Completed The Scheu Turntable Set Up
Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2022 4:37 pm
Middle of last year I acquired a Scheu Das Laufwerk No2 from an Audiogon seller in Poland. Put a Dynavector DV505 arm on it. Eventually decided to sell my Well Tempered Reference because I did not have enough room on top of my audio cabinet and things were neater with just two tables. Later in the year I made some interesting vintage cartridge acquisitions. First an Ortofon MC3000 that had a new diamond installed. Later in the year I was fortunate enough to find an Ortofon MC2000 that had all the packing, graphs, and even the Ortofon lapel pin it originally sold with. I later was able to acquire the matching T2000 transformer from the same seller. The cartridge is now at Expert Stylus getting a new diamond installed.
So I had more cartridge projects than I had arm slots. I decided to acquire another Dynavector DV505 arm. I had bit of trouble locating another arm board, but finally did that last week, and it arrived on Monday here. Finished the install and did some preliminary listening the past couple of days. Have a ZYX 4D on one arm going to an Esoteric E-03, and on the other arm the MC3000/T2000 going to a Graham Slee Accession phono stage. Eventually I can run the T2000 into the second input of the Esoteric which can be set for MM mode and make a very even comparison. But at this point all I was interested in doing was getting the second arm and cartridge up and running
What I did find interesting is that the MC3000/T200/Accession combination sounds remarkably similar to the ZYX4D/Esoteric pairing. The ZYX is a bit more detailed in the top end and perhaps more precise sounding, while the MC3000 is more relaxed and flowing, but the mid band sound so very similar. So far my listening has been preliminary and I started with solo piano and then acoustic guitar records. Perhaps when the music gets more complicated there will be other differences that arise. But in this instance the cartridges sound more similar than different.
Now the same albums through the SOTA Cosmos Eclipse/SME V and Transfiguration Proteus do have a different presentation. The sound is more textured, a bit richer harmonically, a bit more dynamic impact, and once again has that easy to listen flow. Of course the question is whether its the SME or the SOTA that makes the majority of the difference, but in a way it doesn't really matter to me the why, and I plan on keeping the SOTA and the Scheu.
But so far its been a very interesting endeavor. I am really curious to hear the MC2000 as it was considered one of the finest cartridges in the world. A bastard to use, but supposedly remarkable. So we shall see.
So I had more cartridge projects than I had arm slots. I decided to acquire another Dynavector DV505 arm. I had bit of trouble locating another arm board, but finally did that last week, and it arrived on Monday here. Finished the install and did some preliminary listening the past couple of days. Have a ZYX 4D on one arm going to an Esoteric E-03, and on the other arm the MC3000/T2000 going to a Graham Slee Accession phono stage. Eventually I can run the T2000 into the second input of the Esoteric which can be set for MM mode and make a very even comparison. But at this point all I was interested in doing was getting the second arm and cartridge up and running
What I did find interesting is that the MC3000/T200/Accession combination sounds remarkably similar to the ZYX4D/Esoteric pairing. The ZYX is a bit more detailed in the top end and perhaps more precise sounding, while the MC3000 is more relaxed and flowing, but the mid band sound so very similar. So far my listening has been preliminary and I started with solo piano and then acoustic guitar records. Perhaps when the music gets more complicated there will be other differences that arise. But in this instance the cartridges sound more similar than different.
Now the same albums through the SOTA Cosmos Eclipse/SME V and Transfiguration Proteus do have a different presentation. The sound is more textured, a bit richer harmonically, a bit more dynamic impact, and once again has that easy to listen flow. Of course the question is whether its the SME or the SOTA that makes the majority of the difference, but in a way it doesn't really matter to me the why, and I plan on keeping the SOTA and the Scheu.
But so far its been a very interesting endeavor. I am really curious to hear the MC2000 as it was considered one of the finest cartridges in the world. A bastard to use, but supposedly remarkable. So we shall see.