| Origin Live newsletter No 7 30th September 2005 contents1. Upgrade tube for Origin Live Silver arms and upwards 2. Cartridge isolator from The Cartridge Man 3. Reviews on Sovereign Turntable Upgrade available on all older arms from Silver upwardsThe Conqueror, illustrious, Encounter and Silver tonearms have all been given new higher performance arm tubes and are known as MK2 versions. This has occurred as a result of development carried out on a much more expensive arm yet to be launched. The performance of the new tube in this arm was so good that we felt unable to withhold it from the lower arms in the range and so the principles have been applied to the rest of our arms, right down to the Silver arm. The improvement wrought is so massive that a MK2 Silver will outperform an old MK1 illustrious, even with it's nearly 1000 pounds higher price. Of course the MK2 Illustrious is now even further ahead of the MK2 Silver and the gap has widened - the MK1 versions have already attained reference status with a number of reviewers. This new development simply widens the performance gap and gives some indicator of the class these arms occupy. The good news is that all MK1 arms are up gradable to the MK2 versions. We recommend that if you are the owner of any of the above arms in the MK1 version that you treat yourself to a major upgrade that we are offering. If you send us your arm we will incorporate the new tubes for the following Silver & Encounter tube upgrade is £150 pounds UK & Europe or 127.65
pounds Export NOTE: The Illustrious and Conqueror tubes are considerably more advanced than the Silver and Encounter. Story behind this developmentOver ten years ago Origin Live tried to develop what they considered to be the ideal arm tube. At the time, this was unsuccessful due to limitations in technology. However recently the situation has changed due to advanced processes. The ideal tube is something that has been much sought after. Mark Baker who designs Origin live products has a great respect for designers of past years. There have been so many inspirational ideas that have not always succeeded due to inadequacies elsewhere. One such idea came up as Tony Sharman of Restek UK was relating some interesting facts about his Mission Mechanic tonearm - Much is owed to the dedicated enthusiasts who share their experiences. His particular arm is one of only two specials ever built because they were so expensive and difficult to engineer. The arm was years ahead of it's time in terms of ideas - manufactured from a solid billet of titanium alloy and tapered not only along its length but also more importantly bored off centre to reduce resonance. This is a highly ingenious idea and one that to this day not been repeated in any other arm to the best of our knowledge - hardly surprising when one looks at the costs involved. However there are many other ways to reduce ringing. One that is employed in the Conqueror arm is to introduce slots in the underside of the arm tube. This has the effect of preventing standing waves from building up in the radial direction of the tube. Most people grasp that an arm tube flexes in micro vibration in much the same way as a guitar string with various harmonic patterns, but the idea that it also vibrates radically is far less obvious. Which vibrational mode has the most significance as far as cartridge stability is concerned is a matter for debate but both are important and need to be eliminated. The Mk2 Illustrious and Conqueror arm tubes incorporate many ideas to reduce resonance. Some of these ideas are from gun barrel technology like the varied tube diameter steps whilst other ideas are much more original. Different materials have been investigated along with the processes by which the arm is made. The results are incorporated in what are known as the Mk2 arm tubes which are significantly more advanced than their predecessors. Photos of these tubes are available on www.tonearm.co.uk/illustrious-tonearm.htm Although the new Silver and Encounter MK2 tubes are straight, they incorporate significant processes that dramatically improve performance over their MK1 counterparts. CARTRIDGE ISOLATOR FROM THE CARTRIDGE MANWe recommend this wonderful bit of kit which is being raved about by
a number of reviewers. It really does make a very significant difference
to the performance
of any
cartridge and is quite a find. For full details and reviews go to our
web page on LATEST REVIEW OF THE SOVEREIGN TURNTABLEWhat Hi Fi Magazine recently reviewed the Sovereign turntable and
gave it an unreserved thumbs up. This is a great review and is well
worth a read at -
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