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While the MAP-1 is, at $2395, about three times as expensive as the TA-P9000ES was, it scores over the Sony in a number of ways. First, it has more inputs, eliminating the need for a separate stereo preamp, especially since McCormack makes a phono stage plug-in for it. Second, the MAP-1 has a built-in setup procedure that, unlike with the Sony, makes channel offset/balance easy without an external setup signal. Third, the McCormack's sound was marginally quieter, more open, and tighter than the Sony's with all sources. Fourth, the McCormack is available. Overall, the MAP-1 deserves a strong…
Perhaps it's the air in San Francisco, or more likely the fact that exhibitors and attendees were equally upbeat, but I came back from Home Entertainment 2003, held at the grand old Westin-St. Francis Hotel days before I write this month's column, jazzed. I was one of 15,123 consumer, international press, and trade attendees, according to the official stats, and we were treated to more than 100 exhibit rooms showing and demonstrating 225 brands of audio and home-theater gear. Stereophile's full report on what we saw and heard at the Show will appear in our September and October issues, while…
Frankly, I'm fed up with the prophets of doom, those false seers who forecast vinyl's imminent demise. Some claim to have seen the writing on the wall as far back as ten years ago, sensing that the advent of the CD would perforce relegate the stylus-in-groove method of transduction to the trashpile of history. First of all, most of the music I enjoy happens to be on LP. And I'm sure I speak for many audiophiles who have also spent a lifetime building up a vinyl collection when I say we're not about to throw away our cherished treasuries of music. These LPs I expect to enjoy until the end of…
The dynamic behavior of the arm is critical to overall performance. Real-world records are eccentric and warped. Trying to negotiate such a record subjects the arm to lateral and vertical accelerations. By far the most serious practical problem is that of negotiating a small-radius warp. As the stylus starts to climb the uphill side of the warp, the cantilever is compressed upward, which may significantly increase vertical tracking force. This is bad enough in itself—increased VTF accelerates record wear—but the cantilever may be displaced upward to the extent that the cartridge enters the…
Stevenson, on the other hand, felt that annoyance increased with the amplitude of the distortion. He was willing to accept slightly higher distortion over most of the record in order to keep distortion on the inner radii to an absolute minimum. His approach was to place the inner null radius at the inner groove radius. This made more sense in the '60s, when spherical-tip styli were commonly used and inner-groove tracing was a big problem. But with the advent of line-contact styli, this argument also loses steam.
Gilson (Wireless World, October 1981) points out that the side thrust force…
Older unipivot arms, such as the Formula Four, used stable balance with the pivot point well above the center of gravity of the system. In contrast, the 1.5 places the pivot point in the vertical plane essentially at the center of gravity of the assembly, hence in neutral balance. The pivot point is in line with the longitudinal axis of the arm tube, main pivot housing, and counterweight. Two outrigger weights are positioned to either side of the pivot housing and slightly below the pivot point to provide lateral stability—otherwise the arm could tip over to one side or the other because it…
The fixture uses the cantilever and stylus as a reference in the alignment procedure. The idea is to move the cartridge in the headshell until the cantilever is centered between the reference marks and the stylus aligns with either the Baerwald or Löfgren overhang indicators. This is an iterative and time-consuming process, but well worth the effort. After each tweak, check the position of the stylus and cantilever using the magnifier and correct as necessary. The end results are bound to be much more accurate than anything achievable with a conventional template. Technically, the target…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: 9" pivoted arm with unipivot bearing design. Cartridge compatibility: Cartridge masses from 3.5 to 20 grams. Available adjustments: micrometer adjustments for overhang, azimuth, VTA, and tracking force; up to 3.0 grams of antiskating force, in 0.5 gram increments. Arm mount: SME-type cutout, compatible with existing SME arm boards. Special features: interchangeable arm wands which facilitate cartridge mounting and changeover. Arm wiring: van den Hul silver wire with silver solder connections.
Price: $2240. Approximate number of dealers: 15.
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Sidebar 2: TJN Comments
Thomas J. Norton auditioned the Graham arm mounted on an Oracle Delphi Mk.IV turntable in Aufust 1991 (Vol.14 No.8):
With almost any turntable other than the Oracle, a reviewer is really commenting on the sound of the turntable under review as partnered with his or her choice of arm and cartridge. The only approach has to be that of trying several different but limited combinations, then attempting the perilous leap from the particular to the general.
In any event, I felt I had a pretty good handle on the Delphi Mk.IV at this point—while…
Sidebar 3: Follow-up, the 1.5-T/C
Steven Stone commented on the Graham 1.5-T/C in June 1995 (Vol.18 No.6):
Writing, Ernest Hemingway noted, is the art of beating dead men at their own game. Writing Stereophile Follow-Ups is the art of bettering fellow reviewers at their game without seeming impertinent. Dick Olsher reviewed the Graham Model 1.5 tonearm in Vol.14 No.3, and Tom Norton reviewed it in passing in Vol.14 No.8 and Vol.15 No.4. What more could I say about the bloody thing? Nothing, if Bob Graham could leave his arm well enough alone. In the last year, Graham has made…