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Just curious in my question(s)........these phono only preamps......how does the evaluation of them not actually include the final output of the preamp they're plugged into? These are not driving the amp(s)
Interesting review. I don't own either of these units so I have no ax to grind. But, I must say, according to the review contents the Nighthawk seems like a much better value at less than 1/2 the price. It also doesn't have the lower midrange leanness. This wouldn't appeal to a lot of people. Losing a little front to back wouldn't bother me much, I don't think. The vocal used for audition projected around 3' in front of the spks rather than 6' ? I rarely listen to vocals anyway, but it probably applies to any solo. Of course, this is entirely based on another persons ears and equipment. I imagine that writing a review like this it's difficult to impart the entire gestalt of the experience. Maybe the Liberty was significantly cleaner or more detailed or the dynamic impact thing made it stand out in a much more dramatic way then what I got from the review. It seemed to me that the Liberty has a little more gain for a cart with a .2mV output. IMO that could explain both the dynamics and front to back superiority. The fact that the reviewer used a substitute arm, was suspicious. neo
I appreciate your thoughts about this phono stage. I really don't keep up any more with what's available, or the latest and greatest. The parent company certainly has a couple of pricey models. $20K phono stage? The Liberty looks like a lot of discreet parts with one IC on each gain stage per channel (4 total). If the top PBN has a separate power supply and all exotic parts, I guess you could justify that price tag. My experience with high end components would indicate that price is based primarily on perceived relative performance, and cost often has little to do with it. Your phono cart certainly got my interest. The Accuphase carts were my favorites back then. I now use a Genesis 1000 (among others), also made by Nakatsuka, with the same .2mV output. "The Nighthawk is a fine stage also, and one of the better buys at the less than 1K price point. One thing I find interesting about it is this. The top two gain settings offer the most space, low level resolution, and transparency. The other settings tend to make things too laid back and romantic for my taste. If I heard it at those settings, I would think its a ho hum piece. At the top two settings, well its extremely satisfying."I can't help but to think this would be applicable with any phono stage amplifying a .2mV cart. I use more than 60dB of gain with my Genesis. Any less, and low level res etc starts to drop out. Let us know how you make out with your 103. I'm going to take a look at that arm you linked to. I don't know reactions at AA and AK, but I for one, say keep em coming. neoBTW, Got a link for Liberty?
I'm still a happy user of a KingRex pre-amp. Here is my review:http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=68537.0Wayne
Hi Neo,Was curious to know if you ever followed the link to the Pete Riggle String Theory arm. There has been a change or two to the design. The most notable being that an under slung counterweight has been added to the design, which provides a greater degree of stability at the unipivot. The one thing that is unusual about the arm is the anti skate function, and I am not sure about they way it is executed. The anti skate force is provides by a slight twisting of the four mono filament leads that make up the bearing. Not a common way to do this, although the Well Tempered arm also has an unusual anti skate device also, at one time it was related to the base that was hung in the silicone bath. There was no adjusting that set up, this one has some degree of user control. One thing about the 12 inch arm is that theoretically anti skate is less of an issue with these longer arms. As I recall, there is more than one arm out there that does not use an anti skate device, so while they are common,,,they are not universally accepted as necessary. Pete is a practical type of engineer, so I am willing to keep an open mind and see how the thing works out. If I don't do the String Theory arm, I also thought about looking at the MG1 linear tracker from Advanced Analog. That looks to be another high performance type arm without the astronomical price tag. My previous arm was a ETII, so I do have a preference for air bearing arms. I recently let go of a Townshend Rock table, on which I had a rewired Rega 251 on it with counterweight and VTAF accessories added. I don't really cotton to the modified Regas, so I let mine go. Finding the tone arm that I want for my Serac is not as easy a task as I had hoped.RegardsMister Pig
I use the Riggle VTA, works as advertised. YMMV
