Luxman PD264 (~1978 - 1979)
Rega Planar 3, Grace 707 (~1980 - 1984)
Sota Saphire, Sumiko MDC800 'The Arm' - (~1984 - 1989)
VPI TNT, SME-V (1989 - 1991)
VPI TNT, Graham 1.5T (1991 - 2009)
VPI TNT, Graham Phantom II (2009 - current)
Phono Accessories
Mint LP tractor - amazingly precise tool for establishing *exact* stylus/cantilever geometry. Effected a significant sonic improvement over setup using the 1.5T's Graham jig - which in hindsight is not nearly precise enough to do justice to the cartridge or the Graham arm (Note: the jig that comes with the Phantom is much more precise - it's very close to the Mint. Perhaps if it had markings on both sides of the alignment plate - to eliminate parallax error - they would always concur. Of course the Graham jig has the advantage of doing alignment away from the turntable, seated comfortably at a desk. Alignment with the Graham can also be done much faster - 5-6min. Great for comparing cartridges.) You won't know how good your cartridge can sound until you try the Mint. There are reports that this tractor is a PITA to use but, after following the (very clear) instruction steps, I found it a breeze. But it is more time consuming than the Graham - allow at least 15 to 20min after you are familiar with the adjustments.
KAB Speedstrobe, a brilliant tool for setting turntable speed
Disc Doctor Miracle Record Cleaner and Quickwash
Nitty Gritty 2.5 vacuum record cleaner
Zerostat Antistatic gun
Magic Eraser used for stylus cleaning
Digital pocket scale and
Shure SFG-2 stylus force gauges
Denon 103R (14 ohm DCR) - 100ohm loading
Ortofon Jubilee (5 ohm DCR) using 100ohms or 470ohms - higher
loading more dynamic/airier, lower loading more solid/tactile
Ortofon A90 (4 ohm DCR) - 47ohm loading
The audio equipment has a separate
240VAC mains spur, run straight from the fuse box to behind the
equipment rack (a distance of about 12m). Conductors in the spur cable are
6mm2(~9AWG).
Power cords are
Bob Crump's 'Asylum' recipe
for the turntable/SDS, Chris VH's Flavor 2
design on the phono/pre/power amps and a
directly connected (no IEC) VH audio DIY Flavor 3 design on the CD player. The
DIY F2/F3s can be used with many different connectors available from Chris' parts list. I chose the Furutech FI-11Ag IECs
and the FI-11Cu male plugs.
All power cords have been made a similar length to maintain a star earthing scheme. This should minimise
any inter-component earth currents (via audio interconnect cables) which can
create earth loops producing mains 'hum'.
It boggles the mind, but
power cords and receptacles seem to have a much greater effect on system sound quality than
interconnects and speaker cables. In fact I now consider power connections
to be of fundamental importance (right up there with speaker positioning and
room acoustics). Until quite recently I'd been using an API
Power Wedge 11e line conditioner (high current filtered outlets and isolation
transformers for low power gear) and the generic cords supplied with the
equipment. I could scarcely believe the improvement that occurred when I
substituted the Hotbox/Crump/VH Audio cords. Every aspect of the sound improved:
soundstage height/width/depth, transparency, transient definition, focus, bass
power, dynamics, detail - the sound became more open, vivid and robustly
realistic. I'm talking BIG improvements here, of the kind associated with
a major component upgrade!
Note: I actually did another experiment prior to experimenting with the
DIY power cords. I substituted the API power wedge for a generic plastic (unswitched)
power board and used the stock (unscreened) power cords. This arrangement
sounded shockingly bad!.......lifeless dynamics and flattened, shrunken soundstaging. Much worse than using the API with the
stock cords.
Compared to the
Crump cords, the 'Flavor 2s' produce a more dynamic, transparent and detailed
sound. Increased bass tautness is very apparent. Reproduction of
space/ambiance and depth is more resolute.
The main equipment rack is well past its use-by date (12 years old), but I keep working around it rather than
face the inevitable - building a new one! It was originally built as a support
for the TNT and, if I were doing it again, I'd have used cross bracing for
more rigidity.
The rack is constructed of square section steel with MDF shelves. The main supports are sand filled to damp ringing
and vibration. Top and bottom of the main supports are terminated with adjustable steel spikes
for levelling and clean vibration transmission.
For a long time I had my speakers facing down the long dimension of my
old rectangular listening room and this seemed satisfactory.
My new room has a timber floor secret nailed to
battens over concrete and 13mm plaster walls. The
two internal and external walls are insulated brick+stud to improve isolation
(particularly to the rest of the house) and the fourth wall (facing the garage) is simple insulated stud construction.
The ceiling plaster is fixed to resilient mounts and the music room shares
its (skillion) roofline with the garage only. The external window is double
glazed, which further reduces outside noise. This room is much quieter
than the one in my previous house - and this benefits resolution.
Speaker stands are are 510mm (20") high,
constructed from four square section steel pillars with steel plates top and
bottom and filled with sand and lead shot (very heavy). They place the
Harbeth tweeters at ear level. The C7's are secured to the stands with four
small blobs of Blutack. Speakers are positioned about 1.25m from the front
wall and 1.7m from both side walls. They are spaced about 2.6m apart and
~2.8m to the listening position (all measurements from the centre of the
front baffle).
Although I originally had the C7's 'toed-in' to
fire directly at the central listening position, they are now angled
such that the left/right speakers face slightly either side
(respectively) of the central listening position - ie there is a fair amount
of cabinet visible on the inner sides of the speakers. I listen with
the grills removed. This gives the optimum balance of transparency, air,
focus and soundstage width/depth in my setup.
The wall receptacle is a
Furutech FP-15Cu. From the wall I use a
VH Audio Hotbox
with Furutech FI-11Cu male wall plug and FP-15Cu receptacles. For some
basic filtering, I've added a 0.47uF polypropylene X2 (250VAC) mains rated cap across the
active and neutral connections of each
receptacle (i.e. wall and Hotbox). 
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VH
Audio Hotbox - photo linked from VH Audio
(Chris's photo is much nicer
than my crappy camera skills can produce.....but picture NOT showing the Furutech
plug/receptacles - see above)
Equipment Isolation
I use a DIY
The CDLAD rests on
Aurios Media Isolation Bearings,
the M14 and 8200P sit on 'Daruma 3' bearings.
Cables are arranged so their weight doesn't foul the free movement
of the bearings.
The Daruma 3II isolation bearings:
Speaker positioning and room
Some further reading revealed that several speaker manufacturers (including Thiele, Wilson,
Audio Physic and Dunlavy)
recommended that speakers face across the narrow dimension of a rectangular
room.
I decided to experiment with this placement and found focus and instrument placement is dramatically improved,
probably due to less room interference. Fine detail and ambiance cues are
also much more apparent and there is a notable decrease in artificial
coloration of the music.
The room size had to fit basic design constraints - odd shapes would be
difficult to analyse and expensive, so basic rectangular construction was
chosen.
Dimensions are: 6m length, 4.3m width and 2.7m height. The dimensions of the
room started by following Sepmeyer's 1 : 1.6 : 2.33 ratios and was
slightly adjusted using basic spectrum analysis of room modes.
The corners behind the speakers have
DIY Bass traps built to Jon Risch's
instructions. There are
now five DIY absorptive panels behind the speakers (need to update pictures).
The panels are a slightly simplified version of JR's panel recipe.