Cactus Cantilever Stylus DIY Headshell Alignment tool

Click pics to enlarge. Top, DIY Cactus Cantilever/Stylus in action, on DIY 12" arm. Record Weight is DIY from Junk Parts too. Decca Gold on the armboard.

NY Diary, Christmas Edition (19-23): Analog DIY Fever, Decca Cartridge Galore

Our man Kevin called us in on Monday to show us more stuff. It was an eventful afternoon, so all the listening were "uncontrolled".

Cactus Cantilever/Stylus! The Cactus Cantilever is certainly not new, especially in DIY circles, and has gained in traction since its introduction. Some very expensive high end commercial models that use cactus as cantilever have been well reviewed (Miyajima Saboten; Soundsmith Helios and Hyperion). Our man Kevin's DIY effort differs from those in that he made a Cantilever/Stylus. We heard it briefly and it was very good! The pic below affords an even better glimpse on how it was inserted into the Stanton 500.

DIY Acessories The pic above also shows Kevin's prototype of a wooden SME type headshell. The pic below shows his DIY rendition of the very expensive Dr Feichert alignment tool. The plate makes use of a quarter of an LP, ingenious! I am sure we'll re-visit it when it is finished. Incidentally, the Sancerre in the background is not the famous white wine, rather a light colored and very refreshing red wine (thank you Andy)!

Decca Cartridges and Shure M44-7 Over the course of an afternoon we heard the Decca Gold (VdH tip) and Shure M44-7 on the Thorens TD-124/DIY Plumber 12" arm (more on the arm here). Sound was dynamic as hell. Although the Decca Gold is no doubt a little more refined, what really impressed me was the very good performance delivered by the lowly Shure M44-7 (my view of this cartridge here), inspiring enough to make me think of giving my M44-7 a spin on my Schick 12" arm.

Later, we sampled the 3 Decca cartridges Andy brought over (the Mk II and the 4RC are Conical; the SC4E is different from Kevin's in having been modified to have a Line Contact Stylus). All were lovely sounding and each had its own attributes. With the different stylus profiles and output levels it was hard to test thoroughly, even judge fairly, but I have already asked to borrow them for some testing (enjoyment) myself!

Digital Listening I brought over my Magnavox CDB-492 and Proton AC-422 CD players. The idea was to demo the non-oversampling TDA-1543 sound (Magnavox) that I like, and contrast it with the bitstream sound (Proton, with attendant oversampling), which I have not done even myself. Sabotaged! Unfortunately, there was a hiccup. The Magnavox simply would not work when inserted into the big system. But it worked well with the small Altec 604E system (pic above). Later when Andy arrived we discussed this and he told us that some equipment just would not work well with the PS Audio Power Plant, which was where the power came from when we tried it in the big system.

I left the CDPs with Kevin. Later in the night I received a call from him. He said he fixed the problem and compared the two CDPs, opining that he preferred the Magnavox for its larger soundstage and better sound. I have always thought the 16-bit chips have better hall sound, which likely accounts for more air and soundstage. When these get back to me, I am going to do some comparison myself.

A potpourri. The tonearm wand, counter- and rider-weights are all DIY.

It shall be somehow attached to the SME part (from Ebay).

I look forward to seeing and hearing this bastard 3012.

Thanks for the dinner. Mostly take-out food. Clockwise from the 2015 Chianti: The mis-named

Pork, Peking Style; Braised Tofu with Fish Fillet; Shrimp; Sauteed Cabbage;

Sauteed Choi Sum, Whole Chicken with Scallion Sauce.

 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!