Showcase Your Turntable

[anm]

@gobble- does retipping means i have to tip same waiter twice???:lol:

Retipping was done by surgeons on Mr Bobbit.

 

[myriad]

@Santhosh

Gorgeous looking TT.
Soundsmith retippings are highly regarded. In most cases the better the originals.
Are you finding any improvement with Auralex under the deck?

Regards

Vasu

 

[prem]

Hi Santosh

Your music room setting looks perfect. I cant see the bar though.

 

[gobble]

enlighten us on cost involved in retipping??
@gobble- does retipping means i have to tip same waiter twice???:lol:

Only when the waiter is in a little red devil suit!
Then your dinner budget becomes the tip and you eat whatever the original tip can afford hyeah:

Cheers
--G0bble

 

[Asit]

Santosh,
Great system and room. Very happy to know about the retipping and your TT's back-on-duty news.

Vasu has already asked about the Auralex. Let me ask a few more questions:
1. Is that Auralex gramma or great gramma??
2. Where did you source it from and for how much?
3. Can you kindly describe the sound from the TT with and without the Auralex underneath the TT?

Regards.

 

[Hiten]

Santhosh bro, your listening den is :thumbsup:

If you are planning a diffuser wall with album art (Vinyl+CD) on them I suggest little glass shelves (2" x 13" edges smoothed out) on different unparallel levels would look good also. With shelf you can easily access different album and change them (or unless you are keeping two copies of albums ) A square grid will also look fantastic and will add design value to the interiors. can you share some pic/diagrams/sketches or sample from the net. Are you planning like this...

with little less depth of the shelfs ?

 

[stevieboy]

Lovely room Santhosh! Hope to see it tomorrow You've really put in some effort thought and time I must say! Simply inviting and superb!

 

[gee_john]

Retipping was done by surgeons on Mr Bobbit.

That was a good one !!!

 

[gobble]

Found it!! More than a year back when I searched the Internet high and low I could not locate the TT that I grew up with (I had no clue about the model number). Somebody mentioned a model number and that whipped my curiosity as in all my searches on Garrard I recalled never chancing upon it. (G00gle baba did not help G0bble baba ) So I searched out the images on the net and viola!!

The SP25. Thats the one I grew up listening to with a shure cartridge.

How is this TT rated in the Garrard stable and compared to others of its time? It sounded way better than the Clinical digital sound for sure.

For a good laugh read the 1st two comments on this pic Garrard SP25 Mk II | Flickr - Photo Sharing! :lol:

--G0bble

 

[ssf]

Deleted as no value added.

 

[santhosh]

@Santhosh

Gorgeous looking TT.
Soundsmith retippings are highly regarded. In most cases the better the originals.
Are you finding any improvement with Auralex under the deck?

Regards

Vasu

Thanks Vasu. Yes, Rajiv has a similar experiene wherein his cart sounded much better with a soundsmith tip as they use very good materials.

TT on the Auralex has definitely made a difference. The first thing I noticed was the music sounded a little cleaner and the bass has tightened up. The soundstage improved by becoming more airier and there was a slight overall improvement in coherence. It does almost nothing when I tried putting one under my solid state ADCOM pre-amp though. This is a temporary as I find it very difficult to use the TT when it is on the floor level (don't want another accident). I plan to build a DIY Rack (suspended type) sometime later. Something like this but using wood instead of glass. At that time, I will experiment with making a sandbox as well. The rack that I made many years ago is too tall and is currently housing my HT rig.

Hi Santosh

Your music room setting looks perfect. I cant see the bar though.

Thanks Prem, the bar is in the room adjacent to the music room. Nothing very exotic, just an old corner cabinet I have converted into a bar:cheers:. When you are in Bangalore next, please drop by for a listen and a drink. Enjoyed listening to your system and also the single malt earlier this year.

Santosh,
Great system and room. Very happy to know about the retipping and your TT's back-on-duty news.

Vasu has already asked about the Auralex. Let me ask a few more questions:
1. Is that Auralex gramma or great gramma??
2. Where did you source it from and for how much?
3. Can you kindly describe the sound from the TT with and without the Auralex underneath the TT?

Thank you Asit for your kind words. It is the gramma. I sourced it from Amazon.com, it sells for $59each and costed me a little over 5k including shipping & customs using Borderlinx. With and without, please find my experience in reply to Vasu's post.

 

[prem]

Hi Santhosh

Look at the Grand Prix Audio turntable shelves - the Brooklands Wallmount Isolation System - Maybe you could adapt their designs.
And by the way the bar cabinet has a nice vintage feel to it.

 

[sachu888]

Hi Santosh,

For best SQ place your TT on wall mounted shelf.

Regards,

Sachin

 

[santhosh]

Lovely room Santhosh! Hope to see it tomorrow You've really put in some effort thought and time I must say! Simply inviting and superb!

Thanks Steve. Would be a pleasure to have you over buddy after all you were one of the important protagonists in getting me onto the Vinyl formathyeah:. Really long overdue your visit!!

Santhosh bro, your listening den is :thumbsup:

If you are planning a diffuser wall with album art (Vinyl+CD) on them I suggest little glass shelves (2" x 13" edges smoothed out) on different unparallel levels would look good also. With shelf you can easily access different album and change them (or unless you are keeping two copies of albums ).......with little less depth of the shelfs ?

Thanks Hitenbhai. Yes, as mentioned in my email (offline) discussion with you yesterday, plan is to build a grid like curved (convex) diffuser with LP & CD Album art being displayed there to provide the perfect setting for listening.

