Mike Reed
pfm Member
And that's the reason I run 8 tables with over 30 carts....No, really.
Ye gods but that's really ambidextrous; I have trouble with one (deck, that is). You're not related to an octopus by any chance?
And that's the reason I run 8 tables with over 30 carts....No, really.
And that's the reason I run 8 tables with over 30 carts....No, really.
Not really been following this thread but we have had related discussions elsewhere about the AT-VM95ML microline.'Tubular Bells' that sounds like tubular bells right to the end of record side?
Fleetwood Mac 'Rumours' without Christine McVie spitting in my face after I've been caught fantasizing about Stevie Nicks?
To get through Shure's 'Audio Obstacle Course' without running out of the room screaming?
(Ok, that last one was a bit OTT.)
It's like having many cars...but a lot cheaper. Currently, I run Sony PS-B80 with Transfiguration Axia and Rega P9 with Ortofon Jubilee. In a few months I will switch to my front loading Sonys, both with TOTL vintage P-Mount Technics - MC and MM.How on earth are you able to choose which one(s) to play tomorrow ?
Maybe your running vinyl all day long ?
Five figure vinyl collection ?
There is a difference between worn and dirty. A long footprint stylus (e.g. ML, MR) will ride over the worn vinyl in the same way that a wide tyre will ignore small potholes on the road more easily than a bicycle tyre. The opposite is true with dirty records. If there is detritus embedded anywhere on the groove wall, you will hear it more with a long footprint.I think a many audiophiles obsess over gaining ultimate performance without giving much though to whether that actually suits their needs. You wouldn't buy a single seater racing car for daily use as, while it might be much better in the context of a circuit, it would be terrible around town.
The same can be true of styluses. Audiophiles wet themselves over the extra detail and clarity they hear on perfect records but the vast majority of our records are far from perfect. Like a racecar on a potholed road, an advanced stylus profile can just make those records sound so bad you don't want to play them.
In any discussion of stylus profiles you need to talk about the context. What do you really want from your record player?
Actually, on my Transfiguration thread, we discovered that the stylus shape on them is Ogura 3/30, which is a hyper-elliptical that rivals any ML or MR types.Yes that’s what ML tips do.
I could at last listen to the Tubular Bells end of sides for the first time when I bought one.
As said earlier, DSOM too.
And most piano and organ records too.
I recently bought an SL-7, but I couldn’t find any ML cartridge for it, so end of side distortion it is for now.
I think a many audiophiles obsess over gaining ultimate performance without giving much though to whether that actually suits their needs.
My only point on this rather pointless thread was to remind folks that a fine elliptical stylus is a very good thing and can produce exceptional results.
I think that pretty much all stylii today are made on automated micromachinery and should cost about the same.I noticed you threw in the clause of 'fine' when talking about the elliptical stylus, they are not cheap and it's general lack of presense in the market is the sort of thing that invokes daft bidding wars on auction sites. A commonly available ML stylus is far cheaper proposition and doesnt require iron-mind determination or the ownership of 8 decks to set it up precisely on each alternative listening session and hope for the best.
It's a exception to the rule, it's like justifying that an old boiler is economical per annum as a modern one ..... only if you service yourself it each year, run it sparingly during evenings, insulate every room and wrap up warm between the months of October till May.
Most people will not have that, and nor should they with old (and expensive) stylus designs.
Any record that I come across that sounds bad/broken, is because it is bad and /or broken - and no cartridge can compensate for that.
Honestly, I think some of us maybe very sensitive to distortion/potential distortion....I am being careful here.Lot of gray between broken and perfect.
I don't think I have ever heard (or were obviously bothered by) the dreaded end of record or pinching distortion.
I guess I can start listening for it. Four of my decks are linear trackers, 5 have Biotracer arms and the last two are Regas.Oh no I've heard that alright. It can be anything from a more compressed sound to obvious and severe miss-tracking.
I am intrigued. I will play RLJ with SL-7/P202 and PS-X600/Grado XTZ and report back.Then you are blessed Dimitry.
I’ve listened to records for a good 45 years now.
Not bad decks, far from it, rather good cartridges too (had my first Shibata in 1982, a V15 MR, B&O 20CL, Goldring’s Gygers...) and I’ve heard that horrid inner groove mistracking/distortion regularly.
The AT ML tip solved all my problems.
Oh, the DL103 conical tip does a fine good job too, by the way: it only just plays - only just - Songbird and Last Chance Texaco.
The ML just clears everything, period.
I’ve listened to records for a good 45 years now. Not bad decks, far from it, rather good cartridges too (had my first Shibata in 1982, a V15 MR, B&O 20CL, Goldring’s Gygers...) and I’ve heard that horrid inner groove mistracking/distortion regularly.