Thanks for watching the video, remember there is a part one to this video I suggest you watch if you have not already, link here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ltCu1MDtd24.html
Really enjoying all your 'vinyl journey/discovery' videos, Terry. Very instructive & extremely well-presented. Nice one, mate! all the very best from Japan, (ex-Scotland)
I think it's rare to find a laser-like (an unintentional allusion to CD players!) focus on vinyl playback among the various RU-vid stereo gear reviewers. Much appreciated!
I tell you what made a huge difference for me when getting a platter mat. I decided to go ahead and try the UK made SoundDeck. The very first thing I noticed was how much cleaner my LPs were sounding. It really removed vibrations and resonance to the point where I couldn't believe how much distortion I had been listening to prior to getting the mat. It was expensive. Over here in the USA, it cost me right at $150. I almost decided against it but I'm glad I went ahead and got it because it made a really huge difference. The material the mat is made of really does absorb and dampen any vibrations making it back to the tonearm and stylus. Brian in Fort Worth 🎶
I use the degritter ultrasonic record cleaning machine. I clean my new vinyl and second hand vinyl before I play them and store them in anti static sleeves.
Have you tried the Houdini cartridge isolator? It's effect is even more profound than the Acromat, which is probably the best mat out there. The Houdini is about 5mm thick so you will need to raise the arm which can be a problem with Rega arms, a thick shim under the top of the arm-pillar.
New vinyl and old vinyl coming into the house gets a run through the Degritter 2, played and then re-sleeved in a new Mofi inner or spincare inner. A spincare outter with a small green sticker dot applied to the outter indicates its been cleaned in the Degritter. If warped / dished it also gets treated in the Orb record flattener. Generally, it never needs to have any further clean in the Degritter. Once is more than enough. I tend to not use or need to use any antistatic brushes.
Did you watch my other video - you see a big difference between the mof and spin care sleeves. I like the sticker approach because I cant remember what has and has not been cleaned
I threw away my carbon fiber brushes after getting a good turntable light, was shocked at the amount of fibers left on the record (tried 3 different brushes just to be sure and same results with them all). A MoFi felt pad, then use a bulb blower and camel hair brush to remove any remaining dust. All records go through ultrasonic cleaning when they come in the house.
Another great video Terry. I've had the PH 9.0X for a couple of years & the noise you mention will be the JJ tubes as they are noisy. Replace these with high quality 6DJ8 or better still, 6922. I own a few pairs of 6922 & currently use Tesla 6922. There should be no hum just the hiss from the inferior JJ tubes. Additionally replace the umbilical with a pure silver one, this, in my experience, improved the low end detail. Also the PH 9.0/X is available in black!
I dont have a shelf below :) - its fine this is how it has been for me and its a tiny negative - all products have negatives people dont like to admit them about their products until they dont own them anymore. Totally understandable psychology
I've had the MW PH 9.0XT for a few months and it's completely silent. I never used the JJ tubes and swapped those out immediately. I love it and the best phono that I've ever had. I plan to purchase the LS 99 tube stereo preamp very soon. I really feel using a rectifier tube in the power supply makes a difference in the low end. I'm using a ZYX Ultimate Airy X moving coil cartridge at 100 ohm.
That’s quite a turntable my friend. I had one of those cheap linear tracking tables in the early 80’s which seemed like an upgrade at the time . Nice video.
@PursuitPerfectSystem yes, it's tiny. But those motors are specced for the weight of the platter, mat and vinyl itself. Minimal weight, creating minimal drag over time will mean extra wear on the motor over time, shortening its projected life. Simply put. It's your system, do what you want. I for one will not compromise the life of my motor and nor do I hear any sonic difference whatsoever. Speaking about mats, look at a rubber/cork mat as well. A full acrylic platter requires no mat, you should listen to that as well! It made a profound difference for me.
I appreciate the concern but I doubt any motor is specified to any exact weight so a small difference is unlikely to make much difference 0- to be fair both of the "weights" I mentioned in this video weigh less than the difference between records so I think your good and over worrying in this instance,
@PursuitPerfectSystem I'd rather not chance it for no beneficial sound improvement. It's been said before in other forums. You are new to this format, instead of arguing your "doubts" maybe look into it more.
