Planar Speaker Asylum Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Planar Speaker Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

RE: Tweeter difference problem with 3.3Rs and more

Posted by Davy (A) on September 15, 2010 at 06:48:18

In Reply to: RE: Tweeter difference problem with 3.3Rs and more posted by Satie on September 14, 2010 at 15:12:09:

Hi Satie,
Thanks for all the advice once again. As for the record cleaning I agree with you that leaving the stock Disco Antistat solution to air dry seems a bad idea, - you can even see the residue forming in places on the LP as white patches as the LP dries. So perhaps I should just try to wipe of the solution immediately after cleaning with a microfibre cloth? Do you think that would be a good idea to do alone or should I also do the distilled water rinsing step too?, and if so should I dry with microfibre again or let the LP air dry?

From all I’ve read the Rega Apollo is a very good CD player for reasonable money. And I’ve also read that whilst its very good everyone says the Rega Saturn) is amazing, and even well worth the extra money over the Apollo. (The Saturn is the replacement for the Jupiter, - it came out at the same time as the Apollo in 2006.)
I can see the prices of these in the USA are much higher than here. Like I say a used price of the Apollo is about £300 here (or even cheaper if you are lucky, - new price is £475) which I guess is quite a bit cheaper than in the USA. I will see if they are Multi voltage, - if so and you ever want to get one for cheaper then USA used price I’d be happy to look for one for you, - the cheapest/best place would be on UK hifi forum classifieds, posting a wanted ad. I am not sure if it puts out a corrected SPDIF signal, - its has digital out of course. Perhaps I should email or ring Rega and ask, - was do I ask exactly? Just is it send out a corrected SPDIF signal?, - and is there any other way to describe it.?
Here are a few reviews of the Apollo in case you didn’t see already.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue29/rega_apollo.htm
http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/606rega/
http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/article/mps/uan/678
http://www.audiotrends.com.au/pdf/Rega/Reviews/Rega_Apollo_CD_player-Stereo_Times.pdf

and Saturn
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue35/rega_saturn.htm
Like I say the Saturn is only £898 new here. And I’ve sometimes seen them used for about £550-600.
Here is a comparison of Apollo vs Saturn
http://www.planetofsoundonline.com/articles/apollovssaturn.html

I’ve ordered yet another Technics headshell (this time a new one that was going cheap/spare) as the other one I bought is now taken with a Ortofon MC15 Super II I just bought for cheap. I need the extra headshell to try the 304 on the Technics.
I had a MC15 Super II before for several years - it’s a surprisingly great cheap MC cartridge. Superb tracking ability, - better than both Troika and 304. It only skips up on the “torture test” 18dB 300Hz tone track on the Hi-Fi news test LP. Its sails through the next quietest 16dB test, and of course 14dB and 12dB are perfect too. The Troika can’t even make the 14dB track cleanly!, - buts its weird like I say it does not perform on test records but will track an LP with real music very well.

The MC15 super II is a litter similar in tone to the Troika but not quite as refined. Though it’s a reasonably small difference. Its also different in tone to the 304 (but I have yet to properly compare all of these cartridges on the Technics, - the 304 is still on the LP12 right now until I get my third (!) headshell for easy comparisons on the technics). BUT the really strong point about the MC15 (and I remember this from before) is it has great dynamics, - superior in my opinion to both the Troika and 304. It sounds really super on this Technics deck. I had one before on the LP12/Ittok I sold (the LP12 I described as being more dynamic). I am starting to think it was possibly the cartridge I was using at the time that was more dynamic and there is not so much differences in the LP12s I’ve had since!. This cartridge is discontinued sadly but they are often available used. This one has done about 30 hours and only cost me £50. It’s a peach. I’ll send you this too to try out along with the other 2. Will be very interested to hear what you think.
The Troika still sounds great on the Technics, - is still pretty dynamic (not quite a much as the Ortofon like I say) but it has slightly better tone and refinement. However I’d probably be happy to use either the Troika or MC15 II on the Technics permanently. No idea how the 304 will sound on the Technics yet and you are right it’s a bit silly speculating until I find out for sure how it compares to these other two carts on this deck.
So SORRY again for the further delay in sending the stuff, - just want to try out the 304 on the Technics first and compare to these two other carts. I must send you this Ortofon too , - its great in my opinion for such a cheap cartridge. My only complaint is that for some reason, it’s a lot more prone to static than the other two cartridges, - you can hear just before the stylus goes on the LP and just after you lift there is load of static there, - not sure why this is and the other two carts don’t do this. And I seem to remember my old MC15 being the same. Perhaps it’s the body material which attracts static or something?, - this cheaper MC15 is made out of plastic Noryl whereas the other two carts have aluminium bodies. It differs from the 304 and Troika in that is uses 2.2g tracking weight (so quite a bit heavier). It has Ortofon’s standard FL (fine line) stylus, (which though not the highest spec) is a great stylus in my opinion. Internal impedance is 7 ohms. And it has higher output than the other two carts, - its about 0.4mV, - about the same as the OC9. And believe me despite it being cheap it also sounds miles better than the OC9…… as its not clinical, harsh, crude and nasty sounding!!

I would love to try the higher end Ortofons like the Kontrpunkts, Rohmann, Cadenza etc. But it’s the price issue of course that we talked about! I’ve heard that the cheap Ortofons are still very good. It’s a shame the MC15II is discontinued, - as far as I can see its replacement, - the Ortofon Salsa, has exactly the same specs, - same body, same stylus, same electrical specs. Maybe its upgraded somehow though I am not sure, but its like 2.5 times the price the MC15 II was!. The Salsa is very well regarded too from what I have read on the internet, (though I can’t find a direct comparison of the two carts), - so its at the very least as good as the MC15II and perhaps slightly better. I might look for a used one to try as well.

One piece of news though, - I put the Audio Innovations T2 on Ebay on the off chance it might sell and it has!, - so pretty happy about that. After using the Head for a bit I would say the Head is more flexible from the loading point of view for the sort of MCs I am using right now and will be in the future. I mean it’s highly unlikely I will even buy a pricey Audionote IO with 0.05mV output which the T2 would really come in handy with.
Back for the Quad 99 preamp, - I think mine might be 240V only anyway, - am going to double check with Quad in case its switcable . Its is 240V only there is no point in me sending you it unless you have a 110-240V mains step up transformer to use with it.. If that’s the case I will look for a 110V compatible P/S for the 640P and defo send you that instead of the Quad to try.
Its MC input on the 640P works great with all these three cartridges. S/N is fine, - just a bit short on the gain front as its only got 55dB gain on the MC input. But I guess you can do your special and crank up the gain at the preamp to fix that issue!

Thanks for the info on the Benz cartridges, - not sure about he wood body idea if it induces colouration!. But yeah I’ve heard too that the latest Glider with the boron cantilever and new tip really is to end for pretty cheap. So it is a cart I would perhaps consider if I could get a new one for £400.

Many thanks for the info on the Japanese turntable and the link, - gonna do some serious research and see which are the heavyweights to look out for.

Thanks for the info on the Miloxane too, - it seems very hard to get hold of. Is Magnpean the only place I can get it? I might have missed the shipping deadline (due to the freezing thing). If so I might have to put a request up on the forum to buy some if anyone has any spare! The area I have cleaned with Acetone at both ends is not that big but like you say it makes sense to put the Miloxane on and I need to do it now before stapling the speaker up, - not point in stapling up now then having to get inside to do it later.

All the best,
Colin

Edits: 09/15/10

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Parts Connexion

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---