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  »  New  Tell me about more about Ortofone SPU Sound...  Earthy matters...  Analog Playback Forum     54  529121  12-01-2004
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11-04-2008 Post mapped to one branch of Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 51
Post ID: 8724
Reply to: 8450
The strange things with Otophone Jubilee, the new Jubilee.
fiogf49gjkf0d

I was playing with Jubilee and kind of turn to like. It is might not be the best needle that fulfill all aspects of my sick imagination but it is very-very good cartridge that I have not too much compliance. In fact there is a certain growth on what   Jubilee does and I kind of fell that I got under Jubilee spell. It is very nicely balanced, it is very “agreeable” and it is spectacularly colorful – colorful but in very smart way, not like SPU. 

Do you think that it is it? Well, not really                .

A few weeks back, right after posting the following post:

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=8427

. ..I contacted Otophone distributor and asked about the “Compliance Noise”.  He did not strike me as a person who has a great deal experience with playback. I said that he never heard about the effect but he was very nicely stating behind his product and he proposed to send him the cartridge back for replacement as “he did not like what I report and it shell not be this way”. Well, I found it very commendable. I send my Jubilee back and he sent me another one. The New Jubilee turn out to have the absolutely same “Compliance Noise”, I presume that the sustention material that Otophone use is contaminated with run-away magnetic domens. Well, at least no one gave me a better explanation and I, following follow the Occam's razor principle, will blame the “contaminated Otophone materials as the guilty party. Sure I will not be able to make Otophone to acknowledge and it is not my objectives since the practical effect from the “Compliance Noise” is minuscule.

So, what I am talking about? Well, I am talking about the very surprising fact that the second Otophone Jubilee that I got as a replacement torn out to be better than the first one sonically.  I was very much surprised as I presumed that the needle of this lever and coming not from a basement-bases sweat shop but from a big manufacture shell be more of less stable in quietly. It turned out to be not. The new Jubilee has much (much!) less surface noise and might read wider variety of records with less noise – something that disappointed and surprised me with my first Jubilee. Also, the new Jubilee has much better bass – a bug and very welcoming discovery. I was playing with VTA and VTF thinking that it might be some minute change in setting. The less noise and more bass then before looks like feels at ANY setting. Also I do feel that the new Jubilee even more dynamic then the one before.

I was looking at all of it and figure: I might continue to harass the Otophone people with their “Compliance Noise” but I am most certainly not willing to let my last Jubilee out of my home.  So, considering the cons and pros I decided to closed the book on my Otophone discovery and leave everything as is. The new Jubilee behaves juts wonderfully, purely like dream. I hope sometimes Otophone have another not-deaf and paying attention customer who would help to Otophone to find the sources of the “Compliance Noise”. Well, bitching about Otophone I sell not forget to mention my recent discovery: at my 3 reference arms (Stereo arm, Mono arm and Romantic Stereo arm) nowadays sit 3 Otophone cartridges…. Thanks, Otophone.

3Otophones.jpg

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
11-07-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 52
Post ID: 8757
Reply to: 8724
The New Ortofone Jubilee’s jubilee
fiogf49gjkf0d

This new “Rev B” Ortofone Jubilee surprised me with it amassing agreeability

I have a nasty habit to emphasize in my listening attention the things that I do not appreciate.  I might listen something, would it be amp, or speaker, or live event, or whoever and to discover a thing that I do not like. Other people acknowledge it and move in their listing attention. My stupid mine works in ugly way: if I discover it once then I begin to hyper-sensitively recognize the very same problem each next time I listed the same thing. Sure, like anyone else I do mental compromises and agree to embraces the various aspects of “non-perfection” but in my listening practice the understood sonic bugs bother me look like much more then they bother other people with whom I shared those thoughts.

I know well all “issues” of my entire playback and the “issues” of my individual components. The stranger to me is that the longer I am experiencing my new Ortofone Jubilee (as I call it jokingly “Rev B”) the more I surprised that this cartridge does not piss me off. The Jubilee is so “roundly good” and so well balanced that if give a sense of complete immunity to criticism, at list my criticism. It does not strike me as out of ordinary performer in any assessable dimension but at the same time it does not give any room for criticism ether. It is very infrequently seen behavior in audio when the bitching about NOTHING might be applied. At I have seen it only twice (and both time with analog!!!) – first time with SME 3012 tonearm and the second time with Expressive Technology ET2 transformer. The Jubilee looks like strike me in the very same league – I, being me, would like to complain about something but the actual performance does not give me the justifications to do so. Ok, not I ma, thanks god, pissed!

