Got my new analog rig - help setting VTA?

[spectral]

Update on the speed stability of the Aries 3/SDS

Using a multimeter, I measured the speed stability of the 'table as follows: first played a 1kHz tone with the CD player to measure the meter's error... it rendered it as 1002 Hz, so the error is +2Hz. Then I played the 3150Hz test tone on the Analogue Productions Test LP and measured frequencies in the 3148-3156Hz range; factoring in the meter's error, this translates to a 3146-3154Hz range, or 3150Hz +- 4Hz, or 0.254% error, which I assume is very good, but not exceptional.

 

[twich54]

keep in mind it takes 15-20 hrs (min) for the bearing assembly to fully break-in / stabilize. Some folks even claim as much as thirty ! (sorry Bernard no 500 hr time barrier here !!).

I myself found the speed stability much improved after a months time.

 

[Bernard]

(sorry Bernard no 500 hr time barrier here !!).

Heh Heh ! Dave, I see you respond even before I take a stab at you !

 

[spectral]

MintLP Best Tractor

I received this yesterday and have been studying the whole approach, in preparation for fine cartridge alignment adjustments this weekend. Has anyone had experience with this tractor and/or others like the Feickert?

 

[spectral]

Hum permanently and predictably solved - approach may surprise

I have permanently and predictably solved the hum issue, and the solution was, as indicated on a call with Ayre a while ago, to run a separate wire from the phono's ground lug to the wall! Although they admitted this should not be necessary, other users have found it beneficial. With a multimeter I tested the AC receptacle's ground prong on the phono preamp for proper connection to the ground lug and the power cable's ground wire end to end, and it all checks out fine - with DC current, that is!

So considering that I was able to remove the hum twice before by randomly rearranging cables - by probably crossing something correctly, I don't think it's the phono preamp, therefore, this indicates the power cord itself is in fact preventing proper grounding when AC current flows through it, and apparently the hot and neutral wires are building up a strong enough magnetic field as to increase the impedance of the ground wire enough for it to have no effect. This was also confirmed with using a cheater plug, which resulted in the _same_ amount of hum... I also tested with all kinds of different stock power cords that I have.

The amount of hum drop was measured at -12dB, which is significant - and there is no more audible hum even at max volume.

So this confirms - for the first time for me - that power cords CAN be detrimental to sound beyond wrt RFI & EMI, and the million dollar question is, are there cords that actually solve this specific problem? There is a positive side to all this, in that I now have a measurable way of testing power cords. I suspect the Basis cord (http://www.basisaudio.com/docs/cbl_hyp_TP.pdf) will, based on their unique claims on hum, and perhaps the braiding in the Shunyata, Kimber and others might as well. In the end, I suspect proper geometry in a power cable will be the right solution to this problem rather than exotic and expensive materials.

 

[tonepub]

What it sounds like you have is a problem with the grounding in your home's electrical system....

I'd take a peek at how well your breaker box is grounded to the Earth. I've seen this in a number of systems. Regrouding the box with a few fresh copper ground rods might be all you need. I've seen this cure more than one set of system gremlins.

What's good enough to pass code isn't necessarily the ticket for a premium sound system.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

I received this yesterday and have been studying the whole approach, in preparation for fine cartridge alignment adjustments this weekend. Has anyone had experience with this tractor and/or others like the Feickert?

While I no longer have the mint protractor since I sold my Scoutmaster, they are only made to work for one model hince I could not use it for my WT Amadeus, it was excellent and very precise. Spend as much time as possible getting it as exact as possible because you will be rewarded with your extra effort. I wish I had spent more time on mine before selling it just so I could have had more insight to offer, but the instructions that are provided are pretty thorough and concise. Just be sure to have plenty of light and you are in a good mood. It can take some time and even get frustrating, but once you are locked in with this little gem it really does make a huge difference over the standard supplied jig. At least in my case. If you don't have a magnifying glass or loupe, Radio shack sold one that had multiple lenses that was fairly compact that I found useful. Also, don't forget to check your VTF after you get everything lined up according to the arc, I found myself thinking I was done only to realize the VTF was too far off and needed to be adjusted. Which of course threw off the other previous adjustments just by a hair. It's a very delicate balance which is well worth it in the end if you can be patient and persistent. Good luck and enjoy!!!

