I loved reading the evolution of your system, and of course your discovery of the Mightiness (TM) of the idler-wheel drives. Our paths seem to be converging: '57s are a-risin' on my horizon as well :-), and of course I've been singing the praises of the Denons for a long time now, a natural partner to the big idlers. As Raul always says, but with a slight modification: now you will always enjoy the music!

johnnantais September 03, 2006 02:33

System edited: Just got a pair of beautifully refurbed ESL-57s, with stands, from Wayne Piquet in Orlando. I am currently alternating between them and the VMPS. Btw, the AKSA has no difficult whatsoever driving the Quads to very high, clean levels.

patrickamory August 03, 2006 00:15

System edited: see comment about the Io's airborne RF problems (long thread in Analog entitled "To Aesthetix owners," with much interesting advice; Jim White from Aesthetix has also been very helpful), and the (temporary?) addition of the Silent Running Audio Duke power filter - solely for the Io Sig.

Patrick

patrickamory July 16, 2006 17:08

System edited: Edit: swapped out the cheap Taras for Auditorium 23 (still pretty cheap for $900/8 feet) -- marvellous cables that seem to synergize with my system perfectly... the bass is far better. Music is subjectively (and perhaps objectively) much much louder at the same volume level as before.

patrickamory June 18, 2006 00:34

System edited: Added pics for just about every component... check 'em out.

patrickamory February 20, 2006 20:44

Hi Scott,

Definitely rebuild the 301. It blew away my Acoustic Solid, which I sold immediately. Everything from speed stability to image solidity to bass - this is just a superior turntable.

Does it work? Have you turned it on yet?

Clean the idler wheel with rubber renew, and oil the idler wheel's bearings, oil the motor, and oil the main platter bearing. The cap that hangs down to stop the turn-on pop probably needs to be replaced - I put a generic .68 uF on there.

Calibrate the speed with a strobe - make sure you have the 60 Hz brass pulley (you should since obviously your parents owned it and you're in America).

Replace the Garrard mat - the one with many ridges - it's terrible. I use a Herbie's mat (should have mentioned that in system description) which works beautifully.

Then you need to make a plinth. A skeletal one like I did, sitting on rollerblocks and then on three "feet", will work fine, or you can make a solid plinth from layered baltic birch ply or many other materials - there are many versions on the market too. But don't make just a hollow "box" or anything out of MDF - the Garrard will not respond to this.

The SME 3012 should be ideal.

Good luck!
Patrick

patrickamory January 08, 2006 22:41

Patrick, I am emailing from my parent's hoome in Chicago. While cleaning the closet, I discovered their old system, including a Garrard 301! I decided to rebuild this turntable, using a SME 3012, and a new plinth. Was your Garrard ready to operate, or did you rebuild yours? How does the 301 compare to your previous Acoustic Solid?

Scott

skushino December 27, 2005 23:30

System edited: With everything burned in, every record now sounds magnificent or at the very least musical. I'm not thinking equipment anymore. I have upgrades in-house and en route (VMPS doped megawoofers, crossover upgrade and soon the VMPS constant directivity waveguide mod) that I'm not sure I even want to install. This system used to be called "Analog Lust" and while it's still Analog, the lusting is gone - I'm just happy with it now.

patrickamory December 26, 2005 18:08

System edited: Complete system overhaul, built around the Aesthetix Io Sig on one end and the VMPS 626Rs on the other. The major change was switching out huge modern string/tape drive table for a classic Garrard 301 idler drive, for which I had a carpenter build a skeletal plinth to mount on rollerblocks. Even with the skeletal plinth it blew away my old turntable, which I sold. I currently have my carpenter working on a new plinth which will also mount at least one extra arm. The other changes flowed mainly from the Garrard and reorienting my system on the long wall. It's awesome now....

patrickamory October 01, 2005 18:12

Hi Patrick,

As another vinyl fan, I meant to comment on your system long ago. Very nice! Like yours, my TT (Micro Seiki) can mount multiple tonearms. How has the Ortofon mono cartridge worked for you? I am looking for a dedicated mono cartridge, that will mount on a SME 3012 or Micro Seiki Max-282 tonearm. The Ortofon monos are on my short list. Why did you choose the CG 25 over the SPU mono? Are you pleased with the results?

Best,
Scott

skushino June 08, 2005 04:49

Recent changes:

Not using the Graham/Shelter or Rega/Denon at the moment, so I've taken both arm/carts and their respective step-ups off the list.

I'm switching in an Ortofon Mono CG 25 Di cart (another early classic in SPU-style C headshell), which is high-output and which I'm using straight into a Bottlehead Seduction phono stage.

Pass is in, Dynaco is out.

And of course the NOH has made an appearance... a stepping stone on the way to Aesthetix volume controls, or a permanent substitution? Not sure yet (see passive pre thread in Analog for more details).

patrickamory July 19, 2004 03:09

Dear Patrick: I'm the owner of severals: turntables, tonearms and phono cartridges.
My every day audio system has three TT : two Analog One MK2 from Acoustic Signature ( similar to your Acoustic Solid One. There are some tweaks to this TT ) ) and one Micro Seiki RX 5000, each TT with three tonearms. From your analog front end I own: the Ortofon RS 212 ( very hard to find ), the Shelter 901 and the Denon 103.
I can see that you are in love with tubes ( I don't want to argue about it. Maybe some other time ) and this kind of amplification always has some problems with an MC cartridges, one of these problem is the gain that is not always enough for low gain MC: the cartridges that you own are medium gain.Now, your Aesthetix is an out board phono stage ( I don't know if has a built-in stepup transformer for a low gain MC ), so you have at least two additionals stages between the very critical signal of the cartridge and your line preamp: interconect cables and RCA conectors, these additionals stages always degraded the signal, yes I know that you love the Aesthetix and that with it you have a better sound, but this is only because this phono stage is better that the phono stage inside the Rogue, as a mere of fact: at the end of this preamplification you really are hearing the Rogue and a small part of the Aesthetix. Imagine only for a moment: An Aesthetix line preamp with a high gain built in phono stage ( no step up transformer inside ), this will be ideal for you. What is my point: to look for this kind of preamp: maybe the CAT, Boulder, FM Acoustic, etc..., this will be a great analog up-grade that where you are now. Another step up will be to change your amp and here there are many choices.
BTW, I agree with you: timbre and tonality are the two most important parameters in an audio system.
Best regards and always enjoy the music.
Raul.

rauliruegas May 27, 2004 21:33

Looks great, Patrick. The Io is on my wishlist, too.
Hope that new tube amp is next on your list...have fun.

Spencer

sbank March 15, 2004 16:59

System edited: Added the Aesthetix... so happy

patrickamory March 14, 2004 21:19

That's interesting - I've been intrigued by the Vector. Lately I've been thinking about the Schroeder Model 1 and the Triplanar. Is there any detailed source of information on the Vector? I don't think Basis have a website.

Patrick

patrickamory December 09, 2003 01:01

One area of improvement I can see would be the tonearm. The Basis Vector tonearm will give much better bass and is superior overall to your Graham 2.2. Johnny

42659 December 08, 2003 17:35