New Turntables - AT-LP8X, DP3000NE, SL-1300GK, and others

[RoA]

Don't know about the AT but I just had a SL100C delivered. Solid thing, no TA bearing play and the adjustability is a breath of fresh air (previously a Rega user). I don't like the raise/lower lever but understand this is the same up until the new 1300 so am not bothered about it. It'll likely outlast me. I am not a frequent TT user anymore and only wanted this to play a few select jazz albums.

Can't say much about sound as the included cheap conical AT is hardly the pinnacle of cartridges. Another one is on the way.

 

[Bob from Florida]

Congratulations on your new table! The cartridge included - VM-95C - is a extraordinary moving magnet. Change the stylus to Shibata - my preferred - or Microline and now you have something. Clearaudio uses that exact cartridge body in their MM lineup - they put their own stylus in and install in a body that prevents you from easily replacing styli. I own a VM-95SH, CA Maestro 2, Hana SL, and Denon 103. They are all on their own head-shells and easily swapped. The VM-95SH is the best of the bunch.

 

[RoA]

Congratulations on your new table! The cartridge included - VM-95C - is a extraordinary moving magnet. Change the stylus to Shibata - my preferred - or Microline and now you have something. Clearaudio uses that exact cartridge body in their MM lineup - they put their own stylus in and install in a body that prevents you from easily replacing styli. I own a VM-95SH, CA Maestro 2, Hana SL, and Denon 103. They are all on their own head-shells and easily swapped. The VM-95SH is the best of the bunch.

AT540ML on the way

 

[thewas]

Interesting that one prefers the AT ML stylus shape and the other SH, would be curious to hear more opinions of people who have good experience with both.

 

[mike70]

AT540ML on the way

congrats! the best bang for the buck today, amazing cartridge.

i have had many (many) cartridges ... and today AT is a "home run", now i only use the vm540 (upgraded with metallic body) MM and the 33PTG/II MC.

i also have a vm95e for my older and beaten up records, they're noisy and with many scratches, so played only with a cheap stylus (and the vm95e is very good inded, incredible for the price)

 

[Muddywaters]

I was also wondering if the Denon 3000NE is a Hanpin, as I am not sure who else except few companies like Technics produce their own drives, anyone knows?

Don’t know but I’d wager my next paycheck on it being Hanpin. (I’m retired btw ) Denon hasn’t built their own drives and arms since the mid 80’s???

Hanpin still putting the steel plate in them for the substantial feel? Arm bearings still sloppy? VTA still too high with the supplied mat and some cartridges?

I had a pre (beater) usb AT 120 and an earlier usb version. Nothing like the Denon’s from the beginning of the CD era.

Edit context

 

[Bob from Florida]

Interesting that one prefers the AT ML stylus shape and the other SH, would be curious to hear more opinions of people who have good experience with both.

Laziness on my part because the ease of setup with shibata. Microlines are too picky - in my experience - versus improvement over shibata. Curiously, AT charges more for the Shibata profile than Microline.

 

[JP]

EPA 500

EPA-100 rebuilt with Si3N4 balls. This is 8x real-time:

 

[thewas]

What is this video supposed to show since it doesn't show the excitation?

 

[JP]

What excitation?

 

[thewas]

The force that excites that tonearm to move.

 

[JP]

The air in an unoccupied room in my basement.

 

[thewas]

And what do you want to demonstrate with this video, the low bearing friction?

 

[Bob from Florida]

For you Technics fans. A really cool video comparing the 1300G with the 1200GR2. Including a complete teardown of both tables. I recognize the quality of their motors. Enjoy.

 

[dlaloum]

Interesting that one prefers the AT ML stylus shape and the other SH, would be curious to hear more opinions of people who have good experience with both.

In my opinion (and with some basis in theory) - the cantilever has a far greater impact on the sound/performance than the needle profile.