The caT


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
11-07-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
drdna
San Francisco, California
Posts 526
Joined on 10-29-2005

Post #: 53
Post ID: 8761
Reply to: 8757
Additive errors and listening
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Romy the Cat wrote:
I have a nasty habit to emphasize in my listening attention the things that I do not appreciate
I am actually very surprised to hear you say this. I have stated before my thoughts on a preference in listening for additive or subtractive errors, based on how different people's brains process the information.

Actually a very interesting article recently described the capacity for information processed through the optic nerve as quite low, much less than a megabyte. This ought to result in a very grainy image, but our brains process the information into a seamless vision of reality. Similar processing occurs for sound with the cochlear nerves, so much of what and why we hear depends on how we are wired.


However, everything I had read thus far on the website suggested that Romy and the others here may listen with a preference for ignoring defects in sound and listening for the preservation of the Sound in audio (i.e., a preference for additive error in audio rather than subtractive error.)


Do others also tune there stereos to preserve the Sound (as I do), largely ignoring any additive errors and distortions that crop up?


Adrian
11-07-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #: 54
Post ID: 8762
Reply to: 8761
The Razor's Edge
fiogf49gjkf0d
What a great question, Adrian.

To answer within the context of the thread, I think I try to "split the difference", beginning with as "neutral" a cartridge as I could find,at least as compared to The Grail, Master Tape.  And I still cling to the notion that as much of the rest of my system as possible should also be "neutral", opting for speakers that are as neutral as possible without sounding constipated, and without requiring amps I hate.  I like very much the way horns "jump" right along in good time, but I cannot take their colorations.  I love the way some planars do imaging and micro-dynamics, but I can't stand the way they lag when the going gets tough.  I don't know how this fits with your idea of "additive or subtractive" aural genotypes.

Things began to shift - big time - with the ML2s in the system.  Everyone should own a pair for a while.  Although they are "uncolored" tonaly, they are extremely colorful, and they are certainly not "neutral", as in "non-present", although you might be hard-pressed to "characterize" them in the context of Music.  And this year I consciously "added" sonic "qualities" via IC for the first time.  Before that, I only thought about "neutral, good; colored, bad".  I still think that way, but I suppose I no longer really act that way...

It might help if you told more about your idea of "The Sound" you want and what you figure you "sacrifice" to get it.

Best regards,
Paul S
11-08-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Lbjefferies7
Southern California
Posts 49
Joined on 01-11-2008

Post #: 55
Post ID: 8764
Reply to: 8757
Ortofone Jubilee-"In te ravviso il sogno ch'io vorrei sempre sognar!"
fiogf49gjkf0d

Would it be possible for you to post some samples? 

With kindest regards,

LBJ...With a little help from Giacomo Puccini


I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer. Leonard Bernstein
11-08-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 56
Post ID: 8768
Reply to: 8761
What to do with Pea on audio
fiogf49gjkf0d


 drdna wrote:
I am actually very surprised to hear you say this. I have stated before my thoughts on a preference in listening for additive or subtractive errors, based on how different people's brains process the information.

Adrian, I well understand that there are the sounds and there is Sound. I reported what it is and I do not see anything surprising or conflicting in what I said. It might be an interesting and separated subject itself – our adhesiveness to negative thing we recognize in our listing practice. Anyhow, I am not proposing myself in a role of Hans Christian Andersen’s  story about the The Princess and the Pea but I feel that there are Removable Peas, or at least the Peas with which it is possible to deal with in audio….

Rgs, the Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
11-08-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 57
Post ID: 8769
Reply to: 8764
The Mike Framer syndrome?
fiogf49gjkf0d

 Lbjefferies7 wrote:
Would it be possible for you to post some samples?

