Santa Claus was quite late, pals... BUT it arrived with the VERY gift I asked for... yes, for me, yesterday, Feb. 17th, 2011, was Christmas' time!
Larry of TTWeights Audio made something, after Rudolf Bruil's no more produced superb peripheral-ring, only very few workshops are able to make such a delicate, sensitive, fussy, incredibly precise "analog toy"... talking about less than .001 inches tolerances, not a trick to be accomplished by everyone!
I installed - in few seconds - the alloy-ring on one of the most "terrible" double bass discs I own - i.e. maestro Ludwig Streicher on double-bass with Norman Shelter on piano, a one-of-a-kind, one-sided disc cut in Germany at 45 r.p.m from a Telefunken's master-tape by Joerg Kessler and his ARS in Hamburg: superb music and an unbelievable dynamic range.... music by Bottesini, of course!
-
The large plastic mounting-jig makes it a breeze to install the peripheral ring: the Lumiere DST on the Schick at the very first grooves is only 1-2 mm from the "ring-lip" keeping the vinyl pressed to the platter itself... brrrrrr....
... but, incredibly, nothing bad happens, and then arrives the sound: full bodied, undistorted, rich, dynamic, beefy and... airy and detailed... music seems more... polished, refined, shiny, life-like and natural... and not talking about subtleties, pals.
The 301 Shindo combo is now: Shindo's platter (6,7 kilos) and leaded-cloth mat (grams 800), Micro CU-180 copper-mat (grams 1800), Shindo clamp/weight (grams 620) and TTWeights Audio peripheral ring (grams 480) = grand-total is an impressive grams 10.400 between the disc, cartridge diamond and the outer world... without considering the 45 kilos of slate plinth and the 22 kilos of bronze arm-base.
All the above "hard materials" involvement and weight could suggest a final "hard" sound... ah, ah, ahhhh... NO, definitely not the case!
... again, like it happened several times in the last months, so rich of improvements in my music system, I never, NEVER had a better overall sound - smooth and detailed, airy and beefy - from my beloved discs, period!
Maybe did I find the final recipe, the end-of-the-game analog machine?
Maybe... in the meantime, a BIG, sincere "Thank you!" to Larry of TTWeights Audio!!!
Some details about the ring:
Material and Engineering Summary:
High nickel content alloy non magnetic will not stain or tarnish
This alloy is CNC machined and polished to a bright and beautiful silver finish
The ring finish is such that no harm will come to the cartridge if you lower the stylus on to the ring
460 – 480 Grams approximately 1.1 – 1.2 lbs
Dimensions: 13.520 Diameter x .125 thick.
Inner counter bored diameter 11.900 x .110 deep, the record is inset.
Our unique centering tool is included for easy installation, 5 second installation time
Engineered to Perform
Machined from the new alloy with super precision machining of the outer lip and designed to locate on the LP’s outer edge with the special centering disk that is included.
It is very simple, you can build a great performing turntable but the record is the source of what you will hear, it must be coupled for true to life and realistic playback.
Benefits
Dramatically reduces background noise
6 to 10 dB in noise reduction measured results
Great improvement
Flattens most records
Improves cartridge tracking and stabilizes the VTA of the Stylus
Improves soundstage by more accurate record tracking
This outer ring will fit all records and improve the playback quality of all records new and old.
Stylus Clearance
The top surface of the ring is less than .014 (.35 mm) higher than the LP surface providing excellent clearance for the Stylus on the entry groove of the record with manual and automatic turntables.
High Density, Low Mass ALLOY, Superb Dampening Capability
The Outer Ring is machined from solid proprietary non magnetic alloy
The very thin walled areas make the machining extremely difficult. To make a ring this size, perfectly flat and concentric, we use advanced plasma and laser cutting CNC’s and MULTI AXIS CNC Lathes. Each ring produced by a senior Aerospace Machinist. The rings are flat and concentric less than .004 of an inch over the entire ring, not an easy task.
The Sound
The outer ring will provide dramatic improvements to the records imaging and sound staging. The absolute peak performance will be gained when there is no free play or movement from the vinyl itself. The Outer ring and clamp essentially locate the vinyl directly to the mat, significantly reducing distortion even with worn record grooves. The 480 Gram Alloy Outer Ring will reduce and remove the warp in most records except for the most extreme. If the record is more than 3/8 of an inch warp the ring will flatten most of the warp but they may still be unplayable. Caution is advised.
The 480 Gram Alloy Outer Ring reducing high frequency noise caused by microscopic vibration that causes the stylus to “hear” sounds that are not there, this causes listening fatigue. The true high frequencies can be extracted from the vinyl essentially cleaning up the distortion caused by a vibrating the record groove. Play only what is there in the groove. The 480 Gram Alloy Outer Ring provides smooth and accurate sound across the listening spectrum. The quiet passages are beautiful, less background noise, less tracking and VTA errors create awesome dynamics.
TT Centering Disk Included
This device is designed to locate the 480 Gram Alloy Outer Ring Concentric to the Platter centerline with 5-6 thousands of an inch.
Provides a storage platform for the 480 Gram Alloy Outer Ring when not in use
Simple and very effective with problematic albums, not all albums are made equally!!
Each Outer Ring Package:
· 1 Universal Fit Outer Stabilizing Ring
· 1 Centering Disk to be used as required
.jpg)
.jpg)
2 comments:
Wouldn't it be great if he could just manufacture a new 301 platter with the ring attachment built in? It sounds like one part in an ideal world. No?
Hi Devon... indeed... same thoughts I had... ONLY, I was guessing during one of the last very satisfying listenings, what if the periphral ring is, with Shindo's leaded mat and Cu-180 copper mat, keeping the vinyl at the maximum rejection from idler-wheel induced "noises" or vibes, which, noticing the nice results obtained with the TTWEights' stuff, has pros and cons despite the high mass of Shindo's platter?
I mean that, possibly - it's always an ignorant me speaking - that being untouching platter tame the vinyl/stylus crosstalk (in fact nearing the ear to the playing cartridge, the usual low-level playing is VERY reduced, almost absent!), BUT doesn't make sound dead and too much controlled.
IMO, hearing at the results, the possibility to, say, screw-in a differently made peripheral-ring to a platter could (someway) give unpleasantly unmusical results.
Any opinion on the above, Devon?
Post a Comment