Koss Totem Mani-2 User Manual download pdf (Page 9)

First, let me say that I bought both of

your books on high ﬁdelity and loved them.

I also received a copy of your magazine and

have subscribed for the next two years. I also

ordered six of the most current back issues.

I got back into hi-ﬁ about two years ago

after 15 or so years and ﬁnd myself wonder-

ing why I ever got out. My current two chan-

nel system consists of the following: Wadia

861 standard CD player, CAT JL-2 tube

ampliﬁer, Martin Logan Odyssey speakers,

and Audio Research PH3 phono preamp.

I have a small collection of vinyl record-

ings that have not been played in years. I

have had the itch to incorporate analog into

my system. My question to you is which

turntable you would suggest to match the

Audio Research preamp? I don’t want to

spend much more than $3500 in total for

the turntable and cartridge.

I have heard good things about both

Nottingham’s Spacedeck and turntables from

Pro-Ject. I purchased the Audio Research

PH3 used and plan to upgrade in a year

or so to the CAT SL1 preamp with phono

input. Any comments about this particular

preamp? I have been using an old Thorens

turntable that I had lying around, but I have

not been very happy with its performance.

I didn’t know if I should try upgrading the

cartridge ﬁrst or just move on right away.

Carl Waldbillig

WEST CHESTER, OH

We’d move on right away, Carl. The

best argument in favor of used Thorens

turntables is that people all but give

them away. They were somewhat better

than average, and better than the Duals,

whose reputation remains a mystery to

us, but their tone arms were wretched,

and we wouldn’t overspend on a cartridge

for a Thorens arm. Incidentally, they are

unrelated to the modern Thorens tables,

which seem better designed, though we

still have problems with the arms.

We’ve also heard good things about

the Nottingham, with which we have

however no experience. We have listened

to several Pro-Ject turntables, and there

may be a good choice to be made from

its lineup, probably in the RPM series.

Note that Pro-Ject offers electronic

speed control as an extra-cost accessory.

In our experience, that sort of upgrade

affects more than just correct speed and

is worth including.

There are several cartridge brands

we like, including Benz Micro and

Clearaudio, and we hear the newest

Dynavectors are worth a detour. You

should get a moving coil pickup, or

failing that a moving magnet cartridge

with very low inductance, and certainly

a line contact stylus. Your budget won’t

let you buy the very top, but careful

shopping should score you a very good

experience. There are of course other

possible brands of turntables, including

Rega and Clearaudio, to name but two.

You may want to choose a model that

is available with local service, because a

top turntable that isn’t aligned properly

is not going to give you what you pay

for. And little things are going to count,

because you have a high resolution

system. We can presume that adding the

SL1 preampliﬁer will let you hear with

even greater clarity anything that may be

wrong with the source. On the positive

side, your system’s resolution will make

you very glad you’re listening to vinyl

again.

I have a question concerning acoustics,

or more precisely treating my listening

room for low frequencies. I have a very

good sound system that reproduces highs and

the midrange marvellously well. The low

frequencies have good impact, but there’s a

sort of boominess around 80 to 100 Hz (hard

to be sure), suggesting a resonance.

I wonder whether you know of some

way — for example some sort of panel —

that could reduce this phenomenon, or better

yet eliminate it. I have already built panels

two inches thick of different shapes, using a

Masonite sheet on which I had glued with

liquid tar a very heavy black paper, all nailed

into a frame made from two-inch wood. I

had screwed the panels to the ceiling in my

former home in Repentigny and the results

had been very good. But now I live in the

Gaspé. What do you think?

Marien Desrosiers

ST-JEAN DE CHERBOURG, QC

Marien, if your home-built panels

gave you good results it is certainly

because the acoustical problems you

then had were in a different part of the

frequency band. From what you say

your new room has a problem in the

extreme lows. Here the solution is more

complicated.

Why more complicated? It’s because

sounds in the range of 80 to 100 Hz

have a very long wavelength (more than

3 metres for 100 Hz!). The long wave-

length will pass easily through a thin

panel and bounce off whatever is on the

other side. A panel that can deal with

such frequencies needs to be…thicker.

In the case of our Alpha room, the home

of our original reference system, behind

one wall is a bass trap nearly a metre

deep! A radical solution to be sure.

It’s possible to build a freestanding

bass trap with well-chosen dimensions

(it might be 1 m by 75 cm by 60 cm,

for instance, with no dimension that is

a multiple of another dimension), built

from materials that are relatively non-

resonant put permeable to sound. You

would ﬁll it with mineral wool, so that

air vibrating within the cavity would

rub against the ﬁbres and be dissipated

as heat.

However certain articles of furniture

can also help absorb bass, at least to a

point. A well upholstered sofa can help,

as can a bookcase full of books. Finally,

changes in speaker placements can have

a great inﬂuence on what you hear. Since

moving speakers is free, that is where we

would start.

My equipment consists of a Roksan

Radius 5 turntable, a Rega Fono, a Rega

Box 65085, Place Longueuil

Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4

uhfmail@uhfmag.com

Free Advice

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ... 83 84

Comments to this Manuals

No comments

Koss Totem Mani-2 User Manual Page 9

Comments to this Manuals