.....And Then There Was Light....the Clearaudio Concept turntable

WongKN wrote:One more for the road. Do your phono stage have adjustable input loading ? Have you checked what is the recommended impedance the catridge needs to be play at ?

Apart from acquiring all the tools and equipment for this trade, I still think the actual condition and ultimate cleanliness of the LP record is of paramount importance. Without going through a high standard of the cleaning chore to eliminate any foreign substances, SQ can and will be impaired.

I'm gonna be firing up the bucket sponge and detergent tonight for a disc cleaning session.... I find it very meditative....

WongKN wrote:
One more for the road. Do your phono stage have adjustable input loading ? Have you checked what is the recommended impedance the catridge needs to be play at ?

That's opening another big can of worms here....

"Ignorance is Bliss.... Everything else is Poison."

The Vinyl and TT passion is always FULL of worms and poison anyhow!

There wasn't any convenient avenue for sharing everything or anything when TT was the main source or at its peak in its heyday some decades ago. Its only now and the internet everyone can and will easily speak or share views. Moreover, shopping for related stuff can't be anymore convenient or easy too, can buy just about most things even from remote places hoping its affordable and delivered to doorstep. Yes, Linn (or others) will deliver the belt to your doorstep.

Haha! and I can find nice useable thingys from DAISO to tinker with my TT rig!

Sigh.... Still trying to decide what cartridge to play with next. Currently using Ortofon MC-1 Turbo with RB300 Rega Planar 3.... Want something with better range, dynamics, tone, but don't want to spend the Earth as will get another turntable next year....

Quite a lot of avenue to upgrade Planar 3 BUT got limits, everything have limits anyway. Change upgrade kit motor, replace to acrylic platter, replace to metal subplatter, rewire tonearm, of course better cartridge, change phono stage to better ones, etc, etc,etc. Quite a lot of money to be spent though! OR cut the crap and change TT to something else much much better.

I wanna just get a new cart running on this so when I get my new TT, this puppy gets a new home in the living room as my casual system....

Aiyah, don't waste time la, just go get that Goldmund Studio or Oracle Delphi la.

One is finicky and the other looks like a spaceship.... Out of my league man... I'm still dreaming of the VPI Classic... It's a rocker!!

Jedi,

Go go go to Centre Circle Audio and get that VPI...

It's become a matter of head chasing tail or vice versa.... I'm dying to get a pair of Zu Audio speakers home, along with the Classic, plus with another flea-powered muscle amp on the way.... So financially one has to decide to prioritize source over output or what??

It's become a matter of head chasing tail or vice versa.... I'm dying to
get a pair of Zu Audio speakers home, along with the Classic, plus with
another flea-powered muscle amp on the way.... So financially one has
to decide to prioritize source over output or what??

Cool Jedi!
Which Zu are you aiming for? Dont tell me it's the Soul Superfly!!! And the Classic would be the 1, 2 or 3? If you ask me- prioritize!!! Get Classic3/SDS, Superfly and GM200! Choose life over head and tails Choose black poison over .......Gosh! am gushing here! Ahem, choose all of the above, you live life once and all that jazz..... BTW, what's the 'flea-powered-muscle-amp'?
Regards

Flea-powered-muscle-amp = Audio Note Ongaku !

Flea-powered-muscle-amp = Audio Note Ongaku !

My idea of flea powered are those below 5 Watts... I recall one KLAV show long ago, there was a 1 Watt valve amp on demo. Hmmm...reminds me of headphone amps.. 1Watt maximum?

cyh wrote:

It's become a matter of head chasing tail or vice versa.... I'm dying to
get a pair of Zu Audio speakers home, along with the Classic, plus with
another flea-powered muscle amp on the way.... So financially one has
to decide to prioritize source over output or what??

Cool Jedi!
Which Zu are you aiming for? Dont tell me it's the Soul Superfly!!! And the Classic would be the 1, 2 or 3? If you ask me- prioritize!!! Get Classic3/SDS, Superfly and GM200! Choose life over head and tails Choose black poison over .......Gosh! am gushing here! Ahem, choose all of the above, you live life once and all that jazz..... BTW, what's the 'flea-powered-muscle-amp'?
Regards

The speakers I've shortlisted are Omen, Omen Def, Superfly and Essence. I heard them last year when I was in the States and like... wow... The Classic would be the 1... economy over splurging for something I probably don't need...

