A drunken purchase.....

[shooter]

mitch65:bretty:
shooter69:Well Brett, that was quick turntable upgrade.

Christmas has truly come early.....

Yeah, it was a bit sharpish! Now I've just got to get a new arm and pick a new cartridge and that's the whole system sorted. No more upgrades after that.

Yeah! Right!

Beat me to it!

 

[bretty]

mitch65:bretty:

shooter69:Well Brett, that was quick turntable upgrade.

Christmas has truly come early.....

Yeah, it was a bit sharpish! Now I've just got to get a new arm and pick a new cartridge and that's the whole system sorted. No more upgrades after that.

Yeah! Right!

Yeah, I didn't even make myself believe that one!

 

[mitch65]

bretty:mitch65:bretty:

shooter69:Well Brett, that was quick turntable upgrade.

Christmas has truly come early.....

Yeah, it was a bit sharpish! Now I've just got to get a new arm and pick a new cartridge and that's the whole system sorted. No more upgrades after that.

Yeah! Right!

Yeah, I didn't even make myself believe that one!

Do not discount the Michell TecnoArm, i've had one and it's excellent for the money. i don't know how it squares up to the OL Silver but with that tidy underslung counterweight and drilled armtube it certainly looks the biz oh and it's around 200 quid cheaper

 

[bretty]

mitch65:bretty:mitch65:bretty:

shooter69:Well Brett, that was quick turntable upgrade.

Christmas has truly come early.....

Yeah, it was a bit sharpish! Now I've just got to get a new arm and pick a new cartridge and that's the whole system sorted. No more upgrades after that.

Yeah! Right!

Thanks, Mitch. It's an important point to make, that I have no real knowledge of arms, so any suggestions are gratefully recieved. Does anyone have any other contenders that I should consider, up to £600?

I'm off to google that arm now, Mitch.

Yeah, I didn't even make myself believe that one!

Do not discount the Michell TecnoArm, i've had one and it's excellent for the money. i don't know how it squares up to the OL Silver but with that tidy underslung counterweight and drilled armtube it certainly looks the biz oh and it's around 200 quid cheaper

 

[bretty]

Thanks, Mitch. It's a looker, that's for sure.

Are there any other recommendations for great arms, up to £600.

What is the arm that is on the Gyro, in the picture that Ivor posted on page 3 of the 'Record Cleaning' thread? Is beautiful. I bet it's silly money, right?

 

[shropshire lad]

Brett,

Here are a couple of companies that do arms and might be of interest to you . Isokinetik at www.cabezon.eu and Audio Mods at www.audiomods.co.uk . For me it would be a toss up between the Origin Live Silver arm and an Audio Mods one . Not that I know much about either of them , they just look nice and shiny !

Can't help you with the arm on the Gyro .

Nick

 

[bretty]

shropshire lad:

Brett,

Here are a couple of companies that do arms and might be of interest to you . Isokinetik at www.cabezon.eu and Audio Mods at www.audiomods.co.uk . For me it would be a toss up between the Origin Live Silver arm and an Audio Mods one . Not that I know much about either of them , they just look nice and shiny !

Can't help you with the arm on the Gyro .

Nick

Thanks for those, Nick. The audiomods one has a similar looking arm to the OL Silver, but (and I know this is picky!) I don't like the look of the counterbalance. Out of the three, OL Silver is still nudging into the lead. Technoarm is following just behind.

I really want to know what that blooming arm on the Gyro is, though. If it's less than £600, and has favourable reviews, then i'll have it, no question!

To save anyone faffing around in the other thread, it's this one:

Please, someone put me out of my misery!

 

[mitch65]

bretty:shropshire lad:

Brett,

Here are a couple of companies that do arms and might be of interest to you . Isokinetik at www.cabezon.eu and Audio Mods at www.audiomods.co.uk . For me it would be a toss up between the Origin Live Silver arm and an Audio Mods one . Not that I know much about either of them , they just look nice and shiny !

Can't help you with the arm on the Gyro .

Nick

Thanks for those, Nick. The audiomods one has a similar looking arm to the OL Silver, but (and I know this is picky!) I don't like the look of the counterbalance. Out of the three, OL Silver is still nudging into the lead. Technoarm is following just behind.

I really want to know what that blooming arm on the Gyro is, though. If it's less than £600, and has favourable reviews, then i'll have it, no question!

To save anyone faffing around in the other thread, it's this one:

Please, someone put me out of my misery!

It's got me puzzled, all nicely blinged up! Looks like a Jelco headshell though.

 

[Al ears]

On first sight it looked like an Acos Lustre....but it's not.

The search continues.

 

[John Duncan]

No idea what it is, but I can assure you it's more than 600 quid...

 

[bretty]

JohnDuncan:No idea what it is, but I can assure you it's more than 600 quid...

You're probably right. I can up the budget to a grand for the arm, so that should clinch it.

So, the mystery continues.....I reckon Ivor will be the man to illuminate all. Come on, buddy, where you at??

 

[floyd droid]

Why not email number4audio.nl where the image came from and ask them ??.

