Lobby > Vinyl Nutjob World

Turntable (x3) and Phono-Pre Comparison (x7 + x2 variants)

(1/14) > >>

Marvey:
The Doctor dropped by with a bunch of stuff. This is what we had on hand:

Turntables:

* Rega RP3 / RB303 tonearm / Ortofon Black Cart   $895 (TT and arm) + $755 (cart)
* Technics SL1200xx? / AT440 Cart  $350-600 (used TT and arm) + $189 (cart)
* VPI Classic / JMV 10.5 tonearm / Ortofon Black Cart  $2999 (TT and arm) + $755 (cart)Phono-Pres (from top to bottom per photo):

REFER HERE FOR PHONO COMPARISON: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,2742.msg79791.html#msg79791

* Schiit Mani  $129
* TC-750 $43.50
* TC-754 $73.50
* Rega Fono  $395
* Eddie Current Transcription Amplifier (out-of-production permanently)
* MicroMega $269 (will not be discussed - not competitive)
* Project Phono Box $199 (will not be discussed - not competitive)Other Permutations:

* TC-750 w/ AMB Sigma 11 power supply instead of the supplied DC out switcher.
* TC-754 w/ AMB Sigma 11Gear and Music
* Amplification: Eddie Current Zana Deux S (pre-production / prototype). Philips 6SL7 with green lettering (clear and neutralish, perhaps even a bit lean. Purposely chosen for the HD650)
* Headphones: Sennheiser HD650 with coin mod and rear damping removal.
* Digital: Theta Data III + Yggdrasil
* Music: Talking Heads Little Creatures CD (2007 remaster) and vinyl record (picked up from Streetlight Records in San Jose for $299 15-20 years ago. I don't remember). I would have preferred to use Speaking in Tongues because the Doctor was more familiar with it, but the Speaking in Tongues vinyl is very different sounding from the CD remaster that I used at ChangFest 2015.

Marvey:
Before we begin:

* YMMV and everything is relative.
* The Doctor will offer his opinions separately.
* If you don't agree with me, my army of sycophants will beat you to death by parroting my wordsI chose Talking Heads Little Creatures because the CD and vinyl masters were more comparable to each other than not. I'm also very familiar with it and it is one of the albums I most often listen to. I believe I have three copies of the vinyl. Finally, I didn't want to compare recordings which are totally different as this can skew the results too far one way or the other depending upon the recordings used.

Let's first discuss the tables. We used the best two preamps (to be discussed later) on hand to compare tables.

#3 Technics / AT 440:


This table sucks. I've heard this table a million times. Never liked it, never will. I have an old Technics table (not this DJ version) still at my parents house. The DJ table isn't much better. Totally overrated. By this I mean I'd rather listen to Yggy or Gumby. On an overall basis, might be on par with DS Gungnir, but this is really a difficult comparison since the formats' strengths and weaknesses are diametrically opposite. I don't know why people keep recommending this table, but I guess it's because it's cheap and really not much else better at the same price.

The table is heavy. That's a good thing. The lightweight platter and direct drive doesn't do it any favors. Greyish blackground, kind of has a chug chug chug feeling. Don't get that nice stable blackness of the VPI. Bass is horrendous. Gooey warmth and lushness. Soft squishy dynamics. By far the least resolving. Don't know whether to blame the AT440, the arm, or both for lack of resolution. IMO, this is bad turntable sound.

Anaxilus:
How did Adam's Technics compare with the one at the Brooks meet? That one was OJ's with the same cart and sounded better than the Yggy. The 440 on my garbage Dual is even more resolving. Makes me wonder about his setup among other things...

You guys didn't roll any carts using the same table?

Marvey:
#2 Rega RP3


This table lies somewhere between the VPI and Technics. Unfortunately closer to the Technics. The weight is overall less than the Technics, but the glass? platter is heavier. From the mids on up, the Rega was more resolving with less sponginess. Hard to say how much was the arm and how much was the Ortofon Black over the AT440. The bass quality was closer to the Technics than the VPI. Not quite as warm and gooey. On an overall basis, I'd say this table is better than DS Gungnir. More resolving, more immediate, but piss poor quality bass, especially when compared to good quality digital bass. It's obvious the Ortofon Black is being very limited by this table.

shaizada:
Both the tables (Technics with the AT440 AND the Rega RP3 with the Ortofon) were brought over to my place.  Though we didn't get to hear them (not enough time), I tweaked both of them to have a more accurate tracking weight.  So they both should be setup pretty well...curious to read what you guys heard.

Doc, thanks again for coming by and bringing my package!  MUCH APPRECIATED!

Looking forward to the rest of this thread :)

 :)p1

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page