New Townshend Rock 7 owner

Congratulations, Slaw! Your new TT will astound you.

I've had my Rock 7 for several years and I absolutely love it. I have yet to hear a better sounding front end... really, this is a special little known TT that when matched with my Helius Omega arm and a Kiseki Purpleheart cartridge, blows away much more pricey competition. The Merlin motor upgrade is expensive, but worth the money, offering an immediate and obvious improvement in sound quality, timing, slam and ease. 

bdp24,
The question of the "un-damped acrylic platter" of the Rock 7... In my conversations with Max, he says it is made of the same material that vinyl records are made from, hence allowing all mechanical vibrations produced at the groove level to dissipate easily throughout the platter and not bounce back at the stylus and creating distortion. A simple, yet ingenious design that really works.

I'd like to offer up another very noticeable upgrade which is probably the least expensive tweak available: replace the standard belt with a custom belt made by Mark Baker at OrginLive.com in the UK. At first thought, I found it hard to believe that a different belt would make any difference at all, but I was very wrong. It was not subtle at all. The belt tightened up the bass even more, focused the instruments in space (especially on jazz and classical) and increased the "jump factor" significantly.

alonski,

Hi,

 In my research, the Rock 7 platter is of a substance called "plastisine"(spelling may be off).

It is indeed a material to mimick the vinyl record. I have had several "acrylic"  platters in house, this is different. Though I've yet to hear it, it is of a different feel, and overall weight as well. Interestingly, as opposed to my VPI's heavy platters, this fairly lightweight platter w/ no ball bearing, spins very, very freely. Almost like one would expect from a heavy, especially heavily outer weighted platter. (This seems to be just one more positive attribute of a very well thought out design!)

I had recently been looking into Origin Live products for a tt project I have going on. In researching the belt, I've found nothing but positive remarks. I obviously, cannot remark on anything yet. It is in my thoughts.

One of my (need to own) cartridges is the K Purpleheart. I'd love to know what viscosity of trough fluid you use with that cart?

bdp24, alonski,

One of the issues I'm running into (without even hearing it yet) is when I get the platter level, I then put my level on the arm pillar, it is off level.

This is just one aspect, (similar to using an ET arm, and thankfully I have that knowledge going in) that makes taking time at first, that benefits the actual, later experience!

Slaw
Congratulations on obtaining your Rock 7 table.  I purchased the Rock 7 2 years ago with Metlin motor upgrade and I continue to he stunned by its performance.  Damping at cartridge makes sound so much cleaner with gery natural tight bass clear highs and excellent dynamics.  Best TT setup i"ve experienced.  Interested to hear your comments concerning VPI. Good luck
Nick

Hey Slaw,

I use the original trough fluid that Max supplied, which seems to work really well for me.

As for leveling issues, I bubble-level to the platter and the arm board surface. I use the smallest, lightest bubble level because on a suspended TT like this, even the weight of the level itself can slightly affect the reading, especially if you don't have a bubble level that sits dead-center over the spindle and have to level to another spot on the platter...

The Purple Heart/ Rock 7/ Helius Omega combo is magic. I had already been floored by the Kiseki when I installed it on to my TA Excalibur 3, but not very long after that, I took a deep breath and upgraded the tonearm to the Omega. The Helius took the sound to yet another level.

Every step of the upgrade has been significantly beneficial to the sound of my system, which is all I really care about. Most audiophiles that audition my system are blown away by the ease, naturalness, and dynamics that this immersive "you are there" musical experience creates.

My analog front-end set-up is roughly $12K now, and when comparing it with other source set-ups in its price range, there is not a contender I could find. Even set-ups at five times the price have a hard time beating this ingenious cartridge-damped technology. Just throwing money at a system won't make it musical... everything needs to play together well in a synergistic way. I consider this front-end to be one of the best values in high-end audio today. it feels good to be done upgrading for now and just enjoying my music.

Just my $0.02