Newsletter December 2005

NEWSLETTER

December 2005

Dear hi fi enthusiast

You have been sent this newsletter because you have subscribed, or purchased product, or made an enquiry to www.decibelhifi.com.au . If you do not wish to be on our newsletter mailing list, please reply to this email with the subject REMOVE and we will do so immediately.

IN THIS ISSUE

Recent Reviews, Awards and News

Decibel endorsed products guarantee

Recent Additions to the Website

T-Amp 2

SRM Tech Turntable Spirit Level

New models from Graham Slee Projects

Specialized turntables for 78s

T-Amp model 2 “Son of T-Amp”

Audio Cleaning Lab review (LP to CD)

Back to Basics

Stylus shape comparison

Moving coil vs moving magnet comparison

Rek-O-Kut turntables

X3 cleaning brush

Ortofon MC15 MkII mc cartridge

Gram Amp 2 Communicator

Gram Amp 3 Fanfare

Era Gold Reflex

Jazz Club Revelation

RECENT REVIEWS AND NEWS

Sonic Impact Son of T-Amp:
For "The Most Affordable Amp Ever" in the bona fide high-performance category

Heathrow 2005 Award Winner

Enjoy The Music.com award - view airmailed original certificate The Graham Slee Era Gold V and Elevator EXP won the Best Phono Stage Under £1,000 Award at this years Heathrow Hi-Fi Show.

Graham Slee Solo Headphone Amp wins Blue Note Award at Enjoy The Music.com

"Best of 2005 Equipment Award" from Enjoy The Music
We're very pleased to announce that Boston Audio Design's TuneBlock and Mat 1 products have been selected for a "Best of 2005 Equipment Award" from Enjoy The Music. We would like to thank Enjoy The Music for this honor.

"As I look back on 2005, the components that excited me the most, and made the largest contribution to my system, were two products from an upstart company that challenged and even surpassed similar products I had been using in my system. That they did so for such a modest cost adds to my delight, for they bring to the system improvements that would cost upwards into the thousands of dollars for component upgrades. Furthermore, they will most likely benefit my future purchases on the audiophile merry-go-round, thereby avoiding obsolescence. I speak of Boston Audio Design, headed by Austin Jackson, and thank him for pursuing his research with carbon graphite that lead to the development of the Mat 1 turntable mat, which worked wonders on my Linn turntable, and the TuneBlocks with the tungsten carbide bearing upgrade, which took all my source components to new heights."

— Rick Becker
Enjoy The Music

The Absolute Sound has chosen Vibrapods as part of its Editors' Choice awards to be published in the TAS 157 November issue. That's two years in a row.

Review: Hi Fi World Sept 05 VIBRAPODS £22/4

The importance of isolation cannot be understated. It’s not a niche issue for serial tweakers, it’s the beginning and end of whether your hi-fi’s going to sound as it should. There are no small number of ways of isolating your equipment from air and structure-borne vibrations, one of the simplest and most effective being to place each component on a half inflated bicycle inner tube. This shows how the pressed steel and/ or alloy casing of most hi-fi separates act as large resonator boxes, shaking the microphonic electronic components and thus colouring the sound. The inner tube damps most of this out, transforming the sonics – but the trouble is, it’s not exactly the most domestically acceptable solution! Vibrapods are an excellent, affordable compromise. They look good and work extremely well. The effect is also cumulative, so the more components you isolate, the better the sound. Made from a sticky, rubbery compound, they come in five grades designed for separates of differing weights. Getting the right grade is key for best results. Vibrapods are easy to set up, and there’s good advice on the website – we got best results by bypassing the equipment’s own feet. Placed under a good sounding ‘affordable audiophile’ CD player (such as Musical Fidelity’s X-RAY v3) yields amazing results. As small footprint (half size) designs like this only need three (available separately at £5.50 each) Vibrapods, the sonic improvement for £ 16.50 is all the more profound. Most obvious is the recorded acoustic, which becomes wider and more capacious; the midband becomes smoother and more detailed, the treble sweeter yet more detailed and the bass stronger yet more tuneful. Combine these with Kontak and it’s a completely different sounding device! It isn’t a case of wondering whether you should try these, but rather you should be trying to justify to yourself why you haven’t…

Decibel Note: They sell in the UK for £5.50 each which is about A$13. Our price is $11.00.