@@seano218 each to their own but when you dust the record on the platter when it’s spinning you are adding weight and nothing in the motor fails does it. So if the motor is that poor that some slight grams extra weight causes an issue then it’s a poor design. That is never going to happen nothing is made to that tight tolerance because it would fail too easily just with general use. However I would be with you if the sound didn’t change but it changes loads, I wish the molekula was quicker to put on and off as that is the only bit I don’t like.
Just one or two points for audiophiles: RIAA (radio industry association of America) was officially the standard of printing records in 1958 in US. However the standard was adopted by Europe only by end of the sixties. Therefore if you got an lp printed in 19sixtys you need a different equilisation curve to play the record properly. For example: Decca Ffrr lp. Bass is compressed from 300 hz downwards . However RIAA dictates 500 hz instead of 300! During play back for a RIAA only phono, the bass is enlarged from 500hz downwards. If you use this phono to play back Decca Ffrr then 300 to 500hz is over magnified, thus great distortion to the music! Most phono are built for RIAA. However if you spent a thousand dollars for an lp, you definitely would like to listen to music properly! Decca Ffrr lp of Rostropovich and Britten playing Schubert Arpegione lp cost me US$1500 !
If your planning to keep your TT at home and use the Mod Wright from down the street then get the balanced output for sure as thats what they were made for-very long cable runs in pro studios and have no advantage over good ofc copper rca inters for domestic use. The extra noise is the valves wich have inherent hum but unless your seated too close they should not effect the music at all. My pre/phono has four EF86 and was manuf in 1958 and gets noisy if turned up to about 2pm which is headache level volume with a 10w pc amp and 100db speakers and I have no intention of changing her out. Good show! Ps with the money you saved not upgrading take the wife away to Paris for the weekend. Happy wife happy life Terry😊
I think it depends on the gear your using - with a balanced preamp and power amp / integrated feeding it a balanced signal makes most sense, I would assume its the same as with digital gear in this regard, except the voltage changes a lot wtih dacs between single ended and balanced so maybe it not the same. Yes the him was at volume of 3/4 power and above and from close to the speaker but it was there so its right to mention it I feel.
You probably know it already. Every cartridge has an internal impedance. So one has to load a resistor in parallel before going up preamp. I realise this only twenty years ago, and had discarded many cartridges. The difference is night and day! Value of the resistor is approximately 30x internal impedance.
I've had good results with the Herbie's Audio Lab Way Excellent II TT mat in various thicknesses from Texas US plus shipping also used with his SuperSonic Record Stabilizer or the Origin Live
I’ve had my ph9 for a 7/8 months now. After about 3 months I sent the power supply for the tube rectifier upgrade. That has made the difference between looking elsewhere and keeping this as my endgame phono pre. I also noticed the hum/ noise with my 88db bookshelf speakers. However, I recently got JBL L100 classic and they are 90db. This combination has dropped the noise level to a point where the noise floor is no longer an issue. I imagine a higher 95/99db speaker might be a better match. Although the transformer upgrade would also further droop the noise and add heft and volume I am quite happy with my set up. Also a cartridge with a higher output voltage above .5mv works best. My previous phono pre was an Audio Research PH8. It’s fantastic with perfect clean records. But I could not play most in my collection. Pops and clicks and record noise was just too much to enjoy most of my records. But the sound is lively and it gives the live band playing in my living room feel. I miss it but the modwright allows me to just play all my records.
Interesting you say that about the 0.5mv cart being ideal, I assume that allows you to use the lower gain setting for the MC? I was wondering about this Great that you confirmed my findings shows I was telling the truth :) Also for more of that live in the room in the room feeling that’s what the hexmat products help with fwiw
@@PursuitPerfectSystem you are spot on with the Modwright review. And you are correct with the .5mv cart compared to my .3mv. But the speaker sensitivity matching is what tied everything together. I have a few table mats but I have been experiencing too much static so I just went back to the original rubber mat. It is a little dull though. The AR PH8 is an amazing phono pre in its own right. When playing live albums (Bjork’s Biophilia Live) it’s like being front row. Dinamic, instruments are sharp and just feel real. Something the modwright can not do. But what the modwright does right is it just allows me to play all my records without pops, clicks, and record noise. It quiet and music is lovely. The tube rectifier upgrade is a must. I’m looking forward to a NOS RCA tube.
Two vinyl-enhancing products to try: 1) Kirmuss Audio's Ultrasonic Record Restorer, 2) one of the upper tier software programs that convert vinyl to high res digital and that gives you the ability to remove the ticks and pops from the digital file
I recently met Charles Kirmuss at the Southwest Audiofest in Dallas, took his class on vinyl, his experience and his machine. I bought one from him (he's got a really good "show" package for less than online). It really opens up the sound and removes a lot of pops and really glad I got it.
