Arjen wrote: ↑2021-12-30 18:39 At every level each step anytime a joy for 2022 and forever Tony! Hearing forward to a decade of your ‘simple twist of change’ presented by good ol’ Van.

Thank you Arjen...

Tony Tune-age wrote: ↑2021-12-30 19:28

Arjen wrote: ↑2021-12-29 18:33 And after you refurbish your TT, your CD’s might unfortunately be stacked like that in the end as becoming useless for now.

Eventually we'll either donate our CD's to the public library, or give them to somebody...

Did the same recently in house move. Ditched about 500 CDs but kept 100 that I had history with. Bought one of those big cd wallet things so no storage issues either.

Tony Tune-age wrote: ↑2021-12-30 19:28

Arjen wrote: ↑2021-12-29 18:33 And after you refurbish your TT, your CD’s might unfortunately be stacked like that in the end as becoming useless for now.

Eventually we'll either donate our CD's to the public library, or give them to somebody...

A few years ago people said that about LP's.

We have just completed our first listening session with the Linn Ekstatik moving coil cartridge, and the Linn Klimax Radikal 2 upgrade. Since last week, the platter motor has been spinning for approximately 100 hours total (which might be enough burn in time). There were several replacement parts with the Klimax Radikal 2 upgrade: a new circuit board, connecting sockets, new motor and speed sensor device. Thomas said some of the screws had fine threads, and other screws had course threads. And needless to say, both types of screws had different torque values as well. Although both upgrades were installed on the same day, we could definitely hear a major improvement with the Radikal 2 upgrade. The background noise is so much lower than before. Plus vocals have vastly improved, they are now more musical and realistic. Plus, the bass notes are deeper and more realistic too. So in my opinion, the upgrade is certainly worth the cost.

And although we only put about six hours on the new cartridge, it does sound much better than it did initially. According to Linn the Ekstatik weight is 7g, which they say is the preferred sweet spot for overall mass (the Kandid weight is 5.7g). And as it turns out, the Ekstatik cartridge is shaped differently than the Kandid cartridge, making it look more streamlined (see photos below).





But the most important difference is how much better the Ekstatik sounds than the Kandid. Although the Kandid is certainly a great sounding cartridge, the Ekstatik is performing at an even higher level. Of course there is a significant price difference between the two cartridges, but in my opinion Ekstatik is worth the cost.

Both of these upgrades are likely to burn in for awhile longer, but here's a short music link to demonstrate how they sound currently.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5m028t59k9jii ... M.mp4?dl=0

FairPlayMotty wrote: ↑2021-12-31 02:19

Tony Tune-age wrote: ↑2021-12-30 19:28

Arjen wrote: ↑2021-12-29 18:33 And after you refurbish your TT, your CD’s might unfortunately be stacked like that in the end as becoming useless for now.

Eventually we'll either donate our CD's to the public library, or give them to somebody...

A few years ago people said that about LP's.

That's very true indeed...

Additional Pictures:

Sounds great, I'd really like to hear that system live, I'm always interested in hearing different gear/components driving Briks. I have a pair -black- that I bought new 25 or so years ago, still going strong.

Sounds like Van the Man himself Tony. Very nice, The real Northern Irish Heartbeat delivered by your new setup. Ekstatik.

Arjen wrote: ↑2021-12-31 12:37 Sounds like Van the Man himself Tony. Very nice, The real Northern Irish Heartbeat delivered by your new setup. Ekstatik.

+1

Sounding good!

Lovely setup to listen to in the year 2022. Congratulation! :-)

tpetsch wrote: ↑2021-12-31 04:56 Sounds great, I'd really like to hear that system live, I'm always interested in hearing different gear/components driving Briks. I have a pair -black- that I bought new 25 or so years ago, still going strong.

Same here Tpetsch, I always enjoy hearing different components and systems hooked up to the Isobarik speakers! And the really cool thing is "the better the source, the better they sound." And for me, it's almost like getting new speakers with each source improvement & upgrade.

Arjen wrote: ↑2021-12-31 12:37 Sounds like Van the Man himself Tony. Very nice, The real Northern Irish Heartbeat delivered by your new setup. Ekstatik.

We plan on having a Van Morrison music day next week. As it turns out, we have more of his albums than I realized...which is a good thing!

Peace out... :-)

Scooter62 wrote: ↑2021-12-31 15:37

Arjen wrote: ↑2021-12-31 12:37 Sounds like Van the Man himself Tony. Very nice, The real Northern Irish Heartbeat delivered by your new setup. Ekstatik.

+1

Thanks guys - Happy New Year!

ThomasOK wrote: ↑2021-12-31 17:16Sounding good!

I appreciate all of your assistance, "you got skills" :-)

beck wrote: ↑2022-01-01 22:02 Lovely setup to listen to in the year 2022. Congratulation! :-)

Thanks for all the good words Beck - Happy New Year :-)

Great photos and system. Sounds great as well.
Tony you will enjoy 2022 with big musical pleasure.

Happy new 2022 year and all the best.

Hi Tony,

Happy New Year.

Thanks for the description and photos. The example sounds fantastic. Congratulations.

