Recent content by Mark Ph

Hi Decameron, It's hard to say. I've listed 45 years' worth of tone arms, which have been on Technics, Denon, Oracle and all manner of Roksan turntables. I won't get into the cartridges. I still own and use the last four tonearms, if that's any sort of indication.

Grace 707 Grace 704 Infinity Black Widow Dynavector 505 Linn Ittok Syrinx PU-3 Rega RB300 SME V SME iV.VI Dynavector 507 Mk. II Graham Phantom Supreme Love to try: Air Tangent 47 Labs Tsurbe Simon Yorke Aeroarm Vertere Reference Supatrac Blackbird

Hi, I’d suggest this: find a Roksan dealer who sells the cartridge you want. I’d suggest a Hana S or, better yet, M series. Remove your tonearm, armboard and all, and ship to said dealer. It would be a simple matter, for that dealer to install the cartridge and return cartridge, arm and...

I’ve found cartridge warm up times to range from negligible to lengthy. My EMT and EMT-based Moving Coils take much of an LP side to bloom. Perhaps a low compliance issue?

Hi, If you have your Xerxes, you could keep it and consider some upgrades with a new tonearm. There’s a good chance your suspension “blobs” are stiff and brittle as they’re now over thirty years old. Roksan offers newly designed blobs, the XB 3is. Much cheaper is a replacement, tungsten...

Yikes!

Actually, I lie. My initial encounter with Naim electronics was in the ‘70s when Naim’s first Canadian distributor brought a chrome bumper Nait to my place to audition with Magnaplaner Tympanies. If I dare paraphrase Woody Allen here, that was a marriage as happy and enduring as Eva Braun’s...

Hi, Chicago’s Pro Musica kindly let me audition a Naim/Watt system several years ago. I think the Watts were series 7s, so there’ve been --what – thirty iterations since? The Naim models have been less ephemeral. It was my first lengthy exposure to both brands. The Naims drove the...

Since at least the advent of the EMTs, enthusiasts have had the choice between turntables as furniture and turntables as machines, in other words: fruit boxes versus oil platforms. As the Planet first demonstrated, Rega’s heart was in the machine, the wood-framed P25 and P9s were anomalies...

Who couldn't love this origin lore: “never intended for sale”, “nonplussed when listeners wanted to buy them”? The Wilson Watt has an identical legend. Such purity, they must be great.

As true mono cartridges have only horizontal compliance, stereo records are quite unpleasant with them.

As a result of a misspent youth, I own or have owned: Shure V15 Type III, IV and V; Grace F9-E, Denon 103 and 103S; Grado Signature 8; Shinon Black and Red; Koetsu Black, Black Goldline and Rosewood; Madrigal Carnegie I; Nagaoka MP 11; Roksan Corus Blue and Black, and Shiraz; Sumiko BPS, BPS EVO...

Hi, If yours is a Mk. I Xerxes, you might consider the following manufacturer’s upgrades before or while you’re pondering tonearms. There’s a good chance your suspension “blobs” are stiff and brittle as they’re now thirty years old. Roksan offers newly designed blobs, the XB 3is...

The title asks it. Can Naim's Flatcap 2 be used with their NAT 05 XS tuner? Thanks in advance.

Not a lot of love for the poor Xerxes here. I’ll table the question of innovation; to paraphrase what Picasso said of Cézanne: the AR Xa is the father of us all. Poor support? OK, but is Roksan the only turntable manufacturer of the era whence parts and service are no longer available? Oh...