[Marbles]

I received my wood clamp and motor and pulley upgrade on Monday.

One problem was there was no new turntable (tape) belts.

Last night I decided to see if the old silk string would work with the new pulley system and it did!  The string is seated just below the (top) lip of the pully.  The light stays green and it sounds like it's keeping correct speed.

I put on Dire Straits Brothers in Arms, and I heard more high frequency detail then before.  In fact, it changed the balance of the songs towrds the upper frequencies.  I noticed no sibilance with the one side I played.

Then I put on Steely Dan Aja.  This sounded well balanced, and I was hearing more low level detail, especially in the higher frequencies, but I was hearing a sibilance to Fagans voice I had never heard before.

Granted 3 sides is not a very good sample, but has anyone else had problems with the wood clamp causing or pronouncing sibilance or uneven playback?

PS, I know Chris Brady is on a trip until Tuesday, so I have not discussed this with him.

[Marbles]

4 hours of listening so far tonight.  Fagan still had a bit of sibilance, but no other singers have, so I can only conclude that it's on the album.

Some LP's are still a bit "hot", but most sound great now.  Maybe it just took a bit of getting used to.

I tried putting back into the system the original SME tonearm to phono pre cable, but it sounded muddy in comparison to the Bolder Nitro Cryo'd cable, so back into the system that went.

Instrumental's like Jeff Beck Blow by Blow sounded Awesome.

Kansas Masque never sounded better.

I really don't understand how a clamp can make so much difference, but it does.

As I get used to it, I really don't think I could go back to the delrin one.  As always YMMV.

[Wayne1]

I just received a Monkeywood clamp to match my Monkeywood 255  



The woods match very well and the sound difference is pretty amazing. I first heard the wood clamp at VSAC. This was on the new 340 TT and it very obvious that the wood had a lot more PRaT than the Delrin. I was kinda wondering if there would still be that big a difference on my "lowly" 255. If anything, it is a bigger difference with the lead filled acrylic platter.

The dynamics are quite a bit better and everything is more defined. Well worth the $140.00 upgrade

[amandarae]

Here is mine!

[Marbles]

Sweet looking setup

Did you get a chance to try the delrin clamp vs the wood one?

What do you think of the TT so far?

What phono pre are you using?

[amandarae]

Thanks Marbles!

Yes, It's been three weeks now since I am comparing the two clamps (I still have the original Delrin Clamp).  At AA, I answered a similar question by saying that in my system and set up, the Delrin clamp seems to be better in Rock music.  But the Wooden clamp is far more superior in tonality when jazz or classical are the materials.

My phono preamp is a Wright Sound WPP100C.  My brother has the tweaked Cornet.   Different sound, but it will be a very big mistake to say that one is better than the other IMHO.

BTW, I am waiting for my Supratek Chenin preamp with phono.   I'll post how it synergize with the Teres later on.