....some analog fun for the summertime.

 

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!

 

it landed...at work. briefly removed the substantial wooden box from the outer shipping box, and opened the top lid, then turned it over and opened the bottom lid. serious kit. sweet.

 

it landed...at work. briefly removed the substantial wooden box from the outer shipping box, and opened the top lid, then turned it over and opened the bottom lid. serious kit. sweet.

View attachment 94836

Let’s see pics inside the box

 

 

View attachment 94837
View attachment 94838

Which wand material did you select, Mike?

 

Which wand material did you select, Mike?

curly birch arm covering, with brushed nickel finish.

 

i've finished my digital push....and been working on a few odds and ends to fine tune my vinyl. had my 3 tt's for 3 years now, thought long and hard about consolidating the 3 into one 'big-boy' tt, but at the end of the day have decided that the three tt's cover state of the art vinyl rotating and so they are all keepers. i like what each does too much, and nothing else enough, to change. i will likely sell my 4th tt, the EMT948 i got a year ago, as i'm rarely listening to it.

a month ago i ordered the DaVa Ref (field coil) cartridge and did post about that. it's still approximately 3 months away. so May. it will replace one of my 3 Etsuro Gold MC's.

i've been working on a new tone arm for the last couple of months, and did finally order the 12" Primary Control FCL (field coil) tone arm last week. that's also scheduled to arrive in May. my initial plan was to combine the DaVa field coil cart with the field coil arm. but i've learned that is not a good idea. that arm/cart combo not synergistic. so the DaVa will be mounted on one of my Durand Tosca's. the FCL arm will then have one of my Etsuro Gold's.

right now, the plan is to mount the FCL arm on the Wave Kinetics NVS, and keep the Tosca on the Saskia with the Dava cart. but i will have arm boards for both arms, for both turntables. so i can play around with the best combinations. my goal is to have the best jazz/blues arm/cart combo on the Saskia, and the best classical/pop combo on the NVS to compliment the CS Port linear tracker for classical/pop. the Durand Telos which now has my Miyajima Infinity mounted will be moving on, and my other Tosca will now do both my Infinity Mono carts.

lastly; i have ordered today the EMIA Phono Corrector in silver, with 2 power supplies. it will hopefully be here in late April. it will replace my CS Port phono. once the DaVa cartridge arrives; Dave Slagle will work with me to identify the best SUT as a match for it, and Dave will then combine that SUT with a silver SUT for both Etsuro Gold's into an EMIA MC Trio. i'll trade my current pair of silver 1:10 EMIA SUT's in on the MC TRIO. so the Phono Corrector will service all three cartridges, leaving the mono carts for the darTZeel phono. the MC Trio will also have a mono switch, so i can use it for the mono's if i like.

to help pay for all these items, i'll be selling the EMT 948 with Durand Kairos arm, one Etsuro Gold, the CS Port phono, and one of my Studer A-820's (without the head switch and with 1/4" and 1/2" guides and head blocks) i have not been using. so there will be some pain, but not crazy amounts of it. it will be a few months, but i can ride off into the sunset once these things are in place and dialed in.

at least it's a plan. and checks have been written.

Dear Mike two questions:

1. Do you think the EMIA Phono Corrector will better your Cs Port battery powered phonostage? Did you compare them?
2. I am thinking using a Etsuro Gold on one of my 4 tonearms do you recomend using the Etsuro Gold directly on MC input 63db gain or whit a SUT to MM input of the phono stage? Is a setup trafo the way to go whit this cartridge?

 

Dear Mike two questions:

1. Do you think the EMIA Phono Corrector will better your Cs Port battery powered phonostage? Did you compare them?

i never had both the CS Port phono and the EMIA corrector in the system at the same time. but i certainly have a feel for how they compare. my EMIA corrector is not the base model copper, it's it the 40% higher cost silver wound version, and also with an additional power supply too.

my EMIA corrector does better my CS Port phono in degrees in various ways. however; the battery powered CS Port plays at a very sophisticated level of performance, especially in terms of low noise, liquidity and nuance it's wonderful, and very fine with space and flow. the EMIA does those things, and adds more propulsion and force, and is more harmonically alive. but it's also twice the price.

i would also add that the CS Port with the SUT's was equally good at doing with the CS Port LFT1 linear tracker string drive, as well as the Saskia idler. it could boogie when the music went there.

