Michell Gyro SE / SME 309 / Ortofon Cadenza Black making music
 

My Ortofon Cadenza Black moving coil cartridge arrived today. Installing the Cadenza Black was easy, and setting up the SME 309 tonearm was a straight ahead procedure that had me marveling at the precision of UK engineering. I followed the SME 309 installation instructions to the letter, and in about two hours I had the arm and cartridge dialed in to my satisfaction.

Jeff called me to make sure I was happy with the Ortofon and wasn't having any difficulties. He is a fine audio dealer, and I highly recommend giving A/V Solutions the opportunity to serve your audio needs.

The first album I spun was Alan Parson's Project - Eye In The Sky. The Ortofon Cadenza Black sounds open and detailed right out of the box, so I am positive with a hundred hours or more on it there is more to come. When I raised the volume on the C2300 to 39 I began noticing some tube grid noise, sort of back ground level hash coming through during quiet passages and between tracks. I knew immediately the McIntosh stock tubes were the culprit, and they had to go. I pulled the C2300 out of the rack, removed the top cover, and replaced the stock 12AX7's with a pair of Telefunken 12AX7 tubes. With the C2300 back in the rack, I was immediately rewarded with a more liquid presentation, and dead silence from the tubes at the volume setting of 39. In fact, I had to raise the volume to 64 before I heard any tube grid noise. The Telefunken 12AX7's put the McIntosh stock tubes to shame.

I only have about five hours on the Ortofon Cadenza Black, but I am impressed with the openness, channel separation, and detail presented. It's too early to go into any lengthy review at this time, but I am smiling ear to ear, and very pleased with the Michell Gyro SE, SME 309 tonearm, and the Ortofon Cadenza Black. This combination makes an excellent vinyl playback rig.


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Enjoy your new turntable for many years . I am listening to Miles Davis- 180 gm Kind of Blue on mine right now so I can relate. :beerchug:

I get a genuine thrill to read someone's pure joy and pleasure from a system project / tt build like yours Dan, thx for sharing, very inspirational.

Way to go Dan. :thumbsup: Looks great. :yes: Now sit back relax and listen to some music on your two upgraded systems. :music: At least until your next rebuild. :D

Dan, looking real good! :thumbsup: Enjoy! :music:

Very nice!

Dan...congrats on the new analog rig. She's looking might purdy :thumbsup: :D I am sure this will give you analog riches for many years to come. Enjoy!

Greg...I noticed the new avatar and I believe the analog signature line is new (at least it's the first time I have noticed it). Is that a new analog rig with Clearaudio Performance SE and ASR phono?

If there is a separate thread on this let me know, otherwise, congrats!

Dan...sorry for the interruption. And now back to regularly scheduled programming.

Cyril, yes it is. Serge, Dan and David have been the influences...if you want to get specific! I'm lucky to watch everyone's systems evolve, morph this way and that way, its what I draw from when my research is done and its decision time. I will be following in Dan's footsteps in fact with a 309 when the budget allows. I'm glad he's pleased so far.

Back to Dan.

Greg.......Glad you came along for the ride. The Michell Gyro SE with the Never Connected power supply unit is spinning albums so stable and silent. The Ortofon Cadenza Black on the SME 309 tonearm is a match made in heaven. I am floored at how good the turntable rig is performing with less than 10 hours on it. I have been glued to my seat in the studio, with the exception of dinner, spinning one album after another. I have a new found respect for the moving coil phono stage in the C2300, too. With the Telefunkens it is very clean. I am truly beginning to feel the love.