I just realized that I hadn't updated in a while. The low output Orpheus is singing away. To my ear it is perfectly balanced; smooth and refined but not self effacing and clean clean clean from bottom to top. It's definitely a step up from the normal Orpheus, particularly in the top end refinement.

piedpiper April 21, 2009 10:25

Applebook,

Thanks! I was referring to the added zero on the price of the Walker which is its descendant.

piedpiper April 21, 2009 10:19

Still playing with VTA and VTF, settling in around 1.92 grams and very slightly up from dead even VTA. The recommended 1.8 grams left it sounding a little rough and bright on problem sibilance and a little lean in the lower midrange. The distributor Bob Clarke recommends close to 1.9. Using an accurate digital gage is essential as my Shure gage had it inadvertently at over 2 grams which is a no no for this cart due to the very close tolerance of coils to ring magnet.

The Orpheus I am using is a demo sample from the distributor while I await my own which will be the brand new lower output version, incorporating a few other refinements in addition to fewer coil windings, due in about a month.

piedpiper June 11, 2008 10:44

System edited: I installed a pair of Sowter 8055 step up transformers with the
OCC copper option inside the Hagerman Trumpet in true balanced
configuration. I added a second pair of 47k nude Vishay load resistors in oder to
accomplish this and to keep the load impedance high as required by my
cartridge. With the transformers in line the Orpheus sees 940 ohms, high for a
typical MC but low for what the Orpheus can handle. Although the Orpheus is a
very low impedance design, the integrity of the design is such that there is no
need to tame resonances by loading it down. Dynamics, bass and noise are now
a non issue. The sound is cleaner and more refined throughout the entire range
compared to my former Cardas Heart. I'm delighted.

piedpiper June 09, 2008 17:40

Thanks Chashmal.

piedpiper June 09, 2008 17:08

Yes. Easily said. There are very few products that aren't compromised in deference to budget. Email me if you want to pursue it.

piedpiper June 05, 2008 12:11

System edited: I just installed a Transfiguration Orpheus as my reference cartridge and am very pleased. The bass isn't quite as full as the Cardas Heart that was my reference for over a decade but every parameter enjoys dramatically improved refinement, definitely in keeping with the given name of my system. Discs that heretofore had problems with sibilance that I had written off to bad recording technique are now remarkably listenable. This extends to how it handles surface and groove noise. According to the published specs, the Orpheus should have been an increase of output but it actually seems to be slightly less, underlining my need for a step up transformer (a pair of which are on their way), active step up, or higher gain phono stage, the latter of which is undoubtedly in the stars. In the mean time, I'm delighted albeit at slightly lowered ceiling on the volume and accompanied by a bit of tube rush and hum in the silences.

piedpiper May 30, 2008 17:22

Thanks, Stltrains! Just noticed the first "t" in your moniker, and here I thought it short for "soultrains."

Personally I've never heard more revealing wire, which is a good thing as long as what it's revealing is not a problem. I'd rather go that route than add insult to injury by having gear that needs taming.

piedpiper February 03, 2008 10:36

Thanks to both of you! If you haven't experience a reel to reel version of a recording you know the LP of, be prepared for a real ear opener.

To be honest, the amp/speaker pairing is not optimal as noted above but within its power envelope it's pretty darn satisfying.

piedpiper January 30, 2008 14:05

a couple hundred hours I would guess. The Votage is rated as 100VAC, 200VDC. Cas are typically rated VDC. I kick started the burn in by rigging up an AC plug with wires across the neutral and hot with various caps in need of burn in strung across them. WIth the Duelunds I put the pair in series to double the voltage rating. I left them there for a week before installing them.

piedpiper July 10, 2007 22:14

Evidentally, they don't recommend bypassing. And no wonder. I continue to amazed at the difference these make; like a major component upgrade. And they're just coming out with an even better (and more expensive) model as well as ones designed for elctronics as opposed to speakers.

piedpiper July 10, 2007 20:17

"...a .47uF which would be a bit large for either of us."

as a bypass.