With kindest regards,

LBJ...With a little help from Giacomo Puccini

What so you mean” to post samples”?  Do you mean to post WAV files that might be indicative to the sound of Ortofone Jubilee. This is a complicated subject. Farmer when he went into his Australian TT craze spread CDs that according to him demonstrated “good sound from the new TT”. I always felt that the idea was completely idiotic and demonstrated absolutely nothing. Well, the bigger question would be: is it possible to have a methodology that would show off the difference between the cartridges and make this different portable into some kind digital, easily portable format? I partially answered this question by posting the image my interpretation of the Albert Memorial’s bas-relief above. How about a CD with a few optimumly- performing cartridges playing the same record under identically-dependant conditions? Perhaps it would be useful but here is the catch – I do not need it. If I was a dealer who care many needles and I need to convince somebody what to buy then I would do it and invest some time and efforts into a development of some kind of “Remote Cartridges Assessment”. I y case I need no one to convince beside myself, so my scope is very limited.  If you are considering buying Otophone Jubilee then I might record some files with Jubilee and SPU playing the same material but the question that I would ask somebody if it was done for me: how do I know that each cartridge in the recording is identically optimumly- performing? So, it is not so simple to convince others if you respect the mater of the subject and the essence of idea.

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
11-09-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Lbjefferies7
Southern California
Posts 49
Joined on 01-11-2008

Post #: 58
Post ID: 8778
Reply to: 8769
Jubilee questions and perhaps answers
fiogf49gjkf0d

Romy wrote (in blue)
Do you mean to post WAV files that might be indicative to the sound of Ortofone Jubilee.
Yes.

Farmer when he went into his Australian TT craze spread CDs that according to him demonstrated “good sound from the new TT”.
Well, if an accredited professional audio reviewer does it, Wink  No, just kidding.  Using a digital sample like he did is just foolishness.  It is Mike afterall, what can we expect?

...posting the image my interpretation of the Albert Memorial’s bas-relief above.
Yes!  I thought that was an excelent visualization, but I was interested in more specific aspects of the Jubilee's color.  You said above...

...it is very “agreeable” and it is spectacularly colorful – colorful but in very smart way
"Colorful in a very smart way" is something I have been thinking about and has risen many questions.  The way my system handles dynamics is quite important to me and I am fairly satisfyed with it's "smartness" in this aspect.  I can imagine ways many ways that color can be used smartly and I thought that a WAV may prove to be educational.  Of course, it may not as well. 

If you are considering buying Otophone Jubilee then I might record some files with Jubilee and SPU playing the same material but the question that I would ask somebody if it was done for me: how do I know that each cartridge in the recording is identically optimumly- performing?
No, I am not buying one and I am not interested in comparison tests.  With Warren Buffett being one of Obama's new cronies, I am focusing all funds on Berkshire-Hathaway stock.  I got some Halliburton stock when the Iraq war started in 2003...It did just fine.  My interests in the Jubilee have nothing to do with equipment, but rather with Sound.  Color is something my system is lacking (though the blacks, greys, and whites keep me fairly amazed, especially in "spacious" recordings) so I would like to educate myself.  Any advice you would offer would be cheerfully appreciated.  If you don't think samples would help or would just be a pain in the ass, don't worry about it.

I would like to ask a question.  Does the Jubilee add a specific color signature, or does it change appropriately with the music it plays?  What does it do when you play Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto?
Cheers,
LBJ




I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer. Leonard Bernstein
11-09-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 59
Post ID: 8795
Reply to: 8778
There is coloration and there is potency to make colors
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Lbjefferies7 wrote:
I would like to ask a question. Does the Jubilee add a specific color signature, or does it change appropriately with the music it plays?
To make it brief. I do not think that it is warranted to talk about “Jubilee’s specific color signature”. When I commented about the Jubilee’s colorfulness I did not mean the color signature but rather the amplitude of color pallet that the cartage has in it’s disposal and it’s willingness to use them. It is not necessary related to possible cartridge “color signature” (BTW, I did not detect so far any color signature in Jubilee). My comments about Jubilee’s colorfulness are in a way similar to my notion of Absolute Tone ™ in compression drivers. If you search the site with Absolute Tone keywords then you will find a lot about it in context of loudspeakers. 


