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Dlaloum, Neobop,I went very slowly and did not in anyway, try to change the angle of the cantilever. I remembering Timeltel mentioning the same thing when he did his AT13Ea Frankenstein. Just making adjustments in VTA using arm height. I'm beginning to think that the cantilever material is just a very small part of the overall design. I have always thought beryllium or borron cantilevered cartridges were the best, but I am now beginning to understand that perhaps it's not just the material, but how it is executed in the design. A short, thin, tapered aluminum cantilever with a quality ML tip, can be better than either a beryllium or boron cantilever. Perhaps it's the care and execution of the design that matters most.Just my 2 cents!Best regards to both of you,Don
Neo,Are you sure about that AT160 generator being the same as the 440? I ask because I have been looking for a AT160 body!They're just not out there. I have both of the 440 bodies, the ML and the MLa. I have only ran the AT160 ML stylus on the AT 150MLX body. so when you say, "have I tried it on the 150", I must reply that I have "only" ran it on the 150. I bought the AT160 (to replace the 90 degree bent original 150MLX stylus), when I accidently caught the edge of the record while cueing up. I do have a Signet TK 7CLa with original stylus and Neo, I like it just the way it is! (grin)Regards,Don
Going to jump in now as I have some history with the AT95e Linn Sondek modified. It was said that they used to use super glue on the internals or some such. I copied a thread from oneof the Linn forums that states exactly what they did. Anyway, I can say that mounted on a Rega Planar 2 that was mounted on a weight bearing wall it sounded the best I've ever heard.It sounded like live music to me. I've never been able to duplicate it even with better equipment. I was only able to enjoy my audio nirvana for a few weeks as I got married andhad children. I'm still searching for that nirvana. What amazes me is the equipment I hadwas cheap. A Hafler DH101 pre, DH220 amp, the above mentioned Rega TT, Audioquest speaker cable ~30ft. and some cheapo interconnects. Oh yea Cervin Vega speakers. Nowthere was nothing "HiFi" about any of those pieces yet I was in audio nirvana. To this day I can't figure out what was so special about any of those pieces or the set up. I still thinkit has to do with isolating the Rega TT on the load bearing wall and the fact that all I did wasswap the direction of one speaker cable for everything to come together and create this nirvanaI once enjoyed. Hence I believe that cable direction matters and Linn did have a finger on thepulse of what it takes to make music. To even further affirm my belief I remember that I wasonly able to turn up the volume to 12:00 with listener fatigue soon setting in. After I turned one speaker cable around I knew it immediately and was able to turn the volume up to 3:00 or more and even stepping outside live music seemed to be eminating from my living room. Sorry for the ramble. Just trying to duplicate the nirvana I had before and maybe hopefullylearn something to pass along to others on how it can be done for cheap.
Dlaloum,Damn, you have been a busy man! (grin)At first it appears to me that the lower Risist/Induct cartridges are the better (higher performance),models, but there are a few that jump out and surprise me. The AT 13ea which is rather highly though of as well as the 440MLa. There must be other factors involved that prevents the previous statement from being a hard and set rule of design?
NeoBop,Here is the thread I found from the Linn forumVERY interesting info on the K9, Colin. I had not realised how 'special' it was. Presumably the Basik cartridge was a rebadged AT95e? What about the K5 - had that been turbo charged too?CJHiThe Linn Basik cartridge that was originally free with the old S shape Linn LVV arm was an Audio Technica below the AT95E.It only had a conical and not eliptical stylus so was a little bit "rough and ready".The Basik cartridge was designed as a throwaway and was made to get an LP12 up and running as cheaply as possible.Swapping the yellow stylus over to the green AT95E stylus was a good move it the day and gave better sound.Both used a plastic body which could only be lightly tightened before deformation.A way of boosting performance was to fill the AT95's coil can with superglue and also superglue on the housing and the stylus.This made a big difference as it made for a much more rigid assembly allowing more detail and greater dynamic range.When the stylus wore out you threw the whole thing away as it was cheap anyway.I seem to recall that a Linn Basik cartridge was around £10.00 and an AT95E was around £20.00.The K9 was more like £50.00 when first launched in the early 80's.The K5 came out some years later at around half the price of the K9 and had a plastic moulded housing for the coil "can" rather than the solid metal block the K9 used.It also had a cheaper "rondel" mount elliptical stylus.At some point the solid K9 housing became unavailable and so late K9's used the K5 body.The later K18 was a much more expensive cartridge than the 9 and had a tapered cantilever and a small allen bolt to give greater mechanical coupling and rigidity.Unfortunately the K18 was a very inconsistent cartridge and many sounded out of tune and lacking involvement.This was down to the long cantilever and the compliance of the suspension and Linn later addressed the problem with the K18 mk2 red stylus which had a laminated suspension with different rubber.Unfortunately Audio Technica stopped making cartridges for Linn in around 1996.Don't know why but it was not good news as we were very happy with them. To find a replacement we listened to many cartridges at that time.Some did not play the tune and were uninvolving.Some would not fit and could not be aligned or were too light or heavy to balance out .Several were not shielded enough and so hum could be present near the centre of an LP as the magnetic field from the motor induced a signal in the cartridge coils.Several sounded dull or too bright because the compliance was unsuited .Many were pliable and not rigid with "bendysnap" construction and so did not have the clarity ,detail and dynamic range we required as all of the tonearms concept of rigidity was effectively neutered.Together with many retailers we settled on the Dynavector 20X which has rigid construction and works well in Linn arms.John Burns ,who distributes Dynavector in the UK actually worked at Linn for many years and the DV20 came about as he saw the opportunity to help develop a cartridge suited for the vacancy left by the K9.The Adikt was released some years after the K9 was discontinued and now that the DV20 £450.00, the Adikt is nearer to the price many are prepared for if changing from a K9.Regards.Colin Macey. WYSAH Beaconsfield.www.whatyouseeandhear.com www.wysah.comI find it interesting they thought of doing that. I've heard that the Adikt is a Goldring modified for Linn's specifications.Hope that help.Regards Mike
