Having owned many good turntables in my audiophile life I am still wondering why not one of the modern designs of the last 20 years is able to beat the sound qualities of an EMT 927. New designs may offer some advantages like multiple armboards, more than one motor or additional vibration measurements etc. but […]
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A dialogue between audiophile enthusiasts
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“Dear friends: who really needs an MM type phono cartridge?, well I will try to share/explain with you what are my experiences about and I hope too that many of you could enrich the topic/subject with your own experiences. For some years ( in this forum ) and time to time I posted that the […]
Looking for a starter system in classified for a good friends daughter. If I have to buy a cart/stylus what and where from? I have a couple of AT bodies with green and yellow styluses that could be replaced and an Ortofon VSM 10E that also needs the stylus replacing. Never looked for this type […]
Hello all, I have a Sota Sapphire that I love. I recently purchased the reflex clamp. I cannot tell a difference. Perhaps they matter when you have an older record that is somewhat warped? What do you guys think. Observe the conversation and/or express your view by clicking HERE
So now you know my views. Are they interesting views? How do you feel about them? While you are pondering this, given that I’m far from infallible it’s worth considering that although I might be right I could also be wrong: The direct marketing strategy has already worked in the case of Eastern Electric in […]
From the archives I’ve been running a XX-2 mk. 2 into the P75 (mk 1), (thanks Joe) and just ran it in the Current Amp, zero resistance mode. Problem is I have no idea how this actually works. While I am going to test this with my ears, and with full confidence, I’m curious to […]
I set up my first Unipivot arm night before last. It took roughly 5 hours to set up and I am still tweaking various parts and cartridge, what a work out. The arm is a Scheu classic with the Scheu Premier I turntable and a Scheu Benz cartridge.Now I have two questions for the Audiogon […]
Looking to try an Acrylic platter on my Systemdek 11x – I’ve seen options from 10mm (same as original glass platter) up to 20mm. Is thicker better? Going bigger than 10mm would mean spending more but also investing in a VTA adjuster for my RB250 so opinions on whether it’s worth it would be appreciated.
So no, we aren’t coming to the end. Not yet. (Long pause) Okay. I used to sell the Albarry monoblocs. Damn fine sound. Clever designer. Still sounds good today. Not a hero as such but worthy of an honourable mention. Then whoever designed the A&R A60. A truly great product. In its way a classic. […]
As the title says – what are the symptoms that a cartridge needs to be retired? The cartridge in question is an ADC XLM MkII that I’ve been using for a few years, but it’s definitely old and probably saw use (unsure how much) before I got it. It just sounds… flat. It’s one of […]
OK folks, a ladyfriend of ours wants to buy her hubby a turntable BUT sadly ONLY wants to spend £100. My dear wife pointed out that I was a bit of a hifi nerd(misguided!) so thought I could sort things out for her(?) I’ve tried the “oh, you can’t get anything for £100, BUT Richer […]
Sorry, what does it all mean? What is considered a low compliance, high..? Searching didn’t get me that far. Asking for general info but also to know just how crap a DV20xH might be on a Technics SL-1200 stock arm with Sumiko headshell. The DV has a compliance of 12 something – is that high […]
In your experience, do mains leads really make a difference, and are the expensive ones really capable of offering value? Mains cables do change the sound of audio equipment. Unfortunately there’s a lot claims made about mains cables that are exaggerated. I suggest that the effect of a mains cable is not as important as […]
Editor McCauley in conversation with Howard Popeck in 2008 Can we return to the mercurial Mr. Michaelson at some point today? Possibly. Possibly ….. not. Depends on what your questions are. Some matters are strictly off limits. He is though a bit of a hero for me frankly. (HP makes direct eye contact as if […]
Being an inquisitive chap even way back in 1976 when I entered this industry I kept a log of conversions from ‘prospect’ (that’s the term we use for potential buyers) into clients. The initial results were inconclusive. There were just to many variables. However as the years moved on, I learned more and understood more. […]
Are you unfamiliar with the term Dynamic Range? Okay; dynamic range, explained simply is the distance between the loudest and the softest parts of a piece of music. I don’t find that description entirely satisfactory and so before reading more of this post you might want to glance at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range Whatever the description though, the […]
I’ve got the original Rega Planar 3 with an upgraded motor (this was an older upgrade, not the newer 24v one) and the standard RB300 arm. A few years back I pushed the boat out and spent £300 or so on a Goldring 2500 MM cart which now needs a new stylus, but I got […]
I’m in the market for a very good tonearm as an upgrade from an SME 345 (309). Most of the tonearms I have used in the past are fixed bearing except for my Grace 704 unipivot. I dont have a problem with the “wobble” of a unipivot, and they seem the simplest to build, so […]
After searching all 735 existing analog “threads” I only found one short discussion regarding Linear tracking arms vs. tangential tracking arms. I have been a vinyl collector for over 32 years, and beleive that pure analog is still the “gold standard”. In 1984 I purchased a Sony PS-X555ES linear tracking, biotracer, turntable. It is a […]
Hi Howard. I know your opinion that when it comes to forums your advice and personal practice is to ‘look and never, ever touch’. I understand where you are coming from. Your comments re the obvious and less obvious ‘bigging up’ of chosen brands by the genuine and those in the ‘pay’ of those makers […]
This is my second Rega Apollo-R….Lovely CD Player! This example was built around early (ish) 2017. So probably, one of the last batches made. It’s replacement is now the curved looking Apollo (non R). Like the first Apollo-R I had prior, this one also sometimes freezes. Switching the unit off/back on etc the oddity disappears. […]
Hi Howard. I know you won’t represent Linn, even though you did. However … I am thinking of buying a used Linn LP12. There are loads on eBay and quite a few of hififorsale.com, but none of the Linn dealers I contacted have any for sale. What’s going on? Linn dealers in the main are […]
They didn’t write them down at all. They remembered them. In their early years, Lennon and McCartney wrote songs together and one of their rules was that if they wrote a song but then couldn’t remember how it went, they’d junk it. Since they were trying to write songs that were catchy, this rule worked […]