I stole this!!!
Comments
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capecodder wrote:No prob. Take care.
PS: Have you had a burger at the Deer Park yet?? I still salivate over them (assuming they still serve them as they "used" to; big, fat, dripping cheese and mushrooms down the elbows... ).
Never heard of Deer Park. . .if it is in Delaware, I'm new to the area so fill me in. -
hearingimpared wrote:Never heard of Deer Park. . .if it is in Delaware, I'm new to the area so fill me in.
Deer Park Tavern, downtown Newark, quick walking distance from campus, just down the street from Daffy Deli (which sadly propably isn't there anymore:( )...
Thought you had confirmed familiarity with the Deer Park from a previous thread. George Thorogood used to frequently walk through and throw one back. It has changed a lot from my late '70's days (got cleaned up and proper dammit). Their burgers used to be staples to the food needs of the U of D's student population. -
capecodder wrote:Deer Park Tavern, downtown Newark, quick walking distance from campus, just down the street from Daffy Deli (which sadly propably isn't there anymore:( )...
Thought you had confirmed familiarity with the Deer Park from a previous thread. George Thorogood used to frequently walk through and throw one back. It has changed a lot from my late '70's days (got cleaned up and proper dammit). Their burgers used to be staples to the food needs of the U of D's student population.
Thank you I am always up for a great artery packing burger!!! -
Here are some pics. I'm going to listen for a week and then give my impressions. My initial impressions are pitch black backround, bass/drum slam increased, noisy records i.e. ticks, pops, surface noise are less noticable, and the signal to noise ratio has increased greatly.
I'm listening to various types of music and records and am going to give a report this weekend.
After a couple of weeks I am going to try the different cartridges.
I just installed the Black Diamond Racing cones. -
Looking good man. Cant wait to hear her sing.
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Very nice Joe! Congrats!
What's that black thing on the top of the record
Carl -
Very nice Joe! Congrats!
What's that black thing on the top of the record
Some piece of junk a wacko came up with!!!:eek:
I gotta take pictures of the new black things on the bottom. . . Black Diamond Racing Cones . . . I don't know if they are improving the sound but they LOOK reeeeeeaaaaaalll Gooooooooooooooooooooooood and they better for the price they get for them.:eek: -
Great looking TT.
Where is the SAMA for the TT? Does it sit within the TT plinth or beside?
Arthur SchopenhauerAll truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed and third, it is accepted as self evident. -
Great looking TT.
Where is the SAMA for the TT? Does it sit within the TT plinth or beside?
It sets all alone under the upper left corner of the plinth almost up against the upper left suspension spring. There is a hole in the sub-plinth and deck where the motor spindle and pulley protrude. I believe there is a picture of that in the original post.
EDIT: yep I just checked there is a pic. -
I'm loving this new TT. The bass is so deep and growling. I started to listen to records that I restored and WOW S/N ratio way up. One more word, BLACKNESS!!!
I'm going to write a review this weekend. -
hearingimpared wrote: »I'm loving this new TT. The bass is so deep and growling. I started to listen to records that I restored and WOW S/N ratio way up. One more word, BLACKNESS!!!
I'm going to write a review this weekend.
Are you just using your Dynavector or have you experimented with the other cartridges that came with the table? I've heard great things about the Benz Silver.For rig details, see my profile. Nothing here anymore... -
Are you just using your Dynavector or have you experimented with the other cartridges that came with the table? I've heard great things about the Benz Silver.
I am giving myself some time (two weeks) to get aquanted with the table the way it is with the Dynavector. After that time I am going to mount the Benz and live with that for two weeks. After that, I'm going to do the same with the Blue Point Special. -
Sounds like you've got a lot of fun ahead! I'm sure you will find good and bad points with each cartridge.For rig details, see my profile. Nothing here anymore...
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Sounds like you've got a lot of fun ahead! I'm sure you will find good and bad points with each cartridge.
I hope so!!! If I don't then my hearing loss is really worse than I thought!! LOL
I'll keep notes and post them. -
Well I'm finally over that nasty cold I caught the day after promising some observations of this awesome sounding turntable. I was literally deaf for a good 6 to 7 days. I also had laryngitis for those days which my wife and kid loved immensely.
