CS Port LFT1 turntable added to the system

[bonzo75]

Kedar knows he has an open invite any time. he also knows i'm not into gear swapping around much. hopefully by the time he does come over i'll have things pretty sorted out.

Where is the dislike button for you not wanting to swap around much

 

[marmota]

Always a pleasure to read about your journey and your findings, truly inspiring, Mike!

The CS Port turntable looks like it was made by the most knowledgeable and charming mystical force of the universe, what a beautiful creation.
If I read/interpret correctly, it seems to be the one with more "plankton", yet the most fluid and natural sounding of the three (hard to say if the phono stage plays a big role there or not)...how do you find the bass reproduction compared to the Saskia and the NVS? I excpect those two to have a more solid, cleaner bass response, but if that's the case, is it only detectable in a direct comparison or something that would jump inmediatly at first listen?

Also, CS Port doesn't publish the effective mass of the tonearm, so finding the right cartridge must be incredibly difficult; from what has been written here in other threads, the best matches seem to be be the Topwing Suzaku "Red Sparrow" and the Etsuro Gold, and those two manufacturers don't specify the compliance of their cartridges (ouch!).
The Goldfinger statement (15/15 µ/mN & 16,5 gr mass) being a good match gives a good if somewhat vague idea of what might work well, but having more details to get the optimum results would be ideal.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your findings about such rare, difficult to find and interesting gear, is truly a breath of fresh air.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Where is the dislike button for you not wanting to swap around much

i like my system as it is. i'm happy to share it freely as it is.

both the CS Port linear tracker and the Durand Tosca have head shells that will allow easy cartridge swaps. as my system is currently set up all -4- arms can be plugged into the CS Port phono, and three of the four can be plugged into the darTZeel pre phono inputs. so it's reasonable to expect to be able to do some swapping around.

moving arms is also possible right now back and forth from the Saskia to the NVS as i have arm boards for each arm for both tt's.

that flexibility was a goal to allow me to find the best set-up for each turntable. i have a long way to go on that subject and i'd say i don't yet have all the cartridges and cables i think i need to get to the spot i want to be.

but i can't predict the future configuration changes. what i won't do is move gear from shelf to shelf; or bring in other phono stages not currently in my system. hopefully Ked, you can work with those limitations.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Always a pleasure to read about your journey and your findings, truly inspiring, Mike!

thank you.

The CS Port turntable looks like it was made by the most knowledgeable and charming mystical force of the universe, what a beautiful creation.
If I read/interpret correctly, it seems to be the one with more "plankton", yet the most fluid and natural sounding of the three (hard to say if the phono stage plays a big role there or not)

yes, i'd say that seems to be true. it has this way deeper view into the inner musical interactions and somehow brings into prominence meaningful musical delicacies otherwise glossed over. the phrase in my mind is 'intoxicating mixture' as it connects to your brain.

...how do you find the bass reproduction compared to the Saskia and the NVS? I excpect those two to have a more solid, cleaner bass response, but if that's the case, is it only detectable in a direct comparison or something that would jump inmediatly at first listen?

the bass on the CS Port is very solid and complete, and goes very deep and is enveloping. plenty of authority behind it. those distant beats type of bass are really nice. great flow and sweep. always in step and service to the music. not the last word in articulation but not soft or rounded at all.

the Saskia's bass is more physical and propulsive. whereas the bass with the CS Port compliments the music, with the Saskia it grabs the music. there is an additional degree of 'pop' behind the beats, yet it's focused and not smeared. the added density and slightly darker harmonic tonality adds to the weight and forward lean of the music. more stand up and go, go, go.

how much of those differences are arms, cartridges, phono cables, and phono stages hard to say right now.

briefly regarding the NVS; i'd say the Saskia has a bit more propulsive sort of presentation than the NVS. OTOH; while the Saskia has explosive bass, the NVS with the Tana active shelf has friggen EXPLOSIVE bass at warp 11. it does big boy big music bass. like you never heard exploring the headroom of the system bass.

active isolation done right allows for another gear and allows big music played big to stay organized. to be fair i have not pushed big music as hard on the Saskia or CS Port just yet. so this perspective is provisional.

Also, CS Port doesn't publish the effective mass of the tonearm, so finding the right cartridge must be incredibly difficult; from what has been written here in other threads, the best matches seem to be be the Topwing Suzaku "Red Sparrow" and the Etsuro Gold, and those two manufacturers don't specify the compliance of their cartridges (ouch!). The Goldfinger statement (15/15 µ/mN & 16,5 gr mass) being a good match gives a good if somewhat vague idea of what might work well, but having more details to get the optimum results would be ideal.

i think you have said it better than i could. the GFS does seem to work well, but one of those carts you mention could be in my future.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your findings about such rare, difficult to find and interesting gear, is truly a breath of fresh air.