And as for the amp, I don't know if many people in M'sia / Sgp would have heard of it. It's a 2A3 driven integrated made by a chap in Brooklyn, NY, USA called Don Garber. It's an SET punching a hefty heavyweight 3.5 watts and boy is it sweet and rounded.

There, I've laid it all out. I'm doomed.

So what cart to get for now ah??

Jedi - Try call Wisma Audio Center ( Holfi Dealer ) sure they know matching cartridge with ur holfi phono...

Fizi, I know them well. They reckon Ortofon and Clearaudio...

JediSavant wrote:Fizi, I know them well. They reckon Ortofon and Clearaudio...

Just go on or Denon 103 if MM shure 97xe also not bad

Jedi,

I am very intrigued with you desire for flea powered amps. Curious to hear how it sounds like. The general believe is usually the concern of too low of power to drive speakers. Nevertheless, there is always the other extreme to go as low as possible (or more like to have just enough power to drive a matching speaker)

Do share with us on how you get on with your new quest.

Me still bekside itchi wanting to push that "buynow" button, item that'll turbo boost my TT rig system further into Anna Logue heaven.

cmboy wrote:Me still bekside itchi wanting to push that "buynow" button, item that'll turbo boost my TT rig system further into Anna Logue heaven.

I made this especially for you:

So what cart to get for now ah??

I'll hold on to the cart. To look for all the attributes you mentioned, it's gonna cost you a few pennies. 2012 is only 3 months away, you should wait, then when all's clear (money saved), then get your desired TT. Of which you then have another few more months to enjoy your dream setup 'for the end of the world is near!......

cyh wrote:
Of which you then have another few more months to enjoy your dream setup 'for the end of the world is near!......

If that's the case, no need to think so much oledi. Just buy, buy & buy!!

Aiyah, wasting time only la. Just buy the Goldmund Studio or the Oracle Delphi la ! The end of the world is near mah !

WongKN wrote:Aiyah, wasting time only la. Just buy the Goldmund Studio or the Oracle Delphi la ! The end of the world is near mah !

Dunno why this old man keep harping the same line over and over again... Goldmund this, Oracle that... Just like a broken record.

I think it's probably been mentioned more than 5 times in this thread alone already... Really a sign of old-age here.

It seems to me that with this 'new' phono stage plugged in, the desire for another cartridge seems to have abated....

Old is gold, not many turntables can take on the Goldmund Studo or the Oracle Delphi here.

WongKN wrote:Old is gold, not many turntables can take on the Goldmund Studo or the Oracle Delphi here.

Cannot always impress on people like dat lah! People or any prospective TT rig shopper will have different taste, preference and some budget in mind. You know so well every make have its own character and presentation in its own right and how it may synergize with one's existing amplification.

I just spoke with an old hifi sifu who has similar taste in sound to me and he said that the Goldmund is finicky especially with the funky cyborg arm thingy, plus the Oracle is a little on the bright side....

But I'm curious, if these things are so good, how come the two examples are still up for sale and not snapped up already??

Well, few people are willing to pay five-figure sums for TTs that are 10-20 years old, I guess. There's also a VPI TNT sitting at another shop for RM18k, I think ... no takers. Most starters want something that's easy to set up, play and maintain. The said Goldmund Studio is a highly-rated unit, a direct-drive that eyeballed some of the best of belt-drives in its heyday, and for the asking price, probably still great value if it keeps working. The VPI JMW10.5 arm unipivot arm it uses is actually pretty easy to get right. Hmmm ... maybe that Goldmund Studio has my name on it ...

Still waiting to unpack the Concept that was delivered to me last weekend ...

elhefe wrote:Jedi,

I am very intrigued with you desire for flea powered amps. Curious to hear how it sounds like. The general believe is usually the concern of too low of power to drive speakers. Nevertheless, there is always the other extreme to go as low as possible (or more like to have just enough power to drive a matching speaker)

Do share with us on how you get on with your new quest.

It's like this in a nutshell:

The notion of efficiency has informed me as a person in almost any field or endeavor I've found myself involved in. From building design, facade thermal performance, to choice of vehicle, it's been an overriding theme. The quest may be formulated as follows: to find the best way to get the most out of something without using too much of something else.