Usually when I'm planning a review I get the notebook out and and the reference recordings and any other device or method to help me focus on what I am hearing. I did it a little differently this time. I listened to over 30 different records of different genres and various ages of LPs and stages of wear as well as quality of records. Afterall isn't this how we listen to music on a daily basis? I don't know anyone who goes into an analysis of what is to be listened to and then jump around when wishing to just listen to music. No you just pick what you are in the mood for, clean it, treat it, and play it. That is what I did here except I made sure to include my reference recordings and recordings that I was very familiar with.
LPs
Electric Light Orchestra, "Ole ELO" UA LA 360G
Supertramp, "Breakfast in America" MFSL 1-045
Steely Dan, "AJA" MFSL 1-053
Simon & Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" MFSL 1-173
Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Stadium Arcadium" 4439-1
Stray Cats, "Built for Speed" ST-17070
Electric Light Orchestra, "Eldorado, A Symphony" UA-LA339-6
Maroon 5, "Songs About Jane" 82376-50001-1
Country Joe McDonald, "Paradise With a View" MFSL 1-056
Zubin Mehta & The Israeli Symphony Orchestra, Tchaikovsky "Swan Lake & Nutcracker Suite" LDR 10008
Zubin Mehta & The London Symphony Orchestra, Ravel's "Bolero" and more. CS 7132
Chicago , "IX Greatest Hits" JC 33900
Alan Parsons, "I Robot" MFSL UHQR MFQR 1-084
Earl Klugh, "Finger Paintings" MFSL UHQR MFQR 1-025
Van Morrison, "Moondance" BSK 3103
Manheim Steemroller, "Fresh Aire II" AG 359-ST
Manheim Steemroller, "Fresh Aire III" AG 365-ST
Reference Recordings, Mickey Hart, Airto, Flora Purim; "DAFOS" Reference Recording RR-12, 45 RPM.
Pink Floyd, "DSOTM" 30 years aniv edition 180gm SHUL 804
Pink Floyd, "DSOTM" Harvest SMAS 11163
The Beatles, "Anthology 3" 7243B 344510
The Shins, "Wincing the Night Away" SP705
Boston, "Boston" Epic JE34188-AL34188
The Doobie Brothers, "Takin' it to the Streets" MFSL 1-122
Supertramp, "Crime of the Century" A&M SP-3647
Spirit, "The 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus" PE 30267
Arnes Domnerus Group, "Jazz at the Pawnshop" 180gm Proprius 7778-79
Arnes Domnerus Group, "Jazz at the Pawnshop" Proprius 7778-A (1978)
Dire Straits, "Brothers in Arms" 180 gm 49377-1
Rolling Stones, "Let it Bleed" 9004-1
Musical Heritage Society, Franz Liszt's "A Faust Symphony" MHS 827264T
The Police, "Ghost in the Machine" SP-3730
The Police, "Zenyatta Mondatta" SP-4831
I listened to each record in its entirety. I paid special attention to the inner groove tracts because of the inherent distortion associated with those particular grooves with a pivoted tonearm. I made sure each record was clamped firmly to the platter and all warps removed. Any recordings that I couldn't remove the warps, the warps were sufficently removed out to where just the lead in bead had the warp, in some cases however, maybe a few or 3 or 4 millimeters of the first track was slightly raised off the platter, this was a rarity. I used my clamp on every record.
I want to digress for one minute here because I discovered something quite by accident. I had purchased Black Diamond Racing Cones Mk IV for the four corners of the turntable base for decoupling/damping duty. I would typically place three of these type devices under components but because the turntable is a four point suspension turntable I used one in each of the four corners. Now I had received eight cones by mistake and notified the reseller, there were four MK III cones, and four were MK IV cones. At the time I didn't know that there was a difference in the cones ability to shape the sound and even if I did I would have been very skeptical of the claim. Anyhoo, I had been listening to the turntable with those **** rubber feet that come stock from VPI. I placed four cones under the turntable and started to listen. I noticed right away that the music, all the music sounded very warm, very very warm so warm that the details sounded to me to be a bit blurred or even fuzzy. I started to read about the Black Diamond MK IV cones which claimed to cause greater detail when used under a component. I thought they were full of **** because of what I was hearing until I read that the Mk III cones would create a warmer sound. Here I did in fact have the Mk III cones under the table. When I switched to the Mk IV I was stunned because the music now did not sound warm at all and the detail, the inner detail was focused and precise. I'm a details guy, I love to hear the details and vinyl has its own natural warmth that doesn't need to be accentuated by something else. TAKE THAT FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH!!! I heard what I heard and I sent the Mk III cones back. I believe that was an $80 well spent! Back to the TT review.
