Analog Corner

Speaking of great symphonic spaces, 1969 mono recordings, and "Misty," Sarah Vaughan's version of that song on Live at the Berlin Philharmonie 1969 (The Lost Recordings, no catalog number), as decoded by the MC100 Mono, might fool listeners into thinking that it was a stereo recording and that they were hearing it played back by a far more expensive cartridge.

Switching to The Electric Recording Company's reissue of Coltrane's My Favorite Things (ERC 060), from the original mono tape thought lost but recently found, the timbral picture shifted completely, from bright clarity to warm honey, yet with the lower octaves cleanly presented and, on the title track, Coltrane's soprano sax reedy and remarkable. Steve Davis's bass lingers nicely as the track ends.

I'm fortunate to have found, for a dollar, a clean original pressing at a garage sale, so I was able to compare. The timbral resemblance was impressive, but the fresher tape used for the original recreates more studio space in front of Elvin Jones's drum kit and greater articulation and "ring" to his cymbal work. I was impressed, though, that this $325 cartridge was able to reveal the differences.

Going to the mono The Beatles from the now–out-of-print (why?) box set clarified things. With this cartridge, which is not yet fully broken in, there's a slight forward ledge in the 7kHz area (frequency region approximate), which may go away after 100 or so hours of playback (footnote 2), or it might not. It in no way lessened the pleasure I got from the cartridge's transient speed and clean articulation.

The MC100 Mono might be the home run of the three DYLP Audio cartridges, though the other two are definitely hits. No, the MC100 Mono doesn't come close to my mono reference $3475 Miyajima Labs Infinity's nuanced sustain and generous decay, or to Ortofon's $1379 Cadenza mono, but for $325 you can explore the joys of mono without breaking the bank.

All three of these DYLP Audio cartridges came nicely presented in wooden boxes, with threaded screw holes and well-designed stylus guards.

I hear readers over my shoulder with the whatabout chant: "What about the Grado Platinum3? What about the Audio-Technica AT-OC9XEN? What about the Denon 103? The Ortofon Quintet Red?" And so on. Those are reasonable questions, but I can't hear 'em all.

I'd not bet against the build quality offered by those veteran companies, but seeing (in photos) the facility where these DYLP cartridges are made, and examining and measuring the cartridges up close (and listening!), tells me that these from China are well made, competitive, and worth considering.

The SME Model 6 Classic turntable
The only difference between the standard SME Model 6 I reviewed last year and this "Classic" version ($10,495) is the tonearm (and the price). The "Classic" substitutes the straight-pipe M2-9 provided with the original Model 6 with the M2-9-R, effective length 233.20 millimeters, which has a curved stainless steel pipe terminating in the familiar locking collet that accepts a "universal" double draw-pin headshell connector. SME supplies one of its S2-R headshells with the 'table (footnote 3).

Whereas older SME "knife edge" bearing arms incorporated a lateral balance weight, the M2-9-R features a longitudinal balance "wayrod/rider" weight and shaft, similar to that found on SME's classic 3009 and 3012 tonearms.

After installing the cartridge, you fit the main tungsten counterweight onto the threaded shaft and slide the rider weight all the way back toward the pivot. Rotate the main weight until the arm floats, then slide the rider weight forward to set tracking force. Using this ingenious system, you can easily add up to 5gm without having to mess with the threaded counterweight. Notches on the wayrod are calibrated at 1gm and 0.5gm increments. Still, I recommend using an external digital VTF gauge.

With the addition of an extra counterweight—supplied—that can be threaded onto the rear shaft if needed, the arm can accommodate cartridges weighing up to 38gm or plug-in headshells weighing up to 46gm. Which is another way of saying that this tonearm is Ortofon SPU–ready, though SME can't or won't (anyway, doesn't) say the "O" word.

Everything else about the attractive and well-built SME 6 remains the same (except that, in contrast to the screw-on record clamp on the original Model 6 sample, which was sticky, the clamp provided with the Classic worked perfectly). So, please read the first review.

The Classic arm makes headshell swaps far easier. With the original arm, when you change headshells, which itself is a more cumbersome operation involving an allen key, usually you will need to adjust overhang, which is accomplished by loosening two bolts and sliding the armbase fore and aft. In the SME way of doing things, the headshell does not have slots.