Fast forward to hifi and music: music is a very efficient way of getting a point across to an audience, of communicating a message if you will. In some instances words are used as part of the performance, and oftentimes a lot of message is packed into a very compact form. And it can be reproduced. To do the same thing in the written word for example, would take many times the amount of space and time, like in a book or treatise or whatever. Most take more than 5 minutes to read whereas most songs do not exceed that.

Hifi is a way of reproducing music. The other way is to actually play the music on instruments and sing. How efficiently can that be done?

When I heard a low output 2A3 for the first serious time, driving a pair of 97db full rangers I was like wow!!! How can something so weak relatively punch out so much sound.... And make it sound so sweet, so musical, articulate and fluid? Another term would be 'rich' and the primary adjective would be 'tone'. A little bit of research turned me on to the SET revolution in the US and the charms of artisanal products by small scale audio workshops. I would like to clarify here by noting that the amount and quality of sound I heard did not mean it was loud, but comfortable and full, and well, lots of tone and richness I hadn't never heard before.

So, while waiting for my 2A3 to come off the workbench and shipped to me, I acquired a 5w SEP and have been having fun with it for a few months now. It's driving a pair of vintage Klipsch speakers rated at 95db and works a real treat with jazz, vocals and folk music. Neil Young, Nina Simone, Coltrane and sometimes Pink Floyd never sounded so good.

In addition to all that I'm now looking into some lower output solid state amps to drive rock music. But that's a whole another story!

Still waiting to unpack the Concept that was delivered to me last weekend ...

bassraptor, you have too many toys to play with....here, i offer to come and help you unpack the Concept for you........what the heck! Let me also run it in and review it for you!!!!

Been away for a few days...and tonite back to serenity of dark side...



First went on was GNR Appetite for Destruction.....growling guitar on Sweet Child O Mine....Had to fire up the drums again...



I have started to understand the passion of LP....I swear that each time I play this Concept. it just keeps giving me surprises with regards to musicality...makes me wonder how did I actual interpreted musicality. It just sound so alive ...must be due to the LP quality as well.



Which I have to give credit to Jedisavant for introducing me to this LP seller in Amcorp mall....I can actually write the seller's name here because he reminded me to spread the love hehehehe..... Rama...



So ar I have bought about 12 LPs from him...and all of them are in very good condition. Sounds terrific and he has a good selection of 80s and 90s rock and metal, jazz in the likes of ella,louis, etta, ballad....no local artists though.



He even will suggests you some good albums based on your taste...But he does not pressure you to buy...I can see that he himself is very passionate for good music.



Reasonable price and once in awhile have some 'sale' items hehehehe.



I may am rambling about someone whom are already know to Amcopr regulars here....but credit is due to Rama for excellent selection and Jedi who shared me his contacts when I first went to Amcorp.



Now back to tonight's experience....after GNR...I wanted to mellow down...So put on Headwind....some of you might know this band from the 80s and 90s...with Zainal Abidin as the front man...I bought the album 3 with favourite songs Kita Serupa, Suraya and Memori Luka. This is actually my elder brother's favourite band when we were growing up together.



Maaaaannn LPs bring up lots of good memories....which I have never gotten from listening to CDs....



There were only very light crack and pops tonight. So, its really enjoyable listening session. Just enough to create the ambience of liveliness. I dont have many comparison to make but I do believe this Concept TT matches the dynamics of my system.



If I am to describe Concept in 3 words...its going to be Original, Frontal and Energise.



Original for being able to produce the sound as what the artist would want it to be.



Frontal for being able to create the atmosphere of as if the artist is singing in front of you



Energise for being able to inject so much life into old LPs.



Money well spent to me....now....just for that phono stage upgrade...very soon...

Elhefe,
What Phono stage do you have in mind? Btw, despite the gap in years, we seem to have same interest in the music we listen to, Metalicca, Nirvana, GnR etc. Try get your hands on the 25th Anniversary reissue of Nirvana's Bleach in white vinyl. The opening Blow, will really blow you away.

Tmahmood,

Awal tu bangun. Hehehe.

I am eyeing for the new MF M1 ViNL, should be launched very soon and be at our shore by month end. My ears are so accustomed to MF, so I hope to gain what I am used to by replacing my NAD phono stage to complete MF set up.

