latestyle

The Platine in Oswalds Mill Audio slate plinth: [ATTACH=CONFIG]16605[/ATTACH] More pics here, along with the most beautiful Teres and Fairchild I've ever seen: http://www.oswaldsmillaudio.com/Products/plinths-Others.html

Haven't mounted it yet, but thinking about using it as the short arm counterpart to the Schick on the Platine. Will let you know how it fares!

The Schick tonearm looks even better now - in black finish! There's a waiting line; I've already put in an order.

Here's a sleeper of a tonearm: Audio Technica AT1010. Scored a NIB, untouched one for $300 a few months ago. Designed by Audio Technica but manufactured by Audiocraft. Very well engineered & overbuilt... kind of AT's version of SME design.

I just took receipt of the L-07D tonearm; haven't mounted it yet but it's a beast. That collet chuck mounting mechanism is really fail-proof and heavy, the wand is made of multiple layers of carbon and boron. 17 grams effective mass.

Whoa, Simon Yorke Aeroarm:

Hi, Mohan... can you give me the rationale why it needs to be loaded with 33K? I've heard of some audiophiles loading these at 100K, especially the audiogoners-gone-MM-wild, but haven't heard of anyone loading P8ES at 33K... thanks!

I have no idea why it's sitting on 3 chopping blocks, but Nordic Concept Artist sure is perrty: I have a buddy who runs the NC Artist with Breuer 8/XV1S. Loves it.

Wow, you guys are actually making me want to be in Australia rather than NYC right now. btw - for the sake of leaving a record, can you Commonwealth owners comment on which tonearms worked well on the Commonwealth, and which were dogs?

Very nice! No doubt all your TTs sound great with the Allnic electronics. And don't sell yourself short, Jasper: your Commonwealth 12D in birchply is one of the prettiest examples of Commonwealths I've ever seen.

The Kondo Ginga turntable with Kondo version of the SME arm (which probably just means an SME V with a lot of silver)... not really my cup of tea, but here it is: Read a review of it in Japan's Stereo Sound; the reviewer gushed about it but some opinions in that mag aren't too credible. And Stereo Sound can get a bit dogmatically nationalistic/jingoistic when it comes to Japanese gear. Their listening room is all Accuphase.

For MM, AKG P8ES, either the regular or SuperNova version, cannot be beat. You can find a NOS one for around $100-130, although they come up rarely. One caveat is that they have a propretary stylus assembly, so it's a good idea to buy a spare, so that when one goes kaput, you can swap in the stylus from the spare one. Of course you can have it rebuilt by people like Soundsmith, too, but it's costlier. Zu 103 Grade 2 Prime is an exceptional cartridge, very exciting. I think it retails for $600 but last Christmas, Zu had this 50% off sale and I got one for around $300.

I think at that price, it's a real shame that TT Weights did not offer the level of aesthetic finish that's warranted at the price level. That's a $60K investment that they're asking for. And I personally know $2-3K TTs that look better finished than that. Sure, performance & engineering should get top considerations, but let's not kid ourselves, a TT - perhaps more than other equipments - is an eye candy, too, and there should be a pride of ownership commensurate to the price. At $60K, you should not have to compromise in ANY criteria, aesthetics as well as sonics. It's a shame that TT Weights didn't give more weight (pun!) to the design of their TT.

Did you read Geoff Husband's review of it yet? http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/opera_lp5_e.html As you can see, it seems to be a TT that performs above its price level, which is a rarity these days. I do like the way it looks, although I don't like acrylic-y platters. A year ago, I actually wrote Geoff Husband about the TT and he bought one as his personal TT. The review itself makes it clear that there are better TTs out there in certain parameters, but definitely is a bargain. I know there are general xenophobic feelings about certain made-in-China products out there, but some of these feelings are unwarranted, I feel. Opera Consonance is an upstanding company. In fact, I believe Well Tempered Amadeus TTs are being built by Opera Consonance now; if William Firebaugh did not believe that the company was not upto snuff, he wouldn't have made such arrangements. You should try to audition the TT. I read fantastic things about their 12" tonearms, too.

Thanks for that answer, vanarn. If we suppose that rumble and other factors are well isolated somehow with the Commonwealth, how would one characterize the difference in sound between the Commonwealth and the Orpheus, tonally & dynamically speaking? (I'd certainly love to get to hear them myself rather than fish for opinions, but as I'm in the US, listening to them both is quite a task... but I'll be fortunate enough to listen to the Commonwealth soon)