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
11-17-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 60
Post ID: 8887
Reply to: 8450
The Jubilee’s bass is rehabilitated
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Romy the Cat wrote:
This is very interring subject for me to think about. I even mounted 901 on another arm of mine as I would like to explore this topic more. Even though Jubilee is not broken-in yet but it is clearly that it has “less bass”, that last sensational “space crash” is not there. However, the Jubilee has “softer” bass and I mean the word “softer” in very positive connotation. It is not even “softness” but rather some kind of very fluent connectivity between space and LF notes where bass does not conflict with space but rather an organic part of the space. I have to agree that it is very natural and very present and it is quite different from what accustomed to recognize as “good bass”. I still would like to have juts beyond of that Jubilee’s non-contradictory bass the ability of the cartridge to open the door to the “other side of sub-word”, to the world of the sub-harmonics, that enable the whole system to play orgasmaticly slow and pleasurably bright. The Jubilee kind of not doing there but it on other side offers an interesting alternative of “different view on the bass”. I need to love with this for a while and to think about it. It very much might work…
Well, at this point I feel that I have absolutely no issues Jubilee’s bass. As cartridge is aged a little the bass got some “mass” and “essence”. I has very tiny bit of some Romanticism, very minor but at the time it does not substitute Romanism for performance and this romanticism ornaments bass instead of coloring it. The Jubilee’s bass is more moistured then Shelter’s bass and more “southern-like”. As the cartridge is playing now in context of the whole Jubilee experience I absolutely do not miss the Shelter’s bass anymore.

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
12-07-2008 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 61
Post ID: 9102
Reply to: 8724
The Ortofone Jubilee Recommendation.
fiogf49gjkf0d

I got last week two emails and one this morning, from people who read this thread and ask me basically the same question: Romy, do you recommend the Ortofone Jubilee? The people who did it before and received from me no replies or the replies with suggestion to go screw themselves know how it works. People have no concept how much I do not care what you people consider to purchase or willing to use. The poor audio freaks are so accustom that any knowledge in audio get converted into a tradable commodity that they do not feel that the “conversions” might not be necessary…. One of the emails last week even made me to laugh and the person asked do send him to hell as he is a classical music listener. At the same time the people do not ask proper questions in proper formats, which would make extending the recommendations interesting. They just want somebody stick their damn noses into something.

Anyhow, in case of Ortofone Jubilee I think I do need to raise my voice and extend an official recommendation. Here is comes…

I would like to state a strong OPPOSITION to a recommendation for people buying Ortofone Jubilee cartridges. This my disapproval of Ortofone Jubilee does not derive from the Ortofone Jubilees sonic performance – if you read the thread then you will see that I am pleased with Jubilee’s sound. However I feel the current production of Ortofone Jubilee is defective (search my site with word “Compliance Noise”). I do not insist that the Compliance Noise is something that is hugely auditable during playback but it shell not be there in new cartridge. I do not know what Ortofone does with it and according to the US Ortofone distributor no one complained about it, even though he himself verified the problem with the cartridge that I returned to him. This kind of proves my view that the majority of people in audio are deaf Morons but it does not help to Ortofone to fix the problem.

So, if you are in Ortofone realm then complain, vocally and persistency, as it is the Ortofone problem and with your voice they will continue to do whatever they what instead of whatever is necessary.

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
04-15-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 62
Post ID: 13292
Reply to: 8167
Decca London Reference in Positive Feedback
fiogf49gjkf0d

Somewhere in the thread there was mentioning of the London Reference cartridge. The Positive Feedback this month published a review of the needle.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue48/london_reference.htm

The review is idiotic in my view, but no different than the people who have a need to write those products reviews. However, since there is no information about cartridge widely available I think it would be worth to read it for whomever care. Also, the London cartridge distributor with whom I spoke on the phone and who sounded like a Moron in my view looks like not longer a distributor and he when back to sell car and graveyard lots. Hey, without him the needle even might to sound better, who knows…

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
04-17-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
drdna
San Francisco, California
Posts 526
Joined on 10-29-2005

Post #: 63
Post ID: 13298
Reply to: 13292
Decca London Reference cartridge review
fiogf49gjkf0d
Wow! That review is filled to the brim with so much B.S. I was amazed, all that "You need this special $5000 hookup wire to get the most out of this cartridge" etc. I couldn't believe it. Has the state of audio reviewing truly been reduced to this sad form of gratuitous pornography? In some sense, it further alienates those of us who just want to listen to music.

