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My first Vinyl System
With a lot of fond expectations on a vinyl system, I sold my Metronome CD player and start a 'new life' on LP. Of course such decision was not made without rounds and rounds of visit to many of my audiophile pals including Marvel, Studiogrey...Both of them told me they are new to this vinyl world but I thought their systems are already very advanced. Among all the LP turntables, I have not really compared and exhausted all options but a few criteria were set upfront: (1) not so expensive (2) not the ‘floating’ type (3) small foot print. I managed to shortlist this Raven One and another British brand with a model name Circle (bet many would know which one it is). Final move was triggered by the fact that Raven is belt driven with an outboard motor which I believe would be sonically quieter.
As a new comer, I certainly need a lot of assistance in setting up and fine tuning on the Raven One turntable. All these efforts were greatly rewarded when I first played Vivaldi Four Seasons by Arthur Grumiaux with Marvel sitting side by side with me. We heard the same LP in Marvel's system as well.
In my system, CD playback used to be quite congested if the volume is high and sound lean and lack of rhythms if I turn down the volume. It is partly due to the room size and partly due to the compression on the dynamics in the CD playback relative to the LP. With Raven, when I use the normal volume, I can hear much better flow of music, dynamic range expanded noticeably! Whilst I can hear more details on the recording I could at the same time enjoy the grand orchestral music picture without having a strong congestion in the past.
This is still early days where I believe more improvements can be made on the vibration control, din-RCA cable, etc, but I feel that the choice of Raven One is a right one for me because (1) it is extremely robust as an all-in-one package (2) sonical performance is over and above my expectation given my experience of listening to the 3-motor Raven AC in Marvel's place and the ultra hi-end and classy turntable in Studiogrey's place (3) future upgrade path to add an external motor is possible.
Lastly I would like to thank TW Acoustics for producing such a great turntable at such competitive price.
As a new comer, I certainly need a lot of assistance in setting up and fine tuning on the Raven One turntable. All these efforts were greatly rewarded when I first played Vivaldi Four Seasons by Arthur Grumiaux with Marvel sitting side by side with me. We heard the same LP in Marvel's system as well.
In my system, CD playback used to be quite congested if the volume is high and sound lean and lack of rhythms if I turn down the volume. It is partly due to the room size and partly due to the compression on the dynamics in the CD playback relative to the LP. With Raven, when I use the normal volume, I can hear much better flow of music, dynamic range expanded noticeably! Whilst I can hear more details on the recording I could at the same time enjoy the grand orchestral music picture without having a strong congestion in the past.
This is still early days where I believe more improvements can be made on the vibration control, din-RCA cable, etc, but I feel that the choice of Raven One is a right one for me because (1) it is extremely robust as an all-in-one package (2) sonical performance is over and above my expectation given my experience of listening to the 3-motor Raven AC in Marvel's place and the ultra hi-end and classy turntable in Studiogrey's place (3) future upgrade path to add an external motor is possible.
Lastly I would like to thank TW Acoustics for producing such a great turntable at such competitive price.
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Hope you are enjoying LP more than CD and I know you have more patience in tuning up the turntable than me. It would be classic example that although you start late, you will achieve your goal much faster than the lazy me....
Good luck!
Marvel
enjoy the music!!!!!!!!!!!!!
when you habituate the sound of LP, you can't come back.
The Nagra PL-P on your system for the phono amp, correct?
still searching the phono-M, you think Kondo M7 phono will be good matching with goldfinger?
You don't need a step-up transformer for the goldfinger. The output of the gf is high. A step-up transformer makes sense only if the output is below 0.3mv. Zanden 1200 mark 2 phono is a much better choice. There is a dude in Shanghai using this combo.
Good luck with the monaco. I never like any turntable made in the US. I cannot stand the broken sound. Good luck.
You have a deep pocket standing behind. The syren is not for the common audiophile. You need patience and some understanding of western classic music to appreciate it. Gears with strong Asian flavor are not my cup of tea. I am glad you are a Tron fan. I don't think Marvel bro has ever fully captivated the musical spirit of the Tron. Don't ever get the syren if you are not going to get the matching amp.
The 7 is ok. It is not good enough. Get the 7 reference or the Zanden. Please change the speaker too. The sound is broken.
Voy
don'y worry of my stauts, I have a good,old turntable provide the good music for me, the new setup just for fun and learning the Vinyl technic.
That's exactly the point. The goldfinger output is 0.9mv! You don't need a step up transformer. The Kondo phonostage is meant for low impedance low output type of cartridge. If you must use Kondo M7 which is a MM phonostage, a step up transformer is a must. The step up ratio of the transformer must be damn high because the Kondo IOJ/IOM cartridge has very low output. If you connect gf to a high step up ratio transformer, you simply screw up the sound. Don't do that pal.
Don't choose audio component simply for the sake of using it. Wrong matching destroys everything.
If you are crazy about Kondo, you should get the IOJ cartridge, not the gf.
I'm not crazy for any brand but due to my good experience of tube phono-M, Kondo seem be a good choice. IS any Bro here use the Kondo phono can share some experience?
For the Monaca, we can't judge how good the sound or bad since not buddy hear it singing before, right?
The Kondo sound is unique, especially the mid range.