Hana Phono Cartridges?
Comments
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Platter mat is more like it, there will definitely not be any scratching. Didn’t know slipmat specifically meant for DJs and scratching, though I had wondered before what the “slip” part really meant. Ya learn something every day.
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The AT607a (which is just a cleaner, not a conditioner like Stylast) at $15 is much more palatable for me. And even with it, I only use it for the occasional 'wet' clean, when a dry brush is not getting the job done. I also incorporate isopropyl alcohol in some instances.
More on this process, please, sir? How do you use it for a wet clean? And have you experienced significant improvement after doing so? I presume this method works best with a microline stylus, which is supposed to most closely resembles the cutting stylus, thus best groove depth penetration for cleaning.
I disabled signatures. -
@CottageChz - are you set up yet?!? What's taking so long, slacker! 🤣
You know you can adjust your tonearm VTA, right?
[msg guerilla post; pop-up, slings smack, quickly exits before can be held to account for own slackery]
I disabled signatures. -
Just contrasting 'wet' vs 'dry' with a stylus brush. I typically just use a dry brush on the stylus between album sides, but if I still see a stubborn lint ball, I'll hit it with AT607a - the brush is first dipped in the solution (i.e., "IT PUTS ON THE LOTION").The AT607a (which is just a cleaner, not a conditioner like Stylast) at $15 is much more palatable for me. And even with it, I only use it for the occasional 'wet' clean, when a dry brush is not getting the job done. I also incorporate isopropyl alcohol in some instances.
More on this process, please, sir? How do you use it for a wet clean? And have you experienced significant improvement after doing so? I presume this method works best with a microline stylus, which is supposed to most closely resembles the cutting stylus, thus best groove depth penetration for cleaning.
The improvement depends on how dirty the stylus was
A gunked-up stylus will interfere with the contact patches, and it also adds mass - both are no bueno!
As mentioned earlier, clean records are the best defense. In the situations above, it's normally a 'new to me' record that I have yet to properly clean, so the stylus gets dirty rather quickly."This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
"Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon -
@CottageChz - are you set up yet?!? What's taking so long, slacker! 🤣
You know you can adjust your tonearm VTA, right?
[msg guerilla post; pop-up, slings smack, quickly exits before can be held to account for own slackery]
Ok, it is actually set up but I haven’t listened much yet. The mat arrived early on Saturday before Xmas and I got everything set. However, my wife turned on her mixer to make cookies the second I dropped the needle on the first track with the new cartridge, not conducive to critical listening at all. I turned it off and will get back to it soon when it’s quieter. Can’t wait til we move and I have a listening room or basement.
Anyway, VTA… I’m assuming you’re talking about the tonearm height adjustment? Problem there was the cartridge is 15 mm (I think), which meant tonearm height should be set to 0 mm… so if you have a mat less than the original stock mat thickness of 6 mm then you are out of luck. Or so I think! Is there a way around this? Enlighten me.
In any case I have the 6 mm mat now so it’s all good. Tonearm is parallel to the record, which it never was before.
What is going on with your cart?!
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Why do the wimmens always do stuff like that?! 😩
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
lolJust contrasting 'wet' vs 'dry' with a stylus brush. I typically just use a dry brush on the stylus between album sides, but if I still see a stubborn lint ball, I'll hit it with AT607a - the brush is first dipped in the solution (i.e., "IT PUTS ON THE LOTION").
Ohhhhhh! I thought you were talking about that thing some people have done where they wet a record and let it play through, the idea being that the stylus gouges out all the junk!I disabled signatures. -
EXCELLENT!!!CottageChz wrote: »@CottageChz - are you set up yet?!? What's taking so long, slacker! 🤣
You know you can adjust your tonearm VTA, right?
[msg guerilla post; pop-up, slings smack, quickly exits before can be held to account for own slackery]
Ok, it is actually set up but I haven’t listened much yet. The mat arrived early on Saturday before Xmas and I got everything set. However, my wife turned on her mixer to make cookies the second I dropped the needle on the first track with the new cartridge, not conducive to critical listening at all. I turned it off and will get back to it soon when it’s quieter. Can’t wait til we move and I have a listening room or basement.
Anyway, VTA… I’m assuming you’re talking about the tonearm height adjustment? Problem there was the cartridge is 15 mm (I think), which meant tonearm height should be set to 0 mm… so if you have a mat less than the original stock mat thickness of 6 mm then you are out of luck. Or so I think! Is there a way around this? Enlighten me.
In any case I have the 6 mm mat now so it’s all good. Tonearm is parallel to the record, which it never was before.
What is going on with your cart?!
Oh. I didn't think about that, actually, the less than zero bit. In fact, I've never adjusted the VTA on my tables. I just know it's there. Daring me to mess with it. I really don't know where mine is set currently, and haven't had a close enough look to see, nor read that part of the manual to determine what the adjustment range is.
My cart is still in its box. #$%*. Tonight, I'm going to at least mount it in the headshell.
I have two OE Technics headshells, pre-owned; the non-azimuth ones. I've been enjoying the Audio Technica AT-HS6, though, which I originally ordered from KAB on Kevin's recommendation aside from the "faithful Technics clone" he has when the OE Technicses were unavailable for a while. Now I kinda prefer the AT, howeverrr... the couple of Technics headshells I collected from Ebay have gold contacts, where I think these AT ones are nickel-plated? Plus, the HS6 is kinda beefier. I think @Keiko mentioned these earlier. I haven't been on the computer much the past several weeks, mostly just mobile, so I've been flakey on a lot of this stuff, bleh.