ME Amplifiers. There has unfortunately been a further delay in the availability of the ME 550 Mk III power amplifier. Production is now expected to commence in the New Year. The retail price is expected to be under $3000.

Decibel Omni loudspeaker kits. These are now expected to be available in the New Year. A review of their performance will be in the next newsletter.

Jordan JXr6

The replacement for the Jordan JX53 driver will be available in the next few weeks. These drivers can be used in systems incorporating the XLS800 subwoofer kit. Enclosure kits will be added to the website over the next few weeks.

DECIBEL ENDORSED PRODUCTS – MONEYBACK GUARANTEE

Many of our products are sold on a moneyback guarantee basis. That means if you purchase something, and after 14 days are not satisfied that it performs as claimed and is not value for money you may return it for a full refund of the purchase price. Obviously it must be in original condition, and complete with all packaging, accessories and documentation. The freight back to us is your responsibility.

We all want to improve our hi fi systems. But the only way to really evaluate a product is to set it up in your own system so you can hear it over an extended period with your own music and in your own environment. This moneyback policy gives you that opportunity.

Let’s give you an example. Suppose you are trying to decide between two cartridges. Buy them both. Try them out. Keep the one you prefer. Send back the other one for a full refund. Or send them both back if you aren’t satisfied with either.

So look for the Decibel endorsed logo – it’s your guarantee of satisfaction.

T-AMP 2 “Son of T-Amp”

The Sonic Impact Technologies T-Amp has been our best selling product for the last 3 months. It offers the best sound for the dollar that one could ever hope for. But, it’s a bit of a “mickey mouse” product. The little spring loaded terminals make it difficult to attach decent speaker cables, the 3.5” phono input socket isn’t as good as RCA sockets, and the volume control is very basic.

Around the world enthusiasts have made many modifications to it, and there are companies selling quite sophisticated cases and power supplies to house its electronics. Some of these sell for more than 10 times the cost of the T-Amp.

Sonic Impact have responded to this market demand by designing a new version of the T-Amp with a flash looking aluminium case and proper speaker terminals and RCA sockets. It will be available in the next few weeks and will sell for about $220 including GST. (price will be finalized once freight costs are known).

6 moons have done a review of the revised package and reported that as expected the sound quality is virtually identical, power output is up slightly, and everyone likes the new appearance. Their final comment “Given how much nicer the new T-Amp is than the original, the price is nothing short of miraculous.” http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/sonicimpact2/t2.html

Some of the initial shipment is pre-sold but we have enough coming in to meet projected orders for the next few weeks. You’ll find it in the Innovative Products category. http://www.decibelhifi.com.au/category2_1.htm

NEW MODELS FROM GRAHAM SLEE PROJECTS

Graham Slee has been busy over the last few months with several additions to his range. The Gram Amp 1 has been reintroduced, the price has risen slightly, but it now sports a black anodized metal case and low inductance capacitors in the RIAA circuitry which improve the sound. There’s also a larger plug pack style DC power supply. Stock will be available in the New Year.

Two new versions of the Gram Amp 2 have been produced. The Communicator is a model designed for high quality DJ use and will handle high output cartridges and high output pressings. The case is designed for horizontal or vertical mounting in a DJ desk or rack.

The other variation of the GA2 has been named the Gram Amp 3 Fanfare. This is a special model dedicated for low output moving coil cartridges only. Appearance is the same as the GA2 Special Edition and is expected to be a popular choice for use with the excellent mid-price moving coil cartridges on the market like the Ortofon Rondo range.

The famous Era Gold circuitry has been refined to create two new “top of the line” products. The Era Gold Reflex is Graham Slee’s “tuned-on” version of the Era Gold V. “The tuning has virtually turned it into a new stage, sounding far more ambient, open, wider, deeper, greater bass depth, etc, and warms-up quicker.”

Because the Jazz Club is based on the Era Gold circuit the “tweaked up” circuit has also created a new version called the Revelation.

The Solo Headphone Amp has been chosen by the BBC for use in their Oxford newsroom. They requested a couple of modifications which have led to a new “Studio Monitor” model. There’s also a “shirt pocket” version in development for iPod users.

