HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

As it says, a thread for general musings, things, and stuff.
Anything really, what you had for dinner if it's remotely interesting....

I'll start with a copy and paste off the analogue to this thread on audio talk

Had an odd couple of problems on tuesday with the system. Suddenly a load of hum, loads of odd buzzing regardless of input selected, and a seemingly knackered dynavector dv20a2.

I was most purterbed. I'd pulled the preamp out to test a build I'd just finished, and after this tested fine put the usual one back in. Thought id listen to some stuff on the lenco rather than the jvc and hit all the issues. Including a dead channel on the dv.

Thought it was the little switch box for the decks so I took that out first. No change. Could it be the arm cable? Pulled that out and stuck a meter on it, not that. Touching the cart body or even the stylus gave a nasty loud hum so I pulled the arm wand out (it's supposed to come out BTW) and checked continuity from the internal sprung pins to the plugs, and the earth. All fine. Checked the arm wand wiring and that was fine too. Took the cart off and put the sl15 in instead and we were back to 2 channels........ So I was now even more perturbed.

I still had a load of hum on all inputs to go with this, so I pulled the lot apart and redid all the cables, swapping the various bits of old shite out for some I made from bandridge mic cable. These are all shielded cables instead of whatever was in before. I really need a new cable loom...

Upshot was much reduced hum, but it was still there.
Come to use it this morning and it's silent again. I also checked the cart for coil continuity and that is fine with the coils measured dcr less than 1r different. Which is nice. Stuck it in a headshell and put it in the jvc and it works fine.........

So what was going on on Tuesday, I have no idea tbh.
A ghost in the machine.... And a lot of pulled out hair

I did find that the sl15 is something really rather special though, I knew this, but it's the first time I've used one in an arm with remotely the right effective mass to match one. The first one I had in a rega which was too heavy, and very briefly in a mayware formula 4.
It's a High compliance spu, and is a little gem. I was goi g to save it for use in a 3009 on a lenco I've got planned, but it can stay where it is for now

I too have days when there is more hum drives me mad- I just sit further and turn volume up

Why when u search for information on google do u have to wade through pages of people trying to sell u stuff- it’s no longer an easy online search tool- agree/ not

Latteman wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2019 12:27 pm Why when u search for information on google do u have to wade through pages of people trying to sell u stuff- it’s no longer an easy online search tool- agree/ not

You can avoid a lot of that by using more complex search terms. Don't be afraid to use as many words (within reason, obviously. Don't write an essay. ) as you can think of to describe what you're searching for. It's the difference (for instance) between searching for "Ford Kuga" and "Ford Kuga 5 door ST-Line Edition."

having a poke around in a cole lcr phono stage today that i was asked to have a look at to see why the mc section wont work and the mm section does. I think we found out why.....

IMG_20191205_115759 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

that clear stuff is the potting compound, in this case beeswax that s&b used in these mc step ups. There has been enough heat inside the case to boil it up and out of the mu metal cans. a fairly spectacular fail. you can see on the left hand one where the yellowy deposit is, that the pressure in the can has actually broken the solder joint between the can and the top
I had to ring s&b to ask what it was as i was expecting the black stuff you usually see.
oh dear..... they asked me to send them over to see if they can rebuild them, that will probably be a rather large bill.

Its very lucky that the lcr transformers are still working as they show the same problem, but haven't failed.

IMG_20191205_115841 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

so as it stands, its a lovely moving magnet only stage. it hasn't been used since we tried it alongside some others at mi dads about 9 months ago, its been sat here waiting for some bench time since then

Oh and i got another tt almost done, this one will use a verus idler motor stood at about 8 o'clock relative to the platter and an origin live conqueror 12" arm with a dynavector dv20 x2L cart

IMG_20191205_174536 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

Like the tt Ant

Paul will have a laugh at this, but I found a denon moving coil that I like!
Got an original dl301 for not much money, it's lovely. 1982 vintage, almost the same age as me.
I have another 301 here that has knackered suspension, but that one gave a hint of greatness even in its sorry state, which is why I shouldn't browse ebay when bored, it always costs me money.....

None of the drawbacks of the 103. Has a line contact stylus on it that denon produced for cd4 use rather than a lump of coal, high compliance rather than low, tapered cantilever rather than a scaffolding pole, a top end, a bottom end, tracks like its on rails. No end of side distortion at all that I can pick up.
Not hating on the 103, I just like what I like

The defenition in the bass is absolutely phenomenal, and this is compared to the Hana sl which is no slouch in any area.
It's not as 'correct' as the Hana, not quite neutral a little towards the warm side in a nice way. The Hana is probably a better cart. The 301 has some soul.
It's also very tuneful if that makes sense, it still has the denon DNA that makes so many people like the 103 for. The polar opposite of the 103 in spec, it still has those qualities.
It sounds fast and dynamic, the teeny tiny stylus (its absolutely miniscule, the Hana shibata looks twice the size in comparison) and extremely small tip mass probably helps
And this is on the jvc robot arm in a fairly light 9g headshell
I was going to put it on the AT1100 but I don't want to mess with the AT1100/dynavector dv20a2 combo which is so good.
It's odd, because I've heard a 301 ii, and i found it was abit weedy, abit sharp, and abit bass light. Didn't like it, but it was on a td160 with the tp16 arm on. It is probably a finicky bugger to get set up right, and probably wasn't set up right, but it didn't sound much like the original one.
Dead chuffed with it

Can someone do me a huge favor and leave a link to make a 'new thread topic' thanks

Noodledoodle wrote: ↑Mon Apr 25, 2022 11:35 pm Can someone do me a huge favor and leave a link to make a 'new thread topic' thanks

On the Home page, go down to the index of subforums and click on a category like, for example, 'General Audio'.

Then you will see a 'New Topic' button.

Have fun!

antonio66 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:25 pm Like the tt Ant

+1