ZYX UNIverse X-SB 0.24 sounding "too much"

Halcro,
It's certainly not my intent to turn anyone off the UNIverse. Far from it! I agree with you, Radicalsteve and many others that it stands above any cartridge I've heard for reproducing like a master tape (nicely put by the way).

My stating how critically we adjust may seem offputting to some, I guess it's just what we do. We hear the differences (Dan_Ed, Swampwalker and Raul have heard them too) so we adjust. Whether they, you or anyone else does is up to them, and certainly not worth worrying about.

Last night we listened for hours, just for pleasure, not doing any sort of audiophile testing or comparisons. The program was a bit mixed:

Beethoven Symphony #2, Hogwood/AAM, L'oiseau Lyre

'Les Plaisir de Renaissance', Dansons et Chansons, luth & flutes a bec with counter-tenor, Harmonia Mundi (France)

Beatles, 'Abbey Road', MFSL

The Biggs Bach Book, E. Power Biggs, Columbia Masterworks

'Trio', Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt, Emmy Lou Harris, Warner Brothers

The bass on Abbey Road and on Biggs' organ was tremendous, especially considering the limited dynamics of the Masterworks pressing. So were the drums on the Beethoven.

Did we adjust VTA for each LP? Yes, but we've done that for years, starting before we ever owned a ZYX. Other cartridges have needed VTA "right" more than the UNIverse. Our Shelter 901's frequency balance changed alot with arm height. No ZYX ever makes gross errors like that, VTA just gets the timing between fundamentals and harmonics right.

Did I tweak VTF occasionally, by .005g or less, to get the sonic balance just right? Yes. Our ears say to do it so we do. For us, optimal VTF is so critical that it can change from LP to LP, but this is because we play on the knife's edge of mistracking. Our visitors always hear the right spot when I demonstrate, but they might not notice or care if I just set it say .1 gram heavier and ignored it. We notice, so we adjust. Call us fanatics. :-)

Radicalsteve and Linnmaster,
I agree the ZYX pre-pre and the Artisan phono are quite good, better than the BentAudio Mu's in our experience. They're also good value. IME, to do notably better you have to spend a lot more money, and even that's no guarantee. I've heard MC phono stages that cost double the Artisan but don't come close.

Stltrains summarized perfectly:

"If you are using Universe and not getting these [superb] results you need to look at your other components there is where the problem will lie."

Hey, if I try (or get) the ZYX pre-preamp, do I need to worry about loading, or is that all sorted for me and matched to that of the UNIverse already? So I can plug that into the M7 phono stage yeah? If that's the case, would the pre-preamp suit the XV1s also?

Regards,
David

"I would say that this Dynavector gets you at least 80% of what a Universe is capable of."
Agreed!

I'd go 85%! ;-) The XV-1S is a very good cartridge. I've never heard one do anything wrong, in Dan's system, ours or elsewhere.

David,

The ZYX pre-pre has a fixed input impedance of 125 ohms, right in the heart of the optimal range for a 4 ohm MC when using an active gain stage. It's perfect for a LO ZYX (naturally) and should be good for an XV-1S too. Remember, getting impedance precisely right is far less critical with an active gain stage than with SUT's. We play at ~200 ohms and anything from 100-200 would be fine. Close counts.

Like an SUT, the pre-pre provides no RIAA equalization. It's intended to plug into the MM inputs of a phono stage.

Your SUT's provide 26 db of gain. The ZYX pre-pre provides only 20. This may or may not be sufficient, depending on the gain structure of the rest of your system. The gain calculator at www.kabusa.com may help you figure that out.