That said, the Reference is still an amazing cartridge and I am glad to own one. It is true that it is in a different league from all other cartridges, as I have said before.
04-17-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #: 64
Post ID: 13300
Reply to: 13298
Wheat, Chaff, and Chafe
fiogf49gjkf0d
Adrian, I have not heard this specific cartridge, but the "alive" thing Levi went on and on about certainly rang a Decca bell for me; also the "tweak-y" parts.  I do think Levi might have made more of the cable-as-load angle as opposed to painting the $5k foo-foo cable as a minimum-quality companion product; but then, we all realize that these guys are selling, right?  However, I am willing to accept that he found something he thinks works in that application.

Looking at the photograph of the cartridge, there are some screw heads visible.  On a Decca I remember, the screw on the side of the thing was some kind of adjustment screw.  Is that also the case with this new cartridge?  I remember that screw in the same way I remember the manic Jackie Du Pre putting her instrument outside or leaving it in the sun, and how I squirmed, hearing that remarkable cello groan and pop!

Another thing I think could be made more clear is that some components that want perfect set-up actually "guide" the attuned user by responding accordingly.  In the best cases, this response is also linear.  With the older Deccas, there were so many swirling variables that I could not determine a repeatable, linear course of adaptation.  Mea culpa.

Somehow, I did not realize until reading Levi's review that this cartridge puts out 5 mV!  I have to admit, I like the idea of eliminating another transformer, along with its connections.  One could theoretically hard-wire that cartridge straight to the network.

Best regards,
Paul S
04-17-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Stitch


Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #: 65
Post ID: 13301
Reply to: 13300
New Rating in future
fiogf49gjkf0d
It would be much easier to name some useful reviews instead to rant about written BS which became standard today.

 In future we will get a new "Rating" System.


Not for components, no, it is for Reviewers.

For example:

Complete-Master-BS-Class: Jonathan Valin, Myles B. Astor ...

Creating-Eye-Cancer-Class: All from Tone Audio ....

Did-he-smoke-something?-Class: M. Fremer ....

and so on


Kind Regards
Stitch
04-18-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
drdna
San Francisco, California
Posts 526
Joined on 10-29-2005

Post #: 66
Post ID: 13303
Reply to: 13300
Thoughts on the new London Decca Reference
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Paul S wrote:
Adrian, I have not heard this specific cartridge, but the "alive" thing Levi went on and on about certainly rang a Decca bell for me.
Yes, it has the characteristic alive quality that all other cartridges lack, but without excessive juiciness of the older Deccas. I guess you could say that with all other cartridges, you are daydreaming about girls. With the old Deccas, you finally got a real girlfriend, but she was erratic, a binge drinker, and sometimes a real handful! With the new Decca Reference, it's like you find a new girlfriend who is everything good you could imagine. Do you sometimes miss the excitement of the big arguments with the old girlfriend with plates being thrown at you from across the room? Maybe, but the good news is unlike girlfriends, you can keep your old Decca Royal Jubilee too!


 Paul S wrote:
Looking at the photograph of the cartridge, there are some screw heads visible.  On a Decca I remember, the screw on the side of the thing was some kind of adjustment screw.  Is that also the case with this new cartridge?
Yes, there are the same screws on the new Decca as with the old one.
 Paul S wrote:
Somehow, I did not realize until reading Levi's review that this cartridge puts out 5 mV!  I have to admit, I like the idea of eliminating another transformer, along with its connections.  One could theoretically hard-wire that cartridge straight to the network.
That is one of the big advantages; you have hit it on the head. Excess circuits are always a bad thing. With this, everything is simplified. Everything is flesh and bone.Adrian
04-18-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #: 67
Post ID: 13304
Reply to: 13303
Making "Adjustments"
fiogf49gjkf0d
I admit that I am facinated with this cartridge, based on the undying hope that one day the unique and addictive (and ultimately, necessary...) "aliveness" might be had without the sort of mind-twisting torture that always prevailed.  But this "review" did not really tell much about the development process, did it?  I am left with plenty of questions.