This Sat however, if everything goes well, I should be able to test the previous MF model the X-LPS V8, courtesy of another forumer here.

Yes Bleach is one of my target. Both Bleach and Nevermind in fact.

Wow, we are 14 years apart. That means when I was in high school listening to these bands, you were in late 20's. And I am impressed that now you are still listening to these bands. Stay young hehehehe.

Elhefe: one of the guys in my band is 20 years my junior ...and we listen to the same music. He's a vinyl fan too! Music has no age boundaries. Still, there have been musicians who told me I'm too old to play with them ...

BR,

Very true indeed. But very rare do I meet someone who will start listening to Metallica at the later stage of life. Its usually someone whom started listening to them in their early years and keep on listening to the later age.

As u can see, I stop using old or young hehehhe. Its early and later age.

bassraptor,

At our age I bet we still have "Moves like Jagger" and Mr. Jagger is 68. Just enjoy our passion. Hey! We are children of the era of Woodstock! Just keep healthy, young man!



elhefe,

Thank you. I feel it too... if you know what I mean. I wonder what music did the late Steve Jobs listen to?

The Beatles & Bob Dylan.

mugenfoo wrote:The Beatles & Bob Dylan.

Thanks Mugenfoo,

You have never failed to amaze me with your bucketful of knowledge!

You know Steve Jobs wanted to buy a Spectral Audio system once. They refused to put him ahead in the waiting list, said he had to be in the queue or it would be unfair to the rest. Dunno what he bought finally.

RIP to a great CEO and innovator ...Apple has a massive legacy to live up to ...

Zul: We of the Woodstock era rule!

Mugen is just trying to show he knows more than sflam but no comparison these days....

There's a famous photo of a lone Steve Jobs sitting on the floor alone in his apartment with a stack of records and a turntable in the background...

Listening to Led Zep IV before heading out into the world....

tmahmood wrote:Elhefe,
What Phono stage do you have in mind? Btw, despite the gap in years, we seem to have same interest in the music we listen to, Metalicca, Nirvana, GnR etc. Try get your hands on the 25th Anniversary reissue of Nirvana's Bleach in white vinyl. The opening Blow, will really blow you away.

Waiting for 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition delivery from US - Ipoh

Guys, I always try to keep my music categories open ended. Never say never to any particular genre. So my LP collection ranges from Neil Young, grandpa of grunge to Nirvana,Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. But when I want to really get the best out of my rig, I always feel the Blues does it best. Muddy Waters' Folk Singer always near the top of the list. The latest reissue of Cat Stevens Tea for the Tillerman and Fleet Mac's Rumours are always there too. But when the occasion comes for me to impress and/or justify a new purchase to my better half, there is always nostalgic stuff like Julia Fordham, George Micheal and Duran Duran, thanks to the good ol yuppy days of filofaxes when were studying abroad in the early mid 80s.
So there is a genre for every occasion. Btw Elhefe, I started listening to Metalicca from the launch of the Black Album. That led me to their back catalogue, and their best work, Kill Em All, Lightning and Puppets.
Am now waiting with bated breath the reissues of Pink Floyds' Wish U were Here and the Wall, my current copies having been played to death.
On the Phono stage front, saw somewhere a Tom Evans The Groove being put up for sale. That's one excellent Phono IMO.

Fizi,
Do you get your LPs from Acoustic Sounds in the US? They have the best stock of LPs online. And excellent service too. They recently sent me The Watchmen OST by mistake,when in fact I ordered Music from The Watchmen. Within a week, a copy of my actual order arrived foc and a letter of apology. That's customer service for you.

zul wrote:

mugenfoo wrote:The Beatles & Bob Dylan.

Thanks Mugenfoo,

You have never failed to amaze me with your bucketful of knowledge!

... and he used to date Joan Baez.

....and he was a vegetarian....

tmahmood wrote:Fizi,
Do you get your LPs from Acoustic Sounds in the US? They have the best stock of LPs online. And excellent service too. They recently sent me The Watchmen OST by mistake,when in fact I ordered Music from The Watchmen. Within a week, a copy of my actual order arrived foc and a letter of apology. That's customer service for you.

Im more to amazon.com,excellent service too...will check out about acoustic sound maybe can get LP that i look for....