Without patience and carefully selected cartridge, this arm can be real pain in the ass. But don't blame the arm, blame the impatience instead. The resonances of the armtube, I suspect, probably manifests itself in the upper trebel area, a wooden cartridge is preferred (but not all wood does the job well) to CD sounding carts like the goldfinger (for Michael Jackson's old recording, the goldfinger does the job quite well though). The Koetsu may be too slow, taking away the fast attack and the crispy transients of the Thales. Before the Shilabe, probably the EMT Gold JSD-6, is a better match due to higher damping factor and lower resonances frequency due to the 24kgold plating on the body.
Thanks for calling me back as AE's webmaster only re-admiited me to this forum after activating my password y'day.
Your latest toy does make me envious because of its " Black Widow " finish as mine in its standard magnesium finish has tarnished. This is an issue which needs to be addressed as the humidity in the Far East is high as opposed to the dry air surrounding the Swiss Alps.
Notwithstanding my above quibble, the Thales is easily the best sounding tone arm I have owned, however, it surely is one piece of delicate high end component which must be treated with the outmost care and attention (you'll find out yourself in next 3 months).
I believe you and I are getting the most mileage from partnering the Shilabe with this arm as opposed to other combinations, the sound is grain free, organic, dynamic and really musical (it sounds closest to music to my ears), I am making this statement from my recent experience intead of mere speculation.
I will be posting my latest write-up shortly, if you have time, pls come back to this forum later today.
Glad to see you returning to action. There is a price to pay for the black version. It is made of stainless steel instead of magnesium like yours. The arm is heavier and brigter in resonances. In short, it sounds different than the original version. The EMT gold cannot reall synergize well with the stainless steel arm now. It sounds too bright and a bit hard on strings. Only the Shilabe fits it well. Real pain in the ass.
But then we are all chasing for the ultimate sonic quality, aren't we?
Comments
Thanks for calling me back as AE's webmaster only re-admiited me to this forum after activating my password y'day.
Your latest toy does make me envious because of its " Black Widow " finish as mine in its standard magnesium finish has tarnished. This is an issue which needs to be addressed as the humidity in the Far East is high as opposed to the dry air surrounding the Swiss Alps.
Notwithstanding my above quibble, the Thales is easily the best sounding tone arm I have owned, however, it surely is one piece of delicate high end component which must be treated with the outmost care and attention (you'll find out yourself in next 3 months).
I believe you and I are getting the most mileage from partnering the Shilabe with this arm as opposed to other combinations, the sound is grain free, organic, dynamic and really musical (it sounds closest to music to my ears), I am making this statement from my recent experience intead of mere speculation.
I will be posting my latest write-up shortly, if you have time, pls come back to this forum later today.
Best
Mr Z
Glad to see you returning to action. There is a price to pay for the black version. It is made of stainless steel instead of magnesium like yours. The arm is heavier and brigter in resonances. In short, it sounds different than the original version. The EMT gold cannot reall synergize well with the stainless steel arm now. It sounds too bright and a bit hard on strings. Only the Shilabe fits it well. Real pain in the ass.
But then we are all chasing for the ultimate sonic quality, aren't we?