You can get very fine elipticals, that will (on pristine vinyl) outperform many line contact designs - but the effective tip mass, is primarily driven by the cantilever design/structure/materials.... and it doesn't matter what you attach in the way of needle on the end, the cantilever will drive the overall frequency response (due to resonance peaks related to mass) .

Although the TOTL Clearaudio cartridge uses the same generator at its core as the AT95 family - clearaudio fit it with a boron cantilever.... that makes a big difference!

A lot of the manufacturers no longer talk up the cantilever and effective mass.... it is simpler and easier to talk about needle shapes.

Needle shapes have other influences, they influence performance on worn vinyl, needle lifetime is massively impacted, but it is a lot cheaper to fit a shibata to an aluminium cantilever, than to fit an eliptical to a boron cantilever - but the later will outperform the former in most cases!

 

[dualazmak]

The user reviews and after-purchasing discussions here (in Japanese) would be somewhat of your interests and reference, I assume; I do hope your web browser(s) would properly translate the pages into English (or your language).
https://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0001655296/#tab

 

[mike70]

In my opinion (and with some basis in theory) - the cantilever has a far greater impact on the sound/performance than the needle profile.

You can get very fine elipticals, that will (on pristine vinyl) outperform many line contact designs - but the effective tip mass, is primarily driven by the cantilever design/structure/materials.... and it doesn't matter what you attach in the way of needle on the end, the cantilever will drive the overall frequency response (due to resonance peaks related to mass) .

Although the TOTL Clearaudio cartridge uses the same generator at its core as the AT95 family - clearaudio fit it with a boron cantilever.... that makes a big difference!

A lot of the manufacturers no longer talk up the cantilever and effective mass.... it is simpler and easier to talk about needle shapes.

Needle shapes have other influences, they influence performance on worn vinyl, needle lifetime is massively impacted, but it is a lot cheaper to fit a shibata to an aluminium cantilever, than to fit an eliptical to a boron cantilever - but the later will outperform the former in most cases!

The difference in tracking ability and high frequency detail is massive between elliptical and a microline stylus ... and you can have tapered/not rounded aluminum cantilevers with great results.

I have had boron cantilevers ... and for me, stylus cut is more important.

 

[tonyo123]

Semi auto, I have one: vintage Philips 312. Works great. With the cost of new turntables, I'd also check out used turntables.

 

[Bob from Florida]

The user reviews and after-purchasing discussions here (in Japanese) would be somewhat of your interests and reference, I assume; I do hope your web browser(s) would properly translate the pages into English (or your language).
https://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0001655296/#tab

Thanks for the links. If I understood correctly, the issue was inability to lower the base enough with some cartridges without using a cartridge spacer or thicker mat. It seems the SL-1300G solved a similar issue the lower models had by adding the 2.5 mm brass top to the platter.

 

[Bob from Florida]

In my opinion (and with some basis in theory) - the cantilever has a far greater impact on the sound/performance than the needle profile.

You can get very fine elipticals, that will (on pristine vinyl) outperform many line contact designs - but the effective tip mass, is primarily driven by the cantilever design/structure/materials.... and it doesn't matter what you attach in the way of needle on the end, the cantilever will drive the overall frequency response (due to resonance peaks related to mass) .

Although the TOTL Clearaudio cartridge uses the same generator at its core as the AT95 family - clearaudio fit it with a boron cantilever.... that makes a big difference!

A lot of the manufacturers no longer talk up the cantilever and effective mass.... it is simpler and easier to talk about needle shapes.

Needle shapes have other influences, they influence performance on worn vinyl, needle lifetime is massively impacted, but it is a lot cheaper to fit a shibata to an aluminium cantilever, than to fit an eliptical to a boron cantilever - but the later will outperform the former in most cases!

My Maestro 2 has the VM-95 generator with Shibata on boron. Mounted to the same model headshell as my VM-95SH - comparisons on my arm and table do not have any audible advantage over the AT version. If anything, the AT is listenable long term while the CA becomes tiresome after awhile.