Tom Evans of phono stage fame had a Rock with Excalibur and introduced me to them, I remember his had a stain on the platter after a while, I assumed it was due to a mishap, mine never suffered like that. There was an Allen bolt where the trough pivoted and I always had a PTFE washer and Thackery washer that made a good seal between them. Bearing oil is a different matter as I was always over filling the well and trying to mop up the subsequent overspill with tissue stretched under the sub latter.
As to the cartridges, I ran Dynavector 17Ds when I had the Rega but after a couple of decades and with the Aro in the mix I got curious as to what a fancier cartridge would bring to the game. The Proteus was getting very favourable reviews and the £2900 price in the UK compared well to what the Yanks seemed happy to pay for them so I took a punt. My impression was of a more grown up version of the 17D with greater authority and detail but a similar character. I was happy with it for five years and moved from the Rock to an Artemis SA-1 that came with a Schröder Reference to my specifications during that time. Eventually it started exhibiting increased sibilance so rather than revert to the 17D and miss the Proteus I looked for something with a completely different character, which the SPU Royal N seemed to offer. My Schröder could achieve an effective mass of 18g by swapping the Certal cartridge mounting plate for a brass one, just enough I thought for the Royal N, though Frank Schröder thought I might need to use both. The Royal N on the Schröder was a revelation for piano music and very satisfying for classical music in general. There was a bit of a learning curve getting the combination to play rock music with the tightness of a couple of screws proving important in making it boogie, I got it to play Sabbath well but Metallica was a bit too steady. The PTP solved that with the pace of its idler drive without losing the magic with classical music.
The Decca was another curiosity purchase, I’d read paeans of praise and a fair few horror stories. I wanted to try a dedicated mono cartridge and adapting a Decca to mono just seemed like making the best of it. Mounted on the Aro it would play some discs really well but jump out of the groove of others, the trough cured it of that but over-tamed it slightly.
I’ve run a few permutations over the last few years and the current combinations seem the most synergistic. So far the Korf has the Decca behaving itself impeccably and making a good case for a dedicated mono cartridge despite the company its keeping.
Interesting to hear about your experiences with the Rock - thank you for that. I can’t imagine that there are many people running a Decca right now. I’ve never heard one, but like you have read it being both praised for its sweet sound and cursed for its (at times) errant tracking.
Tom Evans seems an interesting character - I have one of his early pre-amplifiers, the Finestra, made for EC Audio. I bought it as a temporary measure whilst my other pre-amp was receiving attention, but I liked it sufficiently to keep it, even though I have moved on to a NAC 332. I only have the one turntable, though!
I’ve not been in contact with Tom since before the turn of the millenium. I still have the iso but I haven’t used it since I bought a superline. The ps caps have probably gone by now and I hesitate to plug its transformer in.
My Golgring MI 2400 was 5 years old so started to look for a replacement. Budget was limited though the Rega ND7 appealed, but many reviews praised Audio Technia carts for performance per pound in the afordable mm market. I didn’t like the fiddly attachment (screw and nut) of their vm700 range but the recently updated vm700x series corrected this, and offered a Boron cantilever for a very atractive price! I threw cautuon to wind and ordered a vm745xML with virtually no reviews available. My verdict? WOW, it’s seriously good! I can’t stop pulling out albums to hear the improved presentation, and I was happy with the Goldring. It’s fast, airy with good bass and excellant detail retrieval. Heartily recommended at the more affordable end of the spectrum!!
Hi
Very interested in this must be a new item I have the 760SLC with TriG B modified body and didn’t know about the boron cantilever option.
I am awaiting confirmation or otherwise if the stylus is a compatible upgrade or not.:smt02
Sorry for the long delay in replying. Still, it has given the Hana a bit of time to settle in. It’s quite hard to make a sensible comparison, I feel, as I’m not convinced that I can rely on a dependable audio ‘memory’. Also, I had considerable upgrades in my LP12 at the same time as changing the cartridge. Peter Swain fitted a Karousel bearing and swapped out a pre-owned Linn Radikal 1 and these two changes completely transformed the presentation. I originally considered the EL model, but he persuaded me that the ML represented the sweet spot in the range. It’s certainly very detailed, dynamic and exciting in my system and I’m enjoying it greatly. From memory, I don’t think it has the absolute weight and sense of ease that the Koetsu possessed, but as I suggested, memory is possibly unreliable. I still love the look of the Rosewood though. That’s one area that definitely wins over the Hana.
Audio Technica has updated its 700 series carts (and I think the 500 and 600 series too?). The cart bodies now have threaded inserts for the attachment screws, and I believe some updating of the internals. The range has 3 styli - microline ML, shibata SH and special line contact SLC. The vm740xML retains the previous aluminium cantilever but the vm745xML, vm750xSH and top of the range vm760xSLC all now have the new boron cantilever. Interestingly the prices have dropped a little compared to the older models! The AT website describes the changes better! Hope that’s helpfull! Your cart with special TrigB body with 3 point attatchment looks really interesting but must be specific for tonearm and table to get proper cartridge alignment? Also it was more than I wanted to spend at the moment!!
Should be a nice little upgrade for existing AT MM owners that! I wonder how the new cantilever changes the measured specs of them? The specs are not on the AT website yet, but £599 down to £519 (£489 down to £449 for the 60SLC stylus replacement) for the 760SLC model is a nice reduction!
Thanks for taking your rime to answer. I have always been tempted by the near mystical aura of Koetsu cartridges. Never heard one but what I can read about them sounds appealing. Too bad they have stopped production.
The 3-point TrigB has the same centre-to-centre dimensions as the Linn cartridges, but the styli on the Audiotechnica cartridges are 2.5 mm further forward than the styli on the Linn Krystal, Akiva, Kandid and Exstatik cartridges (styli point 10 mm from the 2 fixing axes on Audiotechnica; 7.5 mm from the 2 front screwing axes on the Linn cartridges). With the TrigB 3-point attachment, the tip of the Audiotechnica stylus protrudes 2.5mm beyond the Linn overhang. This has no significant effect on playback, but it is worth pointing out.
@alto
Thanks.
I’ve read this somewhere before but when I set my deck up it all worked out perfect using the linn overhang set up protractor.
Sounds great and now looking forward to the newly released Boron cantilever Stylus assembly.
I am awaiting confirmation or otherwise if the stylus is a compatible upgrade or not.
Lovely all the same. All the Koetsus are. I was bowled over a Black in 1981 and since then, apart from buying/using a Dyna XVS1 when the Koetsus were being refurbished, it’s been Koetsus all the way. I still have the Blacks (the old one, then the one they issued later called the Black K with a gold trim at the bottom) and a Rosewood Plat Signature. The Blacks need redoing, the Rosewood is unplayed since refurbishing.
Thank you! The Urushi Wajima was one of three Hi Fi items in my dream system back in the late eighties. All three had a strong visual appeal on top of their sound.
Among the Koetsus I still regard the Black and Wajima Urushis and the Coralstone as the best looking ones.
If you like a Koetsu for what it does best, I don’t think there any other cartridge that will do just that equally well. Having said that, I think the same thing is true for several other brands, too. If you like your Lavardin for what it is, then there is no other choice. If you like only certain aspects, then there are others. I hope this makes sense to you.