piedpiper July 10, 2007 09:31

not sure about the paypal thing. Have you conversed with Deulund about using them in electronics? I'd be curious what they would say. You might consult the manufacturer of your preamp and confirm the required value of that cap. If it is possible to use a smaller value without losing bass integrity it should sound better if your not planning on bypassing. I notice the smallest Deulund copper foil cap in the Parts ConneXion catalogue is a .47uF which would be a bit large for either of us. I've got some .01uF DynamiCaps I might try as a bypass just to see.

piedpiper July 10, 2007 09:25

Thank you. I got mine from The Parts ConneXion. Is the CA dealer Michael Percy? The leads are quite long at about 3". The overall size is huge for this size cap at this voltage. I continue to be truly delighted with their performance. I'll be researching recommendations for bypass caps. For the moment, the high frequencies are not crying out for improvement.

piedpiper July 09, 2007 13:30

System edited: I just added the VERY expensive but excellent Deulund caps to the Gallos. A single 6uF replaced the 6uF with .1uF bypass DynamiCaps that I had replaced the original InfiniSeti caps with. As good as the DynamiCaps are the Deulunds are way better in every parameter, even without a bypass, and they better be at the price! Everything got cleaner, clearer and more present. Their very large size might preclude some installations. The picture loaded sidewards but shows it installed externally on the rear of the Gallos along with the Walker Audio Signature High Definition Links.

piedpiper July 06, 2007 18:48

System edited: added more pics

piedpiper February 26, 2007 14:11

I just replaced the motor mount to great effect. I had had it mounted outboard atop two long bolts attached to the lead motor mount I had removed from the plinth which was attached to three Mapleshade Heavyfeet. This arrangement allowed the vibrations in the motor to resonate considerably and be passed noticably into the belt and shelf. I replaced this with a 3 inch diameter cardboard mail tube section bracketed with 1" thick cherry wood end caps with the motor screwed to the top one and a 2"x2" steel block inside acting as a weight to anchor the thing. Lead shot with a bit of sand will be replacing the steel as soon as I can lay hands on some. The difference in the sound was noticable with a lowering of the noise floor and cleaner focus and dynamics.

piedpiper February 06, 2007 19:44

I've pasted another response from Crem1 to the same post mentioned above:

... there is one more tweek that takes the old table to new sonic heights... But only for those who feel at ease with mechanical stuff and do not freek . Again, do not attempt unless you feel completely confident with your abilty to take things apart and put them back together again. I recommend to carefully dismantel the arm to the air bushing and inject 100% Iso-Alcohol into the bushing via the air intake port located on the under-side of the base(plinth). The alcohol cleans out years of gunk build-up on the interior of the bushing and the air release holes . Make sure you have several cans of compressed air to dry the bearing once the alcohol runs clear. Do the same for the air-bearing base attached to the TT plith. Quite a messy job . Better still,remove those bearings completely from the TT base (plith) before cleaning . Returning those bearings to factory specifications by removing all the accumulated oil-crud stabilizes the air flow. It's sonically worth the effort to hear the TT as Bob Dilger /Pierre Sprey intended. Once the TT is reduced to its parts its a good idea to complete Mr. Walkers recommendations to the tone-arm & top of the TT air bearing. A change in tone-arm wiring maybe in order. Pierre Sprey recommends 40ga . I used 33 ga. Cardas via Michael Percy's web site that runs directly to the Pre-Amp capped with Bullett RCA's. Lastly, a word of caution no matter who recommends it--Do Not Burnish the Interior of the TT Air Bearing in the plith. That bearing has been "hardened" ; it can not be burnished unless re-hardened afterwards. That's too tricky for me. Other than a good cleaning and plugging the air-hole on the top plate w/ epoxy , leave the top and bottom plates alone.

piedpiper February 06, 2007 13:24

I've paseted in a post I made re: advise to a new Maplenoll owner:

You should put an automotive fuel filter on the intake of the air pump. A trap for oil, positioned just after the pump, and another for condensation 10-20 feet downstream from that, are highly recommended. I made my own from PVC plumbing parts, similar to the plenums but smaller. The plenums come next, then a charcoal water filter to eliminate oil smell and another automotive fuel filter for particulates come next. The splitter valve should be removed from the table and positioned next with the bulk of the hose going to the arm which is much more sensitive to air smoothing. Look for a pump that can handle 50 PSI if you can find one. As you divert more air to the platter the PSI will go down overall. The valve should be less than an eighth of a turn from closed. Set it as low as you can and still get platter rotation. Put your ear right up to the bottom of the platter and listen for any subtle scraping. If you hear anything, open the valve 1/16 of a turn or less at a time until you no longer hear scraping. Minimizing the air to the platter will drive up the PSI to the arm. I installed a PSI gauge on the last plenum. You could put a 0-60 or 0-100 gauge on the hose to the arm and a 0-15 on the platter hose if you want to know exactly what's going on. Be sure that all connections are tight as even tiny leaks will drop your PSI quickly. Check them all with dish soap for bubbles.

Be sure to level the table front to back with a bubble level and side to side by floating the arm with a clip on weight on the counter weight until it doesn't drift in either direction. Carefull grooming of the arm wire is important. I've replaced mine with the finest Acrotec wire straight through to male RCAs to the phono stage which I've positioned conveniently. The arm should be gounded via a very thin wire to the screw in the back that goeas into the lead layer of the plinth if it has one. This is then grounded to the motor and to true ground along with the phono stage/preamp.

After all adjustments of Azimuth, VTA, VTF and oil trough level have settled in, you can firm up all the arm joints with super glue. This makes a noticable difference in tracking and transparancy of the entire range. Removing the motor and building a heavy outboard mount for it will bring another level of transparancy. If you have the lead motor mount you can use this as part of your outboard mount, or make one out of 1/4 inch thick lead. Replacing the spikes or aluminum cones, if it has them, with heavy brass cones will take it to another level as well. You could also try mounting the whole table on a thick maple block suspended on a bunch of sorbothane squares sufficient to withstand the weight, as Lloyd Walker does with his table.

After all that, you should have very little maintainance except for clearing the oil and water traps periodically by unhooking the output tube of each in turn, running the pump and turning them upside down, evacuating the contents into a recepticle of some sort. If whatever the table is mounted on is not dead stable, it is a good idea to check the side to side level occasionally.

piedpiper February 06, 2007 13:21

System edited: Added a few more details here and there to the desciption.

piedpiper February 02, 2007 01:02

I recently did some tweeking to VTF, backing it down from over 2 grams to closer to the recommended 1.8 grams, after getting my Heart back from Benz for retipping. I had replaced it temporarily with a Grado Prestige Gold I had as a demo. Boy did things open up with the Heart after getting used to the Grado. I would hope so at 15 times the price! But so did the noise floor as, at one tenth the output, I have to run the volume pot full throttle. A new cart and/or Phono stage is in the cards since I don't want to go with a transformer.

I also added Mapleshade tube anchors to the Cary's preamp and driver 6SN7 tubes, and grounded sheet lead tube shields and three Walker resonance discs with Mapleshade Ultimate Triple Points on top of them to the phono stage. The sheet metal of the Trumpet is a bit thin and resonant and this really cleaned up a tendency to be a little on the warm and thick side. This system doesn't need that and the tweeking left the system feeling really neutral, sweetly natural and much more revealing, with micro dynamics jumping out of a much blacker background; very satisfying. The grounded shielding definitely contributed to this effect.

piedpiper February 02, 2007 00:40

System edited: added a bit more explanation to the system and speaker descriptions. Also note that for some reason the pictures came out mirror image backwards. ie. no I don't play my records backwards!

piedpiper November 02, 2006 10:31

System edited: The Hagerman Trumpet recently replaced the venerable VAC CPA 1 Mk II, a massive full function preamp, hardwired by me direct out from the phono stage. The Trumpet is much smoother and more transparant with deeper bass but not as dynamic, which is hardly a surprise given the huge power supply of the VAC. The gain of the Trumpet is not quite high enough to accomodate the .4 output of the Heart without putting the volume control of the Cary all the way up, revealing the noise floor of the Trumpet. I figure I'll need to either get the Orpheus cartridge which has almost twice the output of the Heart, get a step up transformer or get a new phono stage, to be truly happy.

piedpiper October 09, 2006 14:23