DaVa FC-A1 a field coil contender

[iaxel]

tonight, finally, hum 100% resolved. i sorta stumbled into it. the last week or two the hum had receded quite a bit. but it was still there.

took a ground lead from each side of the LFD phono cable (Raptor rca i.c.) and grounded both of them together onto a screw on top of the DaVa power supply along with a ground to the dart pre.

i had replaced a Primary Control din phono i had been trying with the DaVa with my LFD Raptor plus an LFD 'super' Dongle (i will have details soon to post about). now the hum was worse than it has been lately.....as i upset the progress i had made. then attached the Dongle ground to the EMIA corrector ground. then tried those other I.C. grounds onto the PS chassis screw.....and 'poof'......no more hum. i mean zero.

aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

i have removed the LFD Raptor rca i.c. from the EMIA -> dart pre spot to be used together with the Dongle as the phono for the DaVa, and replaced it from the EMIA corrector -> dart pre with a 1.5m rca WBC Gotham as a temporary place-holder. i have a skunkworks set of 1.5m rca's being built for that spot.

so now all three of my arms have LFD phono cables all into the EMIA, then they share the same i.c. to the dart pre. at least it's fair to each. but according to Mik, the Dongle -> Raptor is another level beyond the other two, which first impressions seem to confirm. the Dongle is very stiff and must have stress relief to not be harmed, so it only fits with the Saskia/Tosca as i have things currently set up. so for now it can only be used with the DaVa.

today i purchased 3 clamp posts to be able to provide stress relief for all three LFD phono's. they look pretty funky.....with velcro and zip tie hangers removing any stress on the DIN connectors.

Thanks for the update Mike! Glad to hear this is resolved!
Hum is one of the most annoying things to stumble upon with gear, mostly comes up on analog setups and tube gear.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

here are some pics for the LFD Dongle, did not want to clutter the DaVa thread with them.....

 

[Violetmachan]

here are some pics for the LFD Dongle, did not want to clutter the DaVa thread with them.....

Hi mike

great to see the LFD cables looms and finally the tonearm dongles in your system

I am sure if you give it time to settle , should take your vinyl project to as close to what the recordings engineer wanted from the vinyl …

I have been using LFD with Mik help and guidance and with having many long listening sessions in his place ….with multiple components, its like opening pandora box …..the good bit you take what suites you best …so all choices were mine

I have been using the high end LFD dongle as the tonearm cable connected to the phonostage with a blue cable LFD …above raptor and just below the golden cobra( I noted the golden cobra cannot be used as a tone able cable )
I do use the golden cobra as interconnect from phonostage to preamp ….and added the super dongle (very expensive)to the golden cobra at the preamp end ….this was the absolute magic maker for realism of music in my listening space ….
i did try various dongles from Mik @ various price points and at various locations ….strange but true …every change does make a subtle difference …you chose what suites the soul and most importantly your purse !!….mik just opens all possibilities and variables to optimise reproduce sound to suite your mind…..I am sure mik can pitch in .

I have been using this combo with the tosca and etsuro gold master ( you’re very familiar with and tosca and etsuro was one of your choice) for last 15 months …..was hoping to compile an article ….”the Dark Art of The Dongle “…

fortunately !! …life and times are very busy

I sometimes wonder if my hearing was getting impaired !!…especially using a simple but robust direct drive spinner adding a specialist tone arm , tosca, then adding the LFDs , tone arm cable dongle and the bank breaking golden cobra and top it all the a supper dongle ….ie costs escalated to 6 to 7 times the cost of the spinner ?

would it have made better sound sense investing in the a high end esoteric TT?

well no regrets…was an excellent journey and also love the sound

Funny enough still waiting for mik to fine tune the cartridge and tone tone settings!,….for now my fine tuning seems to work well for me

Mike , just give them all time to settle in for a few months …..and you’ll get freedom at point zero ..…glorious simple music ….especially in your customised sound room

The real magic for me was the super dongle in tandem with the golden cobra …only down side , need to innovate on supporting the items

will try to upload some pics

Mike , would enjoy reading your comments, critical assessments and outcomes

cheers
Sam

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

I wouldn't show my dongle in public if I was paid for it

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I wouldn't show my dongle in public if I was paid for it

i knew at some point we would go here.

 

[Violetmachan]

Had to happen !
power to dongle!!

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

Took a Norwegian Viking to reveal the dongle

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

but seriously; what is this dongle and what does it do/affect?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

i moved my response to Leif about dongles to the LFD cable thread to try and not pollute the DaVa thread and keep 'dongle' discussion with LFD cables. sorry to David and Ron as you have responded but trying to protect the DaVa thread.

LFD Cables (phono and I.C.) from the UK, cables as components

LFD speaker cables are also exceptional .

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

[ddk]

seriously; a 'dongle' is a work-around for any interconnect interface limitation. since the DIN connector is a particularly restrictive interface, and the signal there is tiny and vulnerable, that's the most obvious spot for a dongle. so seriously 'mental' obsessed listeners build 'contraptions' both for inside chassis and outside chassis to optimize signal flow. these are nothing any commercial product might ever have. for extreme approaches only. "Natural Sound" (TM) folks would soil themselves even having the thought about it cross their mind (the extreme opposite of their thinking).

I agree Mike some things really need soiling on and this dongle and setup is one of them and you did it all by yourself, bravo! Don’t know about Natural TM but natural sound; you soiled that up good with your limp dongle!

david

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

hi
what´s the development here then?

 

[Kcin]

I'm in.

Arrived earlier today. To be attached to the custom EY-500 CLCLC power supply I made months ago. Let's see what all the fuss is about.

 

[bonzo75]

Is it the reference or the basic?

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

Is it the reference or the basic?

Reference I guess....A1 was in wooden box, Reference in leather

correction from D: both in leather now...brown A1, black Reference

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

Mike, you might as well get the mono too ......same psu and a switch solves it

 

[Kcin]

Is it the reference or the basic?

This is A1- for proof of concept- who know's where it will lead?

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

I do

 

[bonzo75]

This is A1- for proof of concept- who know's where it will lead?

there is hardly any price difference so might as well buy the more expensive one just to make sure

 

[Kcin]

there is hardly any price difference so might as well buy the more expensive one just to make sure

Yes, however I have other priorities

 

[bonzo75]

So after listening to a TD 124 with basic DaVa (no PSU) next to a Continuum Caliburn with Etsuro Gold at Vess, and then spending 3 days listening to the DaVa reference and Etsuro Master Golds at Mike's I ordered a DaVa Reference with the valve PSU.

Easiest audio decision I made. The thing is revolutionary. Also when Mike ordered queue was 4 months now it is going up to 8. Might as well order and keep. If I don't set up a system I will just sell it to someone in queue but tbh it makes the prospect of setting up a system with TD 124 very likely. The most expensive thing in a system is the analog and records journey and discovery and this just makes the analog journey much easier.