Completed The Scheu Turntable Set Up

[Neonknight]

Middle of last year I acquired a Scheu Das Laufwerk No2 from an Audiogon seller in Poland. Put a Dynavector DV505 arm on it. Eventually decided to sell my Well Tempered Reference because I did not have enough room on top of my audio cabinet and things were neater with just two tables. Later in the year I made some interesting vintage cartridge acquisitions. First an Ortofon MC3000 that had a new diamond installed. Later in the year I was fortunate enough to find an Ortofon MC2000 that had all the packing, graphs, and even the Ortofon lapel pin it originally sold with. I later was able to acquire the matching T2000 transformer from the same seller. The cartridge is now at Expert Stylus getting a new diamond installed.

So I had more cartridge projects than I had arm slots. I decided to acquire another Dynavector DV505 arm. I had bit of trouble locating another arm board, but finally did that last week, and it arrived on Monday here. Finished the install and did some preliminary listening the past couple of days. Have a ZYX 4D on one arm going to an Esoteric E-03, and on the other arm the MC3000/T2000 going to a Graham Slee Accession phono stage. Eventually I can run the T2000 into the second input of the Esoteric which can be set for MM mode and make a very even comparison. But at this point all I was interested in doing was getting the second arm and cartridge up and running

What I did find interesting is that the MC3000/T200/Accession combination sounds remarkably similar to the ZYX4D/Esoteric pairing. The ZYX is a bit more detailed in the top end and perhaps more precise sounding, while the MC3000 is more relaxed and flowing, but the mid band sound so very similar. So far my listening has been preliminary and I started with solo piano and then acoustic guitar records. Perhaps when the music gets more complicated there will be other differences that arise. But in this instance the cartridges sound more similar than different.

Now the same albums through the SOTA Cosmos Eclipse/SME V and Transfiguration Proteus do have a different presentation. The sound is more textured, a bit richer harmonically, a bit more dynamic impact, and once again has that easy to listen flow. Of course the question is whether its the SME or the SOTA that makes the majority of the difference, but in a way it doesn't really matter to me the why, and I plan on keeping the SOTA and the Scheu.

But so far its been a very interesting endeavor. I am really curious to hear the MC2000 as it was considered one of the finest cartridges in the world. A bastard to use, but supposedly remarkable. So we shall see.

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[antonio66]

Good to have you back, in fact I was only thinking about you the other day, sorry NK, only in an audio sense Well this Scheu must be some tt, selling your beloved Well Tempered, but I can understand why one had to go, and of course freeing up funds to help for new cartridges and arms. I'm pleased you're enjoying your new purchases and it is rather nice you have two slightly different presentations between the tt's. Do let us know how you find the MC2000 when it is returned and run in.

Should have added, the founder of NVA and this forum was non too keen on step up devices, always preferring a moving coil phonostage.

[Neonknight]

Good to have you back, in fact I was only thinking about you the other day, sorry NK, only in an audio sense Well this Scheu must be some tt, selling your beloved Well Tempered, but I can understand why one had to go, and of course freeing up funds to help for new cartridges and arms. I'm pleased you're enjoying your new purchases and it is rather nice you have two slightly different presentations between the tt's. Do let us know how you find the MC2000 when it is returned and run in.

Should have added, the founder of NVA and this forum was non too keen on step up devices, always preferring a moving coil phonostage.

I have to say my preference is for a phono stage capable of supporting LOMC cartridges, usually solid state devices also. But these vintage Ortofon moving coil cartridges are just have too low an output level to make that possible. The MC3000 is .10 mV, the MC200 is .09 mV, and the MC2000 is one of the lowest output cartridges ever at .05 mV. So a phono stage like my Esoteric E-03 cannot do the job. Heck even most SUT cannot support the MC2000, you really need its purpose built transformer the T2000. Which I feel very fortunate to have acquired at a reasonable price, they are on Ebay and going for silly money by collectors these days. Truth is I have to balance owning the MC2000 with all its accessories and the T2000 versus its possible value to a collector. It might be a cats meow to own, or it might be equaled by a modern cartridge that doesn't need all the particulars and such careful set up. Won't know till I get it here and installed, so its going to be a great experience!

[Geoff.R.G]

Good to have you back, in fact I was only thinking about you the other day, sorry NK, only in an audio sense Well this Scheu must be some tt, selling your beloved Well Tempered, but I can understand why one had to go, and of course freeing up funds to help for new cartridges and arms. I'm pleased you're enjoying your new purchases and it is rather nice you have two slightly different presentations between the tt's. Do let us know how you find the MC2000 when it is returned and run in.

Should have added, the founder of NVA and this forum was non too keen on step up devices, always preferring a moving coil phonostage.

I have to say my preference is for a phono stage capable of supporting LOMC cartridges, usually solid state devices also. But these vintage Ortofon moving coil cartridges are just have too low an output level to make that possible. The MC3000 is .10 mV, the MC200 is .09 mV, and the MC2000 is one of the lowest output cartridges ever at .05 mV. So a phono stage like my Esoteric E-03 cannot do the job. Heck even most SUT cannot support the MC2000, you really need its purpose built transformer the T2000. Which I feel very fortunate to have acquired at a reasonable price, they are on eBay and going for silly money by collectors these days. Truth is I have to balance owning the MC2000 with all its accessories and the T2000 versus its possible value to a collector. It might be a cats meow to own, or it might be equalled by a modern cartridge that doesn't need all the particulars and such careful set up. Won't know till I get it here and installed, so its going to be a great experience!

You are talking radio aerial levels, 0.10mV is 100μV and 0.05mV is 50μV however a solid state gain stage with that kind of sensitivity should be possible.

[dazed_and_confused]

@NeonKnight

Congratulations on the wonderful vinyl playback devices you have. I'd a friend some years ago with the Cosmos vacuum and an SME arm, it sounded fantastic. I've also had a keen interest in the DV505 but haven't been able to score a MKII, so I'm still waiting.
Not that it matters but are you in the US?