@@pnichols6500 It's good to hear of such a positive firsthand experience. I've never met him, but I've watched countless videos featuring him and his cleaner. Seems like a genuine audio enthusiast with an excellent product for a fair price.
yeah that's the right approach what they're doing there with the centre clamp, you want it lightweight no mass. what you could do is super glue a ribbon to it over the centre hole so you can pull it off easier. I use a bathroom furniture suction cup and just drill the hole through put a heavy o-ring on it it don't need the o-ring it made it a bit tighter. try a classic audio MC Pro phono stage. it's not a good idea having a phono stage with MM and MC built in, you don't want the double amplification for MC going through MM amplification. a good mat I make is out of Blu-Tach just make it into the start of David 11 1/2 in maximum about 5 mm round balls get a bit of toilet paper and separate the paper and tear little pieces off and stick it on top of the blu tack to stop it sticking to the record. that might be the best mat you could get interested in how it compares to what you're buying? you might need to put a bead ring of blu tack about an inch around the centre if you're going to be using a clamp the only trouble is it moves you have to be careful not putting any pressure on it. another way is just to make the blu tach flat use a rolling pin and using one of those polyurethane record sleeves and sandwich it between the sleeve cut it to shape and that might work well not tried that yet. let me know if anybody does.
Vinyl can be a pain, but also very rewarding. A lot of turntables are not set up correctly. It's a good idea to get a cartridge alignment protractor - really important thing to get right. Another really common issue is uneven levels - get a small cheap spirit level (not a turntable one), place on your platter and measure side to side, then adjust, measure back to front, adjust, and then measure diagonal, from top left to bottom right. Also, a cheap usb microscope will alleviate any guessing with regards stylus condition and dirt buildup. Also Also :) ... Brush records lightly first and de-dust the brush, before brushing again with any more pressure.
6:00 hmm... this could be due to a combination of reasons. I could make out the front tubes being JJ E88CC. Maybe these could be upgraded to a better crop of E88CCs/6922s or even ECC88s/6DJ8s/6N23Ps if the specifications allow it? It could also be due to the power supply, the regulators used or even the interconnects. In theory, the balanced connection would be needed only in studio/noisy environments but the addition of output transformers might help with the output load's matching It could be the heater supply too, given the issue with the hum. There shouldn't really be any hum - I think they would have to look at this. Overall, the construction looks very decent, individual regulators (I guess) close to the output devices, film capacitors, precision resistors and large (oversized?) resistors used throughout. I don't like gimmicks like the design of the ventilation holes on the cover but I doubt this would add much to the cost since the holes have to be cut to order anyway in a non-standard size enclosure.
Incredible a 4k phono stage and people having sound issues I’m not sure many of these newer brands are an improvement on old I’ve had my U.K. audiolab 8000ppa 25 yrs and never had the slightest problem. Mm /mc sound fantastic. I’ve listened to a few higher ends and apart from a savagely priced audio research few were much improvement I was in a studio last yr after 20 yrs n they still the same lp12 deck ,naim phono and power with Rogers speakers must be 40 yrs old n they could probably have almost anything Matt seems interesting Great vids tho you have me thinking sound again 👍
If I reviewed the Audiolab I would find issues with it too, thats what a reviewer does finds the pros and cons. Everything has cons. Its also not a sound issue as it doesnt effect playback or listening, just when there is silence at very loud volumes
@@PursuitPerfectSystem I listen at extremely high volumes without issues at any time I stopped using valve guitar amps despite slightly better sound due to variations ,deterioration, sensitivity to different circuits especially at higher volume etc etc But in reality it’s only a phono stage n power supply so not a lot to it. Overall build quality nowadays can’t be compared imo I find it astonishing as a reviewer you can defend it.
If I was defending it I wouldn't have mentioned it - I mentioned it to be extremely honest and I am being honest now - nothing is perfect, I have had two £100k systems here in the lat couple of months and you can still find flaw in them. If it was so bad that I could hear it when sitting and listening then yes, but when you can only hear it up close to the speaker its different but its something an owner might also hear. Now they know to expect it which is why I mentioned it in the video. Audiophiles tie their emotions to their gear and behaviour and that seems even more extreme to me with vinyl playback for some reason, but I understand it as I do it too. However when we move onto the next piece of gear it exposes the flaw in the last. For normal people its years apart for me its days sometimes that is what I was referring to.
