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Communicardo's dedicated relaxation room has all the big toys - professional cameras, model cars (and real ones too) and of course Hi-fi. Although the room is not exactly built for hi-fi and hardly treated, the long wall stretches deep into his working table where the back furniture and fittings did a marvelous job to fend off any sonic nasty (like standing waves). Communicardo has the foundation for good sound - lucky man.
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Here you find VR 4SR speakers, Manley monoblocks, Manley phono pre-amp, Audio Note Step up transformer, Shanling CDP, cables from Audioquest, Analysis Plus, custom-built racks...
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...Furutech deStat, Isotek Titan (power conditioner) and the star Basis 2800 Signature Series turntable. Communicardo was using VPI HR-X with JMW 2.6 tonearm previously.
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The Basis 2800 Signature Series turntable and Vector 4 tonearm have been winning hi-end fans and high recommendations since its launch. Aesthetically pleasing, madly precise and refine and stunning sounding.
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The Vector 4 tonearm was designed to reduce tracking error and distortion to a minimum but the caveat is in your setup know-how. During setup at Communicardo's place, we all felt that the Dynavector cartridge was dialed-in rather quickly (in just 1 stroke?) but upon critical listening validation, it was proven to be not a joke. Magical hands from Dr. Martin.
Communicardo's temporary Dynavector cartridge was mounted while waiting for the real deal to come (akan datang). VTF was set at 2.2g and a parallel VTA was preferred. The optional VTA Micrometer makes future VTA finetuning relatively easy. |
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Some 30 feet of air tubes is provided with the turntable so you can place the vacuum pump to somewhere far away from your listening area (if you choose to).
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On the left is the Basis 2800 pump controller box. The left meter shows the pressure reading while you turn the shinny dial on the right to add or reduce the pressure. Way cool. Clearaudio Syncro (on the right) keeps the turntable motor speed in constant.
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The unbelievably quiet vacuum pump. How quiet? So quiet that we thought we did not turn the power on even though we did. It is so non intrusive that you can play your LP with this pump working just right next to it.
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The VPI 16.5 made way for the quieter, more powerful, more effective and user friendly LP cleaner the Clearaudio Double Smart Matrix.
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Martin taking a breather to enjoy some eye-candy LPs. Communicardo has plenty of spare copies of even rare titles found in the Record Collector magazine. LP treasure this is.
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Some Adult-only covers. But the fully clothed Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside (lower right) was just gorgeous. |
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The lower right picture disc of Blondie’s Parallel Lines was a warped disc and was tested on the Basis 2800 turntable. To quote Communicardo “I have never heard a picture disc sounded so good” and of course, when played it was as flat as a pancake. |
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