Playground for practical listening exercises

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-09-02 18:25

To me the first clip is clearly the best VTA setting (3mmvta), tracking weight 250 is the best to my ears, anti-skate set at 250 is best to my ears. Great recordings!

Funny enough I find the first recording (3mmvta) to be the most natural of the lot!

Correction!:

I will leave my I think wrong statements above about the VTA recordings and say that after listening more carefully I find 5mmvta as the best. All else as above.

Post by **lejonklou** » 2016-09-03 08:36

Will listen later!

Too choked right now.

Charlie1 · Post by **Charlie1** » 2016-09-06 23:11

Wow Pete, a lot of clips.

Not had much spare time to listen of late so I've only played the VTA clips a couple of times. I'm not really sure which I prefer. I can't seem to come to a firm conclusion. Will try again over next couple of days.

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-09-07 09:12

Yes, I left my changed view on the vta clips above because I want to show that this is not easy at all. On the other hand I think that these clips are succesfull at showing what I have not been able to show with my clips.
They show to me the small changes that happen to the relation between the notes when the setup is not optimal.
I am talking about the same kind of changes that made me conclude that your (Charlie1) old power cables were better in your setup than the new ones.

u252agz · Post by **u252agz** » 2016-09-07 10:34

I find 5mm VTA best - but not easy with so many clips to comapare.

Struggling with the tracking weight - I initially thought two peaks but need to listen again.

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-09-08 09:04

Ha, ha. I simply would not trust myself with these clips. I cannot after listening a number of times come to an answer that satisfies my ears fully. If it is the recordings, my ears or something else (setup of the system) that makes it impossible for me to find a clip where it all comes together I cannot say.

I would like to know a bit more about your system. Some pictures or a video. Just curious! :-)

Question: Are you still using Litz silver tonearm cable? Maybe that is what confuses my ears?

springwood64 · Post by **springwood64** » 2016-09-11 09:11

Thanks everyone for taking the time. It's interesting that you're struggling to hear differences - I found it OK when listening at the time, but difficult with the recordings.

Sorry for the delay in responding - I've been on Lundy Island for the last week (no interweb, in fact barely any comms).

I'm not using the Litz cable anymore - here's my system:

Linn Axis (Akito 1, AT95E), Lejonklou Kinki 3, Arcam AVR250, Linn Espeks

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-09-11 14:45

Great to hear from you. If you are in doubt I think a more focused search is needed. What is the recommended tracking weight for your cart? Get the weight messured at the tip. Search around that area.
Another thing is setup of your system. Cables have to hang freely, a good support for your turntable and so on. Just ignore if you have all this sorted. :-)

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-09-20 10:42

springwood64 wrote:Thanks everyone for taking the time. It's interesting that you're struggling to hear differences - I found it OK when listening at the time, but difficult with the recordings.

Sorry for the delay in responding - I've been on Lundy Island for the last week (no interweb, in fact barely any comms).

I'm not using the Litz cable anymore - here's my system:

Linn Axis (Akito 1, AT95E), Lejonklou Kinki 3, Arcam AVR250, Linn Espeks

I love the flow and the way you can feel where the music is going listening to your setup. I have sent you a PM and my final offer :-) is 5, 2.25, 2.25. Not sure but would like to hear from you what you have ended up with.

springwood64 · Post by **springwood64** » 2016-09-20 18:12

I'm pleased you like it - I'm really enjoying playing records again, and I'm pleasantly surprised that this rather ad hoc system can sound so enjoyable.

My final choices were:

4mm VTA
2.3g Tracking (although I found 2.3g and 2.25g pretty close)
2.4g Anti-skate (2.4g and 2.25g were close, better to my ears than the other values)

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-10-21 15:50

A little friday special from me to all of you. The one setup gives me plain music. The other setup gives me hifi. Have a listen

Links removed

u252agz · Post by **u252agz** » 2016-10-21 16:14

Quite marked differences here - would like to know what you have done to change the system between the two recordings.

Charlie1 · Post by **Charlie1** » 2016-10-21 17:02

I can't play them Beck, from iPad or Windows laptop. Did you change anything?

