Small Mishap

Discussion in 'Home Audio Gear Chat Area' started by TooCooL4, May 20, 2018.

  1. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    I was doing some recording to cassette the other night, all was going well at the end of the very first side went to lift the arm up and back to the resting position when I accidentally knock the arm backwards.
    I checked the cartridge and record could not see any physical damage.

    I carried on with the recording not really noticing anything, thought I had gotten away with it.
    Well as I got nearer to halfway through the record, I began to notice distorted sound. I stopped and put the record through the record cleaner. I re-record that side again halfway through the record I noticed the distortion again, but let it carry on. As I got near the end, it became more distorted and began to skip backwards. I checked the anti-skate still the same, so I have not gotten away with it.[​IMG]

    I knew that was the end. I could trade it in for a new one and get £500 of the price of a new one or I could get it re-tipped for about £250 but really I want something new and better than the Roksan Shiraz I have. I had listened to an EMT cartridge in the past which I liked and thought was better then the Roksan Shiraz.
    So I was looking at the EMT JSD S 75 but also noticed they had a new Platinum edition out.
    I wanted to know the difference between the JSD S 75 and the JSD Platinum. The both appear to use the same generator, same Sapphire cantilever and same Diamond tip profile.

    Anyway I waited till I went to the Munich High End Show as I know EMT will be there. I spoke to the president of EMT asking him for the difference. Jules Limon explanation was the JSD Platinum’s body is made of Platinum and weighs in at 18g and the JSD S 75’s body is made of Aluminium and weighs in at 11g, everything was the same.
    He said get the Platinum one if your Tone Arm is a bit suspect as in not dampening out all the resonances as the JSD Platinum will help damp out the rest, but if your arm is good get the JSD S 75 and there is no benefit getting the Platinum cartridge. I told him what Tone Arm I had and he said get the JSD S 75 which is £300 cheaper.

    I finally put the new cartridge on yesterday, I am still setting it up and getting everything to bed in. On first listen the first thing that hit me was how quiet the background noise was when the stylus hit the groove.
    So far I get better frequency extension at the top end, female vocals smoother better clarity. Not sure it is giving me more bottom end but it’s better controlled.

    So a small mishap has turned out to give me a better sounding system by getting me to change to a better cartridge, so I guess there is always a silver lining at the end of the cloud.[​IMG]

    JSD S 75.jpg Cartridge & Arm.jpg
     
  2. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    You lucky &@$t@£*!!!! Wish I could pull this off with my Boss!!!! Te Kaitora Rua is on my wish list... but... knowing that "mishap" won't work for me I am keeping Virtuoso Wood for when my Lyra dies
    Very nice photos, done with iPhone X? ;)
     
  3. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    You don't fancy the DRT XV-1 then :wink2. You can always try and sneak it past the Boss? But the Boss may twig when you have a bigger smile on your face when you are listening to your records :biggrin:

    I don't do iPhones :wink:. I used an old camera of mine a Panasonic Lumix DMC LX-3
     
  4. 19lexicon78

    19lexicon78 Active Member

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    is this a mm or mc cartridge?
    i have an emt 950, and using tsd 15sfl. there is a big difference using a mm or mc amp if the cartridge is mc
     
  5. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    This is an MC cartridge, i have not used MM in over 15 years plus i think.

    I hear good things about TSD 15, i believe it's the one that started it all off for EMT all those years ago.
     
  6. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Still not had a good chance to have a good listen, so the cartridge is not totally settled down yet as I have only had a chance to listen to 3 x 12” and 1 side of an album.

    I have to say so far wow, this cartridge is digging out more info than the Shiraz ever did. I am hearing information I had never heard before, the clarity and instrument placement is just on a different level. I have a big grin on my face. [​IMG]
     
  7. 19lexicon78

    19lexicon78 Active Member

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    that's the best experience you can have. when something exceeds your expectations.

    the tsd 15 is a good one, i think one of the best cartridge under 2000 euro. yours will have the same signature.
    the emt arm is mediocre, also its internal amp. the table of the 950, to me, it's the best.
    paired with an ikeda arm, which cartridge and phono amp i don't know yet. but for alot of money you can have a great setup. in the end, it's always about the money. pfff
     
  8. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    Nope!! As it already is, Sondek LP12 thrashes all my digital replays. Do not want to make this gap even wider! Actually, when buying Wadia 781 and then Esoteric SACDs I was thinking about narrowing this gap.

    :thumbsup:
     
  9. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    I have never really bothered with CD in my Hi-Fi as it would cost me too much to get close to my analogue setup, so why bother i would rather put that extra money into making the analogue sound even better.
     
