analog corner - Audio Note Singapore

ANALO G C O R N E R
Michael Fremer
Fozgometer to the Rescue!
adjust a cartridge’s azimuth
shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to set this parameter
more precisely than is possible
by simply eyeballing it. On my
2006 DVD, 21st Century Vinyl:
Michael Fremer’s Practical Guide
to Turntable Set-Up, I demonstrate a useful, if cumbersome
and time-consuming, way of
adjusting azimuth that requires
a good digital voltmeter, a test
record, and earplugs. You could
also use an oscilloscope, or one
of the newer and relatively inexpensive computer-based digital oscilloscopes. A few years
ago, however, Dr. Christian Feickert’s Adjust+ computer program revolutionized the setting
of azimuth while also providing
an excellent diagnostic tool for
assessing a cartridge’s quality of
construction. However, while
Adjust+ is good enough to
make it an easy recommendation, it’s relatively expensive at
€249 (ca $340), and requires the
purchase of an outboard USB
A/D converter.
Longtime analog devotee Jim Fosgate, one of the pioneers in the matrixed processing of surround sound—
ie, encoding that produces surround
sound from two channels—recently
introduced the Fozgometer Azimuth
Range Meter ($250). To measure channel separation and crosstalk, it uses a
log-ratio detector developed for the
steering-logic circuits of surround processors. Fosgate says the readings are
virtually independent of overall signal
levels, and remain accurate over a variety of test signals.
I found the Fozgometer well made,
really easy to use, and accurate. Housed
in an aluminum case, it runs off a 9V
alkaline battery, has an On/Off switch,
left and right RCA input jacks, an
analog signal meter, and three LEDs
labeled Left, Center, and Right. Just
plug your tonearm leads into it and
play a mono (lateral modulation only)
test band from a test record. (Fosgate
recommends The Ultimate Analogue Test
LP, Analogue Productions AAPT 1,
AF
T
I
n vinyl playback, azimuth
refers to the lateral angle
as seen from the front at
which the stylus sits in the
groove. It’s often described
as being “correct” when the
stylus end of the cantilever is
perpendicular to the record
surface, or when the headshell
is parallel to the record surface.
Unfortunately, both of those
visual confirmations assume
that the stylus has been attached perfectly to the cantilever, that the cantilever has been
correctly aligned relative to the
coils, and that the entire motor
assembly has been correctly
installed within the cartridge
body (except for cartridges
made by Lyra and some other
companies, in which the body
is integral to the motor).
The importance of azimuth
can’t be overstated. The precision of the Westrex 45/45 system, developed in the 1950s to
reproduce two stereo channels
from a single groove, depends
on the exact alignment of stylus and
coil. The vertical axis of the stylus
needs to be exactly 45° from each of
the groove walls in order to minimize
interchannel crosstalk in both directions and therefore maximize channel
separation. When you both minimize
crosstalk and arrange for it to be equal
in both L–R and R–L directions, you
maximize the soundstage width and
the precision of the imaging—every aspect of the sonic picture improves. And
with today’s radical stylus profiles, your
records will last longer, too.
Correct azimuth angle is also key
to ensuring that the two channels are
precisely in phase with one another,
something that many suspect is even
more critical than maximizing channel
separation. The survival of our species,
Homo sapiens sapiens, depended on our
ability to detect the sources of sounds
in three-dimensional space, which can
be accomplished at low and midrange
frequencies only by the brain’s instantaneous analysis of the minute differences
in arrival time between the two ears’
D
R
cutline (t) and (b)
www.Stereophile.com, May 2010
discrete perceptions of a single sound.1
Interchannel phase differences imperceptible to our consciousness are still
registered by our brains. By reducing
subconscious listening fatigue, the elimination of these differences also induces
in the listener a sense of well-being.
Tonearms with gimbaled bearings
don’t permit adjustment of azimuth.
However, those of you who own such
arms are at the mercy of the precision
of manufacture demanded by cartridge
makers. When you pay more for a
cartridge, you should get—along with
superior materials and construction—
more precise assembly, and thus better
alignment of the stylus, cantilever, and
coil. If you pay a few thousand dollars
or more for a cartridge, you’re entitled
to one that inherently produces correct
or near-correct azimuth when installed
in a fixed-gimbal arm.
Those whose tonearms do let them
1 Below 1kHz or so, the ear-brain uses timing/phasedifference information to determine the directions of
sound. Above 2kHz or so, it uses amplitude differences to determine spatial direction.—Ed.