2. I am thinking using a Etsuro Gold on one of my 4 tonearms do you recomend using the Etsuro Gold directly on MC input 63db gain or whit a SUT to MM input of the phono stage? Is a setup trafo the way to go whit this cartridge?

the Etsuro Gold will flourish more with an SUT in my experience. it brings out it's sexyness and more microdynamics and grainless quality. the CS Port 63db gain MC input is very good by itself too, and i was never disappointed with it. the copper EMIA SUT's seemed equivalent to the MC input, whereas the EMIA Silver SUT seemed a clear step up. so this question is a matter of degrees of very good. and an SUT can potentially match the cartridge more perfectly than the fixed 63db input.

 

It is always fun to read about your system update Mike, especially on vinyls

BTW I’m testing Etsuro’s own SUT ET-U50 which is not that highly spoken of, IMHO SUT+MM input is significantly better than the MC input of CSport phono.

 

back in February when i started this thread, my goal was to have three musical viewpoints; four, if you count the mono direction, that allowed the three different tt drive approaches to be optimized, to hopefully more optimize different type music and musical desires and moods. it's taken awhile, and i've had a few set-backs and challenges, but i have now 'finally' experienced a taste of where i had wanted to get to for these changes.

the EMIA arrived. the DaVa arrived. the Primary Control FCL arm arrived. i was sent first a 1:28 EMIA SUT to try with the DaVa. and then later a 1:40 SUT to try with the DaVa. had to work through some noise issues but i think i have those calmed enough to proceed.

i'm finally set on the SUT values for the MC Trio, and it will now be built. 1:15 for both my 'special' Etsuro Gold's, and 1:50 for the DaVa. the additional gain should put the residual noise issues remaining behind me. not exactly sure how soon it will arrive.

this week i've been on 'staycation' so spent lots of time listening and playing around. got the DaVa really working well. and finally got the FCL to strut it's stuff.

the DaVa has blown me away and seems the perfect Saskia cartridge. it has textures on top of textures, and a live-ness, inner glow, and energy projection that makes the music come alive. the music becomes so personal and the meaning of the artist gets communicated. vocals are so real and life like. horns have that projection and touch. on the Saskia the music is very focused and powerful. you don't hear sounds, you immersively experience music.

i've done a few sessions with the Primary Control FCL arm. i referenced some of my views on another thread. there is a scale, explosiveness, and precision to the music, i had never heard quite like this before. it takes the strengths of the NVS tt, and the 'special' Etsuro Gold cartridge, and creates amazing soundscapes. my room is a soundstage champ, so my expectations are very high, but this is something........???.

my CS Port with the linear tracker and 'special' Etsuro Gold was already where i wanted it to be, and my go to for the delicacy and flow i love with my classical music.

i can't wait until i have the finished EMIA MC Trio so i can do speedy switching of arms/cartridges/tt's so i can really directly compare these viewpoints. and then just listen for awhile and see how i feel about things as i live with it. right now it's a 15 minute process to plug and un-plug cables, powering down and powering up. takes the fun out. but it seems i'm near the finish line on my vinyl upgrades and that they will end up over-delivering on my high expectations.

 

I'd like to time a trip up north with the completed MC Trio, and perhaps your next staycation! Dava and 1:50, wow! Super interesting. Enjoy!

 

Hi Mike,

Congrats on assembling these incredible front ends - very jealous. In particular I am very happy you persisted with the DaVa and are getting a glimpse of a very unique perspective on the music. Please keep pushing the boundaries with it cos I have mine utterly silent and that is with a very efficient system. At some point maybe a friend can help you with secondary and tertiary filters because the performance leaps again.

Looking forward to learning more about your progress with the Primary Control FCL.

Best wishes.

 

I'd like to time a trip up north with the completed MC Trio, and perhaps your next staycation! Dava and 1:50, wow! Super interesting. Enjoy!

I think the DaVa SUT is 1:50 too?

 

I think the DaVa SUT is 1:50 too?

yes, they is what i've read. Bill can confirm, as i think he has one.