Ok Bretts baby here we go regarding an arm. RB300, grey sounding / dull ok ish arm, lets call it a safe buy, but......

After the whittlebury shows done and dusted give johnnie 7 a call at Audio Origami , he may have a 300 up for sale s/h, the plot thickens here.......

Tell him your budget and he will give it a rewire and the full monty of his mods ( if budget allows ). It will blow a Techno into the weeds and trust me on this, prepare to wee yer pants. Next step up from this, to beat it, is going to cost you loads. The Techno can be a bit bright sounding with an ill matching phono etc. Dont get me wrong its a good arm, i used to have one but needs a bit of thought to what you marry with it. SME IV goes well or a PU7 but way over your budget, or maybe not

I have no vested interest in AO by the way modders.

 

[shooter]

floyd droid:
Why not email number4audio.nl where the image came from and ask them ??.

Not sure they know Floyd, they call it 'ambiguous'.

It has two stand out features and i cant place either of them, it could be modded, still searching!

 

[floyd droid]

I think its modded anaw shoots. First of all i thought it was a b*******isation of a fidelity res ( mind you what nutter would do that ). That chrome looks far too blingy for a production job, but you never know.

 

[bretty]

floyd droid:

Why not email number4audio.nl where the image came from and ask them ??.

Ok Bretts baby here we go regarding an arm. RB300, grey sounding / dull ok ish arm, lets call it a safe buy, but......

After the whittlebury shows done and dusted give johnnie 7 a call at Audio Origami , he may have a 300 up for sale s/h, the plot thickens here.......

Tell him your budget and he will give it a rewire and the full monty of his mods ( if budget allows ). It will blow a Techno into the weeds and trust me on this, prepare to wee yer pants. Next step up from this, to beat it, is going to cost you loads. The Techno can be a bit bright sounding with an ill matching phono etc. Dont get me wrong its a good arm, i used to have one but needs a bit of thought to what you marry with it. SME IV goes well or a PU7 but way over your budget, or maybe not

I have no vested interest in AO by the way modders.

Thank you for that, Floyd. You're not the first person to recommend modding a 300. My conviction is starting to waver. I was all set to get the O L Silver, after a rec on here and reading a few blinding reviews. Today though, I've read a couple of reviews that said that a modded Rega arm (modded by O L) beat the pants off the Silver, made by the same company. A little confusion is starting to creep into my noggin. What's difficult here, is that I can't demo any of the arms, so I'm potentially spending up to a grand on an arm, blind. That scares me, cos, it could be poo, to my ears.

So, i'm starting to come around to idea of starting with a basic RB300, and gradually modding it, in no small part due to it being less of a kick in the nuts if it's not my cup of tea.

An Vanilla RB300 goes for £190. What kind of ballpark are we talking for the works, mod-wise?

EDIT: I've just had a look at audio origami's home page. I realise now it's the RB250, not the 300 that get's the upgrade treatment.

Let's have a straw poll, here. I do appreciate all the opinions of you lot, who are much more knowledgable than I, when it come to TT's.

So, say 'Yay' if you think I should go down the modded Rega route and 'Nay' if not.

 

[shooter]

I got a funny idea it's German. The pictures off a Dutch website and you know how the Germans like their chrome turntables and the like, just check them out!

That's my line of investigation at the mo....

 

[margetti]

bretty:
So, say 'Yay' if you think I should go down the modded Rega route and 'Nay' if not.

I couldn't say - if you're prepared to spend up to a K on an arm then that's way out of my league. I have an RB300 with tungsten weight, internal re-wire, and external re-wire and it sounds fab IMO, but that was the way I bought it so I have no idea what it would have sounded like without the mods. I have read (so, hear-say really) that an unmodified RB300 is better than an unmodified RB250, but a fully mod'd RB250 is better than a fully mod'd RB300... never did get to the bottom of that particular debate before acquiring my 300 (£180 including the mods, but a bit of a story there)

 

[shooter]

Sorry Brett haven't heard either the 250 or 300 but has margetti has put the fully nodded 250 is better than the 300.

Have you looked at the Tecno arm?

 

[floyd droid]

bretty:..

EDIT: I've just had a look at audio origami's home page. I realise now it's the RB250, not the 300 that get's the upgrade treatment.

Bretty old bean, if j7 stuck all that he does on his website, it would take you a month to read through it,

 

[mitch65]

Bretty

You will find that most modding is done on the RB250 as apposed to the RB300 because the arm is a simpler design and can be taken further than it's bigger brother, all OL, Michell, etc. work is done on the 250 for this reason. Of course if you are thinking of spending the best part of a grand then, speaking from personal experience, it might be worth you seeking out a second-hand (not easy) SME IV, but here we start getting into 'serious' vinyl replay as opposed to *** RB250's

. I've had the V before and the IV is really just a simpler V, as far as I'm concerned it's a stunning arm well matched to the Michell and bass to die for and, of course, it will give you masses of detail.