Glen

 

[spectral]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and advise so far.

Peter

 

[spectral]

Cartridge alignment with the MintLP Best Tractor

It took me over an hour and half to perform the Mint LP alignment, but in the end I got it very close to perfect - a whole 1mm difference between it and the VPI jig's center dot, and perfectly squarely set as seen from above against the VPI jig grid, tracking the entire arc *extremely* close, and extremely minute differences can only be seen with the 10X loupe, while the stylus is DEAD ON the cross hairs of both null points - I don't know how I did it, but it took a LOT of patience. In the end, my eyes had trouble focusing fast enough - signs of getting tired.

If you attempt this, make sure it's early in the morning when everyone else is asleep, DO NOT have any coffee, there is plenty of ambient light and have a very strong flashlight in hand.

I can't say I have noticed a difference in sound, and I didn't care to listen carefully before setting off. But the sound is just overall stunning, so that's good enough.

 

[gregadd]

Better than good enough

"...But the sound is just overall stunning, so that's good enough..." Spectral

Not many can say that. Time to run through you record collection again.:music:

Invite the friends over. Have a Party. Go record shopping.

 

[spectral]

Hum - tried other power cords... this is getting funny

"...But the sound is just overall stunning, so that's good enough..." Spectral

Not many can say that. Time to run through you record collection again.:music:

Invite the friends over. Have a Party. Go record shopping.

:ROFL: Now that it looks like everything is set up I decided to try some commercial power cables, so get this: I used the Shunyata Viper CX in the phono section and the hum was BACK in spades... I then replaced it with my Siltech and it's gone... ummm, this must be some sort of ground loop I thought, so I plugged everything directly to the wall bypassing the MIT ZStrip and the hum was gone, *sans* the extra grounding wire, and with any power cord I tried! OK, now everything makes sense... In the end, I ended up plugging everything into the Z Strip save for the preamp. So the Ayre/Spectral/ZStrip combo creates some sort of ground loop...

In the end, this combination offered the lowest hum reduction, down -24dB, so this is all good, and the preamp is so dead quiet that I don't care that it's no longer plugged into the ZStrip. This is now the time to start listening to all these LPs from the '80s and new ones I have acquired recently, over a nice bottle of Chateau Margaux.

BTW, the Viper is not a bad cord, but I am consistently getting better readings with my custom Home Depot cords and the one basic Siltech that I have, so I am on the prowl for more Siltechs, although the local dealer is unloading all remaining stock and a quick google did not turn up any other US dealer... Is Siltech getting out of the US market because the rising euro? If you know of Siltech dealers in your area please let me know.

Peter

 

[spectral]

RE: Cartridge alignment with the MintLP Best Tractor

I can't say I have noticed a difference in sound, and I didn't care to listen carefully before setting off. But the sound is just overall stunning, so that's good enough.

After careful listening to the Brubeck Take 5 track that I have been using as a reference point since I got the analog rig, I have noticed that the solo drums sound quite a bit more realistic since the tweak, with a bit more weight (and roughly the same tracking force before and after, and exactly same VTA) and presence, which led me to try to understand how the MintLP computes the tracking curve and null points, and this led me to the following very interesting analyis: http://www.vinylengine.com/vpi-tonearm-geometry.shtml

Although they don't discuss the details of the MintLP, they do discuss the VPI jig (with which the cartridge was aligned before using the MintLP) - and considering that the Best Tractor is using the Baerwald algorithm, which targets fairly even distortion across the board - the following are of interest:

The Löfgren and VPI alignments produce lower distortion in the middle of the LP at the expense of higher distortion at the inner and outer grooves.

