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Question for Marvel abt Raven 3-motor?

PuyiPuyi
Marvel,

My clearaudio master reference turntable is pretty good. I read rave reviews on the raven one motor everywhere. I am curious to know more about it. What drives you to take the raven 3 motor home?

Puyi

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    MarvelMarvel
    Puyi,

    HI, first of all, Raven AC is the only turntable that I have extensively listened to in PT's place. Before that, my experience on TT is really 'tiny' and fragmented. 3 reasons for me to go for 3-motor version:

    1. PT said no one in AE has tried it, so I will be the first one, so esteem and prestige...and a bit of exploration quest

    2. one motor is already very very good (to me), I believe 3-motor would add more accuracy on tempo and rhythms. This has proved to be true as I have used 1-motor config for a few weeks before my bigger rack arrived.

    3. I have a chance to talk to Thomas of TW Acoustics and he explained a lot more on the design of the 3motor version vs the 1 motor (the trick is on the power supply connecting up the 3-motor constantly getting information from the 3 motor and synchronise the speed). That gave me a lot of assurance that 3-motor is the best he produces.

    Unlike CD source, I really have no temptation to buy another TT for comparison at this stage as I am still very very new to it that I even don't know how much of the sonical performance is contributed by the TT in relationship to the cartridge, arm, cable, phono...a totally new zone for me in terms of learning....

    Could you share your view as I believe you may have listened to the Raven as well in PT's place...how would you compare Goldfinger with other cartridge that you have used?

    Marvel
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    PuyiPuyi
    Marvel, many caution me not to visit PT if don't want to spend money. The clearaudio master reference turntable is good, at least around my circle. The goldfinger cartridge is the best cartridge I have come across so far. It has excellent dynamic range, full of details, big soundstage. I mounted the goldfinger on the clearaudio master reference tonearm until the dv grand reference arm arrived last week. Then swithced the goldfinger to the dv arm. The first feeling is very musical, everything becomes smooth and huge dynamic remains also. I played some violin recordings. It just sound real and also sweet at the same time to my ear. I play Rabin's paganini violin last week with the master reference tonearm, the overall feelings were more impactful. In comparison, the dv tonearm gives more instrument texture and tone coherence. The big picture remains there too. This is not to say dv has small impact. It is hard to describe this muscality. I am in the art business, the sound of the dv arm gives me some artistic feeling, very unique. I just placed an order for the grandezza cartridge. The grandezza cartridge with the dv arm should be a heavely made pair. Are you using grandezza cartridge?
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    MarvelMarvel
    Puyi,

    Sorry for the late in replying as I was out of town last week. For the past several weeks, I was out of town on alternate weeks. Not usual for lazy bones like me. I hope after my return from Japan next week, I could sit back and relax for some good several weeks.

    Back to your question, I am using DynaVector XV-1S which was selected by PT on my behalf when I ordered my Syren Reference preamp with the phono stage built in to match with the impedance setting. Of course I totally agree with you that Grandezza cartridge would be natural mate for the DV Grandezza reference arm.

    From your description above regarding the use of GF on the Clearaudio MR Tonearm vs DV tonearm, it appears to me that Clear audio gives you a better feel on the 'big picture' type of dynamics and impact while the DV tonearm can render more inner details on the musicality, coherence and softness. I believe you are a frequent concert attendees, do you think the kind of live performance is more inclined on the former or latter presentation? From my very very very limited exposure hearing from the 15-20 rows, the kind of hi-fi element does not exist at all in live performance, I find more softness, interactions but less spactial separation in live performance than in any hifi system that I have listened to. Perhaps as audiophiles, we are always in the struggle between getting the maximum 'zoom-in' and maximum 'zoom-out' effect from the same set of components but in reality, we can only achieve the most optimal balance but not the best of everything. l wish to share what PT wrote to me yesterday: The essence of Tron rhythmic rightness, Da Vinci is timbre rightness, Zanden is live atmostphere rightness, Shindo is calmness/serenity rightness when he compared several phonos and gears that PT has got. I agree with him on every word.

    What phonostage and preamp are you using, by the way?

    Marvel
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    PuyiPuyi
    My Zanden 1200 phono just landed 2 weeks ago. Previously, I used the clearaudio phono. My preamp is FM 266, power amp FM411, speakers Verity Audio flagship. Your cartridge impedance match with the custom syren phono section. The weight of the cartridge is not the most ideal with the grand reference arm. The dynavector is a bit light in weight. You may need increase the weight.
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