Finally a EMT 950
- Thread starter prem
- Start date
docd
Active Member
Prem, Congrats!
M
mpw
Guest
I thought the emergency was over way back..
Upgraditis Bandi
)
Upgraditis Bandi
)
Some pics:
The rear showing sockets for audio outputs and power input and AC voltage selection:
View attachment 30665
A closer look at the audio ports:
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Part of the control panel. The figure of 8 button toggles between mono and stereo.
View attachment 30668
Tonearm controls: spin, stop spin, drop arm, raise arm:
View attachment 30669
EMT TSD 15 MC cartridge:
View attachment 30670
View attachment 30671
Tracking force of 2.5g:
View attachment 30672
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View attachment 30674
View attachment 30675
Few setup points:
1/ levelling of the table is easily achieved by adjusting the four threaded rod footers.
2/ for power cords Prem has decided to go back basics by using regular computer power cables. No fancy cable. The schuko pins of both the power cables for TT and amp were chopped off and were directly twisted to the power cable in the wall, and protected with plastic wire nuts.
3/ TT to amp balanced cabling uses very cheap Studiotechnik Dusch cables. This cable works very well.
4/ speakers are roughly placed without any fine tuning of position done with earlier TT.
5/ Left and Right channel balance adjustments are done from the built in phono preamp of the EMT 950. We struggled a bit here because we did not apply our minds. Neither did we read the manuals
. I was reminded of the classic instruction, "RTFM".
6/ Arm came pre-balanced so there was nothing to do here.
7/ the usual room tuning devices did not work. Or more precisely, they were not required at all. There seems to be no need to compensate for the limitations of equipment.
First Impressions:
From the very first notes it was obvious that the 950 is a very different animal from the 938. We had big smiles from the moment we started listening. The most obvious difference was in the bass weight and texture. It has subterranean depth. The nuances and texture of bass are superb. With the 938 playing Stevie Ray Vaughan's Tin Pan Alley the quality of bass was my personal reference bass. The 938 is left far behind, biting the dust. A deep bass is no good if it eats into the all-important midrange. The Tekton Double Impact speakers demarcates the bass and mids distinctly, yet they play together as a "band" in harmony. I remember mentioning twice to Prem last night that the singer is in the room. Timing is spot on and there is a smooth sense of flow to the music. The same EMT TSD 15 cartridge is used but the amount of extra details the 950 digs up is amazing. The highs are delicate and ethereal. If I am to characterise the sound right now, I would say that it has an amazingly deep bass combined with delicate highs. The mids are a given, of course. A dream combo, in my opinion.
The 950 is certainly an upgrade over the 938 by a comfortable margin.
The balanced signal cable is new and will improve with burn in. Prem is expecting a couple of unconventional speaker cables. I am guessing things will improve further. All in all a punt that paid off exceedingly well.
Amazing listening room you have! Even Silence will be musical here! Congratulations on your new acquisition & thanks for sharing the pictures. Hopefully I'll try to visit during my next Mumbai trip.
M
mpw
Guest
Agree
That's the advantage of only 1 source..
That's the advantage of only 1 source..
souravin
Well-Known Member
A marvelous piece of engineering with stunning sound. Understand how happy you are Prem with this new addition.
Thanks,
Sourav
Thanks,
Sourav
shafic
Well-Known Member
And look forward to you joining the EMT gang
Then you can be the leader of that 'gang' sir
square_wave
Well-Known Member
Congratulations Prem. Now you have the flagship! Hats off to the dedication.
So the speaker cables finally arrived and on hand was four speaker cables to compare, namely the existing Western Electric WE16, my Belden 8471 which had about 10 hours of burn in, and the two new ones - Radio Shack 16 gauge in wall speaker cable, and the vintage Polk Audio Cobra (NOS). Incidentally, all the speaker cables were 2.5m in length.
When Rikhav and myself reached Prem's place the Cobra was already playing (about 10 hours of burn in under its belt). Personally, I was blown away by the bass weight, bass texture, the sense of effortlessness in the upper mids and the sparkling highs. Straightaway I could tell that this is the most resolving iteration of Prem's setup that I've heard over the years. Subtle micro dynamic nuances suddenly became more apparent, giving new meaning and life to familiar music. We heard music across genres and each type of music sounded better than before.
