Charisma MC1

[bod]

Sweet! Lemmy know how you get on. Cheers, Dave.

[Terry]

I was delighted to find the shop open this morning Dave. Was naturally curious about your cartridge but they also stock some other serious kit - Sonus Faber, Avalon, EAR, Airtight, Dr. Feickert and more. Alan (on first name terms already) had a pair of SF Guarneris on dem. Startling! Sadly he hadn't got a Charisma fitted to any of his players but explained in detail how they have a lot in common with Benz and feature much of the same construction and sonic character. He can do the MC1 for €900 or thereabouts, which seems very reasonable. It cost me €49 to fly Dub/Cph return so it would be practical to fly in and do a demo in one day. Have a look at www.abaudio.dk

As it happened there was a pair of SF Elipsa Reds in the room and I mentioned one of our colleagues was considering moving from valve to solid state. Best I save the comments for Simon's Amp post!




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[bod]

Cheers Terry. Seems like a good price alright (plus an excuse to travel!). I`m getting on very well with the Denon, I must say. I forgot how forgiving elliptical styli were. Only about 10-15 hours on it now but improving all the time. Tracks like a train too. I reckon it`ll do for the time being as I`m kind of relieved to be off the MC ladder of insanity. I`m sure it`ll come around again at some point though :-). Dave.

[Fran]

How is it settling in bod?


I got my B&O MMC6000 back from Germany today. It will be a bit of time before I get to set it up though.....


fran

[bod]

Cool. I should be getting that B&O system from my friend this week. Interested to hear how it sounds as they`re decks have a very good rep. The Denon is simply superb. Not the last word in detail etc., but it`s ability to just get the best out of any lp regardless of pressing quality is imo, far more valuable than any of the hi-fi stuff it may ignore if you know what I mean. Going to buy a few more as I really don`t think I`m going to need anything else this side of of the great barrier :-).

[Fran]

Wow!! thats quite the recommendation!

[bod]

I`m simply blown away with the quality for €280. Sounds like a Koetsu Black in many respects. Smooth, liquid, not spot-lit in the treble and plenty of bass. The mid is somewhat recessed but that suits me fine as I listen to a lot of Metal \../ so when cranked up it settles beautifully with no glare or harshness at all.

[Fran]

What phono stage are you using again (do you know the loading it uses)?

[bod]

MicroGroove+ 0.2mV / 100 Ohms

[Fran]

I finally got my retipped MMC6000 set up on the Denon deck. I also had to make a part for the tonearm (plastic from the 70s wasn't up to scratch) which I got at during the week. On first listen I was dismayed - very muffled sound, poor highs and flat sound stage.

Anyway after I thought about it for a while, I decided to check the cartridge specs..... And of course then I saw (and remembered) that the spec is unusual for an MC cartridge - preferred load is 47k. So I swapped over to the MM input and was well rewarded!

As it has settled down, I have to say it's sounding lovely. Great detail but zero harshness and tracks like a train.


Can highly recommend Axel for the retipped too. And he doesn't just do B&O - he will do any cartridge. Because he's in the EU there are no customs issues either.


Fran