I still stick by the TecnoArm for the price, I doubt for 400ish quid new you will find a better arm

 

[bretty]

mitch65:

Bretty

You will find that most modding is done on the RB250 as apposed to the RB300 because the arm is a simpler design and can be taken further than it's bigger brother, all OL, Michell, etc. work is done on the 250 for this reason. Of course if you are thinking of spending the best part of a grand then, speaking from personal experience, it might be worth you seeking out a second-hand (not easy) SME IV, but here we start getting into 'serious' vinyl replay as opposed to *** RB250's

. I've had the V before and the IV is really just a simpler V, as far as I'm concerned it's a stunning arm well matched to the Michell and bass to die for and, of course, it will give you masses of detail.

I still stick by the TecnoArm for the price, I doubt for 400ish quid new you will find a better arm

Right. Decision has been made. Thank you, Mitch, for chucking the SME IV into the mix. I went off and read some reviews. All were VERY favourable. I couldn't find one that faulted it (unlike the O L Silver). So, I started thinking 'maybe this could be the one?'

Then I saw this picture:

Sold! That is one seriously good-looking arm. That's the one for me.

I'm gonna put the Pro-Ject arm on the Gyro for a month or so, cos i've got the Christmas holiday to pay for (in fact, the money I spent on the Gyro was ear-marked for the holiday. Oops.). Then I'll get me one those SME's. It's gonna look great on the Gyro!

Thanks to all for your suggestions, once again!

Mitch, you'll have to come round for that listen, when it's all set up, mate. I'd love to hear yours, too, at some point!

 

[mitch65]

bretty:mitch65:

Bretty

You will find that most modding is done on the RB250 as apposed to the RB300 because the arm is a simpler design and can be taken further than it's bigger brother, all OL, Michell, etc. work is done on the 250 for this reason. Of course if you are thinking of spending the best part of a grand then, speaking from personal experience, it might be worth you seeking out a second-hand (not easy) SME IV, but here we start getting into 'serious' vinyl replay as opposed to *** RB250's

. I've had the V before and the IV is really just a simpler V, as far as I'm concerned it's a stunning arm well matched to the Michell and bass to die for and, of course, it will give you masses of detail.

I still stick by the TecnoArm for the price, I doubt for 400ish quid new you will find a better arm

Right. Decision has been made. Thank you, Mitch, for chucking the SME IV into the mix. I went off and read some reviews. All were VERY favourable. I couldn't find one that faulted it (unlike the O L Silver). So, I started thinking 'maybe this could be the one?'

Then I saw this picture:

Sold! That is one seriously good-looking arm. That's the one for me.

I'm gonna put the Pro-Ject arm on the Gyro for a month or so, cos i've got the Christmas holiday to pay for (in fact, the money I spent on the Gyro was ear-marked for the holiday. Oops.). Then I'll get me one those SME's. It's gonna look great on the Gyro!

Thanks to all for your suggestions, once again!

Mitch, you'll have to come round for that listen, when it's all set up, mate. I'd love to hear yours, too, at some point!

Lovely bit of kit and surprisingly easy to set-up, I had a V on a Roksan Xerxes and I could have spent all day just admiring it. The one thing that spoils the party for any other arm is that the SME is brilliantly engineered (and you are buying from a Sussex firm as well), almost to a fault (if that's possible) and if I saw it in action on your Gyrodec I think it's fair to say I would be suitable envious

The LP12 has now been sold so I am now on the look out.....................

Edit: have a look at unique-audio.co.uk who deal in second hand SME's

 

[margetti]

Just pottering around (as I have nothing better to do at work this morning, lol!) and the Conqueror doesn't tempt you Bretty? I see OL sold a couple of the MK2's over the past week on fleabay for just over a grand each....

I know nothing about them other than what I've read, but as I just know I'm going to win the Lottery this weekend, I need to have an idea of what to be buying next week

 

[bretty]

Mitch, I'll have a look at that company you mentioned for seccond hand. The LP12 didn't float your boat then, mate? What's on your shortlist for a replacement?

Margetti, I've had a look at all the O L arms and loads of other brands, but only the SME made me go 'Whoa' when I saw it. It's a love at first sight thing! Thank you for the suggestion, though.

 

[mitch65]

bretty:

Mitch, I'll have a look at that company you mentioned for seccond hand. The LP12 didn't float your boat then, mate? What's on your shortlist for a replacement?

Margetti, I've had a look at all the O L arms and loads of other brands, but only the SME made me go 'Whoa' when I saw it. It's a love at first sight thing! Thank you for the suggestion, though.

Bretty, I'm terrible (just ask my wife) with my gear,chopping and changing like it's going out of fashion. I'm going to take a break from Vinyl

) for the moment while I sort out my digital bits. I've just received the 'mint' Rotel CD player which I haven't used seriously yet but first impressions are that it high on resolution and does not spare it's wrath on bad recordings! but I think I'm going to have experiment with different cables. I am also on the hunt for a DAC for my 'streamer' as all my CD's are copies onto my NAS drive in FLAC format.

having said all that my break from vinyl may well be short lived as those gyrodecs are sooooooo nice but I think I would have a hard time convincing SWMBO