postjack

Hagerman Bugle + DL-103 Associated Equipment: Technics SL1200MK2 Sumiko Headshell Cambridge Audio 840A Quad 22L Introduction I remember when I first got into vinyl blah blah roy gandy is a swell guy. The Story While the DL-103 > Cinemag SUT > Bottlehead Seduction sounds great with rock recordings, I've been experiencing some brightness when listening to certain jazz records which I know aren't mastered bright (Hoffman 45s). After trying to do everything I could with my speakers (move to and fro front and side walls, toe-in), and confident that my cartridge is setup perfectly, I remembered something I read about cartridge brightness usually having to do with loading. Looking up the impedance of the Seduction, I found it is 47K ohms. The recommended loading for the DL-103 ranges anywhere from 100-1000ohms, or sometimes higher, depending on who you ask. "If only I had a phono stage laying around with lower impedance!" I proclaimed loudly to myself. But wait, I do! My Bugle was built to mate with the DL-103, with a gain of 60db and loading of 470ohms. You might recall that I complained about large amounts of hiss when I used the Bugle previously. However, in that case I was using headphones or near field speakers. "Perhaps now that my speakers are in a larger room, the hiss won't be so bad! Besides, I get an opportunity to at least see if loading is truly part of my brightness issue," I again declared to myself. So I took both the SUT and Seduction out of the equation, and ran the DL-103 straight into the Bugle and then on into the 840A. The result is significantly less brightness! And this Bugle really is a hell of a performer. It handled that subtle jazz midrange well, and completely rocked the bass on Black Cow. It gets everything on Ryan Adams' Gold just perfect. I'm seriously impressed by this amazing little unit. And as far as the hiss goes, yes its there, but in my current setup I only hear it inbetween tracks, and there it is not unpleasant at all. Its more like mild tape hiss on a great sounding recording, rather then an annoyance. So luvdunhill is correct: the Bugle rocks! So lowering the loading impedance made jazz less bright, and made rock even more silky delicious smooth, without taking away any of the musical "bite" of the DL-103 that I'm so hooked on. I'd love to try the loading all the way down to 100 ohms, and maybe I will if I ever pickup something like the Rogue Stealth. Tonearm Mass Loading Sidebar Encouraged by my success with the Bugle, I decided to try a tweak recommended to me here by Torpedo. I didn't have a pretty way of increasing overall tonearm mass, so I scotch taped a penny to the top of my headshell (someone please tell me if this is a bad idea). I tried two pennies, but then I didn't have enough counterweight to get the VTF back to 2.5g. The result is, I believe based on early listening, increased bass and dynamics. Pretty awesome. It'd be nice to find a more permanent solution, maybe something I could put between the cartridge and the headshell. Disclaimer: I'm no vinyl expert, having only been into the stuff for a scant 18 months. I would greatly appreciate any technical corrections more knowledgable folks can provide, when I get into the realm of ohms and such things can easily end up over my head.

damn, the Opeth reissues are already sold out at Amazon. I swear just last week they were all available. Where'd you get your deepak?

ground round.

I can't believe I let this one go by without saying something. Good get deepak. I love the new Joy Division pressings. I've never heard the originals, but these sound great to me.

Nice, I'd love to hear whether you prefer the Brooks or the Silver. You can be my tie breaker on which one I buy. I like the music on both, but am leaning slightly towards the worldliness of the Silver just because its fun.

nice deal. I paid $500 for my 24" Samsung.

(quoted from the WAYLT thread) Here's your view from row 5:

Pure win. Strangely though, Cherry Garcia is the only Ben & Jerry's I've found that uses HFCS. All the other flavors use just plain sugar.

WOOT. Did you get tickets? i'm calling peaceful valley opener. "can I still smoke my cigarettes, and have my coffeeeeeee..."

How's that Moanin' Al? That one is on my to buy list, along with Blue Train and either the Silver or Brooks. and SHIT @ those Opeth reissues. I'll have to pick those up.

i'm a big fan of ben and jerrys. I like ice cream with candy in it.

same guy is selling his on head-fi. he has some feedback Still, it seems like most of his feedbacks are from overseas, so he probably is to. His zip code isn't complete in his agon ad. Ah fuck it I wouldn't buy from him either.

I'm sure I'll get some pictures up eventually. I want to buy a sword but I'm not sure if they'll let me take it in the venue. It's a fake sword but I could still whack somebody with it.

hook that shit up and turn the volume knob all the way to the RIGHT, ya heard. seriously don't do that but hook it up, see how it sounds.

Went to store, bought romaine, fixed salad, ate lunch with GF, laid around, went and hung out with my parents, bought new work shoes, bought halloween costume, went home, did accounting homework, ate dinner, watched a couple episodes of House, spun vinyl.

new work shoes (rockports). hercules costume.

Two tickets to Voodoo Fest for Saturday, October 25th to see NIN. This means three out of the four weekends in October I'll be in New Orleans.

You know I was always more a fan of original NES Hockey? Again I could just choose all fat guys and dominate every time. Then Blades of Steel came out, all fancy pants with its fights.

grats on the little digi, pete. today i went to work. for lunch i had pouch tuna and mayo and salt, because lunch should always cost less then $2 [source: postjack's mom]. Came home, spun vinyl.

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Just what I was thinking the whole time. Wow, great video. That piano music was nice as well.

Even though its a "recommend what I own" recommendation I'll just throw Quad in the brand hat. I currently own the 22Ls, they have prodigious bass, a wonderful midrange, and crisp treble (whose level is easily adjusted with toe-in), but they would certainly benefit from a larger room then I have them in. As far as monitors go, I used to own the 12L actives, and I wish I had not have sold them. Lacking in bass, of course, but otherwise they were like the 22L midrange and treble wise, and nice soundstage in the nearfield. Would probably be nice paired with a sub. Good luck in your search, and have fun researching. Do keep us abreast of your impressions of the various models you listen to.

Hey gang- When I bought my Hagerman Bugle a while back, Jim set the gain high so it would work with the DL-103. While the sound was excellent, I found there was too much hiss present in my setup, and went to a SUT + MM phono combo. Today I was looking at the Bugle and thinking it would be nice to get the gain lowered so that I could run it from my SUT and compare it to my Bottlehead Seduction. Can any friendly DIYer give me a rough idea of what would have to be done to get the gain on this sucker back down to stock levels?

Nice Vicki, those look great! They did a good job getting your avatar on there. I'd like to see them do my avatar on black.