1
ANALO G CO R N E R
to repeat the process after the cartridge
has been broken in for 40 hours.
Even if you can’t adjust your arm’s
azimuth, the Fosgate Fozgometer is
worth owning, especially if you have
an expensive cartridge. Assuming your
arm’s headshell is perfectly parallel to
the record surface, if the two channels’
outputs don’t measure within 10% of
each other, I’d return the cartridge and
demand a replacement. The Fozgometer gets my highest recommendation!
T
Transfiguration Orpheus
L cartridge
Transfiguration’s low-output (0.3mV)
Orpheus L ($5999) promises even
greater resolution than the already hirez, higher-output Orpheus (0.48mV)
that I reviewed in December 2006—provided you have a quiet phono preamp
with enough gain.
The Orpheus design is unusual in
that it uses a single neodymium ring
magnet, inside the barrel of which is
mounted the coil system. This puts
the coil in the ideal location within the
magnetic flux field, greatly increasing
electromagnetic efficiency and reducing phase distortion. The L’s genera-
tor uses a new ultra-high-grade SSµ–metal core said to increase sensitivity
by 30dB, which improves the signal/
noise ratio. Over this core are wound
coils of 7N (99.99996%-pure) copper.
A low-mass Ogura PA (3x30µm) stylus
is fitted to a boron cantilever in a medium-compliance suspension; it tracked
exceptionally well at the recommended
tracking force of 1.8gm. The internal
impedance is an ultra-low 1 ohm, with
a recommended loading of more than
3 ohms up to however open you like it.
The generator system plus resonancecontrolled aluminum body weigh 9gm.
Everything about this cartridge exudes
the high quality you should expect for
six grand.
The Orpheus L demands precise
setup. It sounded a bit too restrained
loaded down to 100 ohms; at 1500
ohms it was airy, open, fast, and still
smooth, but in the most pleasant sense
of that word. It sounded too open at 47k
ohms, but of course, these settings will
also depend on the phono preamp.
With the azimuth precisely adjusted
and the SRA locked in—in my Graham Engineering Phantom II tonearm,
the Orpheus L ended up being just
D
R
AF
$39.99 from Acoustic Sounds, which is
what I used.) The meter will read “0”
if the channels’ electrical outputs are
equal in level (they should be), and its
Center LED will light up green.
Then play a test band with a 1kHz
tone modulated in the left channel only
and note the meter reading. Repeat
with a right-channel-only test band.
If the right-channel reading is higher
than the left, turn the headshell (or
rotate the armtube) slightly clockwise
as viewed from the front and repeat.
If the left-channel reading is higher,
rotate the armtube counterclockwise.
Repeat until the two readings are the
same, or as close to identical as you can
get them.
When you’ve got the azimuth set correctly, you’ll know it by listening to the
imporvment in stereo imaging. As you
make minute adjustments that greatly
affect the measured results, you’ll realize how hopeless eyeballing it is.
If you’re installing a new cartridge,
be sure to set the vertical tracking angle
(VTA) and stylus rake angle (SRA) before you set the azimuth—for a variety
of reasons, changing the VTA and/or
SRA can affect azimuth. And be sure
ANALO G CO R N E R
T
bite and grit. Heard live, cymbal splashes can have nasty,
gritty attacks—the Orpheus
L idealized them a bit more
than I’d like . . . but don’t let
my preference deter you.
I brought to the 2010
Consumer Electronics Show
CD-R recordings of tracks
from Analogue Productions’
superb 45rpm reissues of Sam
Cooke’s Night Beat (LP, RCA/
Analogue Productions) and
The Hot Spot soundtrack (LP,
Antilles/Analogue
Productions), which I’d made with
both the Orpheus L and the
$4200 Ortofon MC A90 that
I wrote about last November. Without identifying the
cartridges, I asked listeners
which they preferred. Most
preferred what turned out
to be the Orpheus L. When
asked why, they cited, almost to a
person, the smoothness and lower apparent distortion. One said he played
the Hammond B-3 organ, and the
Orpheus’s rendering of the instru-
cutline (t) and (b)
sibilants were superclean yet not excessively smoothed over, but there was an
overall smoothness to the sound that,
while pleasing in the short run, over
time had me wanting just a bit more
D
R
AF
not quite parallel to the record surface—the soundstage
opened wide and deep and,
especially, airy. The Orpheus
L’s ability to reproduce lowlevel detail was exceptional,
as was its expression of transient attack without artificial
edge. If you read my review
of this speaker in the March
issue, the Orpheus L was the
Vandersteen 7 of phono cartridges.
