Massif Audio Design Full Mpingo record weight

twintech

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Dec 27, 2019
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Anyone on here heard one, or tried one out??

Apparently it was shown at Axpona 2022.
 

twintech

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Dec 27, 2019
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OK, no Worries.

I bought one anyways.

I will report back...

Apparently, Michael Fremer likes it, and there is a review of it in Stereophile Magazine June 2022. Also, Jeffery Catalano - High Water Sounds uses one and he also likes it very much, and he always used a Shun Mook Ebony LP Clamp.
 
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twintech

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Dec 27, 2019
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Unfortunately, this purchase has not been straight forward. Whilst on first impressions it sounded very good, cosmetically it was very disappointing, it had rather a lot of checking / cracking in the timber. Regretfully, the merchant's customer service has proved to be pretty much non existent. Consequently, I am now battling with him because he currently has the goods that I purchased and my payment, and is refusing to refund. Communication on his side has now ceased and it has been left to me to try and resolve the matter through other channels.
You could say...a Massif let - down!

** Update **

After numerous emails back and forth, this battle is finally over. The merchant sought advice and has refunded.
 
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mtemur

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Mar 26, 2019
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I’m great fan of tweaks. I used them a lot and still using some. they’re kind of like snake oils cause only the best of the best promise real performance. the rest draw your attention with pinching up a part of the frequency range with an illusion of vast improvement. After a while you realize it’s better without it. Only the best ones offer small improvement in the beginning but years of continuous use and feeling of couldn’t do without it. IME anything from shun mook, most things from harmonix, yamamoto and stein music are great in this respect.

a great review about Massif clamp certainly promoted or will promote the sales, that’s for sure, but I wonder if the reviewer ever heard the original shun mook clamp.
 

bonzo75

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I’m great fan of tweaks. I used them a lot and still using some. they’re kind of like snake oils cause only the best of the best promise real performance. the rest draw your attention with pinching up a part of the frequency range with an illusion of vast improvement. After a while you realize it’s better without it. Only the best ones offer small improvement in the beginning but years of continuous use and feeling of couldn’t do without it. IME anything from shun mook, most things from harmonix, yamamoto and stein music are great in this respect.

a great review about Massif clamp certainly promoted or will promote the sales, that’s for sure, but I wonder if the reviewer ever heard the original shun mook clamp.

I am a fan of shun mook footers but the Dalby clamp is superior to the shun mook clamp. Dalby made different clamps, some of them don't work as well, if at all. I have not tried the Dalby footers but hi5harry has both mooks and dalby footers.
 
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twintech

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Dec 27, 2019
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I’m great fan of tweaks. I used them a lot and still using some. they’re kind of like snake oils cause only the best of the best promise real performance. the rest draw your attention with pinching up a part of the frequency range with an illusion of vast improvement. After a while you realize it’s better without it. Only the best ones offer small improvement in the beginning but years of continuous use and feeling of couldn’t do without it. IME anything from shun mook, most things from harmonix, yamamoto and stein music are great in this respect.

a great review about Massif clamp certainly promoted or will promote the sales, that’s for sure, but I wonder if the reviewer ever heard the original shun mook clamp.
I do have an original first generation Shun Mook Ebony LP Clamp - made from century old ebony, briar root swamp wood - this was the much more choosier wood, the very dense and heavy extra black wood - the very early one's from the early nineties had 8 - machined grooves to the lower body, these are the very best sounding one's. The later generation from the noughties had only 6 - machined grooves and is made from a different batch of ebony wood, it also has a much cooler sound in it's voicing. Apparently, there are no two Shun Mook's that are completely identical in size, and if you had three all in a line - up, there would be obvious differences, and they would all sound very slightly different to each other. They are hand made by an Artisan who is very passionate about the music. It is an incredibly good record weight, I use the word 'weight' because that's the way I use it, I'm not a fan of clamps, as I always feel like a clamp robs the sound of the high frequency's, actually, William Ying has mentioned to me, that to get the best performance from the Shun Mook is to very gently nip up the knob to the main body and then just drop it onto the spindle, it doesn't matter about any slack, it will just rest easy on the record label. It is also an iconic and very collectable piece, and is no doubt going up in value...
 
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spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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So, how much does this flawed and imperfect product cost?
 

audioblazer

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BruceD

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I do have an original first generation Shun Mook Ebony LP Clamp - made from century old ebony, briar root swamp wood - this was the much more choosier wood, the very dense and heavy extra black wood - the very early one's from the early nineties had 8 - machined grooves to the lower body, these are the very best sounding one's. The later generation from the noughties had only 6 - machined grooves and is made from a different batch of ebony wood, it also has a much cooler sound in it's voicing.
Mine has 8

BruceD
 
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audioblazer

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8 grooves at the bottom piece . Won’t part it for a few times the stated price . Heard the current production which i understd may not be the original ebony wood . 5s of comparison , no contest
 

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twintech

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8 grooves at the bottom piece . Won’t part it for a few times the stated price . Heard the current production which i understd may not be the original ebony wood . 5s of comparison , no contest
Yes, that's identical to the one that I do have. Thanks for the photo. :)
 

twintech

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Dec 27, 2019
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**Update** Reference the Massif Audio Design Full Mpingo Record Weight.

Be very aware and careful when doing business with Massif Audio Design.

My experience was that after purchasing goods online they arrived faulty, on contacting them they agreed to send a replacement but not until I sent another payment. On receipt the replacement was also not as described. I returned both items. When it became apparent that a refund was not forthcoming I contacted the company, only to be advised that he was in receipt of both returned items and was refusing to refund both of my payments, basically he had the returned items and my payments. Following numerous communications, it took a lawyer friend of his to convince him that what he had done was actually illegal and that he should refund me as soon as possible. However, not only did he insist I suffered all the return costs, he deducted a considerable amount from my refund which was supposedly to cover his postage, which I had originally paid for! When I originally paid for the item through PayPal, he insisted that I paid "friends and family" in USD, down to the last cent. Wonder why .. he's neither friend or family! But .. when it came to the refund he was far from accurate! This man is all about himself.
A bad experience for me, and hopefully one never to be repeated.
 
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