Tony you will be relieved to hear I have one of those too .... remember I am working away on this plinth set up with the deck and arm in place so i can hear the changes as soon as possible in an effort to be systematic ..... So power tools, screws, large lumps of wood all wave by the arm as it comes off and on ..... I dont want to fit the Denon until I have finished. Those carts with removable styli are just the ticket for this part of the process.
I do have the wafery thing so at least thats sorted.
Today I was listening (satisfactorily) to the shure rega 401 and played the Crusaders 1974 live recording 'Scratch'. Not a great recording but great music .... the 401 picked up bass way below anything the Linn ever reproduced ..... it was the sound of musicians footsteps on the stage and the sound of microphone stands being knocked about. I had no idea this info was there.
I set the Shure tracking weight up with HiFi New test record and a Baerwald protractor so it gives as good as it can. It aint boring I tell ya.
re the Phase 4 recording: when I first bought on release it it was played on a Deram Ceramic flip over 78 and lp ...... it sounded great then .notably better than most other recordings so there must be some hope for the present test set up.
I agree the Denon is going to be more interesting .....but the power tool will be burning Squash balls sized holes in my three legged plinth soon and only after that will I finalise the design as thats as far as I can go with my building skill/listening tests.
