Systemdek up and running - at last!

margetti

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Exactly one month (it feels like six) after purchase, I am finally enjoying my Systemdek! And my oh my, it sounds superb!

It all started with surely must be one of the modern day deadly sins - surfing ebay after a couple of glasses of wine. I'd had my eye on a few turntables for a few weeks preceding, but here was one that was still a reasonable price and local enough for collection. Bid £2 above the current bid with a couple of minutes to go, fully expecting automatic bids to soon trump that. They didn't, so before I knew it I was the proud owner of a new Systemdek IIX-900.

Then the problems started. Firstly, the seller wasn't at all communicative - took nearly two weeks to arrange collection. When I did get to pick it up he admitted he was disappointed in the price he got; fairly certain he had hoped I'd give up on the deal.

Once I got it home, started looking for a Rega arm - there'd been plenty on ebay the week before, but now nothing! Rang a couple of local dealers and found one that knew a customer wanting to upgrade his RB300. Was priced a little more than I'd hoped, but was in perfect condition, with tungsten weight, and externally re-wired. So I went for it... then had to endure waiting a week and half for it to turn up.

Collected it last Wednesday with great excitement. Got it home, screwed in the cartridge, connected the first wire, went to connect the second - to my horror it had literally fallen off at the point it came out of the arm tube. Gutted.

Phoned up the dealer - no problem, bring it in he said, we'll get that fixed. Took it in, and he said he would get it repaired, or if I wanted, he could ask for a good price on a complete internal re-wire. So I agreed to ring the next day for a quote on the re-wire.
Phoned the next day, and the re-wire would be done for free! Happy days! Only frustration was waiting another week for the arm to come back from the re-wire. But hey, shouldn't complain!

So here I am, listening to Dark Side of the Moon, and all the waiting was more than worth it!
emotion-2.gif
 
A

Anonymous

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margetti:
So here I am, listening to Dark Side of the Moon, and all the waiting was more than worth it!
emotion-2.gif


Haha....what is it about that album....Glad to hear you have finally got it up and running. What cart have you put in it?
 

margetti

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Cheers! It's been a journey for sure, and certainly a learning
experience - thanks to your good self for much of that. And soooo much
fun!

Complete change of track now - some Blue Note jazz...
emotion-21.gif


It's going to be a late night!
emotion-1.gif
 

floydlgd

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As you know I can relate to your situation!!!

I'm over the moon with my systemdek. Just a few more tweeks and it'll be there! We must continue to swap notes!

Mines been up and running for 4 days now and I haven't been to bed before 1am since then!!

Have fun.

Floydlgd
 

margetti

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floydlgd:
As you know I can relate to your situation!!!

I'm over the moon with my systemdek. Just a few more tweeks and it'll be there! We must continue to swap notes!

Mines been up and running for 4 days now and I haven't been to bed before 1am since then!!

Have fun.

Floydlgd

Yeah, definitely! At the moment I just have to pick my jaw off the floor every so often! Setup was easier than I thought it would be - but without experimentation who knows if I've got it optimised? But just enjoying the music for now!
emotion-2.gif


And pay-day tomorrow - off to the record shop for sure!
emotion-2.gif
 

DIB

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Since I got my Systemdek IIX a couple of weeks ago I've not stopped playing vinyl. Fantastic!

Swapped the old Arcam cartridge it came with for my Ortofon 2M Red, re-balanced the platter and arm and it's everything I wanted. Initially I thought I might buy myself a Naim Stageline phono stage to go with my Uniti but that would set me back £260 plus another £90 for the cable so I decided to stick with my Pro-Ject Phono Box, It's a great little performer for the money, and I'm not sure how much improvement if any laying out for a new phono stage would bring.

Anyway I'm having loads of fun playing my old vinyl at the moment. Any tweaks and upgrades can wait.

The next record fair is in town in May so I'm saving a few bob to go and stock up! Last time I bought about 10 LP's for about £35, there were loads of bargains I could have spent a fortune.

.
 
A

Anonymous

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margetti:
Cheers! It's been a journey for sure, and certainly a learning
experience - thanks to your good self for much of that. And soooo much
fun!

Complete change of track now - some Blue Note jazz...
emotion-21.gif


It's going to be a late night!
emotion-1.gif


This man has taste.......I'll ask again...what cart?
 

floydlgd

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DIB:
Since I got my Systemdek IIX a couple of weeks ago I've not stopped playing vinyl. Fantastic!

Swapped the old Arcam cartridge it came with for my Ortofon 2M Red, re-balanced the platter and arm and it's everything I wanted. Initially I thought I might buy myself a Naim Stageline phono stage to go with my Uniti but that would set me back £260 plus another £90 for the cable so I decided to stick with my Pro-Ject Phono Box, It's a great little performer for the money, and I'm not sure how much improvement if any laying out for a new phono stage would bring.

Anyway I'm having loads of fun playing my old vinyl at the moment. Any tweaks and upgrades can wait.

The next record fair is in town in May so I'm saving a few bob to go and stock up! Last time I bought about 10 LP's for about £35, there were loads of bargains I could have spent a fortune.

.

I know what you mean about phono stages. A few years ago I had a much higher end system and did a lot of auditioning with them. I had to conclude that untill you get to the more serious end of the market the difference is quite slight!

Good luck!
 

margetti

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raym87:[I'll ask again...what cart?

Ah, sorry - missed that bit! Was easily distracted at the time
emotion-1.gif


Ortofon 2M Red at present, which I had running on the Project Debut (yes, a bit of overkill probably for that deck, but it serverd me well enough for a year and a bit). I'll stick with that for now (and spend the money on vinyl!) with a view to upgrading the stylis to a Blue or Bronze when funds allow.
 

floydlgd

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Hi again!

I'm thinking about a 2M red as well. Would you say it's a significant step up from a budget cartridge like the one I have, the goldring electra? I'm only using it as it was on the arm when I got it!

I know you may not know the electra but it's what I would deem to be a basic cartridge like an OM10 or Sumiko Blue pearl if that makes sense. A sub £50 cart!!

Cheers
 

margetti

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HI Ya!

Not familiar with the electra, but I found the 2M Red a decent upgrade over what the Debut came with - the OM5E... Not an expet at all but can thoroughly recommend the 2M red

Am a newbie myself, but from what I understand matching arm to cartridge is key... if you have a Rega arm then I don't think you can go wrong with an Ortofon cart. And if you go for a 2M Red, you can upgrade the stylus later for a blue (£90) or bronze (£155) later down the line...
 

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