For one thing, leave it to a "professional reviewer" to leave out the part about the adjustment screw(s?).  Exactly what does this screw adjust, and what sort of controls are offered for repeatable adjustments?  I "remember" turning that screw ad hoc to compensate for the effects of temperature, humidity, and ??? on the "film" to which the stylus is mounted....  Shades of Du Pre's cello!  But that can't be right, can it?

I also wonder a lot about the process of dialing the thing in electrically, since I remember there was no "slack" in this - at all -  in terms of integrating pitch, timbre, and balance with the "aliveness", and also output seemed to vary considerably once the parameters were set, based at least partly, I presumed, on whatever the tension of that "film" happened to be at the time.

Without doing any background checking, I also wonder if some phono stages might actually be overloaded by the considerable output from that cartridge.

For those unfamiliar with the "aliveness" under discussion here, it is a pretty much continuous field of the sort of lifelike sounds that occasionally make us snap to attention with other cartridges (other sources apart from well-rendered master tape, for that matter...).  It is "REAL" sound, all right; but to date it has only been gotten at the same sort of cost a connoisseur might ultimately pay for  ---  heroin.

Best regards,
Paul S
04-18-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 68
Post ID: 13306
Reply to: 13301
We are talking about cartridges, right?
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Stitch wrote:
It would be much easier to name some useful reviews instead to rant about written BS which became standard today.

I think the cartridges reviews is very different subjects then reviews of any other equipment. A review of any other equipment is just made to generate a little bump in sale. The reviews come and go, that is fine. The people with brain and ears know how, by whom and what for that it all done. The cartridges reviews are a different animal. You can’t not borrow, try, return cartridges and listen others – would it be reviewers or personal friends – is the only why how people learn about cartridges.

In contrary to any other equipment I feel that cartridges are well benefited in comparative reviewing…

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
04-19-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Stitch


Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #: 69
Post ID: 13312
Reply to: 13306
Reviews :-)
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Romy the Cat wrote:

In contrary to any other equipment I feel that cartridges are well benefited in comparative reviewing…

The Cat


Good to read that you think positive about something :-)

Unfortunately my experience is different, specially in cartridge reviews. I never read so much nonsense, so much non-information or wrong results than here.

Just a few examples:

Your own experience with Koetsu (show me a review which does not has as result how super great they are, worth selling the house to get it or some more..)

Have you ever listened to air Tight PC-1? Cartridge of the Year from JV

No? Do it.

Or the ones from MySonic Lab?  After Jesus the next best which come down to earth.

Or Dynavector XV-1s?  What a dead sounding BS-Cartridge, good for nothing, a cheaper TeKaitora will show what's all about

Or the latest Zyx Omega? This one is wrong in all frequencies, but you will never read that somewhere

I guess I forgot some which are really awful, too.


Kind Regards
Stitch
04-19-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 70
Post ID: 13314
Reply to: 13312
Reviewers must earn credibility, they do not have it by default.
fiogf49gjkf0d
Stitch,

when I said that in contrary to any other equipment I feel that cartridges are benefited by comparative reviewing I meant exactly what I meant. You see, cartridges are original transducers and they have own sound. This own sound shall be recognized and discriminated. How to recognize this discrimination in a reviewer - a person that you do not know, have no idea about his playback, objectives and reference points? Well, to me it is much more useful if a person describes the reviewing cartridges in context of describing a few other cartridges. In this case if a reviewer provide a proper (in my personal view) critical analyses of other cartridges that I might know then it give me an idea where the person stays with his assessment.

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
04-20-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Stitch


Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #: 71
Post ID: 13322
Reply to: 9102
No Audiophile Hotline
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Romy the Cat wrote:

... People have no concept how much I do not care what you people consider to purchase or willing to use...They just want somebody stick their damn noses into something.

 .... that the majority of people in audio are deaf Morons ...

The Cat


I love these statements.