 

[marmota]

@Mike Lavigne Thanks for such a detailed, clear write up, much appreciated!
Have nice weekend

 

[awsmone]

Hi Mike

are you able to describe the air bearing arm, is it low pressure, captive bearing etc, and functionality of the air bearing etc

thx

a

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike

are you able to describe the air bearing arm, is it low pressure, captive bearing etc, and functionality of the air bearing etc

thx

a

here is a much better answer than i could give. if the below quote does not answer your whole question please ask again specifically.

https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/...-added-to-the-system.29451/page-7#post-610183

The Cs port tonearm is a mighty fine affair, I have tried the Fidelity research fr66, ikeda 407 and the glanz so far on the CS port. While they have been enjoyable none of them have come close to the effortless naturalness that the cs port arm has rendered the most interesting thing is that it also has a real sense of weight. The tonearm has a huge billowing soundstage with and extremely plush and liquid midrange without sounding fat and overly dark. There is a sense of speed that I have not heard with any other low pressure tonearm combined with the nice qualities in the midrange of say the fr66 but with far more freedom and lack of artificial grain.

It is quite a trick I would certainly put it amongst the finest tonearms out there. It is certainly Unique, as it is the only low pressure low flow tonearm I have encountered. Air bearing tonearms usually come into two categories either high pressure low flow like the rockport and air tangent, kuzma etc where the air enters at high pressure in the moving assembly through a single hole restricting the flow of air. The second is Low pressure high flow like the early air tangents or the 2002 air tangent, for sell and bergman odin all work in this way, this design has many holes entering the air pipe at low pressure.

I generally can hear the difference in this approach but then also has to factor the implantation of different materials. The cs prt arm has on the other hand a single hole in the air pipe that allows a half machined moving assembly to glide at very low pressure its quite a trick. If feel the lack of grain and the sense of naturalness and evenness is coming from this design together with the choice of materials.

 

[awsmone]

here is a much better answer than i could give. if the below quote does not answer your whole question please ask again specifically.

https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/...-added-to-the-system.29451/page-7#post-610183

Thanks Mike

exactly what i way after

 

[spiritofmusic]

Mike, my guess is these tts won't form a ranking. Your comments are all relatively caveat-free. I'm just wondering if yr conclusion over time is gonna be that some genres/styles/productions are suited to one tt over the others, or like cart choices, you'll choose the tt to play an lp just by mood.

Maybe orchestral relying on highly ordered playback will be the domain of CS or NVS, and jazz, funk, rock etc will be Saskia forte, to get right into the groove.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, my guess is these tts won't form a ranking. Your comments are all relatively caveat-free. I'm just wondering if yr conclusion over time is gonna be that some genres/styles/productions are suited to one tt over the others, or like cart choices, you'll choose the tt to play an lp just by mood.

Maybe orchestral relying on highly ordered playback will be the domain of CS or NVS, and jazz, funk, rock etc will be Saskia forte, to get right into the groove.

i generally agree with that.

there have been times when my idea was to investigate system gear alternatives and move on from the less perfect choices. this is not one of those times.

my intention here is to not have to choose a single compromise. i want to be all-in on my vinyl where i can hear any pressing in it's most optimal way, or multiple faces of the same pressing. basically i want to mess with tt's, arms and cartridges as i see that as a long term pleasure equation i want to have. it's fun and i already see a deeper connection with different types of music. i see more pressings sounding right. and yet not giving up one thing for another thing.

which does not mean i won't have favorites. but too soon to even go there as i know i don't have all the supporting pieces yet to even be able to judge choices.

i do think the 468 amp upgrade has boosted the tt's performance levels. a high tide raises all ships.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Mike, is there any room for yr philosophy on vinyl to stretch to digital?

I mean a super high quality bulletproof tube dac like the uber pricey Kassandra, and a SOTA cd transport like the top MSB, Wadax or JMF?

If you're talking about having three stellar cutting edge tts to enable you to find THE best playback for any given lp, isn't there some scope that a tube dac would get you more in the moment on some digital, and a fair number of cds played back on a stellar transport might maintain the edge over Extreme?

There are still a few diehards on WBF, and many well heeled Asian audiophiles who still feel a transport has the vote on many cds.

Three tts, each with a unique take - any parallel to running multiple dacs and transport plus server?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, is there any room for yr philosophy on vinyl to stretch to digital?

