I said I would never buy another Turntable...Argh !!!

[jeff1225]

So I have 3 new anniversary SPU's on the Way...

SPU 85 - Thank you David
SPU 90 - Thanks 2Juki from Japan
SPU 95 - Thanks Ked from UK....

Congrats. Looking forward to hearing your impressions of all three of these stellar SPU's.

 

[rockitman]

These SPUs sure sound different from your CoralstonD. Is your taste in sound changing Christian. Or are you just collecting?

Tang

I'm interested in how much better the anniversary spu's (and more expensive) compare to my inexpensive SPU #1E. I have a Tiger Eye on a 3012R now. Sounds better than it ever has before with Graham. I now have 3 great spu's for less than the price of koestu tiger eye in asia I think. I like the spu sound that is not so hi fi...more romantic and forgiving. I also like variety when it's easy to do. I will be mounting the coralstone diamond on an SME S2 R headshell once it arrives from Japan and break that thing in finally !

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

My next TT will have removable head shells, not making that mistake again.

 

[PeterA]

Very nice, indeed. Did you lower or rise the stylus during the movie?

It seems absurd that stylus drag would effect the speed of such a massive platter, but I would love to see a second video from further away showing how that tachometer works and if the lowering and raising of the stylus onto the record effects the speed at all. Christian, is there a laser pointer hitting the platter for that speed check? I don't understand how the 33.333 reading is measured. Is it once every revolution, or more frequent? Do you have a photograph of the entire set up?

It sure appears to be extremely speed accurate and stable, as I would expect.

 

[rockitman]

It seems absurd that stylus drag would effect the speed of such a massive platter, but I would love to see a second video from further away showing how that tachometer works and if the lowering and raising of the stylus onto the record effects the speed at all. Christian, is there a laser pointer hitting the platter for that speed check? I don't understand how the 33.333 reading is measured. Is it once every revolution, or more frequent? Do you have a photograph of the entire set up?

It sure appears to be extremely speed accurate and stable, as I would expect.

It doesn’t...stylus up or down...same speed...we are talking 1/1000th fluctuation upmor down at most, per revolution. Impossible to hear.

 

[rockitman]

Here is a crappy vid from my iPad....Duke...jazz party original mono I just shot and uploaded

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=J3R0vcaTlzM

 

[ddk]

Very nice, indeed. Did you lower or rise the stylus during the movie?

LOL Micro! Come on the entire notion of a stylus causing any kind of noticeable drag with this much inertia is comical, you can sit on it and the platter will probably continue rotating undisturbed !

david

 

[ddk]

It seems absurd that stylus drag would effect the speed of such a massive platter, but I would love to see a second video from further away showing how that tachometer works and if the lowering and raising of the stylus onto the record effects the speed at all. Christian, is there a laser pointer hitting the platter for that speed check? I don't understand how the 33.333 reading is measured. Is it once every revolution, or more frequent? Do you have a photograph of the entire set up?

It sure appears to be extremely speed accurate and stable, as I would expect.

It's once every revolution Peter, it's there mostly as a visual guide so you know you've reached desired speed than anything else. Christian's motor case is still a prototype the production units will have the tach display built in.

david

 

[Phoenix Engineering]

Christian, is there a laser pointer hitting the platter for that speed check? I don't understand how the 33.333 reading is measured. Is it once every revolution, or more frequent? Do you have a photograph of the entire set up?

It sure appears to be extremely speed accurate and stable, as I would expect.

There is a sensor under the platter edge using a Hall Effect device and a very small rare earth magnet attached to the platter that produces a once per revolution pulse. The tach counts a number of high speed clock pulses that occur between pulses, takes the reciprocal and displays it to 3 decimal places. The time base is a TCXO with 2.5PPM accuracy and 1PPM aging per year.

 

[PeterA]

There is a sensor under the platter edge using a Hall Effect device and a very small rare earth magnet attached to the platter that produces a once per revolution pulse. The tach counts a number of high speed clock pulses that occur between pulses, takes the reciprocal and displays it to 3 decimal places. The time base is a TCXO with 2.5PPM accuracy and 1PPM aging per year.

Thank you. That is very clear and I did not recognize the device that Christian is using. I have read about the Phoenix Engineering products in the press.

 

[ddk]

I'm interested in how much better the anniversary spu's (and more expensive) compare to my inexpensive SPU #1E. I have a Tiger Eye on a 3012R now. Sounds better than it ever has before with Graham. I now have 3 great spu's for less than the price of koestu tiger eye in asia I think. I like the spu sound that is not so hi fi...more romantic and forgiving. I also like variety when it's easy to do. I will be mounting the coralstone diamond on an SME S2 R headshell once it arrives from Japan and break that thing in finally !

