THANK YOU, JBLNUT!

baco99

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I want to give a huge shout-out to @jblnut for coming over last night to give me a personalized clinic on how to set up my turntable, and also for getting my VPI/Souther linear tracking rig up and running, and sounding AMAZING! THANK YOU THANK YOU! I'm thrilled.

This table came from a friend of mine's 92 yr old mom. The mom is an audiophile and was forced to downsize her three high-end systems down to one when she moved into a care facility. (She still listens to music daily). This one-owner table had lived its entire life in the same spot in the same house for 34 years until I bought it 2 years ago. It was originally equipped with a Madrigal cart that needs to be retipped. As soon as I messed with the table, I threw off all the settings. Thanks to Craig, the geometry is now perfect again.

The table is a VPI HW-19, with a Souther SLA-3 linear tracking arm (made in Canton, MA!), Ortofon 2M Bronze cart, and @audiodon (RIP) custom Canare shielded interconnect cables.

We have it connected to a Pioneer A-717 integrated amp, which is an absolute beast of an amp with amazing clarity and an internal phono stage that pairs amazingly well with this setup.

Speakers are, well....you guessed it... www.holthill.com Cionnsaile Monitors

Currently playing a compilation 180g record by Sidiki Diabaté, a Malian traditional kora player whose family is famous for being 700-year, multi-generational experts in the kora, an African 24-string harp.

BEAMING! on this cloudy day in New England.

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The best thing about AK is networking and making friends local to you if you put yourself out there. Good for you two to get together, pass knowledge and enjoy the time and hobby together.

I don't know what table you had before but this setup put's you in another world. There are many factory upgrades and the table evolved over the years. I really think though that the arm and table out classes the cartridge, so if you want it to get better that's what I'd do first.

Anyway I can see why your all giddy about getting this table together, it's a dream to step into the world of high end vinyl playback.
 
It was a lot of fun for me to help Brian get this spectacular rig running again. From my reading it looked to be a challenge to dial in but it really wasn't too bad once we got into it. We talked about cartridges and yes, there is always a better one up the ladder. But it sounds so nice and effortless as it is that I wouldn't make that an urgent priority.

Vinyl can be very hard to get 'right', and this rig is there. As a longtime PX2 owner I go way back with linears and I never thought a totally passive mechanical (non air bearing) setup could be this good. Kinda smokes the old PX actually...

jblnut
 
@4-2-7 and @jblnut - You guys are right. We compared the album with the CD and the LP is certainly "not 100% there" in some respects, but in other respects the listening experience was more positive than the CD. The smoothness of the midrange especially. I had wanted a platform to build from and this VPI/Souther combo is exactly that. And the fact that everything is mechanical means no fancy computers, servos, or hydraulics to worry about. This is a lifetime turntable for me. Psyched!
 
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I had wanted a platform to build from and this VPI/Souther combo is exactly that.
Yeah that's why I was being a little birdie in your ear, you have a lot you can do or not that will all be your choice. As it stands now many dream to be there, some when there dream what could be?:)
This is a lifetime turntable for me. Psyched!
No doubt.

Steve might like to see this setup. @Pio1980
 
Yeah that's why I was being a little birdie in your ear, you have a lot you can do or not that will all be your choice. As it stands now many dream to be there, some when there dream what could be?:)

No doubt.

Steve might like to see this setup. @Pio1980
Thnx!
This is/was mine, mod'ed on a Denon DP-55K, out of service in storage.
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Yeah that's why I was being a little birdie in your ear, you have a lot you can do or not that will all be your choice. As it stands now many dream to be there, some when there dream what could be?:)

No doubt.

Steve might like to see this setup. @Pio1980
John Fuselier put me on to this at Fat Julian's Audio in Atlanta, I think they had the SLA/VPI combo in play which was too rich for me at the time. I already had a Maggy Unitrack arm on the Denon (replacing a KD-550/ IBW Graphite) and Julian put me in touch with Lou Souther for follow-up. I used this combo for a couple decades, doing some mods, until I fell down the turntable rabbit hole and started fooling with other set-ups. It's as good as it ever was but my hands aren't, so I'm using other less delicate LTs, some automated.
 
What’s the little plastic disc for, I have two of those? And were you ever able to get the magnetic cart lifter to work? Mine doesn’t magnetize to anything. The cart stays down at the end of a side
The "Clever Clamp" disc? I used it for a record clamp, and a rest for the arm gantry when the turntable was idle. It rests on a floating mass resonance damper I devised, with Lou's blessing, to effectively deal with a booming LF resonance in the gantry assembly.
The end-of-play lift only works with steel mounting hardware, interacts poorly with some cartridges, and is otherwise so erratic that I gave up using it. Otherwise, the only real fault with my SLA-3 was slightly short cartridge leads restricting end-of-play movement of the arm to runout.
 
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I'm a 100% digital kinda guy and know little about TT's... but, holy geez wow that TT is absolutely gorgeous!! Good luck with it.

P.s., I'm also kind of partial to your speakers pictured above. :)
 
Nice! But frankly the most impressive thing about the OP was the 92 year old Audiophile mom! How cool is that.

She's rockin' out at the assisted living place with her one remaining system.

Her daughter, whom I got the table from, has a pretty nice set of Quad ESL63s in the living room at her house.
 
I'm a 100% digital kinda guy and know little about TT's... but, holy geez wow that TT is absolutely gorgeous!! Good luck with it.

P.s., I'm also kind of partial to your speakers pictured above. :)


Thank you!

and PS - Send me a PM. ;)

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Beautiful table Brian , good things happen to good people . You have been a very big help to me and I am sure many others as Craig has helping u dial in the tt . Still kicking myself for not grabbing Craig's Jbl 250 ti . Hope G is enjoying them .
 
I want to give a huge shout-out to @jblnut for coming over last night to give me a personalized clinic on how to set up my turntable, and also for getting my VPI/Souther linear tracking rig up and running, and sounding AMAZING! THANK YOU THANK YOU! I'm thrilled.

This table came from a friend of mine's 92 yr old mom. The mom is an audiophile and was forced to downsize her three high-end systems down to one when she moved into a care facility. (She still listens to music daily). This one-owner table had lived its entire life in the same spot in the same house for 34 years until I bought it 2 years ago. It was originally equipped with a Madrigal cart that needs to be retipped. As soon as I messed with the table, I threw off all the settings. Thanks to Craig, the geometry is now perfect again.

The table is a VPI HW-19, with a Souther SLA-3 linear tracking arm (made in Canton, MA!), Ortofon 2M Bronze cart, and @audiodon (RIP) custom Canare shielded interconnect cables.

We have it connected to a Pioneer A-717 integrated amp, which is an absolute beast of an amp with amazing clarity and an internal phono stage that pairs amazingly well with this setup.

Speakers are, well....you guessed it... www.holthill.com Cionnsaile Monitors

Currently playing a compilation 180g record by Sidiki Diabaté, a Malian traditional kora player whose family is famous for being 700-year, multi-generational experts in the kora, an African 24-string harp.

BEAMING! on this cloudy day in New England.

46561885862_5b032a993c_b.jpg


45889631714_8a43c05fed_b.jpg


45889631654_81e7eeb67f_b.jpg

Wow! Great story and awesome table.
 
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