postjack

nah, you aren't the anti-christ. Thats EdipisReks job. But I hope you're skin is thick enough to absorb the fact that I still have a really hard time believing that you sold those for $1650. Hell I sold my near mint HP2 for $50 more then that. In fact, even if the buyer came on here and said "I am the buyer, I paid $1650 for them", I would still not believe it.

Also, welcome to head-case mr. nice!

I don't get it, they are just a pair of RS-1s. They look just like mine.

congrats, purty phones.

Another night of intense battling once again finds me deciding that the Baerwald alignment is best for this cart, with a tracking force between 1.5 and 1.6 (haven't decided which I like more yet). Just for fun I switched out the PH-1 with the Bellari VP129. Gone was a bit of midrange hump, but in full force was a woolie bully sound. Here is the Grado wool I was looking for! Like throwing a blanket over my speakers The PH-1 in low gain mode must load the cartridge in such a fashion to minimize this hazy sound (this is good). The haze was noticeable when running the low output platinum with the PH-1 in high gain mode, but it was not overly distracting like the bellari + high output sonata. To be fair, the Bellari didn't have time to warm up. I'll leave it plugged in tonight and try it again tomorrow (going to sleep shortly). Thus marketh the third night of the Postjack Sonata Wars.

yeah, until january anyway. Then we have November for two weeks, then April for 4 months, then its August again for 8 months two weeks.

basically i school fools, like all day 4 eva.

listening to the new radiohead album in MP3 made me once again realize how much I dislike lossless. mostly its that bloaty bass muddy soundstageless sound it creates that drives me bonkers.

You should try flats!

I haven't read of any real RS-1 aficianado trying out the new style RS-1, but the reviews I have read say it is a touch more neutral then the previous buttoned incarnation. However, this could just be a "no button = Alessandro = neutral" effect.

As frustrating as the cartridge alignment process can be, its very rewarding and exciting when you learn something new about your cartridge and table. I realized last night that what I was experiencing with the Sonata wasn't so much brightness as it was a lack of body with a midrange and treble glare, a surefire indicator that something is wrong alignment wise. This is a cart known for its fun midrange and bass, as well as being known for its wooly grado sound (i.e. not brightness). So going over some alignment guides on the internet, I decided to check out the azimuth. I put the cart on a record and, sure enough, the cart was definitely tilting to the right. This surprised me since there is no way to adjust azimuth on the 1200's tonearm. Regardless, I gripped the headshell and tipped its towards the left, and it did in fact move ever so slightly. Now the cart is riding evenly on the LP. I tuned the VTF back down to 1.5g, and the bass and midrange came alive on the Hoffman Stadium Arcadium. I'm not prepared to say I've finally fully got this one perfected until I do some more listening, but there is a good chance I have. Sitting and listening intently last night, I realized that vinyl has been a challenging test for my ears, brain, and patience.

okay I lied, the battle continues. new results: baerwald = good technics jig/stevensonesque = bad this cart needs a good amount of overhang or it will hate on your ears with the treble badness. whew, that was scary for a second there.

Having horrible trouble with the Reference Sonata. I did some more adjusting, and now this cart is bright as hell, like really horribly bright. I can't seem to get this cartridge to click into my system like I did with the Statement Platinum. Taking a break for the rest of the night, I'll head back into battle tomorrow.

yeah, molly is a pound mutt. its apparent she has some terrier in her and a bit of ewok, but other then that it is a mystery.

Bexley Penultimate LE based on the Poseidon model, #6/22 with F nib, made of a scare Italian Tibaldi celluloid. Gorgeous pen!

x2, some ting in there

Nate, aside from the magic eye tubes, how do you feel about the HD200? From a design standpoint.

good idea. you should get mikhail to use a maestro chassis, and tune it as a preamp for the predator.

Bought a used (50hrs according to the seller) Grado Reference Sonata on the gon for cheap. Had a hell of a time getting it aligned last night. A word of advice for anyone new to vinyl, or just to myself for posterity: don't try to setup a new cartridge at 9:45pm at night. Its really best to wait until you have the luxury of a free weekend afternoon. Listening to test signals on the HiFi News Test LP is not a good way to relax for bed. At first I got the azimuth down, but then I realized the cart was way to forward in its headshell, so I pulled it off and started from scratch with the overhang gauge. What a total pain in the ass. But anyway, I think I'm reasonable happy with it, though I did fall asleep last night with a british guys voice speaking in my head against the backdrop of a high pitched tone (20 hertz... 19 hertz... 16 hertz... 15 hertz... 9 hertz [omg cartridge wobble O M G]) . From my very brief listening session last night, I can tell the Sonata is obviously richer and fuller then the Platinum. Its difficult to do a direct comparison though since the Sonata is a Reference and the Platinum is a Statement. Maybe I should buy billy's statement sonata, get a new headshell, and do a shootout with the PH-1.

Does the apogee have analog inputs, like for needledrops?

Yes, its easy enough to scrounge up a used HagUSB or similar. I don't think anyone should limit themselves to just USB DACs.

pfft, well at least molly believes me. she was there when john showed up.

ack, more grado haze huh? Well I bought it because the PH-1 phono stage emits pounds of hiss in its high gain mode. Bad. Otherwise the platinum statement sounds great. We'll see, I'll install it and align it tonight.

Sweet. I'll give you $1600 for them.