Reverberant tails floated
separately from the source
through clear three-dimensional space. Only a handful
of the finest cartridges can
manage this, and the Orpheus
managed better than most.
Backgrounds were dramatically “black,” and the Ogura
PA stylus coursed through
the grooves with predictable
silence, quieting even some normally
noisy LPs.
The Orpheus L’s overall attack was
impressively fast and exciting without
being hyped-up or overdone. Vocal
ANALO G CO R N E R
T
want more resolution, particularly of low-level detail, I’m
not sure that’s possible. If you
want greater harmonic richness, lushness, or a dark, burnished glow, look elsewhere.
You’ll find it, but I think
you’ll be sacrificing accuracy
for beauty, just as I think the
Orpheus L sacrifices some of
music’s natural ugliness and
harshness for its own smooth
beauty—but maybe that’s just
me. Overall, the Transfiguration Orpheus L is one of the
finest, most musically honest, most technically accomplished cartridges you can
buy today.
Montegiro Lusso turntable
Unless parfait audio jewelry
isn’t your thing, the Montegiro Lusso is easily the
coolest-looking turntable in
recent memory. Montegiro,
a German company, has long
made parts for other turntable manufacturers, and a
few years ago decided to get into the
finished-product business themselves.
The Lusso costs $26,500 with one support cone for the SME 309 tonearm
(which is not supplied), $34,300 with
one cone for the DaVinci Nobile arm
(which is included in this price). The
Lusso Komplete, which comes with
two arm cones and both SME and DaVinci arms, costs $45,800.
I like mass-loaded turntables, and
the Lusso has plenty of mass. Its main
tapered cone that supports the platter, comprising sandwiched discs of
aluminum and acrylic, weighs 57 lbs.
The arm cones or towers weigh more
than 8 lbs each. Add the motor cone
and you’re at 121 lbs. The cones rest
on threaded stainless-steel spikes fitted
with tiny ceramic balls. Via a flat belt,
the platter is turned by a synchronous
motor driven by a two-piece, twophase, outboard sinewave-generator
controller housed in acrylic, and fitted
with 33rpm and 45rpm speed selectors
and adjustment pots.
The one-piece platter of aluminum
with acrylic insert weighs 11 lbs and
rides on a mirrored sapphire thrust pad
fitted with a ceramic ball and rotating
on a close-tolerance stainless-steel shaft
and bronze bushing, with an outer case
of stainless steel. It’s an impressively
made assembly that spins smoothly and
AF
ment was the more accurate.
Whether or not you hear the
Orpheus L’s transient performance as smoother than
natural or utterly natural will
depend on your taste and system. In any case, the Transfiguration’s smooth sound made
more of my record collection
listenable without detracting
from my enjoyment of the
better ones.
The Orpheus L’s tonal balance was pleasingly neutral,
with no apparent warm lumps
on bottom or cold peaks on
top. Its accurate and honest
reflections of the tonal balances of familiar recordings
meant that it could sound cool
or warm as dictated by the recording, rather than impose a
particular character on everything it played. In that regard,
I place it at or near the top of
the entire heap of cartridges
I’ve ever heard, along with
the Lyra Titan (which may be
a bit hotter on top), the Ortofon A90 (which might be a
tad more tonally reserved overall), and
a handful of others.
I can’t imagine any of those three
cartridges not satisfying all but the
most smitten lovers of romantic
warmth. If you’ve never heard one of
these top-shelf trackers, when you do,
you’ll immediately recognize its son-
cutline (t) and (b)
R
ic sophistication and why it costs so
damn much. None of these three will
provide the warmth the romance lovers seek, but they surely know where
to look for it!
The Orpheus L offers hyper-detail
without the hype, its tonal balance is
about as neutral as you’ll hear, and it’s
revealing without being edgy. If you
C ontacts
D
Acoustic Sounds, PO Box 1905,
1500 S. Ninth Street, Salina, KS
67402-1905. Tel: (800) 716-3553,
(785) 825-8609. Fax: (785) 8250156. Web: www.acousticsounds.
com.
Dr. Feickert Analogue, Freiburger
Strasse 24, 79112 Freiburg-Opfingen,
Germany. Tel: (49) (0)76-64-6112171. Web: www.adjustplus.de. US
distributor: Avatar Acoustics, 545
Wentworth Court, Fayetteville, GA
30215. Tel: (888) 991-9196. Fax:
(305) 232-8310. Web: www.avatar
acoustics.com.