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-10-21 17:13

As far as I know I have not done anything unusual with the clips though Dropbox itself has changed a lot lately. I have no problem listening to them from my ipad. Tried my son's windows computer and it works fine.

The only difference between the two clips is a slight change to the support of my shelf with my lingo and linto. My preferred support came to me by sheer luck trying a lot of different things.

Charlie1 · Post by **Charlie1** » 2016-10-21 20:44

Sorry Beck, parental controls in action. All good now.

Yes, I find the second link 16.04.11 much more enjoyable than the first, 16.07.42.

I wonder what the difference will turn out to be :0)

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-10-21 22:02

As it is difficult to relate to my system directly because of my homemade stand and setup it could however be interesting to some that my preferred setup does not make every line of music stand clear of each other. Quite the contrary. Sounds can hide behind each other and reinforce each other.
I would discribe the differences above by saying that the second clip shows a more natural and simple sound.

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-10-21 22:05

beck wrote:
The only difference between the two clips is a slight change to the support of my shelf with my lingo and linto. My preferred support came to me by sheer luck trying a lot of different things.

Post by **lejonklou** » 2016-10-21 23:10

I just listened for ten seconds, so I could be wrong, but the second clip is better music and better HiFi.

To me, high fidelity is when I can completely immerse myself in the music. Because its fidelity to the original musical message is high. There is no conflict between HiFi and music, as one tries to stay true to the other.

Audiophile, on the other hand, I have lots of trouble with. I have always loathed the term. A lover of sound? That is one step too low. Similar to saying "I love words" instead of "I love communicating".

matthias · Post by **matthias** » 2016-10-22 10:08

lejonklou wrote: To me, high fidelity is when I can completely immerse myself in the music. Because its fidelity to the original musical message is high. There is no conflict between HiFi and music, as one tries to stay true to the other.
Audiophile, on the other hand, I have lots of trouble with. I have always loathed the term. A lover of sound? That is one step too low. Similar to saying "I love words" instead of "I love communicating".

+1

Matt

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-10-23 14:19

Same subject. My preferred shelf setup against a setup that gives a more clear "view" of what is going on in the mix. To make it more difficult a bubble gum pop number has been chosen. Can you spot the difference.

Links removed

Charlie1 · Post by **Charlie1** » 2016-10-23 19:38

Prefer second clip again. Sorry not able to add more than that ref your comments and hearing into the mix. Might be different if I was in front of system.

sorry, I can't see any difference in the kit on this little iPhone screen.

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-10-23 20:11

Yes, this is bordering on what is possible to detect via these clips. As mentioned above the only difference is how my lingo/linto shelf is supported underneath. You cannot see it in the clips.

Charlie1 · Post by **Charlie1** » 2016-10-23 22:25

beck wrote:Yes, this is bordering on what is possible to detect via these clips.

The gap in terms of musical enjoyment seems quite big though.

beck · Post by **beck** » 2016-10-24 09:47

Charlie1 wrote:
beck wrote:Yes, this is bordering on what is possible to detect via these clips.
The gap in terms of musical enjoyment seems quite big though.

I agree.

Charlie1 · Post by **Charlie1** » 2016-10-24 12:29

An LP12 owner on the Linn forum has made his own thick Aluminium blocks to fit inside the Akurate Radikal to help isolate the PSU and also attach to the underside to help mimic some of the benefits of Klimax casework. He said he tried a thick book to start with and there was a slight benefit.

Anyway, thought I'd try some heavy books on my setup. Also tried some on the spare shelf between amp and pre-amp. Here's the clips if anyone is interested. The camera angle is like this cos the pile of books was impacting the reflected sound off the rear wall and changing the overall sound:

Test 1:
Standard Setup: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kl4jj6723g2ka ... d.MOV?dl=0
Books on Radikal: https://www.dropbox.com/s/23hvgmr4qlktx ... l.MOV?dl=0

Test 2:
Standard Setup: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kl4jj6723g2ka ... d.MOV?dl=0
Books on Shelf: https://www.dropbox.com/s/68rnkcel9xtn6 ... f.MOV?dl=0

Playground for practical listening exercises

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