All currently available models are on the website and new models will be added as they become available. http://www.decibelhifi.com.au/category17_1.htm

SPECIALISED 78rpm TURNTABLES

Esoteric Sound is a US company that specializes in a range of turntables and other products for analog reproduction. Each and every product is actual-use tested after construction. Their Rek-O-Kut turntables enable enthusiasts with collections of 78s to play them under optimum conditions. There are 5 models to chooses from, ranging from $440 to $1540.

The Rondine Jr is a belt-drive turntable intended for budget-minded collectors of vintage records and LPs. It has not just 33.45.and 78rpm and a variable pitch control, but three other fixed speeds for older collectable discs. Included is a dust cover, strobe disc, and a magnetic phono cartridge with both an LP and 78 stylus.

The Vintage model is a compact unit with automatic return. The dust cover and strobe are included but a phono cartridge must be purchased separately.

The CVS-14 model (pictured) is a larger unit, able to play 14” records. It has a high-torque direct-drive motor, with continuously variable “78” range from 62 to 94 rpm. A switch is provided which permits playing vertical cut records such as Edison and Pathe records.

The CVS-16 model is similar but can play 16” records.

The top of the line is the Rondine 3. It provides 33,45, and 78 rpm and nine other fixed speeds for vintage discs and half-speed mastering. The very small DC belt-drive motor and Lo-Noise power supply results in very low rumble and ultra-low hum. Arm height is adjustable for all discs. Its Rek-O-Kut Transcribe arm is of low mass with low friction bearings for audiophile performance.

These products have been added to our website into the Turntables category. All the other products from Esoteric Sound are also available – their website is www.esotericsound.com .

MAGIX AUDIO CLEANING LAB/10 REVIEW

Wanting to transfer vinyl to CD is a frequent request, and there a lots of products available to do so, ranging from free or shareware to professional software packages. This software from Magix replaces the Steinberg Clean package that we used to sell. You can use it with most PCs running Windows, even notebooks. It’s simply to load, just insert the CD and click on the INSTALL button. You’ll need an RCA to 3.5mm phono lead to connect your amplifiers Tape Out sockets to the Line In or Mic socket (usually pink) of your PC. If there is no tape out facility you can use the headphone socket. You can’t go direct from your turntable, there has to be a phono preamplifier in between to raise the signal level and provide RIAA equalisation.

The program divides the process into three logical phases – Import, Cleaning and Export. There’s a useful video tutorial which gives an overview of the program’s capabilities – runs for only about 10 minutes, but you need to leave the program CD in the drive. The small manual is well written, there’s a larger PDF manual on the program CD, and there’s a support website with FAQs, an email support form, a support forum, and a download section for free updates and patches.

Import. There are three main options. IMPORT AUDIO allows for adding wave, MP3, WMA or OGG files into the current project. RECORD AUDIO provides for recording from external sources like vinyl or tape. The third option is IMPORT CD.

The Record window has a recording level indicator and a small panel that gives messages such as “Level too low” or “Level optimal”. You can choose the recording quality (16 or 24 bit, and up to 48KHz). CD quality (16 bit, 44.1KHz) is the preset. As the recording proceeds a waveform is drawn across the Track Window at the top of the screen. There’s a meter to show how much time has been recorded and how much more you can record on your harddrive (in hours & minutes & seconds). There’s also a bar across the bottom of the screen showing how much of a CD you will fill. Once the recording of the first side is finished you pause and then proceed with the other side. When the LP is finished you can playback to check it is satisfactory. The program automatically inserts track markers and you can check to see they are in right places and move them as necessary.

Cleaning. Most times that you record an LP there will be the usual clicks and plops and crackles. This next phase allows you to get rid of them. There are two sets of controls. The Cleaning functions include DeClicker, DeCrackler, DeNoiser, DeHisser, DeEsser, and a detailed noise removal tool for specific noises such as coughs in a live performance. The easy way to use all these is to run the Cleaning Wizard which analyzes the recording and decides which tools are required. That analysis process takes only about 7 seconds for both sides of an LP. Once the settings have been calculated it takes another 30 seconds to apply them.

