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Pink Triangle Anniversary

wiresandmore

pfm Member
I’ve tried/owned many decks over my 30-year audio journey and always wanted one of these. I had a PT TOO back in the day and I’ve been intrigued to hear what Arthur’s ultimate vision of the PT ethos was. However, living in Ireland and the issues/risks with couriers if I sourced one in the UK put me off and now Brexit has made the whole issue with duty/tax even more complicated.

That changed: a few weeks back my local dealer (Cloney Audio) in Dublin took a PT Anniversary in as p/ex, complete with an SME IV. One owner, originally supplied by Cloney in 1994, complete with the order form from PT, specifying the SME arm board and battery PSU etc.

It’s all set-up now and sounding wonderful. There’s a clarity and vividness I’ve not heard before, and that’s with a stand-in cartridge as I wait for Cloney to get the Hana range into stock for demo (I plan to get an ML).

The suspension and sub-chassis design is quite remarkable. The fact that it hangs via springs (instead of compressing them) and then the arm cable terminates via the “flexi-link” vs. a P-clip arrangement means it really is incredibly well insulated from the surroundings. I can knock the plinth or top plate quite hard and there’s practically no impact - record keeps playing, no audio breakthrough, no suspension wobbles. No other deck I’ve owned can do that, and I’ve tried many. On top of that, like most PT decks you can level it yourself in situ which really simplifies setup and ownership. I know there are Vector mods etc but that can wait....

As well as the team at Cloney, I wanted to highlight the great service and advice I’ve had from TruePoint Audio (Charles Melling) who’ve supplied oil, belts and suspension parts - but perhaps more importantly have also been available on the phone to talk through and patiently guide me through the setup - very highly recommended. They really know PT decks very well indeed. Also, I’ve sourced and replaced the battery in the PSU thanks to TruePoint as well as advice elsewhere on PFM - thank you to those who helped with the battery info - much appreciated.

Pic of the deck + the flexilink





 
I've had one of these since the mid 90's, still going strong. By coincidence mine is fitted with the SME IV too, currently with an AT-ART-9. One of the best decks ever made IMHO, hope you get years of enjoyment from it.
 
Very nice

I had one many moons ago.. wish I had never sold it now tbh.

Ran it mostly with an Original Kuzma Stogi arm, which I don't remember anyone else having tried
 
Very nice, looks like new. I'm currently running in a Hana ML, sounding very good so far.

How are you finding the Hana? What else did you compare it with when you bought it? Very hard to do demos of cartridges, esp. under the current circumstances.
 
How are you finding the Hana? What else did you compare it with when you bought it? Very hard to do demos of cartridges, esp. under the current circumstances.

To be honest it's a bit hard to tell exactly what the Hana is contributing as I bought a new tonearm, cartridge and arm cable all at the one time and I'm using a budget Project phonostage as I await the arrival of a phonostage that is being built. Hopefully I'll have a clearer picture of what the new arm/mc combo does once I have a better MC stage, whilst the little Project while fine VFM for a MM cartridge it 8s a little noisy (hiss) on the MC setting and is afterall a budget phonostage.

I didn't compare it with anything else as there was not a single dealer in the UK nevermind NI/Ireland that had a Dais on demonstration let alone one with two tonearms or armboards fitted to do comparisons on to demonstrate tonearms or cartridges.

So I took and educated guess (gamble?) and going on previous experience, did what research I could, spoke to a few people , read some reviews and bought what I thought was best that I could afford , a Brinkmann 10.0 tonearm, Hana ML and a Cardas tonearm cable, I only bought the arm cable and a Dr.Feickert protractor as tonearm did not come equipped.

Although I already had and still have a Hadcock tonearm and Shure MM mounted on the Dais , this is the first different arm and MC I've tried on this TT. The Hadcock /Shure combo feeds the onboard valve MM stage in the Copland pre , this is a much better MM stage than the Project.

So far, I've only had time to listen too about 10 Lps , but the Hana and Brinkmann combo has been very good, much better detail without sounding forward, seems to be pretty even from top to bottom, definitely more bass and a wider soundstage with better separation of the various instruments but still retaining musicality.

I'm pretty happy so far with it but I'll really only have more of an understanding to what's contributing what when I have some more time to try the Hana on the Hadcock and become accustomed to the phonostage when it arrives.

I did try Lyra, Benz and AT in the past and wouldn't hesitate to buy another but saying the Hana had been so well reviewed across the the board I thought I'd give it a try.
 
Nice to see you get this after so much time. Probably the better for that... Most of my hifi that has stuck over the years has been accidental. Unlikely but true.
 
Great table, especially when paired with a SME V or IV.

I have never heard a Zeta, Alphason or any other tonearm with an Anniversary although many owners go the alternative route. A Breuer Dynamics is meant to be a very successful pairing but where will you get one of those, would a Brinkmann be an acceptable substitute?

Regarding cartridges I’ve only ever used Ortofons, quite a few over the years and they have all worked wonderfully. The Hana is an intriguing prospect and I’d like to hear any thoughts and impressions in due course, their new Umami model is very tempting.

Enjoy the table for years ahead, mine is celebrating it’s 30th year in service next year.
 
Are some of the SME arms not getting close to the weight limit of the suspension?

