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Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Origin Live Encounter Tone Arms by bkearns

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REVIEW: Origin Live Encounter Tone Arms

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Model: Encounter
Category: Tone Arms
Suggested Retail Price: UKP 970.00
Description: Static balanced tonearm with integrarated tonearm cable
Manufacturer URL: Origin Live
Model Picture: View

Review by bkearns ( A ) on October 27, 2003 at 12:44:07
IP Address: 62.254.161.61
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for the Encounter


I’ve been sitting on this for ages, and the way things have been progressing recently, I have come to the conclusion that this review will never be completed if I keep waiting until I have the right components for a fair comparison!

So, I have to qualify this review with the disclaimer that it is no good! My original intention was to set up the Origin Live Encounter tonearm on my Garrard 301 with a Denon DL-103R, and to compare this with another Garrard 301 (albeit in another plinth) with a SME 3009 series II and a second Denon DL-103R. Unfortunately, I sent my second Garrard to be serviced several months ago, and still have not heard from the guy who was going to service it; so that option seems to have disappeared for the present (and may be the subject of future acrimonious proceedings).

Another problem is that my other system components have also been upgraded over the past few months (new amp and new speakers), so I have substantially forgotten the changes which were very apparent at the time of setting up the new tonearm for the first time.

The comparison was essentially made using a Garrard 301 and the Origin Live Encounter tonearm with a Denon DL-301 mkII cartridge, and a Technics SP10 (mark I) with a SME 3009RM and a Denon DL-103R.

I originally purchased a Origin Live Silver 250 tonearm from a UK web-shop called the Emporium (www.emporium.dircon.co.uk), and set it up on the Garrard 301. I had intended to mount a second DL-103R in this tonearm, but I found that the Rega arm mount adaptor for my Garrard 301 (a device called the Armony tonearm base, which can be ordered directly from Martin Bastin in the UK) positioned the arm pivot too far back, so that correct overhang was impossible. So I swapped the cartridge to a Denon DL-301mkII, which is particularly easy to mount in any tonearm due to the presence of two sets of mounting holes (or one pair of holes and another pair of slots). With this new set-up, I was ready to try out the new tonearm; though at this point, with so many different components in the two set-ups, I was wondering what a comparison could meaningfully reveal!

I listened to a selection of records over a full weekend using the new set-up, featuring the Silver 250 tonearm, and I felt that it sounded extremely good. The music became much more transparent; stereo imaging was improved; the decay of musical notes seemed to last longer, (or became more apparent than before); resolution of low level detail was improved. The tonal balance, was brighter compared with my other set-up, so that some of my over brightly recorded records became a little unbearable, but despite this, there was no to me doubt that the turntable combination featuring the Silver 250 tonearm was sonically an improvement over my Technics SP10, with the SME 3009 RM.

Unfortunately, early on in the set-up procedure, I noticed that there seemed to be excessive friction in the bearings. Initially, I put this down to an Origin Live design quirk, (similar to the much reported looseness in the bearings). But the more I thought about it, the more I became concerned that I had a defective tonearm. So contacted Nick Beasley of the Emporium the following week, and he confirmed my suspicions. As it happened, he had an Encounter tonearm in stock, and was happy enough to send that as a replacement (with an additional payment) if I returned my tonearm directly to Origin Live. So I was in business again the following weekend with the new tonearm, which certainly was aesthetically an improvement over the Silver 250.

A couple of technical points to note about the Encounter tonearm are that it dispenses with the plastic Rega base, and the funny Rega non-cancelling anti-skating. For anti-skating, the Encounter features a threaded bias weight hanging over a wire loom. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been optimised by the tonearm designer. Firstly, the bias thread is positioned incorrectly initially, and the instructions do not make any note of how to correct this. For best skating force cancelling, the thread should be set-up so that it is perpendicular to the tonearm tube, when the stylus is on the lead in grooves. This is the set-up recommended by SME for their 3009 series tonearms. Hiyoshi, another vinyl enthusiast who sometimes contributes here, and I have confirmed that this arrangement optimises the matching of skating force with anti-skating force. Secondly, the wire loom over which the threaded bias weight hangs is lacquered, and the lacquer seems to add a significant frictional force between the wire and the loom. In the end, I discarded the Origin Live Loom, and made my own using a heavy duty paper clip, which worked much better!

Another set-up problem that I noticed with the Encounter was that the tonearm tube seemed to be sloping down towards the pivot when my cartridge was set so that its top was parallel to the record surface. Closer examination revealed a slight warp in the headshell.

Since the headshell appeared to be detacheable, I contacted Origin Live directly to request a replacement. The person to whom I spoke stated that the proprietor, Mark Baker, was away, and he would call me on return from holidays the following week. In fact there was no call, so I rang again the following weekend. The discussion was somewhat difficult, in that Mr Baker seemed to be of the opinion that a warped headshell would only affect VTA, which needs to be adjusted at the arm pivot anyway (because, according to Mr Baker, the tolerance on a typical cartridge is a few degrees either way). Azimuth alignment, he claimed, was much more critical.

But this brings up another point with the Origin Live tonearms, unlike the Rega RB series, the vertical bearings are not aligned so that the offset cantilever of the cartridge falls in the plane perpendicular to the vertical bearings: as a result, a change in the height of the arm pivot will have a significant effect on azimuth alignment. So at the very least, Mr Baker was being disingenuous, because lowering the tonearm base, to compensate for a warped headshell, would throw the "more critical" azimuth alignment off.

Anyway, after some insistence on my part, Mr Baker agreed to send a replacement headshell in exchange for my defective shell. The new headshell did cure the problem. My Garrard turntable, featuring the Encounter tonearm, a new Armony tonearm base (with a mounting hole positioned optimally for the cut-out on my turntable made by Martin Bastin), and my second Denon DL-103R, was ready the following weekend - about one month after the initial set-up!

By this time, I had already upgraded my amp and speakers, so I could no longer reliably compare the two set-ups, and having spent several weekends evaluating other components. And I was reluctant to devote any more time to listening to my HiFi, and not the music in my collection! However, I guess the initial assessment still stands: the Origin Live tonearms both offer substantial sonic improvements over the SME 3009 series II, albeit with a qualification of the validity of this comparison, and a strong caveat about the production tolerances of Origin Live, and their after sales service!!!

BK


Product Weakness: Manufacturing tolerances; customer support
Product Strengths: Very transparent; excellent stereo imaging; resolution of low level detail was improved.


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: 2 X Technics SE-A3000 power-amps.
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Technics SU-C3000 pre-amp.
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Garrard 301 turntable mounted in custom Oak plinth; Origin Live Encounter tonearm; Denon DL-103R cartridge; Denon AU-103T transformer.
Speakers: Tannoy Turnberry HE
Cables/Interconnects: -
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Mostly classical
Room Size (LxWxH): ~5m x ~4m x ~3m
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): - 1.5kV Isolation transformer
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Origin Live Encounter Tone Arms - bkearns 12:44:07 10/27/03 ( 12)