I mean a super high quality bulletproof tube dac like the uber pricey Kassandra, and a SOTA cd transport like the top MSB, Wadax or JMF?

If you're talking about having three stellar cutting edge tts to enable you to find THE best playback for any given lp, isn't there some scope that a tube dac would get you more in the moment on some digital, and a fair number of cds played back on a stellar transport might maintain the edge over Extreme?

There are still a few diehards on WBF, and many well heeled Asian audiophiles who still feel a transport has the vote on many cds.

Three tts, each with a unique take - any parallel to running multiple dacs and transport plus server?

my digital has a specific role in my system, which it fills remarkably well.

i'm still over 50% digital listening, and i have plenty invested in my digital. while in a perfect world i'd have a Lampy Pacific, or Kassandra II, and MSB Select II transport sitting here, honestly i have no room for the footprint of those gear boxes even if they were given to me. and also honestly; i would rarely, if ever, listen to them, the MSB Select II/Extreme really does it all for me. when i listen to digital i do not wonder how other digital would sound like i do with tt's, arms and cartridges.

all my dance cards are full. all my boxes are checked.

so no......to answer your question......and it's not that i don't see the value or the quality of what those things can do. i just don't need them and have no place for them. messing with multiple dacs and transports just does not sound like loads of fun.....to me. YMMV.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Hey Mike, I wasn't expecting another answer. I still wonder if you have ANY interest in a top top cd transport option. Esp w the occasional reports we see here on WBF that extol physical media. But as you say, boxes Lol.

You obv feel you can justify a panoply of analog boxes.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hey Mike, I wasn't expecting another answer. I still wonder if you have ANY interest in a top top cd transport option. Esp w the occasional reports we see here on WBF that extol physical media. But as you say, boxes Lol.

You obv feel you can justify a panoply of analog boxes.

don't need a transport. takes a couple minutes to rip a CD. then it's permanently ripped and can be included in a play list.

i have equal analog to digital boxes (shelves used) in my system, if i ignore the air compressor of the CS Port and power supply of the Saskia.

which i view as happy, happy, joy, joy.

 

[spiritofmusic]

"Happy happy joy joy"
Sounds like a ditty we should use for the UK entry on the Eurovision Song Contest. Although, once Brexit is done in the next 6 weeks, I'm expecting us to be expelled.

Oh, I forgot, NO POLITICS lol.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

"Happy happy joy joy"
Sounds like a ditty we should use for the UK entry on the Eurovision Song Contest. Although, once Brexit is done in the next 6 weeks, I'm expecting us to be expelled.

Oh, I forgot, NO POLITICS lol.

all i meant is that as far as boxes on shelves i'm at a happy place.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Sure Mike, of course.
Are you detecting a significant difference in presentation btwn the CS and the NVS? I can fully see why there likely is a contrast w the CS and Saskia. Just wondering if it's less apples and oranges btwn CS and NVS, and more red and green apples.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

the vdH Master Signature has been on the NVS recently, which is not yet nearly ready for prime time, and then i was gone. before that i was struggling to find the right phono for the Master Signature 1.1mv until i happened on the CS Port MM 40db output as being electrically right. so the NVS has not had any representative performance to offer.

so really nothing of value to report as far as fresh NVS tt comparative opinions.

going forward we should get around to that now.

 

[Lagonda]

"Happy happy joy joy"
Sounds like a ditty we should use for the UK entry on the Eurovision Song Contest. Although, once Brexit is done in the next 6 weeks, I'm expecting us to be expelled.

Oh, I forgot, NO POLITICS lol.

Dont worry, British politics don’t really
count

 

[Mike Lavigne]

it's Sunday morning, the sun is out, and i'm doing my morning Baroque thing.........feel good make you smile music. today it's a favorite Telefunken Bach box set by Concentus Musicus, the Brandenburg Concertos.

i posted about this one last November in this same thread when i first got the CS Port.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...-added-to-the-system.29451/page-7#post-610162

i can't imagine a more perfect presentation for this music. it is ultra smooth and ultra detailed, but with an effervescent exuberance and sparkle, a fire. it glows like molten embers. the sound-stage is wrap around and just so natural, effortless and flowing.

texture and timbre is off the charts, with zero glare or edge, and superb density of color and nuance. perfect balance. excites every molecule in the room with energy.

now 10 months later i've upgraded the cartridge, the cables, and added the EMIA SUT's.

it's now a lot better. the bass and presence is now on another planet, and there are now textures inside of textures and nuance inside of nuance. like looking at a 8k picture of the universe. depth and dimensional shadings galore. this music and recording provides information to be uncovered.