advertisement


FUNK Firm - HOUDINI

 
Ziggy-47 said:
So has anyone compared the Houdini against the cheaper options ?
Click to expand...

I started another thread ("Houdini- anyone", if memory serves) and have since got a Houdini - as and when I can find the time and effort (post covid) to faff with it, I will run a few experiments to hear whatever I can hear. That is going to take me at least a couple of weeks.

I am totally open-minded - if it can improve what I get out of a turntable, I am all for it. That said, Funk do claim that it improves what modest cart's can do, it does not claim to revolutionise high-end hifi (whatever that might be/mean).
 
Sorry in advance for any further upset that my question may cause. Is it worth the disturbing the setup of my turntable, not to mention the outlay, even if only temporary, on the possibility that the Houdini may be a worthwhile improvement? By improvement I don't mean more 'hi fi sounding' but something nearer the original recording.

After forty years I've reached a point where my record player delivers more detail than was possible at any price not that many years ago, coupled with a level of realism and emotion in the music that I still find surprising, astonishing even, with regularity. I don't listen and think 'that's tremendous bass', rather 'I didn't know a recording almost fifty years old sounded so real', or 'how on earth did they play that!'. Over the years my turntable and arm have followed their manufacturer's ever tighter manufacturing tolerances and closer coupling from the bearing through to the stylus, and at every stage my dealer at the time has been able to demonstrate the improvements with ease before purchase. I've also passed the point many years ago where my equipment sounds better at home than in the shop (much earlier on the reverse was true). So is it possible that the turntable, arm and cartridge manufacturers have been going down the wrong route, and a lossy connection between platter and stylus is the way forward, or is it just a fudge that works best where the connection is already subject to movement or resonance? Given the astonishingly real presentation from my very highly engineered and tightly coupled setup, should I tinker with it and go the opposite way? Right now Jim Morrison's snarl "Mr Mojo Rising" between sublime guitars and keyboards on a very close to fifty year old pressing of LA Woman, would say not to take the chance. Has anyone on here actually improved on a system that was already equal or better to the best they've heard? There seem to have been few reports in the last six months up to last week, at a time when all of our dealers shops are shut and an easy mail order purchase might have been a rare opportunity to satisfy an equipment urge! Then again I'm fortunate to have been busy and might have missed lots.

I'm not saying that my turntable is the best in the world but the combination of my system in my own room surpasses theoretically better equipment in any demonstration environment I've heard. Why should I change a fundamental part of it?
 
matodono1 said:
Hmmm?

https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/reviews/526-the-funk-firm-houdini-cartridge-decoupler

https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/up...side.jpg.650a1c60b6f5959f7ff83dbbbefe0f64.jpg

https://www.stereonet.co.uk/reviews/the-funk-firm-houdini-cartridge-decoupler-review

https://www.tannoyista.com/2020/11/the-funk-firm-houdini-and-achromat.html

https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/150448-funkfirm-houdini-and-achromat/

https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?71276-The-Funk-Firm-Houdini-review

Daniel liked it too! :)

And more to come...
Click to expand...
I haven't been paying attention to this thread.

It is an interesting concept and it appears to have been properly executed, if I understand the design correctly.

Can the design agency share an approximate decoupling frequency of this clever isolation system with a typical cartridge mass? And a Q/damping ratio?

It would seem, if the frequency is very low, it would interfere with the main cart/arm resonance and is likely to reduce the level of detail the cartridge is able to reproduce.

If the frequency is high, then the effectiveness of the device is reduced.
 
trick cyclist said:
It's centred around the 10Hz region.
Click to expand...
And highly damped? One generally avoids lining up resonances.

However, typical arm tubes are live, have resonances in the audio band and are exposed to at least acoustic excitation.

Likely beneficial to decouple the cartridge from that environment. But the cartridge needs firm ground to measure the record against. So it requires a solid connection to the arm.

Hence the dillema.
 
DimitryZ said:
And highly damped? One generally avoids lining up resonances.

However, typical arm tubes are live, have resonances in the audio band and are exposed to at least acoustic excitation.
Click to expand...

There is a thread on the 'Wam in which Pinkie has given some explanation, but has dropped short at being willing/able to reveal more detail, however, the general principles are to do with coupled oscillators.

JimmyB said:
I thought the same about loudspeakers but the latest fad is to put them on wobble boards...
Click to expand...

That's a very interesting parallel, wonder if there is some sort of common ground with the fact both are transducers?
 
trick cyclist said:
There is a thread on the 'Wam in which Pinkie has given some explanation, but has dropped short at being willing/able to reveal more detail, however, the general principles are to do with coupled oscillators.



That's a very interesting parallel, wonder if there is some sort of common ground with the fact both are transducers?
Click to expand...
I can build a simple kinematics model in Ansys or maybe see if Tom Irvine's excellent VibrationData Matlab module has a two-mass, two-spring solution built-in.
 
Has anyone taken a Houdinied system through standard low frequency test record tracks to see what it's doing to the main resonance frequency and damping?

And what is the weight of the little guy?
 
It's pretty light about 6 gm if I recall correctly. Too much for 12" arm and 12g cart though.
 
Surely in very simple terms if the stylus is viewed as a lever and for it to "read" the grooves accurately the fulcrum has to remain in a stable position?

Any movement of the fulcrum i.e decoupling would remove some of this accuracy.
 
FWIW, I use an Achromat on my LP12 and recognise what it does for the better, however I also feel a trace of hardness to the sound, a loss of “magic”, coloration or whatever in the bass so I put my virtually hairless, 40 year old original linn felt under the Achromat and the magic returned. So now, just as my speakers now wobble after years of spikiness, might this undermat coupled oscillator qualify as Houdini’s more distant relative. I like it anyway.
 
sq225917 said:
10hz at what cart weight?
Click to expand...

Simon you heard Houdini in Mark's system did you not? Whilst it didn't (in your stated opions improve your very unique setup) it also did not destroy the sound either. A fact that I discussed with Mark and he agreed with. What you did not do is actually try a Houdini in an environment where it had a chance to show what it does do and do very well. You didn't put it on a Rega with say an Ortofon Blue which is more it's intended market. Now please don't get me wrong. I am not trying to show you or Mark any disrespect I think we have established at least that. But please be more fair with your posts. If Mark had bought his Houdini he would have gotten his money back with no fuss no foul no harm done. So please give us a break on this one. I am really being sincere here.

Matt.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top