Ortofon's MC Anna and 12" arms

[pure sound]

Bias is a whole other question, and one I think is more likely to be relevant. But you wouldn't be looking at Anna and the like if bias levels concerned you.

Paul

I'd agree that the effect of this is more likely to be responsible for the fairly consistent qualitative differences people describe having compared 9 & 12" arms. In my own experience those aspects are even more apparent on some airbearing LT arms although often at the expense of some other aspect such as LF quality. Whether that shortcoming arises because of the high lateral mass most LT arms present or because of the air bearing itself, I really don't know.

 

[paskinn]

If you are referring to KK's review in HiFi News, he says:

"a perfectly set up 9 in Series V is so error-free as to be invisible"

He also said that he found it tricky to decide which deck was better.

Do you agree with your own opinion that the V12 is less dynamic?

The review actually says that the 30-12 'sets a new performance standard'. Clearly, if it performed only as well as the 30, it couldn't be a new standard could it. He also described the 30-12 as 'an upgrade in all areas'. He did not say it was difficult to decide between the decks...only that he hadn't been able to decide between arms when first using a 20-12. I know you will just distort and misquote again. So, if anyone is still interested, read the original review and judge for yourself.
This whole debate reminds me of the advice about mud wrestling with pigs.

''You both get very muddy, but the pig loves it''.

 

[Blzebub]

A man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest.

Surely that's enough now?

If I'm wrong, then I have another upgrade to look forward to, don't I? And that's no bad thing.

 

[pure sound]

I guess that upgrade might have been easier had you bought a 30-12 to use with your V. I assume there's a fairly hefty price hike between the 30-2 & 30-12 though

 

[Blzebub]

If indeed it is an upgrade, that would be true. However, I doubt that it is. Price differential is not very big.

 

[merlin]

A Link to the HFN Review that James misquotes from for those interested.

Price difference is about £5K on the deck itself plus the arm Guy. Probably a consideration.

 

[pure sound]

You can buy a nice deck for £5K

 

[TPA]

It would be a great help if they could cut records using a similar 9" offset tracking arc

 

[i_should_coco]

That still leaves the anti-skate problem. Which these days I believe is the greater of the evils.

Don't like conventional linear trackers, which is why I'm saving up for a Schroeder LT.

 

[merlin]

You can buy a nice deck for £5K

Too true.

Hell even half that used will get you remarkably close to some modern superdecks from a musical point of view.

 

[i_should_coco]

There'll probably be a GPA Monaco going cheap in a year or so.

 

[TPA]

There'll probably be a GPA Monaco going cheap in a year or so.

wow, I fancied a bit of a flutter with one, perhaps not

 

[i_should_coco]

Flutter, lol.

 

[Paul R]

wow. lol lol.

 

[i_should_coco]

Missed that. Slow today. D'oh.

 

[Blzebub]

A Link to the HFN Review that James misquotes from for those interested.

Price difference is about £5K on the deck itself plus the arm Guy. Probably a consideration.

Tinkerers, take note: thanks to the reversible arm-board, one can easily isolate the arm performance gains from the differences between the changes in the decks’ dimensions and mass: just put 9in Series Vs on both a 30/2 and a 30/12. But deciding which is ‘better’ is tricky.

However, one might presume that it would prove fruitless, so silky, smooth and neutral were the sounds at the LPs’ extremes. But then, a perfectly set-up 9in Series V is so error-free as to be invisible.

I thought I was on "ignore".

 

[i_should_coco]

Ken Kessler writes lots of things. Some of them are even true.

 

[Jek]

Crumbs from the high table.

Of course I haven't heard the Yorke. Do I strike you as the sort of person who would waste their time hunting down a shop demonstration of a Yorke? I can assure you I am not that sort of person.

So in fact you know nothing about them so your surprise has no rational basis is that correct?

Yorke gets grumpy because people keep using his decks with non yorke arms My friend found him very reasonable about his S8 and very interesting. His decks are up there in the very first tier and I regard them as the only serious alternative that I have heard to my own choice. What you think of his opinions or of him as a person isn't relevant to the position of his decks in the sonic hierarchy

Presumably the size of the SME top plate has also changed and this will affect the sound

 

[Jek]

Hi Paul.

One of my "torture" records is Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush, the last track on side one of The Kick Inside. When I had an LP12 with Ittok, and later Aro, I found the cartridge I was using would always mistrack. I accumulated three or four copies, because I thought it was a pressing problem at first. But the Series V tracks this record with no problems.

Mis-tracking and tracking error are not the same thing

I suspected your "test" revolved around this and that its worth was approximately zero

You don't even listen and then disregard the rest. Surely that's a step worse?

 

[Blzebub]

His decks are up there in the very first tier and I regard them as the only serious alternative that I have heard to my own choice. What you think of his opinions or of him as a person isn't relevant to the position of his decks in the sonic hierarchy

You've missed out "this is all my opinion".