Since the agenda of the evening was to compare speaker cables, the Belden 8471 was next in line. It acquitted itself surprisingly well despite it's low cost (Rs 90/m). The bass weight was surprisingly good though it was certainly not multi-coloured and kaleidoscopic like the Polk Cobra. Mids were its strong suits and the highs weren't shoddy either. If we had not heard the Polk Cobra I'm certain we would have liked it a lot.
Radio Shack went in next. Like most things Radio Shack it was cheap. A 30 foot spool will set you back by the princely sum of $9. Despite it's cheap price it came with a very strong recommendation from the industry expert with whom Prem had been in constant dialogue. This made it the most awaited cable of the evening. The sound of this cable (zero hours) was instantly likeable. It didn't highlight anything and it stayed unobstrusively in the background. If there's a neutral cable, this one is a prime example. The industry expert I alluded to above had specifically told Prem to use this speaker cable to tune his setup, and once satisfied, to try other speaker cables for euphonic colourations. Yes, it is that neutral and transparent to everything else in the chain.
By this time, we were actually not very keen to even try the original cable in the system, namely, the WE16. But like all good audiophiles we were duty-bound to carry out the task we had set out for ourselves
and so in went the WE16. I would say it has a very similar sound signature as the Belden 8471 (both of them being tinned copper, both 16 AWG) but the WE16 was more refined, most probably because it has been thoroughly burned in and had been in use for many months (against the 10 hours of the Belden).To complete our target for the evening, we also changed the power cords for the EMT 950 TT and the Berning OTL amp. The new power cables are also computer cables, just thicker (14 AWG versus 18 AWG of previous computer power cords). I won't even mention the name and model of this new computer power cord as there is no known way of obtaining them in retail quantities, but suffice it to say that it has attained a bit of a cult status in some audiophile circles (like Pass Labs is said to include this same power cord with their high end amps). We plugged only the Berning amp and not the EMT TT with the new power cord to avoid multiple variables confusing us. This new power cord powering the amp combined with the Polk Cobra turned out to be the most potent combo. Especially impressive is the further improvement in the bass quality. Image also became more holographic than before. One could almost walk into the stage and shake hands with the performers. But the best part of this combo was its unfailing musicality. It is hifi and musical - the Holy Grail, IMO. Yesterday Prem told me that he has changed the power cord of the EMT too to the new power cord and he heard further refinements.
Presently Prem's setup is playing at the rarified upper end of the audiophile game. It is very good indeed. It is perhaps the best I've ever heard.
PS: I took home the Radio Shack speaker cable and a (cheap) Radio Shack RCA-RCA cable to try at home. I'll post my impressions in another post.
PPS: an important caveat--- the Polk Cobra is not for every amp as it has very low inductance but very high capacitance and can send certain unstable amps into oscillation that could even blow up the amp.
It gets better and better
Way to go Prem. Congrats!!
Way to go Prem. Congrats!!
Thanks jls001 for a very spot on report on the differences between the various speaker cables.
And also a thank you for your kind words on the performance of my system. It’s still work in progress for me. I feel there’s still quite a bit of room for improvement, especially in the lower and upper mids. Also I would like a bit more immediacy. Trying to figure out a speaker upgrade to improve upon those without losing out on the existing qualities of my system.
Would also like to add that the improved sound, especially in the bass area, is also partially because of the SRA VR Isobase that I have recently introduced under my amp
And also a thank you for your kind words on the performance of my system. It’s still work in progress for me. I feel there’s still quite a bit of room for improvement, especially in the lower and upper mids. Also I would like a bit more immediacy. Trying to figure out a speaker upgrade to improve upon those without losing out on the existing qualities of my system.
Would also like to add that the improved sound, especially in the bass area, is also partially because of the SRA VR Isobase that I have recently introduced under my amp
I totally missed this part! Indeed the SRA base has cleaned up the sound of the amp.
The legend of the Radio Shack cable! We used to always have (in the US) the occasional poster who would always mention RS cable in a cable debate. Needless to say we would dismiss the guy as just another cable skeptic. Amazing to see that the RS cable more than handle its own in a showdown with the legendary Cobra of all things. And generic 14 AWG computer power cord. Wow! Some great options for experimentation down the line.
As I said to Prem yesterday ... the more you learn the more you learn. Just speechless.
.
As I said to Prem yesterday ... the more you learn the more you learn. Just speechless.
.
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