I'm not sure how records are stamped nowadays but traditionally, ever since record changers came about, vinyl records are shaped to have a ridge on the outer edge, i.e. the record part near the circumference is slightly raised (and so is the central disk). The mat used can therefore make a drastic difference to the sound especially when a record clamp is also used. In theory, such records when placed on a glass mat only come into contact with the mat on the circumference and the central disk part. 13:14 I would guess that since that mat only touches the record on these little blobs, the overall platter-mat-record friction may be lessened so the clamping down on the record would need to be harder to ensure there is no slipping of the record during playback? I'm don't know whether record slipping is an issue even with the most slippery mat out there so this is just a guess. 17:33 I could be wrong here but given the above, this would explain the difference between the Hex and the OL mat. The OL mat seems to be to have a recessed centre and a smaller diameter than the vinyl record. This would mean that the entire raised annulus part of the mat comes into contact with the vinyl record surface. That would significantly add a dampening factor to the playback whereas in the Hex mat, the minimal contact surface would be in the opposite school of design, having very little dampening and thus much more liveliness in the reproduction overall. You can't win with this, it's all about fundamental limitations of record playback. You can only hope to make the sound closer to your taste.
The last one. Cd is 16 bit and 44.1k sampling. What if I have a cd which is 32bit and 96k sampling! It must be very good! Analog phono are bound to have phase distortion caused by analog components. Digital is sampling and miss some information. Both are equally bad. That’s why I chose a digital phono, which can offer me 32 bit and 96k sampling. On top of that it also has resistor setting plus many equalisation curves besides RIAA! I found it in M2tech! It better than all the analog phono I had used including Audio Note! Please let me know if there’s anything I should have done 0:05 or things that I have done incorrectly. To err is human!
On batteries is a great idea and that should mean no need for a mains power purifier and if it is rechargeable then remove the charger from the mains when listening 🤔
Battery power supplies seem at first glance to be a great idea, getting rid of mains noise. Unfortunately they tend to have high output impedance. Ideally you want the output impedance impedance to be as low as possible. A higher output impedance tends to make the sound seem laboured and fat whereas lower impedance is more immediate and clean sounding. I have tried both and have found that a well designed linear mains supply is better than batteries.
The Modwright certainly seems like a nice product, but it simply wouldn't do for me, running low output MC cartridges only. Because of that, I chose to go with a Primare R-35, which has these load settings available for MC: 10, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 150, 180, 200, 250, 400, 600 and 1000 Ohms. And the fact that my cart sounds the best at 150 Ohms, makes the Modwright useless for me. Versaltility is important for MC users...
Over six decades of record playing .....i tried many different platter mats over the years . The very best results came with the CU Micro Seiki mat.the sandwich of the copper and the platter itself is a totaly DEAD silence when tapped and it doesn't sound hard or dampening information just the opposite , revealing layers in the music that were hidden evn when you tought knowing the reocrd for years. So in fact there's NO mat at all.........and it blew new life in all of my record collection . I aso use some drops of PTFE liquid in the oil bearing and the platter spins freely for over 4-5 minutes ..........the feeling of analog /vinyl has something going missing on digital even if good digital cab very impressive and getting attention by performance it doez not have teh feeling of human touch versus touching something made of unnatural material. Digita has to be as perfect as possible .......;lower quality analog shows it's limits and lower playback quality but is in most cases still enjoyable and or listenable ( remember the old electrophones ) .............NOT so with low quality digital. kind regards
I haven't spun vinyl in years but I don't like it when a company makes add on's that make the product cost 150% of your purchace to get a good sound. Just build the thing to sound good then charge you the price for that product. Take amplifiers that may add on a digital board or a DAC you can add on for a price. Just build a different model that has it built in.
