ortofon kontrapunkt 'b'

Gear oil of the type specified earlier in the thread can be obtained in small(er) quantities from marine chandlers. It is often sold in 0.25 and 0.5 litre tubes for outboard motors, and is used in the final drive; ie that part of the motor which is normally underwater, and contains a hypoid bevel gear assembly which transfers the drive from the (vertical) main drive shaft to the (horizontal) propellor shaft. The tubes often come with a narrow bore clear plastic dispensing tube in order to make topping up the gearcase easier (usually you lay the motor on its side and remove a flush-fitting screw-in plug in the side of the gearcase. Insert the dispensing tube, and squeeze the oil container to top very precisely). It's not expensive, and could be just the thing.

Best;

Mark

(an imperfect
forum environment is
better than none)

I am not a self styled cartridge guru and am not well placed to offer recommendations. But I can tell you about experience with ones I have personally heard.

In a LP12/Aro: Troika, Sumiko SHO, Koestu Red, Arkiv B, Karma. I felt the original 17D2 to be too bass light and the XX1-L, while pretty neutral and dynamic, was boring (i.e not musical)

In a Phonosophie: Troika works really well as the powerful bass and ripe/warm balance compliments the top-endy character of the turntable. The Arkiv B is not a good sonic match here as it tilts the balance too much towards the top end.

In a WT: The Arkiv B and the Dynavectors work very well.

I really do not have enough experience with other brands, but I will probably never buy a new cartridge ever again. It is better in my view to get something like a Troika, Arkiv or a nice Koestsu second hand and send it off to EsCo and get it redone. EsCo can also put a boron cantilever on Troika's etc now which could be interesting.

The other thing to note is, apart from the room, that MC's and speakers influence the sound massively so dems or friends with experience are very imporantant.

And also if you have a magnetic field (x-former or stand) near or around your precious new MC you will definately change the sound, so the installation is important.

Also make sure the experiment with the tracking force and arm height when demming as these hugely influence the sound.

regards,

Dev

ps. If Ulrich Hohn is around maybe he could comment - I think he has had the whole range of high end VdH's.

enjoy...

ken

quote:

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Dear Joe,

It's nice to hear happy comments from happy customers. We use 90-weight hypoid gear oil. That's what you should use.

Hugs and kisses,

Rega UK

P.S. Yes, your table is better than Dev's.

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A short cycle ride to Halfords got me a litre of this 90 weight hypoid stuff, so on Sunday the P9 got stripped down, cleaned, and rebuilt. My bearing had thankfully not run at all dry, and shows no noticeable signs of wear. The screws holding the bearing into the plinth all easily took another quarter turn which backs up with what Iain said. I did not do anything to the arm as it was not long since I checked that out when I fitted the Ortofon recently.

Once the platter had finally pushed the bearing down into the new oil (takes ages) I gave it a listen, and its certainly sounding as good as ever. The bass is a bit deeper, and it is tracking even quieter, though I did give my Reference Table a slight tweak whilst the deck was out of the way, so I that might explain it as much as tightening the bearing onto the plinth.

Job done.

Tony.

Who now has enough oil to keep his P9 running for a thousand years.

Regards,
Frank.

enjoy...

ken

New expensive cartridges are a rip off. £2500 for an XV1 - please.

regards

Dev

quote:

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Iain tried the KontrapunktB on his P9 and he says it doesn't work very well. However, he's comparing it to his MC3000 which he loves. Now the 3000 is an analytical beast, so that's one to bear in mind.

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Interesting. I'm certainly curious as to what he ends up with. Auditioning cartridges is one of the few things that I am envious about dealer lifestyle. So to recap, he liked his old MC3000 (I like that one too, though I'd expect it to be damn good at that price), quite liked the MC 30 Supreme, but strangely does not really like the Kontrapunkt B. What was wrong with the it? I get the impression he is not that much of a Dynavector fan, so what about Lyra? I seem to recall him rating the Lydian B - I certainly do, but it’s a bit much in my system.

There are a whole load of cartridges that don't even get a look in round here. I have heard good results from a friends P9 with the 1K Transfiguration cartridge (Spirit?), and JW rates them too, then there are the likes of Benz and Clearaudio, neither of which I know anything about at all.

Tony.

