Orbit Plus TT- continued...Finally, some music!
Well, I FINALLY got to listen to some music! I listened to one LP in the morning before the family all arrived for Thanksgiving, then a little bit more after they left at night. As I write this, I've been listening for a couple of hours this morning.
First, I cued up an album that I didn't even remember, “A Winter's Solstice” on the Windham Hill label.
At first, it sounded very constricted and dull. No life at all. I hoped that it was the low-end cartridge and went about my business. It sounded a little better by the end of the first side but I thought it was just me getting used to the inferior sound. Then it happened. Somewhere around the middle of the second side, it started sounding REALLY good. By the end of side 2, after only about 40 minutes of playing time, it was so good that I couldn't concentrate on anything else. So, I played side 2 again. Sublime! I assume that this was due to the cartridge “breaking in”. Also, this was the first time I had used the phono stage in this preamp. For whatever reason, the weak link here was just starting to hit its stride.
The family was due to to start showing up any time, so I moved on the the next test- Joe Perry's “Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker”.
Why would I listen to this as a test, you might ask? Simple- it's the worst case of a warped LP that I have out of the hundreds of LPs I own. The first two tracks are the worst. My Revox, with its ultra-short tonearm, displayed visible and audible distress on these tracks. On the Orbit, nothing. No drama, no horrible distortion, it just PLAYED.
Next, I put on a rather obscure album from the band New England, “Walking Wild”.
It has some drum tracks with decent impact as well as some ethereal-sounding keyboards. Other than that, I also have it on digital so that I could compare the two. Really, not bad. Obviously, digital has the quieter background but, overall, the two were quite comparable. So far, so good
Next, I moved on to the Doobie Brothers “The Captain and Me” album of which I have on a Nautilus Recordings pressing.
This isn't the greatest recording in spite of the superior label but I really like the music. It was just as I remembered it when I used to play it on the Revox- a fairly black background with acceptable sonics (compared to the Warner Bros. Release).
Lastly, I cued up Michael Hedges “Breakfast in the Fields” also on the Windham Hill label.
By now I was having a problem with cleaning after the demise of my Nitty Gritty. I just could not get the dust and dirt off the records. The near “black” background was lost as I was trying to ignore the snap, crackle and pop. By the end of side 1, this listening session was over. Even still, the close-miked guitar had real bite and realism. The cartridge is still getting better. As an entry-level TT, this won't hold anyone's system back. I would like to see how far it can go before it does.
The Orbit TT was used with this associated equipment in my family room:
Audiosource Pre One preamp with MM/MC phono input
AudioSource Amp One power amp
Paradigm Micro speakers
Klipsch subwoofer
This isn't my main system but I thought that it would be closer to a system that most people would use this TT with. I'll try it at some point with my better gear. First, I need to address the RCM problem. Stay tuned...
Well, I FINALLY got to listen to some music! I listened to one LP in the morning before the family all arrived for Thanksgiving, then a little bit more after they left at night. As I write this, I've been listening for a couple of hours this morning.
First, I cued up an album that I didn't even remember, “A Winter's Solstice” on the Windham Hill label.
At first, it sounded very constricted and dull. No life at all. I hoped that it was the low-end cartridge and went about my business. It sounded a little better by the end of the first side but I thought it was just me getting used to the inferior sound. Then it happened. Somewhere around the middle of the second side, it started sounding REALLY good. By the end of side 2, after only about 40 minutes of playing time, it was so good that I couldn't concentrate on anything else. So, I played side 2 again. Sublime! I assume that this was due to the cartridge “breaking in”. Also, this was the first time I had used the phono stage in this preamp. For whatever reason, the weak link here was just starting to hit its stride.
The family was due to to start showing up any time, so I moved on the the next test- Joe Perry's “Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker”.
Why would I listen to this as a test, you might ask? Simple- it's the worst case of a warped LP that I have out of the hundreds of LPs I own. The first two tracks are the worst. My Revox, with its ultra-short tonearm, displayed visible and audible distress on these tracks. On the Orbit, nothing. No drama, no horrible distortion, it just PLAYED.
Next, I put on a rather obscure album from the band New England, “Walking Wild”.
It has some drum tracks with decent impact as well as some ethereal-sounding keyboards. Other than that, I also have it on digital so that I could compare the two. Really, not bad. Obviously, digital has the quieter background but, overall, the two were quite comparable. So far, so good
Next, I moved on to the Doobie Brothers “The Captain and Me” album of which I have on a Nautilus Recordings pressing.
This isn't the greatest recording in spite of the superior label but I really like the music. It was just as I remembered it when I used to play it on the Revox- a fairly black background with acceptable sonics (compared to the Warner Bros. Release).
Lastly, I cued up Michael Hedges “Breakfast in the Fields” also on the Windham Hill label.
By now I was having a problem with cleaning after the demise of my Nitty Gritty. I just could not get the dust and dirt off the records. The near “black” background was lost as I was trying to ignore the snap, crackle and pop. By the end of side 1, this listening session was over. Even still, the close-miked guitar had real bite and realism. The cartridge is still getting better. As an entry-level TT, this won't hold anyone's system back. I would like to see how far it can go before it does.
The Orbit TT was used with this associated equipment in my family room:
Audiosource Pre One preamp with MM/MC phono input
AudioSource Amp One power amp
Paradigm Micro speakers
Klipsch subwoofer
This isn't my main system but I thought that it would be closer to a system that most people would use this TT with. I'll try it at some point with my better gear. First, I need to address the RCM problem. Stay tuned...