I used an old Dire Straights Brothers In Arms LP which was quite noisy to test the effectiveness of these tools. Previously I had tried some free and shareware programs but was very disappointed with the results. Not that the clicks and plops weren’t removed but that the resulting music seemed to have deteriorated noticeably. The Cleaning Wizard calculated the settings for the DeClicker and DeCrackler, then I applied them and played back the result. It was clean, just a few minor clicks left. It wasn’t perfect, but very good, I was impressed. The noise during the quite passages and between tracks was almost completely gone. It was less successful with clicks in amongst the music but the overall result was that the recording was listenable and worth burning onto CD or DVD. Most importantly the music still sounded crisp and clean with no noticeably deterioration in quality.

The second set of controls provided in the Cleaning phase are Mastering effects. With these you can modify the music to your own preferences, changing the stereo spread, leveling out volume discrepancies, making the sound more brilliant, adding chorus and room effects, etc etc. I didn’t try any of these but they are there for those that want to.

Export. There are four choices. EXPORT AUDIO saves the project as a file on your computer in any directory you choose and in whatever format you want. AUDIO CD burns it onto a CD. AUDIO DVD allows you to burn the project as a stereo DVD, or as a DVD-A with 4-channel surround sound. You can fit the equivalent of 7 CDs on a DVD. The final option is DATA CD/DVD. This burns the files as data files such as MP3 or WMA (up to 100 hours of MP3 on a DVD).

This section of the program also includes a facility to print CD labels.

Summary. This is a relatively easy to use program for novices but with plenty of facilities for advanced users. At $110 it represents great value for money and we have no hesitation in giving it our Decibel “endorsed” status, which means it qualifies for our 14 day moneyback guarantee.

BACK TO BASICS

Sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics. That happened to me a few weekends ago when I was making some changes to my systems at home. We have a home theatre system with Jordan JX92Ss, a media centre PC, a Rotel 6 channel power amp, and a powered subwoofer. It works well. I had been experimenting with the system in the family room – connecting a T-Amp to the Jordan JX53 towers and XLS800 subwoofer.

I decided to temporarily set up the T-Amp on the front pair of Jordan JX92S transmission lines in the lounge room and used a Pioneer SACD/DVD player as the source. It couldn’t be simpler – source, T-Amp, Origin Live Laminar Flow speaker cable and the Jordan TLs.

We then proceeded to play a series of favourite CDs during the weekend. Almost without exception everytime we put on another CD we were amazed at the clean sound being produced by this modest little system. The sound level we were able to produce into our open plan house was surprising, the music really flowed and we were delighted. Considering the T-Amps only put out about 10 watts it makes a mockery of the obsession many people have about the power output of their amplifiers (more is better).

This simple setup is so good I have decided to use it as a reference system to compare various components like speaker cables and interconnects. And by using a turntable and phono preamp to also compare phono cartridges. Some of those evaluations are included in this newsletter, others will be in future ones.

MM or MC, and WHAT STYLUS SHAPE (can you hear the difference?)

I often get asked whether moving magnet or moving coil phono cartridges are better. My usual answer is that MM are better value, because you don’t need a separate step up device. But what about the absolute sound quality? If someone already has a phono preamp which can handle either type what is then the best buy.

I decided to do some testing of cartridges using the Ortofon range. Their OM10, 20 and 30 cartridges are identical apart from the styli (bonded elliptical, nude elliptical, and nude line contact). They also have the MC15 Mk II, which is a low output moving coil cartridge that sells at the same price as the OM30. Additionally they have the MC3 Turbo, which is a high output moving coil cartridge selling for a little less.

These three Ortofons make for a particularly interesting comparison. They are all from the same manufacturer, all have a line contact styli, and are about the same price.

If you look at the current Ortofon hi fi cartridge range there isn’t much doubt which technology they consider the best. They have only 5 models in their moving magnet range, all are almost identical except for the styli and the most expensive one less than A$400. On the other hand they have 2 high output moving coil cartridges and 13 low output MC ranging from less than A$300 to over A$2500.

But, back to the original question, which is the best value. I started by comparing the OM10, OM20 and OM30 which are the same moving magnet cartridge with different styli. I used my T-Amp and Jordan TL speakers, and a NAD PP2 phono preamp. I used the PP2 because it accommodates both MM and low output MC cartridges.

There are some pretty straightforward mechanical reasons why it’s better to use a line contact diamond stylus than an elliptical. The greater area of contact reduces wear on the vinyl, and should improve information retrieval, and may reduce surface noise.