Since the Take 5 track is in fact an inner groove track (in fact, innermost) I can now see why I noticed this improvement with this track...

I think the entire article is excellent reading for VPI arm owners.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Thanks Spectral for keeping us informed with your new setup. I know you have to be enjoying what you hear and I'm glad the mint lp protractor worked out.

Glen

 

[spectral]

Thanks Spectral for keeping us informed with your new setup. I know you have to be enjoying what you hear and I'm glad the mint lp protractor worked out.
Glen

I will post a complete review of the "new" system towards the end of June under a separate thread. For now, let it be known that the Berkeley alpha DAC arrived this past Friday, and the analog rig had me also change all power cables to Siltech SPX-20, which are shielded, and lowered the floor of the phono hum to the abyss - yes, changing every component's power cord also affected the Ayre P-5xe, and my FM also became dead quiet as well. I don't know what I would do without a tape recorder in the system (or even a tape deck) to be able to measure noise!

At this point, with the volume at 12 o'clock the Ayre is emitting just a tiny bit of hiss with no signal in, barely noticeable, which is phenomenal. And the blacker background has elevated the rig's performance to yet another level.

I am currently breaking in the DAC, although it does come pre-conditioned from Berkeley for a week. It is considerably leaner in the bass than the Spectral SDR-2000 Pro, although as it turns out, the latter was just overly heavy in that region - for example, I no longer use the -3dB switch on the Odyssey. It feels like the overall balance of the alpha is much closer to neutral than the Spectral ever was. And of course the sound is just spectacular on excellent recordings (HDCD, Dorian, Chesky, etc). Moreover, I just finished re-tuning the system with the sub's volume control (using the DAC as the source), and as it turns out I had to increase volume by a whole three notches (about 3dB), which flattened the bass response even more - you will see the new measurements in my system's page when I update it; the result was truly phenomenal in the sub-80 Hz region, with only a slight bump of +4dB at 50Hz (without the sub, that bump is +12dB!). One may well conclude the alpha DAC is really lean in the deep bass, but I think it's the Spectral that was overly heavy; if the alpha is lean then so is the Spectral 4000 Pro.

The 2000 sounded somewhat muffled, thick, with a very diffuse soundstage, whereas the alpha (and 4000 Pro) is much cleaner overall, with more detail in the midrange and highs, a tighter bass and very sharp focus - yes, I can clearly and easily tell that even with panel speakers! - overall, a clear winner. On the other hand, the Spectral was designed well before the original Pentium processor ever existed. Speaking of technology, the alpha DAC and the new Spectral SDR-4000 Pro that so impressed RH share the exact same "Long" Filter implemented on a SHARC processor - see Spectral's web site for more details.

I suggest you guys take a listen to the alpha - you just may be stunned; Berkeley also removed that annoying transformer buzz that RH complained about. So, ~$17K later, I have a whole new set of source components, and it's time to take a rest and listen! The next step, probably next year, will be a computer based music server to feed hi-rez to the alpha DAC (BTW, the alpha comes with a sample HRx disc from Reference Recordings).

Cheers,

Peter

 

[tonepub]

You might even try just feeding some hi res from your laptop to see how you like it. That's a pretty painless way to get started.

There's a lot of interesting stuff out there....

 

[spectral]

You might even try just feeding some hi res from your laptop to see how you like it. That's a pretty painless way to get started.

There's a lot of interesting stuff out there....

You need that Lynx card (http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=13) to be able to do that - doesn't fit in a laptop from what I can tell.

 

[Brian Walsh]

VTA is important, but don't overlook azimuth, which I think is at least as important if not more so. Making the headshell level when viewed from the front isn't enough. I've measured clients' cartridges/arms as much as about 3 degrees out of whack - in other words, minimum phase error and crosstalk were with the cartridge rotated that much from horizontal. If it's a quarter of a degree off the difference can be subtle yet readily audible, but a degree or more more is stunning. The difference is akin to a substantial cartridge upgrade. It might look goofy, but wow!