No one is telling you that you can’t but if you have the new platter design this tech is built into it so technically you don’t need to buy this as well. But if you do maybe it would be cool to have 2 lots no idea :)
Having “Mild Hum” is not quiet.. While Hiss could be mitigated by better tubes.. But sometimes bad valves can cause hum too.. Try good Siemens for the front end, and good Amperex (A Frames) for the Output Stage.. But make sure the mild hum is not caused by the valves first..@@PursuitPerfectSystem
I kinda agree but if its only audible at 3/4 volume and above from about a foot from the speaker it probably is still quiet just a bit worse than you expect. It could be a tube but I am not getting into that as its not mine
Yes that is why my friend Steve was using the included mat but he wouldn’t be after trying these two mentioned here. Steve was writing reviews for me on my website and he wrote reviews for these. Sadly he died just before Christmas
Are those georgious speakers 🔊 are they made by Ohm from Brooklyn New York??? OHM's have a uni-directional speaker system and I have always wanted to hear a pair of those.
I rather have the belt out of sight and out of daylight. Rubber detoriates and is much less supple in halve a year. And putting it in tire shine to keep it from detoriating is also not everything.
Of course, I am not referring to a ground issue here just a slight sound from the phono, when the volume is cranked and there is silence in the room. Its just some noise floor I dare say all phono stage have some noise floor given what they are doing, this was just a little bit more than the phono I had before. You dont hear it at the listening position just up close to the speakers
Yes I was having a ground issue before, if you saw my old videos I couldn't quite fix it despite doing all the obvious things, a cable change was important there
Fair point made, maybe I didn’t explain this correctly as we are talking very slight here only turned up loud loud with silence so slight but I heard it so I mentioned it
I quite like your style of presenting, however your choice of components are way out of reach for 90% of people on the internet. A Rega Fono MM phono stage at £220 combined with a top of the range AT MM cartridge and maybe KEF R3 Meta speakers would blow most people away and would cost less than your phono stage alone. I'm just wondering who you are aiming your channel at?
This is a great question and its hard to answer without sounding like an ass or a douche but here is my truth. There are a lot of products at all levels and you cant make content for everyone in HiFi because of that. I try and look at a mixture of more affordable and more expensive but these days lots of channels focus on the more affordable stuff because its more popular and likely easier for them to get. So there is no point everyone making videos about the same stuff all the time which you see happening lots lets be honest. Channels chasing views I understand but its also very boring, its not covering the hobby for everyone and its misleading buyers into thinking they are getting more than they are, I don't believe in that. I like to make videos about products that really interest me whether the videos will got lots of views or not is one of those things, it allows me to be honest with my excitement and not fake it which I see a lot and it makes me cringe that people watch and believe it. If your a beginner yes maybe some R3 Meta would blow you away, but not if you have been into it a while and then the R3 have no interest. I have R11 Meta here now they are ok but they are not blow you away good speakers and I doubt KEF will claim they are either. They do look very nice though they got that bit right. At the moment I am looking at very high end gear just because its offered to me and lets face it if you or most people had the opportunity to review, spend time with and live with this kind of gear they would. Its a privilege to be given the opportunity and trust from these high end brands. I have earned that trust. I also look at it that its only through spending real time with gear at this level and above do you really know whats possible and what good sound can be which makes you a better reviewer of everything else because you cant buy experience and we are all learning every day. If every day is the same we don't learn anything. I hope that all comes across in the right way. I hope if someone watches my video for a product that interests them or or just to find out about it this all comes across too.
To take this further when someone is telling you everything is great that they have affiliate links for you should question it and them because there are no affiliate links for gear at the high end
Measurements please. Talk is cheap and basically useless without some measurement of the improvement a product can make. youTube is packed with this read the catalog page for a product videos that tell me nothing I can't read in a minute on the manufacturers' website. If you want to actually add value, go buy a test record and show us the improvement in distortion, or noise floor, frequency response, signal to noise ratio on playback or isolation one of these products provides. I can hire a parrot or use AI to just read the text from a company website. Nicely dressed guys sitting in beautiful rooms talk talk talking about a piece of gear is what a sales person does. It's ok, but it doesn't move the needle for me. I very quickly found that the real differences in record playback come from the stylus and not much else as every other part of the system is already good enough.
Yes talk can be cheap and you have to choose who to trust. I have been doing this for over 7 years and have demonstrated and proved loads of things before hence the reason over 77000 people have subbed and trust my judgment. To be honest 2 years into vinyl and already I know that there is a lot more to it than just the cartridge so we will never agree on that. Maybe don’t follow me based on that but all the best and thanks for checking in
The Gravity one isn't a record weight its a vibration absorbing puck, that is why it is bolted together loosely. I have both the Origin Live upgrade mat and the Hexmat Eclipse but they can't match the new Origin Live Strata mat that I'm now using on my Origin Live Resolution along with the Gravity one.