I took notes on each recording. I also cleaned each record with a four fluid cleaning method that I developed (you can read about that here) Very good pressings sounded dead quiet, **** vinyl that typically sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies with a mic in it, the crackles were barely audible if at all. Tick, pops, and surface noise that typically could distract me from the music on worn records was now very very quiet in some cases, where I expected to hear a tick or pop there was none or I had to strain to hear it.
What was very surprising was how well the mold damaged LPs sounded. In many cases although the Vinyl Enzyme juice worked extremely well, the mold like cancer did eat a little bit of the vinyl away. This would lead to a portion of a record having a shushing sound occur on a revolution for a groove or three. This shushing or swishing sound has been deadened by all the improvements done by VPI to this turntable.
I went through my notes and summarized my findings. The most obvious improvement was in the bass extension, grooooowwwwwllll, and slam like I've never heard it before, if there is bass on a record you hear it loud and clear and accurately. Also the snare drum shots and rim shots had me gasping. The soundstage is soooo much wider and the dynamics are breathtaking. You hear people describe the music coming out of blackness or the noise floor was lowered. . .I'm saying the instruments and vocals are coming out of NOTHING!!!. The hang and decay of the instruments was a very natural long lasting decay in time. If a recording was done in a hall (Faust, Swan Lake, Nutcraker Suite) I could hear the hall ambience.
One thing before I close. There is an effect on the Faust recording. There is a technical term in music for this maybe Ted or another musician can chime in on this cause I can't remember what the term is. On Faust and many many other classical pieces there is a passage where the woodwinds and brass are the predominent layer that is being played while in the backround underneath from the middle out to left the violins are playing very softly and running up and down the scales. I've heard this recording dozens of times and this was so clear and the imaging so precise that I stopped the record three times to hear it again because I never heard it before. It is very nice and pleasing to the ear. I'm amazed at how that effect can be reproduced on a piece of vinyl with a little tiny pin picking it up!!!
To sum up;
Deeper, tighter, growling, slamming BASS. The best way for me to describe bass slam or snare drum shots is that it feels like the sound is slapping the skin on my face. Again if there is any bass at all on a record it is reproduced here and not in a subtle way.
Much higher signal to noise ratio thus wider dynamic range.
More information picked up by the stylus (I attribute this to the higher S/N ratio).
Rim shots and snare drum shots are startling.
Wider soundstage.
Depth of image is deeper, more defined and precise.
Very very musical!!! I seem to "get lost" in the music more when I am listening now.
There is probably a lot more but I need to take more notes LOL. Nah I think I'm just going to enjoy my records.
My advise to VPI HW 19 owners and anyone who owns a latter VPI turntable version is to consider the new "super platter" that VPI is offering. I think with all the improvements to the table there is of course a cumulative affect producing better sounding music, if I were backed into a corner and had to make one recommendation to improve the sound of your VPI table it would definitely be the massive platter. -
Very nice writeup Joe. You have taught me more about vinyl recently than I ever though I could learn. Cant wait to make it down there and set up the other table.
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hearingimpared,
My fingers are hurting from reading how much you were typing.engtaz
I love how music can brighten up a bad day. -
hearingimpared,
My fingers are hurting from reading how much you were typing.
When I'm on a roll I can still get up to 90 words per minute in MS Word!!! Since I've turned 50, my fingers don't work as well so sometimes when I've been typing for a while and I look up it looks like this:
a;lskly3e.r qaetyol34tl awep0yf976-98das() gqoweyr9w76lqw3jm [a67976ojanna'l
'lo[p9jm awed9087jf;furr[aop9';w:eek:
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA:D -
hearingimpared,
My fingers are hurting from reading how much you were typing.
Imagine how much I talk!!! LOL