DJ,I have no doubt about that, it's why I'm still considering it. But I think its successful use depends on having weight to the arm. It just seems that way to me, looking at the design. I think the whole thing would be compromised without some weight. It was developed for the Rega. That Sonus arm is one of the lightest I've seen. I've been thinking of pulling the wires from inside the arm and wiring it externally. Then I could fill up the arm tube with expanding foam for rigidity, and fill the pillar with lead. neo
Yea, I took a look at it. Pete's a nice guy and I wish him luck. I'll reserve judgement till I actually hear it or until the most everybody says it's the best thing since sliced bread. I tried to look past the beauty shots to see how it works, but I don't have a clear idea about that. Maybe I'll check out his site. Now he has azimuth on the fly? I must say I love VTA OTF, but the mechanisms that make it possible almost always go against my understanding of how to do it right. I'm more into the Pierre Lurne school of TT/arm design:"Along with Pure Mass, the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid!) principle is fundamental to the design of the arm. Every joint, every bolt, every thread in an arm acts as a reflective surface to vibrations, causing colouration and reduced dynamics. In designing the Septum, Pierre Lurne has eliminated all unnecessary components. Uniquely for a unipivot, the single-piece, tapered-aluminium armtube/headshell assembly is machined from a solid, drawn bar. The unipivot removes the need for bearing races and their mass of contact points and bearing chatter. Finally, though Septum has all the usual adjustments available, such as arm-height and alignment, all the structures needed for this can be removed once optimum settings are found. No unstable VTA towers with their mass of threads and compromised rigidity, once adjusted Septum reverts to the most elegant structure possible. This simple structure allows the cleanest path for vibrations to escape. Being machined from a drawn bar forces the crystal structure of the metal to align along the length of the armtube, the result is that vibrations from the cartridge will tend to pass along the armtube rather than bounce within. This energy escapes via the single pivot point to the high-mass, damped subchassis, or to the heavy, soft-metal counterweight, where much is absorbed rather than reflected. Simple."That said, I almost bought a VTAF for my Sonus unipivot. I was afraid that the total weight was too light, but I was going to try it anyway. Then the ground wire came loose inside the pillar so I had to re-think the whole thing. It might be a better idea to get one for the Alphason instead. I'd be better able to evaluate it and it's probably a better candidate. Anyway, I have severe reservations at this point about the string-arm, but it's an uneducated guess. I don't like the looks but if it sounds good....A Gyrodec/ ET2 was part of one of the best systems I ever heard. Around 1990. This Dr had a Spectral pre, big Roland monos, a 30w Berning, 2 lg Entecs. Roland was driving 2 panel Acoustats (side by side panels), with Emit tweeters between the panels for > 5KHz. The Acoustats were driven full range in the bass and the Entecs were EQ'ed with an Audio Control Richter Scale III. That's 5 band EQ for the bass with calibrated mic and test tones. He had the room worked out too. It was astounding, real sounding. We only listened to the record player. Back then CDs weren't listenable on a really good system. For the life of me I can't remember what cart he was using at the time. I remember him trying different MCs, maybe a Miyabi, VDH or an AC2. There were a couple of threads here about some linear trackers a few months ago. I remember some discussion about eff mass. You ought to search them out. The MG1 was discussed. A couple members here have one. neo
I'm a little mystified that there's no mention of the arm on Pete's site. Maybe I missed it somehow, but it was all VTAF. WTF? If you didn't link to Jeff's Place..... Considering that the first 10 customers got it at 1/2 price and price goes up in increments till 30 are sold, it just seems stupid not to be on his own site. $1600 isn't all that much for an arm these days, but considering it looks like hardware store fittings and a wood shop arm tube held together with fishing line, perceived value might be a problem.I'm not buying one anyway. My biz got busted with the economy and I'm selling. It just seems like crazy marketing. Are there ads in the mags? LOL, I don't read them either. There was something in the Asylum, like his own circle.I think you should try a 10" brass one for the 103. Save the Accuphase for the air bearing. 250mm eff length is enough to minimize tracking error and there will be less of a lag between stylus and bearings, or strings as the case may be. I'm making fun but the arm might sound good. As far as the VTAF goes, I think it can only work well with arms of considerable mass. The mass of the pillar and counterweight will absorb the vibrations. Otherwise mass coupling is mandatory. It's one thing to improve a Rega, a whole cottage industry has evolved for that, but that doesn't mean it's universal. neo
