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Ortofon's MC Anna and 12" arms

Incorrect - Fremer prefers the rockport to the 30 but says the 30 is better in the bass. He also says the Balance is better than the 30 even in the bass ;)

Well, run along and buy a Balance then.

Fremer actually did say that he preferred the 30 to the Rockport. What he thinks now, I neither know, nor care.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sme-model-302-turntable-page-4

The SME 30/2 is perhaps the most tonally neutral turntable I've ever heard. Only the Rockport System III Sirius, which includes an integral tonearm, is in the same league, and it doesn't stand up to the SME's low-frequency extension and solidity.
 
In the review he clarified - the rockport is superior except in the bass but the sme is in the same league elsewhere. He now believes the caliburn to be best followed by the balance.
 
Can't we get Fremer to join pfm and give us his views first-hand?

 
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In the review he clarified - the rockport is superior except in the bass but the sme is in the same league elsewhere. He now believes the caliburn to be best followed by the balance.

I think he is now championing something else.
Keith
 
If you want a Brinkmann buy it and be happy.
Ditto SME
Ditto TW
Ditto .... etc etc
Personal choice and as has been said a million times - there is no absolute best here. Everyone likes different things for different reasons. We pay our money and make our choice.
The only person you have to truly please is yourself.
 
Sure buy what you like... after listening

Fremer fell out with Yorke I believe. Or vice versa

What is he championing now?
 
Brinkmann on his website:

By definition, when tracking a record with a pivoted tonearm, the cantilever is aligned perfectly perpendicular to the groove in only two instances. The longer the tonearm, the smaller the offset error will be between these two instances, resulting in lower distortion. This explains why LPs tracked with the 12.1-inch long tonearm sound just a tad more poised, relaxed and natural (no rose is without thorns however: there are not that many turntables that can accommodate the »12.1« – among them our »LaGrange« and »Balance«). By the way: The »12.1« is not just a »10.5« with a longer armtube. Since a longer arm tube offers lower torsional stability and is more prone to resonances, we had to implement quite a few structural changes. We're proud of the fact that you will probably not notice any them at first sight, and even more proud of the fact that the »12.1« sounds even better than the »10.5«.

Sounds like he had a change of mind. I imagine he was disparaging just those 12" arms that are just the shorter arm with a lengthened arm tube
 
The Caliburn with the 9" tonearm?

Which he thought sounded better when he put an 11" tone arm on it ;)

Joking aside,Fremer has seemingly little or no idea what he's talking about half the time. Even he now takes rips from his review decks to try and identify differences down the line. He wasn't doing that 10 years ago. His aural memory is worthless.

It's also worth remembering that he preferred the Graham to the iV - not to the V which he never tried. He has AFAIK never had either the long wheelbase 30 in his system nor the V-12 arm.

His scribblings have been thoroughly discredited by others over the years. I would personally listen to the likes of Markus and Guy to name just two long before I took to reading Fremer's self serving column inches.
 
Have we got back to first principles in this thread? Which I seem to recall was the suitability of the Ortofon Anna MC in a 12" tonearm.

I'd love to be able to hear what a better turntable, tonearm and cartridge set up than mine (PT Anniversary/SME V/ Ortofon A90) is capable of without relying on the journalese spouted by the audio press.

I was unaware of Ortofon's teething problems with the Anna but would assume that they have taken appropriate measures to rectify this with their flagship cartridge.
I'm surprised as I've never had a duff one, from the MC 2000/3000/5000 (on loan), two Rohmanns (one being secondhand), a 7500 (a wonderfully rounded cartridge) and a Windfeld until the A90.

What was naughty was the over production of the supposed limited edition of 400 A90s.
There are a significant number of these - minus serial number - in circulation. However, the fact that you can get a new, and by that I mean completely refurbished A90 from Denmark at a very reasonable rate relatively speaking is overall a good thing.

If any one bags Anna and can record a nice cassette showing her ample abilities please PM me.
 
Which he thought sounded better when he put an 11" tone arm on it ;)

Joking aside,Fremer has seemingly little or no idea what he's talking about half the time. Even he now takes rips from his review decks to try and identify differences down the line. He wasn't doing that 10 years ago. His aural memory is worthless.

It's also worth remembering that he preferred the Graham to the iV - not to the V which he never tried. He has AFAIK never had either the long wheelbase 30 in his system nor the V-12 arm.

His scribblings have been thoroughly discredited by others over the years. I would personally listen to the likes of Markus and Guy to name just two long before I took to reading Fremer's self serving column inches.

He had a SME V in this review of the 20/3, a setup he seems to really like and a turntable that seems to be closer to the performance of a 30/2 than its predecessor.

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/sme-model-203-turntable-latest-variation-long-running-theme
 
I had the pt plus sme v plus mc2000 before so thats pretty close and you would be familair with it

The blg adds much more weight and dynamics plus detail. Clarity is much higher.

For me the step up was huge
 
I had the pt plus sme v plus mc2000 before so thats pretty close and you would be familair with it

The blg adds much more weight and dynamics plus detail. Clarity is much higher.

Hi Jek,

Thanks for the comments. It'll be a while before the next and final table comes my way.
 
Yes, just swapping decks. This evening.

I'm not really looking forward to posting anything about it, because of the reaction it will get from merlin and Jek. It's wearing/boring after a while, and was correctly predicted by me in an off-forum email to Joe Petrik about four weeks ago.

Don't blame you for laying low, but any first impressions? Hopefully no one was injured lifting the turntable in place.
 


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