It seems to be a real winner. I'm still struggling with the Exstatik and will first hear a comparison at the dealer next week tuesday. But the KR/2 is set.

BTW: Are there already values available for the torque settings of the new boards and the Exstatik?

V.A.MKD wrote: ↑2022-01-03 19:47 Great photos and system. Sounds great as well.
Tony you will enjoy 2022 with big musical pleasure.

Happy new 2022 year and all the best.

Thank you for all the kind words V.A.MKD, I'm glad you like the pictures & my system. There's no doubt that I will enjoy more music on my system in 2022. Here's to wishing you a very happy new year, and all the best as well.

Cheers

Hermann wrote: ↑2022-01-04 14:12 Hi Tony,

Happy New Year.

Thanks for the description and photos. The example sounds fantastic. Congratulations.

It seems to be a real winner. I'm still struggling with the Exstatik and will first hear a comparison at the dealer next week tuesday. But the KR/2 is set.

BTW: Are there already values available for the torque settings of the new boards and the Exstatik?

Good evening Hermann,

I really appreciate the compliments, thank you very much. I agree, both upgrades are real winners in my opinion too. Staying within the turntable hierarchy, it certainly makes sense upgrading to the new KR-2 prior to upgrading the cartridge. There are proper torque values for all of the new power supply components, and the Ekstatik cartridge. As it turns out, Thomas O'Keefe (i.e., LP12 Wisperer) knows all the proper torque values for every part.

I struggled initially with getting the Ekstatik as well, especially since I still had 70% remaining on my Kandid cartridge. However after thinking about it for awhile, I decided to sell the Kandid for $2000.00 (U.S. dollars) and use the money towards a new Ekstatik. Selling the Kandid gives me more money than just trading it in towards a new cartridge.

Happy New Year!

Hi Tony,

I was also initially put off by the price. Especially if a mistake should happen. But the gain in musical information is immense.

Thanks also for the advice to sell the Kandid separately. It would be the first pick-up system I would sell second-hand. I'm a bit ambivalent about it, as I would never buy a used system. But I'll think about it.

Hermann wrote: ↑2022-01-13 07:58 Hi Tony,

I was also initially put off by the price. Especially if a mistake should happen. But the gain in musical information is immense.

Thanks also for the advice to sell the Kandid separately. It would be the first pick-up system I would sell second-hand. I'm a bit ambivalent about it, as I would never buy a used system. But I'll think about it.

It's the first time I've ever sold a cartridge, I normally just trade them in or give them away to a good home.

Cheers

Tony Tune-age wrote: ↑2022-01-13 14:33

Hermann wrote: ↑2022-01-13 07:58 Hi Tony,

I was also initially put off by the price. Especially if a mistake should happen. But the gain in musical information is immense.

Thanks also for the advice to sell the Kandid separately. It would be the first pick-up system I would sell second-hand. I'm a bit ambivalent about it, as I would never buy a used system. But I'll think about it.

It's the first time I've ever sold a cartridge, I normally just trade them in or give them away to a good home.

There was a period when I gave away several cartridges, which were all in good condition. I gave away a barely used Linn K9 cartridge with an additional new stylus, instead of trading it in. And prior that, I gave away an Audio-Technica AT-VM95C/H cartridge and a fairly new Micro-Acoustics 2002-e cartridge (all three were moving magnet cartridges).

https://www.vinylengine.com/images/model/linn_k9.jpg

https://cloud.audio-technica.com/media/ ... h_01_1.png

https://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/graphi ... 40x413.jpg

Tony Tune-age wrote: ↑2022-01-13 15:26

Tony Tune-age wrote: ↑2022-01-13 14:33

Hermann wrote: ↑2022-01-13 07:58 Hi Tony,

I was also initially put off by the price. Especially if a mistake should happen. But the gain in musical information is immense.

Thanks also for the advice to sell the Kandid separately. It would be the first pick-up system I would sell second-hand. I'm a bit ambivalent about it, as I would never buy a used system. But I'll think about it.

It's the first time I've ever sold a cartridge, I normally just trade them in or give them away to a good home.

There was a period when I gave away several cartridges, which were all in good condition. I gave away a barely used Linn K9 cartridge with an additional new stylus, instead of trading it in. And prior that, I gave away an Audio-Technica AT-VM95C/H cartridge and a fairly new Micro-Acoustics 2002-e cartridge (all three were moving magnet cartridges).

https://www.vinylengine.com/images/model/linn_k9.jpg

https://cloud.audio-technica.com/media/ ... h_01_1.png

https://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/graphi ... 40x413.jpg

Ha, M-A, I have one ... EA 1 or something like that, excellent MM ... I was very happy with it, great sound, and very easy to set-up. When you came to right spot it was easily seen ... :-)

Good afternoon V.A.MKD,

I always thought the Micro-Acoustic cartridge (i.e., 2002-e)sounded really good, and it was one of the better sounding moving magnets too. Unfortunately, I never heard a Micro-Acoustic cartridge on a Linn tonearm (or Linn turntable).

By the way, what tonearm and turntable did you use with the Micro-Acoustic?

Cheers