Post by jon on Sept 1, 2020 8:54:47 GMT 12
Hi
Many years ago, I bought an Origin Live Illustrious Mark II arm, and it has been a real honest work-horse for me. Simple to set up, maintain and gives a great sound. Over the course of time the internal Litz wire frayed and went the way of all men. Time to replace.
I sent the arm to Origin Live for a replacement wire... In the meantime, I got out my Trans-fi terminator and installed. I will draw a polite and discrete curtain over the installation procedure - it was characterised by being fiddly, prone to skipping (lots) and filled with an amazing amount of profane language. The Wesley Decca, the Original Decca and the EAT Jo No5 were none to keen on the arm. Happily I finally got it nailed and things settled down. The Terminator seemed to me to be about equivalent to the Mark II Illustrious. I was happy - mainly because I had forgotten I was comparing a frayed Litz wire in the Illustrious with the Terminator.
I loved the ease of cartridge switching with the Terminator, and was, as I have said, quite happy with the sound. This installation had Owen's mounting block, by the way, as well. When I was setting up, that block was a big step up for the Terminator arm.
Having got things settled down with the Trans-fi Terminator, Mark Baker gave me a report on the Mark II (positive, Litz wire could be replaced, no problem), and then a sales pitch... I'm a sucker and bought the sales pitch. So now I have a Mark IV Illustrious. Installation was ridiculously easy, all my cartridges love the IV.
OK, so after installation and whilst listening to it, I started to think, swapped the Terminator back in, thought some more and came to the conclusion the Illustrious Mark IV arm utterly trashes the Mark II, and is certainly better than the Terminator - characterised by a lower sound floor and wider frequency extremes along with better transients.
So here's the thing, I read somewhere a comment about the arguments between Tangential arms, Uni-pivots, Dual-pivots and all the rest that it is not the type of arm, it is the quality of engineering that goes into the arm that is the determining factor in sound reproduction. Which when you think about it is correct, a well engineered and set up Uni-pivot should be better that a poorly made and installed tangential and so on.
I have no intention of dispensing with the Terminator, and I now have a Mark IV Illustrious as well.
When the 301 is built, I will be able to do Direct comparisons with the following arms:
1) Mark IV Illustrious
2) Tras-Fi Terminator
3) SME 3012R
4) Gray 10B Clone
More anon.
Many years ago, I bought an Origin Live Illustrious Mark II arm, and it has been a real honest work-horse for me. Simple to set up, maintain and gives a great sound. Over the course of time the internal Litz wire frayed and went the way of all men. Time to replace.
I sent the arm to Origin Live for a replacement wire... In the meantime, I got out my Trans-fi terminator and installed. I will draw a polite and discrete curtain over the installation procedure - it was characterised by being fiddly, prone to skipping (lots) and filled with an amazing amount of profane language. The Wesley Decca, the Original Decca and the EAT Jo No5 were none to keen on the arm. Happily I finally got it nailed and things settled down. The Terminator seemed to me to be about equivalent to the Mark II Illustrious. I was happy - mainly because I had forgotten I was comparing a frayed Litz wire in the Illustrious with the Terminator.
I loved the ease of cartridge switching with the Terminator, and was, as I have said, quite happy with the sound. This installation had Owen's mounting block, by the way, as well. When I was setting up, that block was a big step up for the Terminator arm.
Having got things settled down with the Trans-fi Terminator, Mark Baker gave me a report on the Mark II (positive, Litz wire could be replaced, no problem), and then a sales pitch... I'm a sucker and bought the sales pitch. So now I have a Mark IV Illustrious. Installation was ridiculously easy, all my cartridges love the IV.
OK, so after installation and whilst listening to it, I started to think, swapped the Terminator back in, thought some more and came to the conclusion the Illustrious Mark IV arm utterly trashes the Mark II, and is certainly better than the Terminator - characterised by a lower sound floor and wider frequency extremes along with better transients.
So here's the thing, I read somewhere a comment about the arguments between Tangential arms, Uni-pivots, Dual-pivots and all the rest that it is not the type of arm, it is the quality of engineering that goes into the arm that is the determining factor in sound reproduction. Which when you think about it is correct, a well engineered and set up Uni-pivot should be better that a poorly made and installed tangential and so on.
I have no intention of dispensing with the Terminator, and I now have a Mark IV Illustrious as well.
When the 301 is built, I will be able to do Direct comparisons with the following arms:
1) Mark IV Illustrious
2) Tras-Fi Terminator
3) SME 3012R
4) Gray 10B Clone
More anon.
