2. analog
  3. 1371797806

To those with multiple tables/arms/cartridges

How do you 'play' your system?
For 30 years I had only one turntable, one arm and one cartridge......and it never entered my mind that there was an alternative?
After upgrading my turntable nearly 5 years ago to a Raven AC-3 which allowed easy mounting of up to four tonearms......I decided to add two arms.
RAVEN
A few years later I became interested in Direct Drive turntables and purchased a vintage 30 year old Victor/JVC TT-81 followed shortly after by the top-of-the-line TT-101 and I designed and had cast 3 solid bronze armpods which I had lacquered in gloss black.
TT-101
By this time I had over 30 cartridges (both LOMCs and MMs) all mounted in their own headshells for easy interchange.
STORAGE

Every day I listen to vinyl for 3-4 hours and might play with one cartridge on one arm on one table for this whole day or even two or three days.
I then might decide to change to a different arm and cartridge on a the same table or perhaps the other.....and listen to the last side I had just heard on the previous play.
I am invariably thrilled and excited by the small differences in presentation I am able to hear....and I perhaps listen to this combination for the next few days before again lusting after a particular arm or cartridge change?

Is this the way most of you with multiple cartridges/arms listen?......or are there other intentions involved?
128x128halcro
nandric's avatar
nandric
3,263 posts
 
Dear Lew, It may help when we know what we are talking about. I have no pretention whatever to explain anything about 'input connections' of any kind. I was wondering about this 'wonderful 4 input switcher' because this was somehow contradictory to what 'Einstein who is not Einstein' told me when I asked for only one more on those
'cylinders', which btw cost about $10000 together. Your advice to buy two more and solve this way my problem caused my association with Rockefeller as well with my dad's peculiar way to haggle with farmers on the market. BTW those '50 cent per kilo' are not invented but were the true price of tomadoes then. Why my dad thought that for such a price one need to belong to the Rockefeller family is an anigma for me and probably for others. But, as Henry already noticed, this Nandric like to tell stories.
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,289 posts
 
Well you're all spoilt little 'girls'.........
I have 6 arms on 2 turntables with all their phono-cables (colour-coded) lying behind my phono-stage.
To unplug the cables from one arm and plug in those of another takes all of 15 seconds.
Flick a switch for MM/MC.....another switch for 3 stages of gain.....adjust loading and capacitance for MM only.......and I'm set in less than 30 seconds :-)
lewm
6,770 posts
 
Halcro, I can see you as part of a pit crew in a Grand Prix race, changing a tire in "less than 30 seconds".

So far, I do the same; I plug and unplug, altho I do have two phono stages, one inside the Atma MP1 for LOMC (and also for LOMM, the Stanton 980LZS) and one in the form of a modified Silvaweld SWH550, for MM/MI. Usually, I have 3 tonearms in play at any given moment.

But one can dream of a multi-input, infinitely switchable phono stage, can't one? The DSA Phono II and the others mentioned here do exist. I've gotta say I have a silly bias against the Manley Steelhead, only because it uses 12AX7s and I think also 12AU7s, of which I am not very fond. I just thought of another such candidate, the EAR 324. Does anyone have experience with that?
nandric's avatar
nandric
3,263 posts
 
Dear Henry, That is exactly what the 'Einstein who is not Einstein' suggested to me as 'solution' to my problem: plug in one cable in the (same)inpunt, then unplug this one
and plug the other one instead. My idea was that an single switch for the other input would solve the problem. Not so according to the designer of the (balanced) Einstein
phono stage. This switch will cause the worsening of the performance according to the designer. I have no idea about the truth in this situation but I solved my problem by purchasing the Basis Exclusive with two separate phono-pres and consequently two separate inputs for my two tonearms.
nandric's avatar
nandric
3,263 posts
 
Dear Henry, That is exactly what the 'Einstein who is not Einstein' suggested to me as 'solution' to my problem: plug in one cable in the (same)inpunt, then unplug this one
and plug the other one instead. My idea was that an single switch for the other input would solve the problem. Not so according to the designer of the (balanced) Einstein
phono stage. This switch will cause the worsening of the performance according to the designer. I have no idea about the truth in this situation but I solved my problem by purchasing the Basis Exclusive with two separate phono-pres and consequently two separate inputs for my two tonearms.
More to discover