User review thread

[Lindsayt]

A long long time ago in a far and distant household that ate far too many Galaxy bars, my oldest brother bought a copy of What Hi-fi magazine. It had a pink cover. He left it in the living room sideboard. I found it and read it. In his quest to decide what system to spend his student grant money on, he went on to buy 7 more hi-fi magazines.

One day a Dual CS505/2, NAD 3020, AR18 system appeared.

This started a family tradition.

When my 3rd oldest brother got his student grant, he spent it on a Dual CS505/2, NAD 3020, NAD 3 way speakers.

This set off the competitive streak in me. I decided to go two better. To get a better system than them, and to get it before I got my grant, courtesy of Johnny Wigan who kindly beat me up on the bus on my way home from school allowing me to get a nice cheque from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board...

[terrybooth]

Jammy. I was not disappointed. Thanks.

[Daniel Quinn]

Having failed to become a footballer and my GSCE’s all in the same year , I set off to college to re-sit my exams and wonder what was available from the world for an idiot working class boy from Oldham. Having left it to last minute , Sociology was all that was left and so it was on a rainy day in September 1988 that I entered the room of Mr Pattison . His first utterance was to tell the assembled people that Sociology was bloody difficult and he could tell ½ the group would leave by end of the month- They did .

He then went on about his hi-fi and his AR turntable which was apparently nearly as good as something called a LP12!? Being impressionable, I was hooked. I still lived at home and so turned my small bedroom in to listening room by getting a sofa-bed and bought a Phillips cd player from Boots! and Mission Cyrus 1 and heybrook point 5 speakers . There then followed five years of swapping with a second hand shop round the corner . I had so many speakers and amplifiers that i can’t recall all of them , I do recall there was a metal box NVA amplifier which I still remember had a beguiling sound but wouldn’t go very loud with my mission 753 or Tannoy speakers.

Shortly before I embarked on 15 years of living like a rock star and not having a hi-fi at all , I purchased a second hand Pink Triangle Anniversary and a new rotel rq 970bx phono. This was better than the CD player once I sorted the cartridge out . I had AT OC7 , goldring 1042 and AT 95e , none of which i liked . I then bought a ortofon mc 30 supreme which was better .To be honest and in retrospect during this period I was more in to hi-fi than listening to music , i was never satisfied with the sound i was hearing compared to what I thought was possible . This meant I spent more time tweaking than listening and when Peter Belt came along I spent many useless hours with tin foil and making sure books had uneven numbers of pages !!

Alas, lacking the finances of the rolling stones my rock roll hedonistic lifestyle came to an end and I embarked upon a Leonard Cohenesque , female sabbatical . With time on my hands , my thoughts turned to the pink and out it came from Storage . Recent developments I have detailed elsewhere so to cut a long story short , despite the modest amplification , thanks to the purchase of Benz micro Ace sl and the docs advise on speaker wiring and crossovers for my DIY speakers , I was happy with the sound . I no longer listened critically or required 12 glasses of red before it sounded good.

Sure , some recordings sounded much much better , but i enjoyed it . It made me tap my feet and smile and got me emotionally involved .

There is a guitar riff on REM Me in Honey , which starts without accompaniment and continues the same all the way through the song as the other instruments join . It was now joyous and infectious

Fleetwood Mac Dreams had drums that sounded like drums and you could tell that as it gets towards the chorus Mick Fleetwood , despite playing the same rhythm hits them slightly harder and in the chorus , buckinghams , nicks and mcvies vocals were all distinct and separated and arced across the soundstage .
Springsteen harmonica on Thunder road [ live 5 album box set] soared to new crystal clear no harsh highs .
Sinead Oconner’s voice on Troy went from whisper to roar

Roger Waters vocal inflection on Post War dream was so realistic i looked for spit on the floor .

The drums on Ac/dc highway to hell were awesome .

I could go on and on , suffice to say , I was happy and was content to just listen. Alas, contentment was my downfall and I am now back to finding audio contentment in a much smaller room without my diy speakers and with more important priorities than my audio narcissism

[jammy395]

I had AT OC7 , goldring 1042 and AT 95e , none of which i liked . (quote Dan).

Dan....You didnt like the humble Goldring 1042 MM........
It's been my cartridge of choice since its conception, I know it well and to me it's a real Bobby Dazzle'r...... .....Like all else its probably a synergy thing...!!!
I toyed with the idea of switching to MC a few month's back (Benz Micro Ace intended).
Instead i thought why spend £600 on a wee cartridge.... ....I sold my Sonneteer Sedley Phono stage (with its miriad of dip sw settings etc) and Bought a
NVA Phono 2, fettled for the lowly 1042 mm...............It now sings like a KOETSU Jade..... ....Well maybe not, cause i aint heard one.....It does however
eclipse the KOETSU black i used to have....... So I am well chuffed.....I must add a second PSU to my Phono 2 in the new year......

[Daniel Quinn]

Jammy it was 20 years ago and if its any concillation i was an idiot 20 years ago and my memory of what it sounded like is none existent , i remember only i preferred the ortofon but it was 8 times the price i recall .

[jammy395]

Dan...20 years has it realy beeen that long.....Time flys....... :?
Yep 8 times the price would equate today to be aprox £250 V £2000......Def advantage.......
And glad to hear you were only an idiot 20 years ago............

[zebbo]

[quote="jammy395"It does however
eclipse the KOETSU black i used to have....... So I am well chuffed.....I must add a second PSU to my Phono 2 in the new year...... [/quote]

Really?! Jammie old son if that really was the case then one of four things must have happened;
1. The Koetsu Black wasn't a good match with your kit.
2. The Black was worn out.
3. The 1042 was an absolutely magical synergistic match with your kit or, most likely maybe,
4. You'd had a tot or two too many of the single malt! :D

I've had both and they are night and day, I found the Black wonderful, lush but not bloomy, really nice, but the 1042? Well just ordinary.
The only thing I have against the Koetsus is that I had some problems getting them to track well on the most demanding tracks, (I've had a Black and Rosewood), so now I have a ZYX which does everything beautifully while sounding quite Koetusque.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Get a Denon 103 (cheap) or an Ortofon SPU (expensive) of what ever variety you can afford and forget about cartridges from then on.

Or if you want a real roller coaster ride of delight and horror depending on "its" mood than get a Decca London.

I have all three and the SPU gold gets the most use.

Proviso - as long as you have a decent arm (mostly Jap) and not a knife bearing SME or crap bland UK made Regas (old Jap Regas are much better).

[jammy395]

Hi Zebo,

Point 1 - Possibly
Point 2 - Possibly (it was used) - (a good un though)
Point 3 - Possibly
Point 4 - Never (well not 4 months in a row)

The Koetsu was a fiddly wee blighter to set up right i found the black a real pain, so i wonder if perhaps i just didnt set it up right to start with....

The Goldring is a doddle to set up, very forgiving, tracks like glue, deep bass, sweet treble ......And 1/7th the price of the Black in todays money....

Oh well upwards and onward's.

[zebbo]

Aye, they do seem a bit finnicky about set-up for sure.
Another cartridge I tried, around the same time as the 1042 was the hyped Sumiko Blue Point Special but again, very ordinary to me. That said, they were probably both mounted in a Rega RB300, ( I can't actually remember), in which case they didn't really have much of a chance.