My PT1 just begged for a unipivot, which it didn't get before selling-on. The happiest, best fun, of the three decks that I have had, but missing some bass definition and just something else, bass and something that I remain convinced a unipivot would have brought.

I am sure that the OP will need no encouragement at all, but - enjoy.
 
The Hana is an intriguing prospect and I’d like to hear any thoughts and impressions in due course, their new Umami model is very tempting.

By coincidence I've had the opportunity to hear the new Umami freshly unpacked bc my dealer was handed a sample for trial.
We listened to it against a Goldring Excel nos which cost roughly about 1200€.

The most impressive thing about the Umami was it's fancy red paint that really looked the part.
It was a tiny bit better in serving the last bit of tonal colour from Tomtoms, Saxophones and the like,
so just a notch more..but..the Goldring was better in timing.
With the Umami I was taken at some specific moments in the music, so I was lead to listen to isolated 'soundevents' w/o delivering an understanding of the whole piece, but the Goldring just made more sense in the whole music piece in total.
And was more envolving to me definitely.
Had I been given a blind choice, I had picked the Goldring Excell without doubt.
Which, considering it's price is an absolute disgrace for the Umami.
Big nono to me, a refurbed Troica is way better.

The price of the Umami is far from what I would even be allowed to think about,
but I would give it cudos if it was any good, no overcompensated jealousy in my review though.
Hence my mate just sent it back straight, not even caring if he would perhaps be allowed to keep it..
simply bc it's no competition to the midrange MCs he already has around.
And he won't sell it either, no vfm at all there.

Sorry for the OT..
p.s.: the smaller offerings of Hana offer rather good vfm however..
Their new flagship to me left an impression of a shiny object for rich people who are absolutely deaf and like to show off a bit.
 
Are some of the SME arms not getting close to the weight limit of the suspension?

My PT1 just begged for a unipivot, which it didn't get before selling-on. The happiest, best fun, of the three decks that I have had, but missing some bass definition and just something else, bass and something that I remain convinced a unipivot would have brought.

I am sure that the OP will need no encouragement at all, but - enjoy.

Well, I can level/balance it fine with a IV - it’s not quite maxed out and bounces well. Apparently it was designed with a V as the reference, according to people who used to work at PT.

That said, I’m also intrigued by the unipivot idea - from my LP12 days, by far my happiest iteration was with an Aro. In time, I may see what options I’d have with the PTA.
 
To be honest it's a bit hard to tell exactly what the Hana is contributing as I bought a new tonearm, cartridge and arm cable all at the one time and I'm using a budget Project phonostage as I await the arrival of a phonostage that is being built. Hopefully I'll have a clearer picture of what the new arm/mc combo does once I have a better MC stage, whilst the little Project while fine VFM for a MM cartridge it 8s a little noisy (hiss) on the MC setting and is afterall a budget phonostage.

I didn't compare it with anything else as there was not a single dealer in the UK nevermind NI/Ireland that had a Dais on demonstration let alone one with two tonearms or armboards fitted to do comparisons on to demonstrate tonearms or cartridges.

So I took and educated guess (gamble?) and going on previous experience, did what research I could, spoke to a few people , read some reviews and bought what I thought was best that I could afford , a Brinkmann 10.0 tonearm, Hana ML and a Cardas tonearm cable, I only bought the arm cable and a Dr.Feickert protractor as tonearm did not come equipped.

Although I already had and still have a Hadcock tonearm and Shure MM mounted on the Dais , this is the first different arm and MC I've tried on this TT. The Hadcock /Shure combo feeds the onboard valve MM stage in the Copland pre , this is a much better MM stage than the Project.

So far, I've only had time to listen too about 10 Lps , but the Hana and Brinkmann combo has been very good, much better detail without sounding forward, seems to be pretty even from top to bottom, definitely more bass and a wider soundstage with better separation of the various instruments but still retaining musicality.

I'm pretty happy so far with it but I'll really only have more of an understanding to what's contributing what when I have some more time to try the Hana on the Hadcock and become accustomed to the phonostage when it arrives.

I did try Lyra, Benz and AT in the past and wouldn't hesitate to buy another but saying the Hana had been so well reviewed across the the board I thought I'd give it a try.

Interested to hear how you progress with it: I won’t get to do the Hana demo for a few months it seems, they are on back order everywhere!
 
Well, I can level/balance it fine with a IV - it’s not quite maxed out and bounces well.

I am assuming that the suspension of a PT1 and Anni' are essentially the same, but the mass of the armboard and toenarm combined have to be close to 700g (I may have misremembered the actual number). My PT1 had an Orion fitted and that comes within a few grammes of 700. That being so, I suspect that any of the common unipivots would be well short of mass, so would need some lead adding under the armboard.

If making or buying an armboard for the PT1 here had been easy and cheap, it would have had a Hadcock arm fitted.

I am sure that you'll enjoy the Anni' a great deal - it made my LP12 sound very pedestrian, even though, ultimately, I did come down on the side of the LP12.
 
Armboards for the PT1 are not difficult to make - essentially a 100mm square - have made more than 1 out of ally/balsa/cf sandwich using ally rectangular section underneath to get the height.

Fitted with a Mission 774 which is lightweight it does need quite some ballast.
 


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