The way to look at SPU anniversary cartridges is that they're an expression of the art and not a matter of better or worse. They keep the ideals of the original SPU design but present it in a very different manner, they're beautiful sophisticated spices. My recommendation is to enjoy them for what they are rather as a comparator to the original SPU, they're sonically very unique in the cartridge world and while you might prefer one of the other initially in time you'll benefit from their differences to each other and production SPUs.

david

 

[ddk]

Thank you. That is very clear and I did not recognize the device that Christian is using. I have read about the Phoenix Engineering products in the press.

Pheonix Engineering, Bill, is the designer of our controller and we're using his tach.

david

 

[microstrip]

LOL Micro! Come on the entire notion of a stylus causing any kind of noticeable drag with this much inertia is comical, you can sit on it and the platter will probably continue rotating undisturbed !

david

I know about it - I consider this type of measurements meaningless ... As all the claims about so much inertia, unless we want to address moment of inertia ... What counts is sound quality, most else is forum noise ...

Your analogy is funny, but misleading - the stylus is not allowed to move along the movement, we are.

Anyway I am still curious about the outcome - it is mostly related to belt tension, and many people IMHO wrongly use it as a qualifier of turntable quality.

 

[rockitman]

The way to look at SPU anniversary cartridges is that they're an expression of the art and not a matter of better or worse. They keep the ideals of the original SPU design but present it in a very different manner, they're beautiful sophisticated spices. My recommendation is to enjoy them for what they are rather, they're sonically very unique in the cartridge world and while you might prefer one of the other initially in time you'll benefit from their differences to each other and production SPUs.

david

I just found 4 NOS SME S2-R lightweight headshells...Looks like my 10 case will be full and two on the TT when the 3 SPU's arrive.

here's his last one !
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273018648447?ul_noapp=true

 

[Uk Paul]

Wow look at the price, now check mine old one..

 

[Phoenix Engineering]

I know about it - I consider this type of measurements meaningless ...

It is anything but meaningless. What it is, would be an extremely accurate measurement of platter speed, produced once per second in an easy to read format, without staring at spots or chasing a blurry line around the room. Accuracy is obviously an important aspect for you, as you wrote this previously:

BTW, just to make it clear, I consider that an accuracy between 33.30 and 33.36 rpm is good enough for me, and rely mostly on a PC audio spectra analyzer to check my equipment, including turntables / tape machines.

So two places right of the decimal is relevant, but 3 places is meaningless? Good news, for those with minor cases of arithmophobia, there is a solder jumper that can be installed that blanks the 3rd digit to the right of the decimal place. For those with more severe cases or those who are accuracy averse, you'll have to resort to masking tape to block out the offending digits.

 

[microstrip]

Wow look at the price, now check mine old one..

Yes, we pay a lot for the extra pin of the S2-R ... SME still supplies it.

 

[ddk]

I know about it - I consider this type of measurements meaningless ... As all the claims about so much inertia, unless we want to address moment of inertia ... What counts is sound quality, most else is forum noise ...

Your analogy is funny, but misleading - the stylus is not allowed to move along the movement, we are.

Anyway I am still curious about the outcome - it is mostly related to belt tension, and many people IMHO wrongly use it as a qualifier of turntable quality.

Accurate speed measuring tool is meaningless but Chris's finger lift exercise on video is meaningful?

david

 

[microstrip]

Accurate speed measuring tool is meaningless but Chris's finger lift exercise on video is meaningful?

david

Yes, as an amusement. What could we really conclude from it? What correlation can be established with sound quality?

 

[microstrip]

It is anything but meaningless. What it is, would be an extremely accurate measurement of platter speed, produced once per second in an easy to read format, without staring at spots or chasing a blurry line around the room. Accuracy is obviously an important aspect for you, as you wrote this previously:



So two places right of the decimal is relevant, but 3 places is meaningless? Good news, for those with minor cases of arithmophobia, there is a solder jumper that can be installed that blanks the 3rd digit to the right of the decimal place. For those with more severe cases or those who are accuracy averse, you'll have to resort to masking tape to block out the offending digits.

Please read previous posts and what is being debated before jumping in the thread. I am now addressing absolute speed and the subjective effect of speed dragging when the arm is lowered. Not the instrument, but what people do with it.

Anyway what is the difference for a common user knowing he is listening at 33.32 in the morning and at 33.34 rpm next day? IMHO no one will notice it. BTW masking will truncate not round. Surely your system can be used for diagnostics, and it was why I was asking more questions. But interpretation of data is not easy.

My point was simple since start - a good strobe with a quartz strobe flash light is all that is commonly needed to listen to vinyl. I am just thinking that most of our members consider that listening to their tapes is listening to their best source . Are they troubled by how accurate is the speed of their machines? I never read a complain of anyone claiming his CD player was playing slow or fast.