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- Jan 3, 2011
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He with the biggest knows the most. I suppose it?s human .At a car meet the guy with the Ferrari F40 is bound to know more than the guy with the fibreglass 308 etc. Same with cameras and certainly ,audio. If you frequent forums ,especially those who proclaim themselves as the bestest,most exclusive etc you will find somemone with a lot of money spent who suddenly becomes the guru,the god.
This of course is absolute nonsense. I have a fairly immodest turntable setup. Alrhough it is by far not even close to the most expensive here it looks fairly impressive so people think I know everything about analog. OOPS ! Wrong. I have no idea whats current and asking me what the best mid price turntable etc. is would be akin to asking me what the best female contraceptive is. All I know is that turntables then were good because they were at the crest and turntables now are crap,aimed at young men with long beards and plucked eyebrows who seem to be unable to afford socks but can afford multiple tattoos.
So in the past week, not one ,but 2 young friends contacted me for turntable help .I was a little unsettled. One had bought a Clearaudio Concept turntable that he needed a cartridge for and the other an Edwards that he felt sounded really poor.
The Clearaudio friend?s problem was simple. I could offer a Denon 103. Simple. It is all I had that would fit.Very scientific. Awaiting the Clearaudio I discovered an ancient Grado in a drawer. A Signature 8. Out of curiosity the Grado went on a Fidelty Research arm on my standard rig. Cringing I lowered the stylus. Whoah. Fantastic. Rich. Full, musical. I love it. . Fortunately my friend expected the Denon so the Grado stayed.
So I mounted the Denon on the Clearaudio and listened. Damn . It was a Denon alll right,big ,bold,somewhat lumpy bass but boogie woogie factor 8.But what about the Clearaudio then? This dinky little thing that somehow seems to be built by Apple! It has no right to sound this good.Surely! This would be similar to those old Technics D2 etc way back but not. This is high end sound. I am pretty sure it would knock quite a few revered old timers out of the park.
So next night arrived the Edwards. Now my heart really sank. If the Clearaudio seems to be the analog equivalent of an Apple mac mini,this would be a computer game from a china shop. Plastic everywhere. There is Rega in there somehere but sorta Rega made in Taiwan circa 1979. The arm resembles a Rega but seems plastic? Platter seems perspex or something. Oh no.What am I going to tell the owner. He had bought a Sumiko cart to ?upgrade? the base cart that was on it. The Sumiko was fitted but not aligned. So Baerwald , 2g and?-awful,spitty.bright,one dimensional. Weather Report?s Heavy Weather is not easy music but this was real bad. Gotta do something!
So I put on a suede ?mat? that I cut ,probably using a lawnmower blade and fitted the Grado. Whoah,dull, thick and that Grado-Rega humm,hell no, ROAR from hell. But wait a minute! If the Sumiko was bright and the Grado the sound of runny tummy falling in a long-drop -then this table can't be bad?
Sumiko back in. Stephenson alignment on the Feickert protractor, 2,1 g and backing little off the bias. Hot damn this little thing is good. Rumbly bass, beautiful highs , detail good.
Maybe life has moved on. Maybe people did keep the analog flame alive. Maybe all tables after 1982 aren?t overpriced junk after all?
This of course is absolute nonsense. I have a fairly immodest turntable setup. Alrhough it is by far not even close to the most expensive here it looks fairly impressive so people think I know everything about analog. OOPS ! Wrong. I have no idea whats current and asking me what the best mid price turntable etc. is would be akin to asking me what the best female contraceptive is. All I know is that turntables then were good because they were at the crest and turntables now are crap,aimed at young men with long beards and plucked eyebrows who seem to be unable to afford socks but can afford multiple tattoos.
So in the past week, not one ,but 2 young friends contacted me for turntable help .I was a little unsettled. One had bought a Clearaudio Concept turntable that he needed a cartridge for and the other an Edwards that he felt sounded really poor.
The Clearaudio friend?s problem was simple. I could offer a Denon 103. Simple. It is all I had that would fit.Very scientific. Awaiting the Clearaudio I discovered an ancient Grado in a drawer. A Signature 8. Out of curiosity the Grado went on a Fidelty Research arm on my standard rig. Cringing I lowered the stylus. Whoah. Fantastic. Rich. Full, musical. I love it. . Fortunately my friend expected the Denon so the Grado stayed.
So I mounted the Denon on the Clearaudio and listened. Damn . It was a Denon alll right,big ,bold,somewhat lumpy bass but boogie woogie factor 8.But what about the Clearaudio then? This dinky little thing that somehow seems to be built by Apple! It has no right to sound this good.Surely! This would be similar to those old Technics D2 etc way back but not. This is high end sound. I am pretty sure it would knock quite a few revered old timers out of the park.
So next night arrived the Edwards. Now my heart really sank. If the Clearaudio seems to be the analog equivalent of an Apple mac mini,this would be a computer game from a china shop. Plastic everywhere. There is Rega in there somehere but sorta Rega made in Taiwan circa 1979. The arm resembles a Rega but seems plastic? Platter seems perspex or something. Oh no.What am I going to tell the owner. He had bought a Sumiko cart to ?upgrade? the base cart that was on it. The Sumiko was fitted but not aligned. So Baerwald , 2g and?-awful,spitty.bright,one dimensional. Weather Report?s Heavy Weather is not easy music but this was real bad. Gotta do something!
So I put on a suede ?mat? that I cut ,probably using a lawnmower blade and fitted the Grado. Whoah,dull, thick and that Grado-Rega humm,hell no, ROAR from hell. But wait a minute! If the Sumiko was bright and the Grado the sound of runny tummy falling in a long-drop -then this table can't be bad?
Sumiko back in. Stephenson alignment on the Feickert protractor, 2,1 g and backing little off the bias. Hot damn this little thing is good. Rumbly bass, beautiful highs , detail good.
Maybe life has moved on. Maybe people did keep the analog flame alive. Maybe all tables after 1982 aren?t overpriced junk after all?
