RobHolt
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- Joined
- Oct 23, 2004
- Messages
- 4,126
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I've been itching for a TT change for some time, or more specifically I've been hankering after a return to the TT I used about 10 years ago and which I regret selling.
Nothing wrong with my P9 which sounds as good as I could wish, but these days I tend to base a decision to own things on looks, engineering, company reputation/respect in addition to performance. I've always loved the look of the Gyro so bought the one you see here from David Wren at Raddlet Audio, who provided excellent service as usual.
For the arm I'd intended to use my Mission 774 but part of the reason for changing deck was a desire to experiment easily with different cartridges, which directed my attention towards arms with SME fit shells and the 3009 S2 in particular.
A recent visit to Tony L allowed me to look closely as several different versions, from the original S2 to the later Improved. Tony should write a book on SME arms since he's done his homework
and the discussion was very useful.
Backtracking slightly, to around 1981/2 in fact, I'd come across the 3009 before and not been that impressed. However at that time I'd no idea of the version history, and with hindsight it's all too clear now why putting a low compliance Mission MC into what was a fixed head low mass S2 Imp wasn't going to work well, which it didn't.
So armed with a little more knowledge I managed to source an early 3009 S2 from dealer Infidelity, and again I had excellent service and advice. It's actually a very early 'split counterweight' S2 and other than for some dirt it was in fine shape.
I spent a day stripping down and cleaning it, and made a new arm cable which I decided to solder directly to the SME terminal block and bypass the large vertical plug and socket.
I wasn't sure what to expect when fitting the AT33PTG but the result came as quite a surprise. Tracking is superb - it flies through an Ortofon torture test without a murmur and it sounds secure in the groove. In fact the AT33 sounds just like.....well an AT33. The presentation is a little richer than with the Rega but there are absolutely no signs that the arm is not handing the cartridge correctly - quite the opposite!
No doubt the lower mass 'Improved' versions are also fine when properly matched.
So I've completely revised my opinion of these arms.
The regular S2 is most certainly MC capable and their is nothing remotely odd about the sonics. I've got a FD200 damper kit arriving shortly so will update once that gets fitted.
Needledrops to follow shortly:
The obligatory pron:
P8090558 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8020551 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090559 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090560 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090562 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090563 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090565 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090567 by trebor1966, on Flickr
Some needle drops:
http://www.mediafire.com/?4y5617zqixl713f
http://www.mediafire.com/?mau08d671cywln6
http://www.mediafire.com/?3si1zla5sp3pou1
Nothing wrong with my P9 which sounds as good as I could wish, but these days I tend to base a decision to own things on looks, engineering, company reputation/respect in addition to performance. I've always loved the look of the Gyro so bought the one you see here from David Wren at Raddlet Audio, who provided excellent service as usual.
For the arm I'd intended to use my Mission 774 but part of the reason for changing deck was a desire to experiment easily with different cartridges, which directed my attention towards arms with SME fit shells and the 3009 S2 in particular.
A recent visit to Tony L allowed me to look closely as several different versions, from the original S2 to the later Improved. Tony should write a book on SME arms since he's done his homework
and the discussion was very useful.Backtracking slightly, to around 1981/2 in fact, I'd come across the 3009 before and not been that impressed. However at that time I'd no idea of the version history, and with hindsight it's all too clear now why putting a low compliance Mission MC into what was a fixed head low mass S2 Imp wasn't going to work well, which it didn't.
So armed with a little more knowledge I managed to source an early 3009 S2 from dealer Infidelity, and again I had excellent service and advice. It's actually a very early 'split counterweight' S2 and other than for some dirt it was in fine shape.
I spent a day stripping down and cleaning it, and made a new arm cable which I decided to solder directly to the SME terminal block and bypass the large vertical plug and socket.
I wasn't sure what to expect when fitting the AT33PTG but the result came as quite a surprise. Tracking is superb - it flies through an Ortofon torture test without a murmur and it sounds secure in the groove. In fact the AT33 sounds just like.....well an AT33. The presentation is a little richer than with the Rega but there are absolutely no signs that the arm is not handing the cartridge correctly - quite the opposite!
No doubt the lower mass 'Improved' versions are also fine when properly matched.
So I've completely revised my opinion of these arms.
The regular S2 is most certainly MC capable and their is nothing remotely odd about the sonics. I've got a FD200 damper kit arriving shortly so will update once that gets fitted.
Needledrops to follow shortly:
The obligatory pron:
P8090558 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8020551 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090559 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090560 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090562 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090563 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090565 by trebor1966, on Flickr
P8090567 by trebor1966, on Flickr
Some needle drops:
http://www.mediafire.com/?4y5617zqixl713f
http://www.mediafire.com/?mau08d671cywln6
http://www.mediafire.com/?3si1zla5sp3pou1
]