But can you really hear the difference, and is it worth the extra money for the advanced stylus shape. An easy way to evaluate this is to use these Ortofon OM series cartridges. Here you can put different styli into the same cartridge making it simple to do the comparison. I started with the OM10E, one of our best selling cartridges and a popular choice to replace the usually mediocre cartridges with spherical styli that come in many cheaper turntables. The OM10E has a bonded elliptical stylus. That is a small tip of diamond is bonded to a shank of cheaper material. The Super OM20E has a nude elliptical stylus, and the Super OM30 a line contact stylus. Careful inspection of the specifications reveals the Equivalent Tip Mass falls from .5mg to .4 and .3 with the different styli, the frequency response is slightly extended and the tracking ability increases from 70 µm to 80 then 90. The recommended tracking force is 1.5g in each case.

This all makes sense but can you hear the difference?

I started with the Super OM10, and played a few tracks of a record I was not familiar with. The first thing I noticed was that the music was more live than the CDs I had been previously impressed with. But I also noticed the clicks and plops that detract from playing music from vinyl. I then replaced the stylus with a Stylus 30. The difference was immediately noticeable – there is definitely more information coming through – better definition of the individual instruments – treble more delicate and refined. The whole sound is better focused. But I didn’t notice any difference as far as background noise was concerned. (this was an LP that had not been played very much). I went back to the Stylus 10 – sure enough it was as if the music was being painted with broader brush strokes.

The next day I started with a different LP (Michael Franks “Sleeping Gypsy”). Fairly simple – 5 or 6 instruments and a vocalist on most tracks. I found it quite difficult to pick which stylus was being used. Over the course of one side of the LP I changed between the Stylus 10, 20 and 30 many times. The sound was almost identical from all three but I noticed that it was possible to pinpoint the location of some of the backing instruments better with the Stylus 30. I couldn’t really tell any difference between the two elliptical styli.

I put on SuperTramp “Dreamer” and could easily hear the improved definition or focus that the Stylus 20 provided compared to the 10. Going to the 30 improved things even more.

I decided to make a big change – to the MC15 Mk II moving coil cartridge (tracking at 2.2g). Initially I thought there was no difference, the overall sound seemed the same, then I noticed that there was a bit more bass, then the dynamic range seemed better, the peaks seemed louder. Remember this was straight out of the box, no “burning in”. The more I played the more I liked it.

Back to the Michael Franks LP. It sounded great, and my initial impression is that the moving coil cartridge is better than the moving magnet. Same brand, same price range, similar stylus shape, same set up.

I tried these comparisons a couple of days later with an LP that include some quite complicated synthesized music. The difference between the styli was more obvious. It was easier to hear the difference on the more complex music. You can distinguish the individual components of the sound more easily and locate them more precisely with the better styli. The moving coil cartridge gave overall a fuller, richer, less clinical sound than the moving magnet cartridge with the same stylus type.

The last thing to try was to compare the two moving coil cartridges. The MC3 Turbo has an output of 3.3mV compared to the .5mV of the MC15 MkII, so it was necessary to use the different input sockets on the PP2 and move the switch from the MC to the MM position.

Initial impression was that the MC3T had the same full sound as the MC15. After a while I found the MC15 was better, a richer sound, more extended and better defined bass, and a smoother treble. I changed back to the OM30 and once again found that the sound seemed thinner, a bit bass light, but with the high frequencies more extended.

So there you have it. The line contact stylus sounds better than the nude elliptical, which sounds better than the bonded elliptical. So my first recommendation is to use a cartridge with a line contact stylus. There are lots of line contact shapes (MicroLine, Shibata, MicroScanner, Fritz Geiger, Replicant etc) and it is beyond the scope of this article to discuss them. Suffice to say that the shape of the stylus does affect the sound quality and is more noticeable the more complex the music being played.

The second conclusion from this very limited survey is that a moving coil cartridge gives better sound than a moving magnet at the same price point.

I’ll be doing more comparisons of cartridges over the next few months and will report my findings in the next newsletter.

That’s it for this issue.

All the best for the coming festive season.

May the fidelity be with you

Brian Maddern

brian@decibelhifi.com.au

Telephone: 07 3272 7660

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