If you want to use a variety of cartridges, I recommend getting extra headshells that do have slots. That way, you can set the arm up with one cartridge using the slotless headshell and then set overhang on the others with the headshell slots. Swapping them out will then take seconds, especially with the ingenious wayrod system.

The Classic arm also makes adjusting azimuth considerably easier than on the straight-pipe M2-9. Just loosen the locking slotted screw located on the underside of the stainless steel pipe adjacent to the collet mount, then rotate the headshell. Once you've completed the adjustment, retighten the locking screw using only moderate force.

The Loricraft Audio PRC6i record cleaning machine
This upgrade from the original Loricraft RCM was undertaken after SME's purchase of the company from its previous owner, the irrepressible Terry O'Sullivan, who designed the original Loricraft machine (footnote 4). The purchase also included the Garrard brand, which O'Sullivan also controlled, and led to the release of the "new" Garrard 301.

There are two models: the smaller PRC4i and the larger PRC6i. They take up the same amount of surface area, but the larger, more powerful model is taller. For this review, SME supplied the larger model. For most consumers, the smaller one will suffice (footnote 5).

The string design was first shown at a British hi-fi show by noted journalist Percy Wilson and was later developed for the BBC by Wilson and Keith Monks. The original was costly, cumbersome, and built to BBC standards. Built in 1990, the first Loricraft PRC (Professional Record Cleaner) managed to produce similar if not identical results as the Monks machine at a much lower cost. Originally designed as a one-off, demand forced it into production, and it became extremely popular.

The new SME-built Loricraft takes the design to a new quality level. It takes a quiet design and makes it quieter—so quiet, you can clean records in the room while you listen to music. The high-torque platter motor is far more powerful than on the original, and the arm that traverses the record is smartly upgraded. A heavy-duty, precision, oil-filled bearing in a phosphor bronze housing completely resists wobble when you bear down with a cleaning brush.

This system uses a very light-tracking (0.75gm) motorized arm that moves slowly across the record. The string provides just the right distance between the two to suck the fluid from the record surface while preventing the nozzle from being sucked onto the record surface. It takes about a minute for the arm to make its way across a record side.

With each use, a small section of the string, which comes on a large spool that rides along on the side of the arm, gets sucked into a waste jar along with the fluid so that the next record you clean sees a fresh new surface. Both the platter and the vacuum arm are bidirectional, so it's easy to clean in both directions, which is highly recommended.

The familiar "velvet lip" vacuum machines are less costly, but the disadvantages are clear: They're far noisier, they produce more static, and it's very easy to foul the lips. String-type machines, like this one, have many advantages, but they're more costly: The PR4i in black or walnut costs $2636. The larger, more powerful P6i costs about $3194, depending upon currency valuation.

The machine comes with a bottle of L'Art du Son cleaning liquid concentrate, an application bottle, and an applicator brush. From opening the box to cleaning the first record took about 15 minutes.

If you've never used one of these super-quiet machines, you'll get the hang of it after a few records. Since you're putting a dirty record on the platter, be sure to clean the platter before flipping over the record. Better yet, get a cheap mat to always use for the dirty record side then remove it and flip over the record. That way, the platter never comes in contact with a dirty record. Also, of course, keep the applicator brush clean.

You now have a choice of three machine-based record cleaning systems: "velvet lips" (less costly, usually far noisier, and watch for fouled lips), string-based machines like the Loricraft, the advantages of which have already been described here, and cavitation-based machines, which are super-effective and generally more costly (for the machines that also auto-dry)—just proceed with caution and don't buy a machine with a frequency and intensity made for cleaning circuit boards or jewelry. One advantage of the vacuum machines, whether lips or string, is that you can choose from an endless variety of cleaning fluids. They also make cleaning 7" and 10" records far easier.

Me? I'm sticking with streaming and CDs. This is way too much work.

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Footnote 2: DYLP Audio's literature suggests a break-in time of 20 hours.—Jim Austin

Footnote 3: SME. US distributor: Bluebird Music Ltd., 1100 Military Rd., Kenmore, NY 14217. Tel: (416) 638-8207. Web: bluebirdmusic.com

Footnote 4: Art Dudley reviewed the original Loricraft PRC3 and PRC4 in March 2005.—Ed.

Footnote 5: Loricraft Audio. Oliver Felibrico. Tel: (732) 890-5353. Email: felibrico@aol.com. Web: loricraftaudio.co.uk