SP10 Mk II vs Mk III

Raul

I don't see any photo of your SP10?? Can you post one?

Do you actually have a plinth or how do you site the tonearm??

regards

Nice thread - I am the proud owner of the SP 10 that John "sold locally" that has the working strobe! The table came with this very heavy metal Mcurdy plinth and I have the table screwed into the top of that plinth, dispensed with the very large Mcurdy frame and set the top plate and table into heavyish plinth of rosewoods and maple, with an arm board arrangement that is mechanically isolated from the table. I can swap arm boards in a flash. I will endeavor to put up some pics this weekend.

I have experimented with various mats and use either an SAEC SS-300 metal maat or a very rare Audiolife gun metal mat that weighs 10 kilos and was originally designed for the Micro-Seiki RX 5000. This mat gives high rotational stability I imagine, BUT - I am concerned that the significant weight might strain the motor, although on start up the high torque of the SP 10 shows no sign of stress and it hits full rotational speed as fast as without the mat. I also found that the table performs best with total isolation from the room and to this end the heavy plinth can sit on a sprung subchassis arrangement, similar to the AVID or Oracle tables. I am convinced the sprung system is superior to the heavy plinth on cones.

I can compare my SP-10 with a Micro-Seiki RX 5000 and a recently acquired Oracle Delphi MkV anniversary model with turbo. They are all discernibly different different, no winners, but if pushed I would say the Oracle is the most all around best - but it is frustrating that you can only use light 9" arms on it - I use a Dynavector 507 Mk2 that I used on all three tables for comparison with either a Sony XL-55 Pro, Technics 205 Mk3 MM, or ZYX UNIverse SB copper coils.

Based on the comments here I need to call John and get my SP10 power supply caps updated as well -joint Ottawa project John?

More to follow - have to hit the (ski) slopes now

Lonestarsouth, Read the thread for an answer to your question. One person here sold a Walker Audio Proscenium after he got his SP10 MkII up and running in a custom wood plinth. This suggests that a properly set-up SP10 is competitive with anything out there. But the same is true of Lenco and Garrard, IMO. However, consider too that the tables have different characters, and one person is not necessarily going to agree with another on which is "best".

Also, if your SP10 is really NOS, you might want to put it on a Variac and bring the voltage up very slowly at start-up. The electrolytic caps in your unit may need replacing or at the very least they need to be treated gently at first. They are ca 30 years old and have never been charged up. Applying full voltage could damage the caps and also damage irreplaceable parts that they subserve.

Radicalsteve, I am very surprised at your slight preference for the Oracle among the three tables you've compared, but you obviously know what you're doing. You might feel differently if your SP10 was in a proper slate or wooden plinth. Do you have any plans to try that?

Lewm

I am using the NOS machine for nearly 4 months now with no problem. It is indeed NOS. I was the first to remove the plastic baggies around all the parts taped shut with that anti-tamper green sticky tape. It was like pure sin.

I realise that the RB300 arm is not the best.

Lewm, my plinth would qualify as a CLD heavy plinth (50lbs) a la Johnnantais so I am not sure there would be much benefit from anything much heavier, but a slate job would definitely look nice - it is something I might think about.

I believe if the Oracle is set up properly, which is not that difficult, it can be incredibly open, dynamic, with a big soundstage, and truthful in pitch. Some say it is a bit ligh or dry in the lowest bass registers - which is analagous to the same characteristics I found in my old Quad 63's. I put that down to accuracy or quality over quantity. Anyway, I cheat, because if I want more low end I just turn up the volume on the crossovers on my transmission line loaded woofers!

I also find the SP-10 is also very accurate in the low end, no bloat or overemphasis here.

One of the great virtues of the SP-10 in a heavy plinth is that it seems to be agnostic to different tonearms and makes every kind of arm perform as it should. I did not find any particular synergies or mismatching with various arms I have tried. My old Triplanar worked nicely as did a Fidelity Research FR64x. Based on the arms I put thru their paces I would settle on the Dynavector 507 Mk2 as being a really good match.