The Reality:

Audiophile-Hotline.jpg


Kind Regards
Stitch
04-20-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 72
Post ID: 13324
Reply to: 13322
The low level of expectations is a bitch in audio.
fiogf49gjkf0d
Well, it might be not EXACTLY on the subject of “buying a last cartridge” but it surprisingly has a lot of connection with your post above. Sometime I need to post the emails that I am getting from my site – this is very educational to observe what kind idiots audio is staffed with. Among all emails that I am getting I have approximately 3-4 emails per week that are virtually the same. People that I do not know send to me questions what preamp, speaker, tonearm or whatever I recommend to them to buy of they ask me what I think about this or that component.  Most frequently I just do not answer but in some case what I feel very friendly I reply with I do not care and that I do not consult regarding audio decisions. What happen next is almost predictable – in 80% of all cased the idiots on the other side dump on me a barrage of insults and accusations blaming me for not willing to help him. This train is never was late and even play a game with those idiots, trying to predict what I will be accused in. What does it indicates? Nothing but the level of the expectation the people have to each other in audio.  Are you in need of a professional help? Are you divorced? Are you pissed because you are out of work? Are you drunk and wasted? Are you arrogant son off a bitch? Are you on drags? Do people describe themselves and own expectations or me? The low level of expectation is a bitch in audio – each idiot in audio feels that a next person is the identical idiot to himself...  Some people even write code-conduct for idiots, they call it audio-reviews…
 
The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
04-21-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Nicanor


Austin, TX
Posts 5
Joined on 04-13-2010

Post #: 73
Post ID: 13328
Reply to: 13324
Must be a missing factor?
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Romy the Cat wrote:
Are you in need of a professional help? Are you divorced? Are you pissed because you are out of work? Are you drunk and wasted? Are you arrogant son off a bitch? Are you on drags?


To be fair Romy, 90% of those conditions apply to my case, but I have never had any desire to ask your advice on audio matters! Only joking of course(?)

Learning about audio is like learning anything - the only path which produces results is one of pain, self doubt, self-denial. The results, of course, are worth the trouble, but there are a lot of people out there who haven't learned that lesson, who want to take short cuts, who in this case are looking for some kind of consumer-guru. Somehow our culture takes care of these people to the extent that some can afford expensive home electronics...it is a shame that this worldview is biologically viable but that is my own bitterness talking..
04-21-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 74
Post ID: 13330
Reply to: 13328
The nature of…
fiogf49gjkf0d
I think the way how I wrote it is a bit confusing as those questions are that the Morons ask me in reply to my denial to “consult”. What the all those Idiots miss is that audio is very individualistic by nature and a playback is built only for the playback owner. There is no community and there are no public interest – there is only an individual with own requirements and own solution for him requirements. I do not believe to people who do audio or even who write about audio for others. Audio is a subject of personal semi-intellectual hygiene, it belongs to a person and all truly important questions and answers are born in a person mind and addressed within the person mind. The Morons who cruse audio people with generic adolescent questions are just idiots and I have no interest to waste my time on audiofools.

Returning back to the cartridges subject – the London cartridges “review” was written by idiot and for idiots. Ironically the guy who wrote it did not write it for himself but he wrote it explicitly for others. This is well recognized and this is why the “review” is garbage.

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
09-25-2011 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,159
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 75
Post ID: 17070
Reply to: 8161
Great time with old Shelter 901
fiogf49gjkf0d
Yesterday a local audio guy to me with this idiotic cartridge experiments and I was forced to dis-calibrate my second arm. So, this morning I felt to go for Mravinsky Bruckner 8 that I have only on record and I was thinking what needle to put in my second arm. The SPU Classic Eliptical the I had in there is boring needle and looking at what I have I took my old semi-worn Shelter 901 that I did not use for a few years.  You know, tell whatever you want about this cartridge but the dynamic contrast it does is absolutely fantastic. It might be no so wild tonally but it is so impressive dynmicly and texturally! I really love it. In particularly the Mravinsky’s abstract virtualization of meaning Teutonic rendered by a bit scream character of Shelter made all the things beautifully-confusing.  I would not mind to have Shelter 901 back to the service on the second arm to play older recordings where the chromatic richness of my reference Ortofon Jubilee is not truly serviceable.

The caT


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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