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-hs6
I also decided to try to some fancy headshell wires for the Hana, and since I have two carts to mount - the AT VM540ML being the other that I've had sitting for three years (shaddap Jody @jdjohn), I splurged on a set of Audioquest and a set of AudioTechnica wires.
I should hold off on installing those until I get a sense for these carts' sound with stock wires.
I disabled signatures. -
I stuck with a Technics headshell but may look into other options in the future. The Technics one is really lightweight compared to most others, it seems. My Ortofon 2M blue is on an Ortofon headshell and I really have to change the counterweight a lot when I switch because not only is the cart heavier, the headshell is too.
Somehow I forgot to mention, my only impression from the one or two tracks I listened to was that the separation of the instruments seemed better. I would like to spend a bit of time A/Bing with my Ortofon 2M though. I really had no problem with the sound of the Ortofon, I've just had it for 10 years so figured it was getting a bit worn and was feeling the itch to try something new.
Also, I had to crank the volume up kind of high even after adjusting for the new cart's settings. I may need to change the settings more on my preamp, I can add another 6 db gain that way.
How do you measure to see if your azimuth settings are correct? A video I watched online said to drop the needle on a mirror and see if the mirror image is straight in line or off kilter. I did that but that needle is so damn tiny, I can't see it well, and didn't have anything that could magnify it enough (phone pic below). Looked like it was at least close. I may break out my nicer camera and try to get it with macro mode.
Here's the tonearm height specs from the Technics MK2 manual if you need them.
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Why do the wimmens always do stuff like that?! 😩
I was upset for a second, but then I ate some cookies and all was well -
CottageChz wrote: »I stuck with a Technics headshell but may look into other options in the future. The Technics one is really lightweight compared to most others, it seems. My Ortofon 2M blue is on an Ortofon headshell and I really have to change the counterweight a lot when I switch because not only is the cart heavier, the headshell is too.
Somehow I forgot to mention, my only impression from the one or two tracks I listened to was that the separation of the instruments seemed better. I would like to spend a bit of time A/Bing with my Ortofon 2M though. I really had no problem with the sound of the Ortofon, I've just had it for 10 years so figured it was getting a bit worn and was feeling the itch to try something new.
Also, I had to crank the volume up kind of high even after adjusting for the new cart's settings. I may need to change the settings more on my preamp, I can add another 6 db gain that way.
How do you measure to see if your azimuth settings are correct? A video I watched online said to drop the needle on a mirror and see if the mirror image is straight in line or off kilter. I did that but that needle is so damn tiny, I can't see it well, and didn't have anything that could magnify it enough (phone pic below). Looked like it was at least close. I may break out my nicer camera and try to get it with macro mode.
Here's the tonearm height specs from the Technics MK2 manual if you need them.
You beat me to it. Page 8 shows a reference guide on where to set the VTA according to the height of the cartridge.
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/387775/Technics-Sl-1210m5g.html?page=8#manual
I'll recommend the same thing to you that I did with Scott. If you want to try a new flavor, check out the Goldring 1012GX. For what DaCapo has them listed for on their website compared to the etailers here in the States, this is a steal! Even though this is a moving magnet design, I find it to be every bit as lively as my Dynavector HOMC. In my humble opinion, this is a no-brainer. You can never have too many cartridges.
https://www.dacapoaudio.com/4414-goldring-g1012gx-cartridge-m.html
Ultimately I want to work up to the 1042 stylus, and this is what's nice about these cartridges in to 1000 series. They're interchangeable.
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@Keiko thanks for the recommendation! I will add it to my note on my phone with “audio stuff.” Realistically, I likely won’t be buying another cart for a while, unless there’s something I really don’t like about the Hana, but this looks like an interesting option for when the time comes. Price isn’t bad at all.
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Keep in mind that the VTA adjustment points listed are merely a nominal starting point and should be fine tuned by ear. If the arm is too high the Soundstage gets thin, lacks treble, and the bass gets boomy. If too low the higher frequency gets brighter. When the VTA is just right, you will feel like you are at the performance, and not sitting in a room listening to a record. Of course, record thickness will affect this. The ideal set point for a 200 gram record will not be ideal for anything from Chrysalis records, for example. Have fun! The first thing you will notice when going from MM to MC is how much detail you weren't hearing with MM. It's truly an aha moment.Sources: Technics SL1200MKII | SME3009 Tonearm | Monster Alpha 1 MC cartridge | Oppo UDP203 disk player | Nikko NT-790 analog tuner | Musical Fidelity Trivista 21 DAC | Preamp: Threshold SL-10 | Amplifier: Threshold Stasis 2 | Speakers: Snell Acoustics C/V | Kimber 12-TC bi wire speakers | Analysis plus Oval 1 preamp to amp | Wireworld Eclipse 7 DAC to Preamp | Wireworld eclipse digital IC Oppo to DAC | Audioquest Quartz tuner to preamp |
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So, do these MC cartridges require routine demagnetizing? I was looking through the 2024 Music Direct catalog today and saw this:
It’s not on their website yet.
On a side note, pretty nice catalog and it is great to thumb through an old school, printed book after doing so much online browsing over the past year. Saw some other stuff like this demagnetizer that I never knew existed that way.
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM
