My hifi is a disaster 1 problem at a time .

[jammy395]

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Trouble with string vests is they start with holes so how do you know if they are worn out :?

[jammy395]

WHEN DOES A VEST BECOME A STRING VEST........HOW OLD AND WORN DOES IT HAVE TO BE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Daniel Quinn]

Beige is the colour of dried wee , that's why old men wear it :D All of you throw the beige out immediately. Additonally , real men only wear underwear with Suits .

Now ive sorted out your sartorial well being , back to the disaster that is my hifi .

Well I managed to fit the Ortofon and it was a lot better than I expected ,so once again cheers Doc .I wasn't expecting to be able to compare it to the Benz. The last time I broke my benz I had an AT95E and this was such a long way from the Benz , I couldn't be arsed listening to it and gave it to my mate for his cheap cheerful direct drive . :D To employ an analogy il ducky will understand , it was like dating an ugly women the day after you'd had sex with a supermodel .

But such was the sound from speakers I was compelled to listen . No definitive opinions as of yet ,except to say I am even more convinced relying on memory of a product to review another product is fraught with danger and difficulty . I have listened to the Benz daily for two years but not for 30 days or so . And to compound the conundrum , my opinions changed from record to record .

I think it doesn't do voices as good , it loses some realism and intonation and emotion . I also think it doesn't have the rhythm or sparkle of the Benz . It sounds a bit like the musicians have been swapped for less competent stand ins .

Some records were enjoyable , Springsteen I'm on fire , only difference was possibly a touch of realism to bruce's voice .

On more complex songs Fleetwood Mac , Dreams , it was not enjoyable , lovely female vocals but the drums and rhytham were not as I remember .

On mellanchamps laugh and a tear , it was punchy and powerful and enjoyable .

Got 4 hours to play with it this evening so I will experiment with vta and weight .

But the cartridge must be 20+ years old and was hidden in a Garrard 301 which itself was hidden in a unused piece of furniture , so all in all , very satisfying indeed . So much so that I am doing my best to ensure the other half and her uncultured ears do not hear it, otherwise the compromise we made on the pram may well be out of the window . A pram that costs more than Benz whats the bleedin world coming to . :D

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It was a Garrard 401 and it was a Shure V15II in that. I didn't even bother listening to that cart, they are crap, so sold for £60 on ebay. I have owned that cart I sent you for 5 years, it cost me about £30 on ebay, as a back up if my other two MCs bit the dust or if I wanted something less valuable to use. My main MCs are Ortofon SPU Gold and Denon 103.

[Daniel Quinn]

Oh , that's even kinder then , ta very much .

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I only used it a couple of times, it sounded pretty good for the money to my ears.

There are some interesting bargains on ebay, for MMs look out for Pickerings, much better than Shures to my ears. Grados can be good but seem very variable. Some of them hum a lot.

[Daniel Quinn]

Its not bad , not bad at all . Its not as real or as enjoyable as the benz and its v low output means higher hiss , it doesnt bring a smile to my face like the benz did ,but its given me the urge to try a few more .Though at the moment in time have got this theory on line contact diamonds and boron cantilevers I am keem to explore , got my eye on a zyx moving coil , which i note zebbo uses .the one ive got my eye on is not a grand as zebbo's though . :D

Jammy , when ive finished with the loan, with the docs permission , I will send it to you for a listen to see if its better than that goldring :D

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Jammy is set for MM I think.

[Daniel Quinn]

I should have known , anybody who needs cubes to the exact MM , is obviously addicated to MM . :D