User review thread

[applemarc]

AS I mentioned in my last post I had a Koetsu Red Signature I really like this cartridge but was swayed by a newer highly rated cartridge the was free (Straight swop for my Koetsu)and when fitted it sounded different but not better and over several month I came to understand that I actually preferred the Koetsu so started saving for a new Koetsu. I had just started working for myself so money was tight I sold the Lyra and had a LFD battery powered Phono amp for sale it was a highly sort after box at the time but was a pain to use as the battery would run out and then no music.
A well know dealer in Worthing had some Koetsu’s for sale he had bought these as liquidated stock so I traded in my LFD Phono and £1000 for a Koetsu I was told I could have the pick they where all the same value. There was one onix three Jades and several Urushi. I was given a microscope to look at them and again told I could have any one. I wanted a Onix or a Jade when I went though all I found one that had a see though cantilever so that’s what I took needless to say this is one with the diamond cantilever so a bit of a bargain and I am very happy with this.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

A usual brill gromit novel, all we need now is some of your fab photos as the system develops and a thread / blog talking about it.

[Gromit]

A usual brill gromit novel, all we need now is some of your fab photos as the system develops and a thread / blog talking about it.

Thanks.

Actually a blog may be a better move as you well know my rig's usually making me want to dance (not pretty I admit) or making me want to go on Prozac. Sadly, we're somewhat in the latter stage at the moment and having had a good few hours doing some listening today I'm becoming convinced it's the amp/speaker interface which is causing the problem and not the turntable - reason was that I did some late night listening via my Grado 'phones yesterday and it was sounding pretty good - not brilliant, but the concrete footings to the music were firming up nicely.

The ProAcs were/are wonderful little things but they clearly need an amp with a lot more warmth (with muscle too) than the Sony provides which is essentially neutral, certainly from what I'm hearing. This is probably why the old Exposures worked so well into them - big,ballsy, musically full-blooded amps to grab hold of the buggers and make them sing. They were superb at our old gaff in Uxbridge where I couldn't really listen at decent volume but now, where I can play music as loud as I like, they're just not happy. Still, another day of learning.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Well I obviously have spoken so I know why the system went down hill, but house and lifestyle has gone up hill. This year you should have the dosh for the system to go uphill again, so this year will be fun to get the lowdown and the pics as you have a real skill at conveying how hi-fi works musically, which is my argument against the mainstream and blog reviewers, with them I know I am reading bullshit and nonsense, with you I know I am reading about music and *how the system helps it*

[jammy395]

Looking at the posters on this thread, and the amount of gear we have used, between us / exchanged over the years, is quite bloody scarey.....
And if its like myself - the gear is only the more memorable stuff (probably same amount of kit yet again that we have forgotten about)......
Once the hifi bug bites as mentioned before it can be a killer.......Think wallet.........
But i am in remission just now, 37 years of splashin the cash in search of musical bliss...........I have pretty much nailed it.
And the secret of my sucsess / gettin out of the loop.......
KEEP IT SIMPLE.....
Forget the bull - if it sounds good then it is good.....................

[zebbo]

I think I'm finally just about where I want to be with perhaps the exception of speakers. I'm very happy with the Scenarios but they are still a compromise due to being in the lounge, some full-range panels would be nice some day.

[applemarc]

That's what I thought until I meet Richard and heard the TSS

[Lindsayt]

...When I bought my EMT 930 and shoe-horned a Denon DL103 into it I expected it to sound better than my LP12 Cirkus Lingo 2 / Ittok LVIII / Troika and worse in others. After all the EMT only had an £90 cartridge in it whilst the LP12 had one that would have been £1000 ish new.

Well the EMT had better bass, making the LP12 sound wooly. Better clarity. The LP12 presented instruments as a lozenge shaped cloud, whereas the EMT was able to put some space between each individual instrument. Tonally the Denon sounded like the upper midrange and treble were sucked out compared to the Troika. Also the LP12 had that pleasant small bell like hypnotic sweetness to the upper midrange which was flattering on some recordings, but in general I prefered the crisper presentation of the EMT.

When I replaced the Denon with the more tonally even (and much more expensive) EMT TSD15 SPH cartridge I could find no area where the LP12 sounded better and plenty of areas where it sounded worse.

So I discovered that the LP12 never had been "the best turntable in the world". It had been beaten by one that was first made in 1956!


Initially I used my EMT 930 with my EAR 834p phono amp. This was after reading the opinion of one pfm member that the 834p would out-perform the inbuilt EMT 155st phono amp of the 930. When I did a small bake-off of my EMT930 against an EMT 948. I prefered the 948 - which has its' own inbuilt phono amp. This prompted me to connect up my 155st which I strongly prefered to the EAR. The EAR had woolly bass and indistinct treble. Midrange was equally good but different on each. Big lesson there. Don't trust the opinions of hi-fi forum posters. Especially ones that are expressing opinions on the basis of what they've read or been told, and not on what they've actually heard for themselves in their own systems. Even then, you can't always trust their opinions as I was shown when I took my EMT-Denon to a bake-off against an LP12 Cirkus Radikal / Ittok / Troika, an SP10 / SME 12" / AN Io Ltd, Nottingham Dais, sick Pioneer PL71, Thorens TD 150. I thought that the EMT was best in that bake-off for bass clarity, bass punch and midrange and bass dynamics. It just motored and bounced along in a way that no other tt there could match. Try getting some of the other attendees of that bake-off to admit that! Ha! Psychology and forum politics!


When I saw an EMT 950 for sale on German ebay in reconditioned "Top Zustand" condition with a low hours EMT TSD 15 SFL I bid for it, not expecting to get it and ended up winning it for £2250. Fantastic! So that year we went on a camping holiday to Italy via Austria to pick it up. It's owner was a professional violinist who had a passion for mono recordings. His main reason for selling is that he wanted a TT that could take 2 arms for the convenience of playing stereo and mono. He had bought the most expensive TW Acustic turntable with highly expensive arms and cartridges. He had the hugely expensive Wilson Dalek shaped speakers in his main system, with £multi thousand North American solid state amps. I wondered if Quad Electrostatics would have been better for his musical tastes? It was interesting to hear his thoughts on the EMT compared to the TW, which he said sounded similar but with the TW having a slightly wider soundstage. This is in marked contrast to the UK TW dealer who claimed on pfm that the top TW turntable was "streets ahead" of the EMT 950. When I asked this dealer if he had ever directly compared the 2 tt's he ignored my question. Ha! Forum marketing!

When I got the 950 home I found that it sounded similar to the 930 - as you might expect from 2 well engineered TT's with the same arm and the same cartridge. I had a slight preference for the bass of the 930 and a slight preference for the better midrange clarity of the 950, combined with the absolute locked-on feeling of pitch accuracy and stability on records with centre-punched holes with the 950. I also found that I could make the 950 sound better by swapping the EMT SFL cartridge for the SPH one at the expense of worse tracking. Better as in a bit more magical, more alive. Like a more extreme roller coaster, but one that was struggling to stay on the tracks at times.


The EMT quenched my thirst for hi-fi equipment that was vintage, looked undomesticated, was professional, international, and most of all: under the radar for the UK hi-fi press and general buying public. This lead to me trying out items from Bozak, Ashly, Coincident, Lightspeed, Promitheus, Pioneer, EV, Urei, Denon, Studer...

[jammy395]

Why do you like a great big ugly TT like a EMT950...........Sound Quality aside.............
If i took that home to meet the missus i would end up sleepin in the garage beside it.................

[zebbo]

I keep telling my missus that she's lucky with my kit - but she doesn't believe me!