Secondly I checked up with him about the Supremes and he did admit to me that he agreed with me on this issue - I didn't even have to badger or threaten...:)

Transfiguration Spirit. Tried it on LP12 and Gyro. Some great attributes (detail retrieval in particular) but not very cohesive, very clinical. Didn't try the P9.

Benz - liked the detail and transparency. Never really had a chance to give one a thorough listen in my own system. I know the Glider best and that was nice in a tube system (rosy-hued).

Clearaudio - tried a couple in several systems including LP12/ARO/52/135s/SBLs and my own. We had the Victory and their £1500 cartridge (can't remember the name). The Victory was 'alright', but not particularly good timing-wise. The other was more clinical than the Victory. Again - haven't tried them on P9.

Regards,
Frank.

quote:

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Instead of buying a new cartrisge why don't you get your Arkiv redone

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its been done once before -- i do want to re-assess vinyl replay properly and fairly -- if it turns out to be 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other with the cdsii, then i will get rid of the lp12. phew, did i say that!!!

good suggestion though dev, so many thanks.

enjoy

ken

I'll think on the options.

Regards,
Frank.

quote:

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you don't want to know what has happened

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I think you will find that we want to know exactly what happened... TC isn't starting a floor your deck fad is he?

Tony.

The fat cat the Vuk was photographed with took a flying lunge at Vuk's Mana stack. Due to the slightly wobbly properties of the Mana, the rack and its contents came crashing to the floor. Miraculously Vuks P9 survived but the cartridge didn't.

Vuk subsequently shot the cat.

Joe

It is now dead. Along with Vuk's XX1-L.

John

Is there some curse on the manaanites Mr Pig, John Clark and now this??

[This message was edited by John C on MONDAY 21 May 2001 at 17:30.]

I forgot to add that your P9 belts are probably directional and should be re-fitted after listening for directionality.

The same applies for LP12 owners as the belt rubber is of a compound that forms a pattern with the inner platter. Also LP12 owners should get a marker pen and mark (little line on both patters) to establish the optimum fit of outer platter and inner one. Phonospohie did this with the P9 and it makes a difference to the sound.

Obviously given the superiorty of the WT design, the belt is of a superior compound whose wear pattern is consistent, it's more plasticky than rubbery.

cheers

Dev

Chris, which alternative turntables have taken your fancy?

John

Fabulous post. I haven't tried the Kontrapunkt B with the K boards yet. Its out put may be too high for them. However, if you get the chance to play with one, I think you'd be surprised at how fast, clean and assured it is, for the money, in an ARO. And it's an Ortofon with tone!!

It needs careful setting up since it's heavily azimuth dependant, but you can adjust that easily due to its body shape - clever.

Regards,
Frank.

Wonder how much Franks much loved Kontrapunkt B goes for there. Any of our German members want to do a bit of local purchasing for the rest of us?

Phil

link

Are you now using Fraims for the Naim gear? Have you tried the LP12 on a Fraim?

Paul

If the Contrapunkt B is a medium (or lower) -output MC, I doubt it will o'load the new Naim MC boards, unless my experience is way off the charts.

Phil

quote:

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I should have the Fraim here next week to try with the Linn and the CDS 2. I'll post asap.

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cant wait to read your report. there is a chance i will be listening to a kontrapunkt B in my own ARO/Geddon/Prefix turntable late this week or early next at infidelity. the prefix is only just come back from a thorough health check by naim audio i am expecting fireworks!!!

will report what i decide to get.

enjoy

ken

I'm interested in the 0.5mv Lyra Helikon, but J. Carr said a low-output version was requested by a Naim distributor.

Now confused, as it does seem abnormal to push up the volume level so high, yet many low-output carts are being recommended for Naim. Guess it would be fine for mellow music, but for rock, and drums ??? Is the PrefixK different than the Naim K boards in terms of handling low output ?

Nobody answered Vuk's question so far, I believe ...

Thanks In Advance
JR

I'm using a Spirit with Prefix K and find it works a treat. Volume setting on CD at 9 o'clock is about 11 o'clock on vinyl so not too different. Perhaps the Prefix adds gain as I recall when I had 32.5 and Troika I often had the volume turned to max but when I got the Prefix the volume setting was about 1 o'clock for same level.

Why are you wanting to change cartridge? I haven't heard the Lyra but much preferred the Spirit to XX1-L, Wilson Benesch, Clearaudio signature and Arkiv 2.

Steve