Tiger Paw Skale

I tried it a couple of years ago and didn’t get along terribly well with it. After some experimentation I put it back in its box. I may try it again in the future.

In my system, it seemed to open out the upper midrange, which brought out more detail and nuance in e.g. female vocals. But it also made the balance a touch bright, and reduced the sense of coherency and realism in the music. After I reinstated the original counterweight, I didn’t miss the sKale.

Most people that try it like it. As these things go, it’s not terribly expensive, so you may want to take a punt on it. There are lots of posts in the blue place with advice on setup. It’s very sensitive to installation. Some have said that getting the correct position along the stub is so critical that a fraction of a millimetre either way will harm the sound.

If you try it, please report back on how you get on with it.

The fraction of a milimetre thing is to do with centering the O rings in their groove, they're tight on the shaft and but only slightly compressed by the groove centred. If they are compressed at one side of the groove as when trying to make a small adjustment the dyynamics suffers badly. It's a bit of a faff to get right as it tends to overshoot when you get the O rings to move on the shaft, once you've moved it rotate the sKale back and forth to centre the O rings before assessing the result. I have the Aro version so I have to set azimuth too but that's relatively easy. It took me a good year or more to work out what was happening. Get it right and you should get a lower noise floor and improved dynamics and I can't say I noticed any muddle.

I know you are asking about the Ekos SE. With my Ittok LVII I thought the sKale softened the dynamics, so reverted to the original.

The dem at my dealers had been more convincing though, on a deck fitted with Khan, so maybe that was the problem.

Hope that helps.

Chris

Christopher_M posted:

The dem at my dealers had been more convincing though, on a deck fitted with Khan, so maybe that was the problem.

ie. the lack of a Khan on my Sondek.

C.

I just fitted one to my ARO last night.  Made everything sound louder, more dynamic and cleaner.  I'm keeping it. 

Would appear the Skale has not been widely regarded especially in the context of the EKOS SE

lyndon