Telarc 1812 revisited

Dear Dover: +++++ " Most of your cartridges are very old, up to 30 yrs old, ...... your test results are irrelevant and cannot be used to provide conclusive evidence of a particular cartridges tracking ability. " +++++

you can't be more wrong with that.

The Akiva is not a 30 years old or the Dynavector XV-1s or the Denon DS1 or the Wilson Benesh or the Lyra Helikon or the Lyra Titan i or the Clearaudio Goldfinger or the Koetsu Coralstone or the AT Supreme or Allaerts F1 or Allaerts Gold or the Audioquest or the Colibri or or or or .... I own or heard in my system all those " modern " cartridges ( and many more ) along 30+ cartridges and with all I runned my evaluation process that include the Telarc 1812.

If you have no evidence today first hand evidence/facts with original Telarc 1812 then IMHO what's irrelevant is what you posted against any of my posts here.

I know that you are accustomed to higher distortions that I'm that's why you are in love with tube technology or FR64/66 or even the 13D ( I own two samples on this. ) that can't track the Telarc 1812.

Of course that I respect your opinion but you are talking of a " no-sense " subject.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Dear J.Carr: ++++ " However, the core design of the Akiva (including the cantilever and suspension sections) is not so different from other cartridges that I designed around that period, such as the Argo and Titan. " +++++

I don't have a second sample of the Akiva so I don't know for sure if my sample kind of performance is a Linn characteristic or my sample is a " faulty " one with that great characteristic and great quality level sound.

+++++ " The only major statement that I dispute is that extreme tracking ability is the key parameter that should be used in general to distinguish OK cartridges from not OK cartridges. " +++++

of course that I can't argue your opinion: you are the expert here you are a cartridge designer where I'm only an audiophile that likes to make tests and time to time think " out of the box ".

J.Carr, I'm " absolutely sure that the Titan i or the Atlas or the Ortofon Anna or any other today cartridge would/could ( ? ) performs at way better quality if the cartridge tracking abilities ( by design ) were better were improved.

Please forgeret about any other related cartridge subject ( are so many. ): IMHO a better intrinsic cartridge tracking abilities means lower distortions and if your goal is a better sound then try to lower distortions ( by design ) at all cartridge stages is a main target ( I think??? ).

As I said I'm not an expert but if today I want to start a cartridge design enterprise my first target is to design a cartridge with the lower distortions I can. A lower distortion audio item means: accuracy and neutral performance. Of course that there are several characteristics/parameters on the cartridge design that we have to acomplish for the cartridge sounds good and at the same time with the lower distortions we can.

The main audio system enemy are: distortions in all its forms.

Thank's for your patience and if you can: think about.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

The triangle/tambourine passage I named start 7 minutes after the begin the first note on the 1812 LP.

Btw, is important that when you are evaluating the quality performance of an audio system t do it at different SPL's especially in the high level that can tell you more than at low levels.

When I make this kind of system distortion evaluations the acid test is at: 95-97 continuous SPL at seat position with peaks in the 105-107 SPL.

R.

JCarr
Hi Jonathan
Yes I have the original Kitamura generation Final Audio Labs VTT1 with the SPZ plinth like this:
http://www.hifido.co.jp/KWfinal/G0301/E/0-10/C09-43580-46106-00/
Mine has the VSM-2 Oscillator Preamp/separate motor/VM-7 copper mat and VDS-17 Stabiliser. I use an Onix OA401 power amplifier & MIT wiring loom for the drive.

I acquired the Final from the estate of Warwick Mickell who was the Japanese foreign correspondent for The Absolute Sound back in the 70's/80's. Warwick passed away some years ago. This is the same TT Warwick reviewed in TAS June 83.

I purchased the complete front end which included the Dynavector DV501 and Dynavector Nova13D cartridge. Warwick's reference system at the time included the NYAL NCP2/ HTMPS preamp & OTL1's driving Stax F81/Onkyo SL1. Dynavector has been very helpful and has rebuilt the Nova 13D twice for me over the years. I keep the DV501 for posterity.

I use primarily the Eminent Technology ET2 (modded) or Naim Aro but latterly the FR64S for the convenience of changing cartridges.
My preferred cartridges are the Ikeda & Decca Garrott, but they are too brutal for everyday use. Daily runner is a Koetsu Black.

I did correspond with a gentleman back in the 80's in the US who had a Final, possibly the one HP reviewed. Kitamura was most upset that HP used an air suspension on this deck. I have the original compressed stone plinth. The later iteration that you refer to as sold by Top Class Audio appears to have a far less substantial bearing. I also see the Audionote/Kondo Ginga seems to derive from the same family. Do you know who builds these ?

Where did you acquire yours ?

Regards..

PS A tip for you. The only maintenance I have had to do over the years is clean and lube the main inverted platter bearing and motor bearings. I use Motul V300 Power which is a double ester motor oil that is both highly unctious and slippery. It will hold a film between seized motor parts. You might want to look at this. This oil improved transparency and lowered the noise floor.

Hi Raul:

>I'm " absolutely sure that the Titan i or the Atlas or the Ortofon Anna or any other today cartridge would/could ( ? ) performs at way better quality if the cartridge tracking abilities ( by design ) were better were improved.

Been there, done that. It is quite easy to improve the tracking performance, for example by designing a wire suspension with a longer-than-normal free length. This has the side-effect of lessening the intensity of the loads on the tonearm, which can seem to be a benefit if the tonearm has a resonance-prone mechanical structure, and can improve the tracking of a tonearm with lower-grade bearings or imperfectly adjusted/unevenly worn bearings.

But doing so means that the suspension's fulcrum point will shift position, depending on what the frequency being reproduced is. This won't necessarily sound bad, and some cartridges are designed like this. But it certainly isn't accurate.

OTOH, you are free to prefer whatever you like.

>In the other side the Telarc 1812 is a very good tool to be sure about the VTA/SRA

For the Telarc 1812, yes. But since this value may or may not be applicable to the other LPs in your collection, "to be sure" may not be the best words to use.

>and LOMC load impedance set up

Ah, interesting. Can you teach me about LOMC load impedance setup? Why do you load a cartridge, what causes the need to load a cartridge, how do you determine when a load is too high for a given cartridge, how do you determine when a load is too low, what do you hear when the loading is right, what do you hear when the loading is wrong, that sort of hint would be welcome.

>The main audio system enemy are: distortions in all its forms.

Agreed, but what you are suggesting is just as likely to cause distortion as reduce it (and this is not the first time that you have done so). Trading one form of distortion for another, or increasing distortions in the name of reducing them is not my idea of progress.

kind regards, jonathan