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  10. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    Since I have more still sealed/unplayed CDs than LPs, and pretty limited space for more LPs, I have to be cautious about making a full switch into analog bliss
     
  11. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    I only have a handful of CD’s and I only ever get them if I really want a record but cannot find it on Vinyl. I take then to my friends house along with my Nakamichi CR-7 and record them on his Nagra CD player.
     
  12. 19lexicon78

    19lexicon78 Active Member

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    i like cd's, its more convenient. electronic music sounds better on cd, i like some classical recordings. for a good player you don't have to $$$, a good TT setup is far more expensive. studer D730 or i prefer the EMT 981. the 981 has sparkling mid-range. there is something about emt, it makes you smile.. ;)
     
  13. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Yes for a good player you don't need to spend loads, but for a great player you do need to spend loads.
     
  14. 19lexicon78

    19lexicon78 Active Member

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    not cd-players. the philips dac's and swing-arms are still the best. only problem with older stuff, it needs recapping. also you need the same caps to have the same sound. especially the emt 981. it's sprankling mids, it's because of the caps.
     
  15. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    I don't know about the EMT 981, but one CD player i do like is the Spectral Audio one but at £28000 i would rather put the money into the rest of my system.
     
  16. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    I have all Klaus Schulze albums and collaborations, combined with five boxes of his "Ultimate Edition" it is over a hundred albums for KS alone. Most of his albums since 1990 hit 70-80min, meaning that 1xCD=2xLPs. And if a piece is over 30-35min long, it cannot even be cut onto LP. So Yes, sometimes CD is the best choice, with EM in most cases its the only choice. Except for a few cases when they screw-up with digital remastering, I am with @19lexicon78 and do not care much about EM on LPs.
     
  17. 19lexicon78

    19lexicon78 Active Member

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    28000 cdp, only when you've got a 200k speaker/amp setup. otherwise, i don't think this cdp will be playing alot better than ones which are far less $$.

    @Jorge
    tja, digital music is digital, i don't see playing an TT better than a cdp. actually i like the clean sound of the cdp in combo of digital/electronic music. it's the way electronic music must be heard.
     
  18. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    @19lexicon78 +1 :nodding: With an exception of maybe the early output from the "fathers of EM" like Stockhausen, KS, TD for when they used analog to make EM. I still prefer "Picture Music" and "Moondawn" on vinyl, although digital transfers do sound cleaner. I am in love with Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree/No Man but since he uses ProTools I go for CDs, LPs sound a bit better (to my ears) but the margin is not as drastic as with Miles or Bruckner...

    Re allocation of funds, methinks there is no rule for that: you are technically correct about 50:50:50:50 for the front-end/pre/amp/speakers but I still remember a demonstration I got from John Schwartz of Chicago ProMusica (in the year of Our Lord 1998!) when he exchanged CD spinners into the mid-hi-end system (Rega, with some mini-monitors) and convinced me that spending $5k on the speakers I came to buy from him would be a waste of my money. This is why I attend all the Audio shows (when Boss allows) to hear different combinations of the boxes, and Love Audiogon because there I can buy, audition at home, then sell with minimal hit onto my wallet :wink:
     
  19. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    I don’t know how you can just pick a figure out of the air and say you don’t think an expensive CD player would sound better than a less expensive one, on an amp / speaker setup less than 200K have you tried it? I have, people just need to match equipment well and choose a high resolving setup.

    When I was at the Munich High End show this year I was listening to the Naim statement amp 150K and Focal Grand Utopia 130K, I had to sign up and book to go and listen to it. 2 people walked out before the first track had finished and I know why it sounded terrible, the combination just did not work.

    This just goes to show you picking figures out of the air is wrong, just spending loads of money does not work you need to do your homework to get good results.
     
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  20. 19lexicon78

    19lexicon78 Active Member

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    @Jorge you're right about the early electronica works. i think those instruments where more analog, so LP will sound better. but when listening to electronic music of the last 20-30 years.. i prefer CD. love yagya on CD
    new age of the 80's is perhaps 50/50%, cd/lp
    oja, electronica is great with electrostats. speeed

    @Jorge/toocool4
    it's hard to find a nice setup. but the right one will let you hear all the details. in my experience in headphones, i've heard the he/v90 and this headphone demands a good or better cdp or TT. every detail you will hear. with lesser phones, you will not.
    i wish i would go to munchen. the MBL's=from berlin,mostly they have a stand, are imo one of the best speakers around. in that system, a good cdp is worth it. well, for 200k you have a good mbl/boulder amp setup. i don't think mbl amps aren't as good as the speakers.
    but again, don't dismiss the older cdp's. the difference isn't as huge as a good/best TT.
     

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