After neglecting my turntable set up for several years in favour of my streaming set up, I upgraded my Tom Evans Mastergroove 2 to the latest 4. In the interim, while it was being upgraded, Audio T serviced my Well Tempered turntable.
I plugged in the Mastergrooove 4 on Thursday and unsurprisingly it sounded slightly wrong. Yesterday it was better but still way off the streaming set up benchmark, which the Mastergroove 2 was generally equal to.
This morning is another story, much more open and probably beating the Streaming sound. Getting a great real live music sound.
I have a Mastergroove 2 so interested to hear your observations on the improvement. Can I ask how much the upgrade cost, and what cartridge you are using?
Hi. I use it with clear audio insider reference cartridge.
Which I like very much. I think the upgrade costs depends on several factors of age etc so I don’t think I can reveal the deal we struck but as you probably know Tom is always very fair.
It’s more into 000s than 00s. But you can expect that on a high value hifi item that becomes latest spec and essentially becomes a new product.
Basically it’s sounding excellent. Same type of sound, very organic and natural, just more of the same. I detect the tiny detail is being captured more.
Only 3 days in and sounding slightly better than before. I presume, from previous experience, plenty more to come.
All my conclusions are by comparison to my streaming set up which I consider the best I have heard and remarkably similar sound.
I once had a rather nasty incident with a Clearaudio Insider. It had been lent to us for evaluation and I had it in my hand ready to mount to an Aro when it just fell apart into two pieces. Eek! Double 'eek!" when I discovered what it cost…
Ok, thanks, that’s helpful. I have owned the MG for over 10 years, and bought it when I had a different turntable and cartridge (Brinkmann TT/Lyra Etna) to my current LP12/Linn Kendo, which I have had for a year or so. When I bought the LP12 I heard the combo through a Rega Aura, which has a warmer sound than the Mastergroove - although the MG beats it for detail and clarity. I have been contemplating switching the Mastergroove for the Rega, but maybe I would be better off updating the Mastergroove to mk4.
It was a Brinkmann Lagrange. My reasons for changing were partly practical (I moved house, I needed a new cartridge, there wasn’t a dealer nearby who sold/supported Brinkmann products, there was Linn dealer nearby etc). Having said that, I do I prefer the LP12 sound, as it is more engaging than the Brinkmann (which could be a little clinical sounding).
Midnight Rambler, just curious, what work was done in the service of your Well Tempered Turntable, I have the original version and love it, but curious about servicing.
Basically it was the silicon in the arm damping had gone off a bit after 20 years, it had gone a bit thicker and “stiff”. The arm damping etc had wandered because of this and needed a complete overhaul. Got it back about 6 weeks ago and it sounded excellent again, totally revitalised, which prompted the Mastergroove upgrade. Yes, I still think its an incredible turntable and not really heard anything superior and I have had and tried many over the years. I went from a LP12 to this 20 years ago and now the price of the top Linn prohibits me ever thinking of going back.