Hitenbhai, I have quoted your post on my Room Build thread. If you don't mind can we continue to discuss on my Listening Room build thread as I have many more questions on this and would like views of yours and other knowledgeable members.

Link to discussion is:
http://www.hifivision.com/av-enhanc...eatre-room-please-guide-me-36.html#post280666

Sorry, don't want to derail this fantastic TT thread.

 

[Asit]

Santosh,

Thanks for the answers.

I do not want to wander too much away from the general subject of TTs, so I will generally be within this boundary. I have a question, especially now that I have a decent TT. If you or the mods feel that it is not appropriate for this thead, we can move to a new thread.

As far as I have come to know, the Auralex Gramma is usually not used for placing a TT on it, at least that is the impression I got from googling. Its common use is for amps. This brings me to my question: How have you decided on it, especially since you find improvements? Is the general principle of placement of a TT that different from that of amps and other audio equipments? Why do people recommend placing TTs on wall-mounts? I have never understood that. You and/or anybody knowledgable, please discuss.

Regards.

 

[G401fan]

Why do people recommend placing TTs on wall-mounts? I have never understood that. You and/or anybody knowledgable, please discuss.

Regards.

It's peculiar to US and UK homes, where they often have wooden flooring which tends to vibrate when someone walks across. These vibrations are often strong enough to displace a stylus from the groove (with non-suspended TTs), or even to affect the sound somewhat with suspension TTs. A wall-mount would, in such cases, be the perfect solution. In India, we typically have concrete floors which do not carry footfall vibrations (unless one is dancing vigorously next to the TT), is why we don't need to bother with wall mounting.

Regards,

 

[malvai]

It's peculiar to US and UK homes, where they often have wooden flooring which tends to vibrate when someone walks across. These vibrations are often strong enough to displace a stylus from the groove (with non-suspended TTs), or even to affect the sound somewhat with suspension TTs. A wall-mount would, in such cases, be the perfect solution. In India, we typically have concrete floors which do not carry footfall vibrations (unless one is dancing vigorously next to the TT), is why we don't need to bother with wall mounting.

Regards,

+1 to that... also a fairly rigid stand is just good enuff for indian conditions...

 

[santhosh]

Asitda,
Frankly, I don't mind the OT at all as it is still related to audio in general and TTs in particular. I believe that a bit of OT actually helps keep the topic at hand more interesting and we all learn new thingshyeah:. For Eg: if not for Sachin's post on wall mounted TT rack, I would not have been reminded of Jochen's wall mounted TT rack. Now that is one more thing to consider before I build my rack.

I am no expert and am less than a year into the TT world so will wait for experts to answer that. Meanwhile, I think a wall mounted TT rack reduces structural vibrations from passing onto the plinth an in turn motor, tonearm etc affecting trackability.

About Auralex, you are absolutely right about it being used for floating subwoofers and amplifiers (PA type, guitar amps etc but not audiophile amps). My decision to use it under my TT was purely temporary and based on the materials it was made of and its maximum weight-bearing rating. It is made up of MDF covered with an absorbing fabric and is resting on medium density acoustic foam and these materials can only do good(?). It definitely worked better than nothing and I did not compare it with a wooden plank and I for one will never use glass(again). My conclusion is that the Auralex has helped floating the TT and brought in some benefits because of the TTs weight which is why I mentioned it did nothing to my Preamp(relatively lighter). It is not the complete solution for a TT and I would not recommend spending ~5k on this as this and more can be achieved with a sandbox which one can DIY under 1.5k. I got a pair of these Auralex grammas for floating my DIY Shiva X2 based subwoofer which I am yet to complete(some time soon).

Some background info that would help the discussion: My music room was built later and was supported by an existent pillar and beams and there is one pillar is right below my TT and I needed something atleast temporarily as I could feel the vibration myself(leave alone my poor TT) while walking towards the TT. It is purely coincidental that a recent replacement of steel hollow pipes with two solid rosewood pillars for supporting the span of the room resulted in reducing vibrations to a great extent. I had even considered moving the TT to a different location within the room but don't need to do so any more.

 

[Asit]

Santosh,
Thanks a lot for your detailed post. Sorry to reply late. We just got the keys to our new apartment and spent most of yesterday there looking for little flaws to be rectified by the contractor. Naturally I was at the same time looking for a proper place to put my audio rig.

Just 3 points I need to raise at this point:

1. My TT (Scheu Cello) as well as yours are designs with unsuspended (or fixed) plinth. I'd think, placement principles should depend on whether the plinth is suspended (like my Dual CS 5000) or unsuspended. Can anybody comment?

2. I have thought about sandboxes before. I have not understood one issue there. The weight distribution is never uniform for any equipment (including a TT), so with time, one foot may dig deeper into the sand than others resulting in the TT being not horizontally level. It could be that my understanding of the sandbox is completely flawed. Any comments?

3. I am currently using the Magic Hexa foot rests (from Sridhar) and they really have improved the sonics for the CDP and the amp. I have not tried them under the TT. I am again sightly worried about the leveling problem that may surface. What do you guys think?

Regards.

 

[stevieboy]

Had been to Santhosh's room over the weekend, note I do not say home I say room cos the impact will last for quite a while. Superbly setup beautifully done. I could sit there for hours and just forget the world outside. Very very thoughtfully done and his TT sounds just superb! It was a very hurried visit, so will be going one day again leisurely to listen to some more LPs and a few of my own. Congrats Santhosh you've really got it made! I quite liked the sound inspite of my tube preference