Enter the 'fourth dimension . . . '

Dimension. That's what they taught us in Wagga, anyway. Plus how to make a decent dovetail joint.

A bit more hifi porn frist:

A few more pics of the Audiomods Rega based tone arm, well its loosley based on the rega:

Now into the promised '4th Dimention' . . . I have been looking for it, the elusive sound of my previous life, I had pritty well given up, being satisfied with a fairly decent sound.  Working the system up step by step over the past couple of years, a good few sideways moves but the significant changes were subplatter/bearing, Sumiko cartridge, re tiping said cartridge, lots of little tweakes in between that helped but one still was not close enough.

The Croft amp has done sterling service, with nothing of itself getting in the way and the old original PMC LB1's simply waited to do the business . . . I had the detail, the musiality even a decent image, but the wall melting, large airy sound of my middle age was not there.  There is no doubt the new tip and the events around that period helped point me in the right direction.  The Audiomods Classic arm was in the frame . . . much reading, cross checking, I ordered it once and then backed out!

Cut a story short, I picked it up on New Years Eve, a week early, pleasent suprise.  Since then I have, fiddled, tweaked, cover the same tracks more than once, nearly but not quite . . . perhaps it is the amp holding the sound back?

I got up with a resolve in my mind this morning, back to basics, an arm, a cartridge, verious mass shims and tools one needs to set the cartridge properly.  I literaly went back to the way I had the old Rega 700 arm, stylus presure, mass shims, the new settings were veriable VTA and a dangling weight bias.

Dont believe anyone who tells you VTA is unimportant, and that you cant hear the changes . . .  it was my key to me getting it right.  I went back to the mass weight shim I had cut to size, I used the stylus force that has always been a 'sweet spot banker', the bias has always been in the same position I set very early on in the original set up.  All sounding very nice . . . nice but not wat I wanted.  Final adjustment, VTA, keep the arm low they say . . . I started with a 2mm slip guage, hardly precission enginereing, I had cobled them up from shim material I hapen to have laying about.

That said, I was able to, in half milimeter incraments, set the arm up to 4.5mm high, not precission but repetable.  Each half milimeter improved . . . . previously 3.5mm had produced a very dynamic sound but with a glassy edge.  This is where I stoped her befor, but other factors were also different.  This time the dynamics were there but with out the glass, as I say resolve, I put the 4mm shim in, tightend everything up checked the stylus weight was still 1.9gs.

Jeniffer Warnes was an angel, her dacking music was being played from the back garden . . . Jeff Beck has neaver sounded so convincing with such an astonishing reality of image, had I found my Holy Grail . . . I have a 1970 recording of Sid Lawrance playing Glen Miller standards, it was always a favourit of mine.  The stylus ran in on the groove, it was like the first notes of a live concert . . . this wide, deep stage, producing the gorgouse tones of a 'Big Band' . . . the brass was sharp yet mellow, all instruments could be heard, individualy and as the wall of sound that they were, soloists poped up and the singers were sublime.  Better that I remember it . . . its a long time ago, the LS35a's I used at the time just dont have the extention or the roundness of my LB1's

So, I have cracked it, no new amps required (yet?) . . . Although I might go through the motions, see where one could go, better or just different???  I do have an option to upgrade my existing Croft Hybrid with a bigger transformer, HT regulation and a few strateguicaly relaced quality resistors,  might b a good low cost option, but then why, change what aint broke?

All what they say about the Audiomods Classic arm is true, although as Jeff Spall (Mr Audiomod) said to me, the arm needs to be set up right, he was not kidding

4th dimention, cloud 9 . . . CJSF

Hay ho, spelling police are out and about again . . . you will have a ball with the full post when the mods post it after checking . . .

What's that about mods checking before posting?

Never heard of that.

Nor me.

Well, there is a mechanism where some posts (usually ones containing links) get put into a moderation queue, but it's not very reliable.

The misspelling is annoying me though CJSF, can I change it?

So in what context is this fourth dimension?

Well, thats where its gone, no links, a few more hifi porn pics.  If it done emerg, I aint doing it again!!!!  Just to say I have discoverd my nirivana, the 4th dimention to my system.  That lost link to the sound I had back in the 80's . . . wall melting image, hight, depth width, reality, dynamics and musicality . . . awesome 

CJSF

Here aredulicate pics anyway:

A piece of hifi sculpture . . .

This is the banner that came up, its just happened again to a short post but with the pics duplicated that were in the thread:

Quote:

"Your comment has been queued for moderation by site administrators and will be published after approval."

I aint doing it again, sufice to say, I have found the lost link I have been looking for to my 80's system sound . . . the 4th dimention; wall melting image with hight, width, depth, dynamics, musicality, realty, simply awesome . . . no new cable, amps or speakers, just got the source working right . . .

CJSF

It's good then?   

You might say that PP . . . rather an under statement though . . .

Here is one more go at the hifi 'pron' pics, reduced the size a tad:

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CJSF

Oooo, do like a chunky cartridge.

Ah, looks like the mods have done their bit, thanks  . . . CJSF

John the misspelling dont do my confidence much good either . . . however, thats how it is, I am dyslexic, 'I cant chang that'.  Look at it from another angle John, we all have anoying ways that friends and family live with . . . if only life was perfect?

From what I see in other threads, there are a lot of spelling and gramatical errors, why do I get singled out so often?  There are sayings, 'live and let live' . . . 'no one is perfect' . . . 'he who points the finger has three pointing back' . . . ???

CJSF

I'm not singling you out, I just find spelling mistakes in thread titles annoying because I'm a bit OCD like that.  Some of them I just correct, but I asked you if it would be alright because I was feeling polite that day.

That's a new one on me!