Fosgate Fozgometer. US distributor:
Musical Surroundings, 5662 Shattuck
Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609. Tel:
(510) 547-5006. Fax: (510) 5475009. Web: www.musicalsurround
www.Stereophile.com, May 2010
ings.com. And/or: MusicDirect, 318
N. Laflin Street, Chicago, IL 60607.
Tel: (800) 449-8333, (312) 4330200. Fax: (312) 433-0011.
Web: www.musicdirect.com.
Montegiro by Dattenberg Group
GmbH, Zum Ludwigstal 10-12,
45527 Hattingen, Germany. Tel: (49)
2324-9332-50. Fax: (49) 2324-933233. Web: www.montegiro.de. US
distributor: Koetsu USA, NA-5 Miramonte, Garden Hills, Guaynabo,
PR 00966. Fax: (787) 792-3656.
Web: www.koetsuusa.com.
Transfiguration. US distributor:
Profundo, 3020 El Cerrito Plaza,
Suite 320, El Cerrito, CA 94530.
Tel: (510) 375-8651. Fax: (510) 5258942. Web: www.profundo.us.
5
ANALO G CO R N E R
T
cutline (t) and (b)
of ultra-high quality, is relatively small
in diameter, and the platter is relatively
light and only minimally damped,
given the Lusso’s price. For about half
that price you can have an altogether
more substantial, better-damped drive
system in the TW Acustik Raven. In
my experience of belt-drive turntables,
all else being equal, a high-mass platter
is better than one of lower mass, and a
wider-diameter bearing is better than a
narrower one.
The thin acrylic afterthought of a
platter mat is not what I’d expect were
I to plunk down $26,500 for a turntable. I experimented with a variety
of other mats, including one of thick
graphite from Boston Audio Design,
one of lead and cork from Merrill/
Scillia, and one of damped copper, with
outer ring clamp, from T.T. Weights.
These produced enormous sonic benefits, though the Lusso’s short spindle
almost disappeared under some of the
thicker mats. For $26,500, I expect
more attention paid to the record/
platter interface.
Carping aside, the Lusso is an excellent-sounding turntable that produced
black backdrops; deep, tight, tuneful
bass; outstanding midrange clarity; and
clean, extended highs. Overall, it’s a
very clean sonic machine with snappy
rhythm’n’pacing and no flabby overhang.
I can’t say the Montegiro Lusso is a
high-value proposition—much of your
money will be going to the design’s
jewelry aspect—but if you’re looking for
high performance and attention-getting
high-fashion looks, does anything else
you’ve seen on the audiophile runway
come close?
nn
AF
quietly.
The review sample of the
Lusso was supplied with two
mats: a thin one of acrylic,
and a foamy mesh one. I
think the latter type acts as
a spring, so I didn’t use it. It
also came with two towers,
one each fitted for an SME
and a DaVinci arm (SME
309 and DaVinci Nobile
arms were supplied for the
review). The turntable and
towers sat on a Harmonic
Resolution Systems M31925 base atop the same
company’s SXR stand.
The Lusso’s unique looks
have won it a great deal of
attention around the world—
but is it a serious turntable
or merely a “lifestyle” design? Despite
its glitzy looks, I found the Lusso an
accomplished turntable that sounded
quite good: very quiet, tonally on the
cool and neutral side, and with stable
speed. I was underwhelmed by the
drive system’s heft. The bearing system, while clearly close-tolerance and
I n hea v y rotation
D
R
1) Johnny Hartman, I Just Dropped
By to Say Hello, Impulse!/ORG
180gm 45rpm LPs (2)
2) Them Crooked Vultures, Them
Crooked Vultures, DGC/
Interscope 180gm LPs (2)
3) Mary Wells, Sings My Guy,
Motown/Speakers Corner
180gm LP
4) The Doors, Absolutely Live,
Elektra/Rhino 180gm LPs (2)
5) Rachmaninoff, Symphonic
Dances (Donald Johanos, Dallas
Symphony), Vox/Turnabout/
Analogue Productions 180gm
45rpm LPs (2)
6) Tom Waits, Glitter and Doom
Live, Anti- 180gm LPs (2)
7) Spoon, Transference, Merge
180gm LP
8) Thelonious Monk, Something in
Blue, Black Lion/Pure Pleasure
180gm LP
9) Grant Green, Matador, Blue
Note/Music Matters 180gm
45rpm LPs (2)
10)Blue Cheer, Outsideinside,
Philips/Sundazed LP
Visit www.musicangle.com for full
reviews.
www.Stereophile.com, May 2010
7