7/24/2020 0 Comments Audio-Technica AT-LP7 TurntableIn 1962, a gentlemen named Hideo Matsushita (not related to Konosuke Matsushita who founded the Matsushita Electrical Industrial Company, also referred to as Panasonic) saw how the Japanese radio industry needed better phone cartridges than they had to relay in faithfulness the maximum fidelity of LPs they played over the air. To meet these demands, he created Audio-Technica Corporation, which is still a legacy: many of their products are targeted at radio activities as also serving the music community. However, although Audio-Technica sells a wide range of phono cartridges, they only began to manufacture turntables recently-the AT-LP7 ($799 USD) being the subject of this study. SummaryThe AT-LP7 is the Top Turntable Model from Audio-Technica. As audiophile tables are available, they weigh 17.72 "W x 6.18"H x 13.86" D, and are 18.3 pounds free of dust. The aluminum 45rpm adaptor and the arm counterweight sticker are the only bits in colour. The robust plinth of the AT-LP7 consists of MDF 40 mm thick. Its 20 mm thick platter consists of "polyoxymethylene anti-resonance" in order to minimize the external vibration impact. The controls themselves are simple – this turntable is fully operational manually. The top deck has three positions in the front left corner: turn against the clockwise to 331⁄3rpm, and clockwise to 45rpm. Choose one and one little LED just above the blue switch. The motor stick for the drive belt is in the left rear corner of the deck. The AT-LP7 is operated by an external supply that attaches to the 'bench' on the rear right. The ground post is moving left, then the cartridge type is selected by the slider: moving-magnet / iron or moving-coil. The RCA performance jackpot for the phono-cable then arrives and is left-handed to use the integrated phono preamplifier of the AT-LP7. The price of the AT-LP7 includes the VM520EB, one of a newer MM cartridge from Audio Methodology, which alone is retailing $119 (or $159 in headshell). VM520EB has an elliptic form (0.3 x 0.7 mil) and is connected to an aluminum shaft which is then connected to an aluminum frame. When using this cartridge in the AT-LP7, A-T recommends the vertical tracking force (VTF) of 1,8-2,2gm and 2gm. You just take it off, but the dust cover does not hang or attach it to the plinth. A-T warns users that the cover will be used if it is not — that playing it may lead to "record damage or sound loss." I asked A-T's Kurt Van Scoy who reacted via e-mail not exactly following their reasoning. What we are talking about, is the user can jar, hit, or drop the DC onto the tonarm causing records and/or stylus damage by moving the dust cover to and/or off the turntable (TT) when playing a record. A dustcover may cause resonance on or around the plinth. It works like a drum skin when playing an LP on the TT. We don't suggest that TT be played with DC down or on TT as the DC interaction with the table can often impact audio quality due to distortion or resonance. I have played with the mask and since then I still clean the vinyl dustcover. To the wise, a word. For one year, the AT-LP7 is guaranteed. ConfigurationThe AT-LP7 comes very well packed with a clear label of almost every small box or bag containing a part or pieces – I would like other manufacturers to do that. The absolute, well written handbook instructs the user to position the dish on the spindle and then loop the flat drive belt around the dish before the drive pulley. This took me a few attempts — the belt didn't want to be fixed. The next move is to level the turntable by moving the four circular feet to the left or right side or to lower the corner of the foot until the plate is completely horizontal at a bubble point. The feet are designed for fast setup, which was easy to do. You then put the cartouche and the headscarf on the toner and lock the headscarf to your arm. Make sure that the arm is supported by the arm brace, which is right before the gimbal bearing of the head. Only then should the counterweight be threaded into the stub tonearm. Turn the weight a few turns clockwise to make sure it's on the stub completely. The fun part now comes to set up any turntable: the tonarms balance and VTF setup. To avoid damage to the style, A-T advises that the head shell be held soft when the arm clamp be removed so the style will not slip to the decks or floor. Then the counterweight is adjusted until it floats alone in the air, parallel with the platform surface, while keeping the head shell slow. Now it is time to set the VTF to "0." Turn counterweight and gauge in a counter-clock-wise position until a ring or disk is on the front face of the counterweight that rotates independently of weight until the line on the gage corresponds to the recommanded VTF — in this case, 2.0gm. The antiskate control – a small dial to the right of the pivot – then is set to the same value as the VTF, again 2.0 gm, in that case. The rear panel is the final phase of the assembly. To make sure it is in a mm position (assuming that you use the VM520EB cartridge), check first the MM/MC switch; it should be positioned right, but check it anyhow. Determine instead that you need to use the built-in phono-stage of the AT-LP7 or not. When you have a preamp, a built-in amplifier or a receivern with a phono-stage that you would prefer to use, set the preamp option to Phono. If you are installing a moving-coil cartridge and even then use the on-board phono stage of the AT-LP7, you might only have to set the MM / MC switch to MC. According to Van Scoy: The MM / MC combination modifies the MM and MC gain – 36dB to MM and 56dB to MC. Due to the low performance for MC cartridges, more benefit is required for MC. Basically, separate MM and MC circuits are switched because not only the gain but also certain loading parameters have to be changed. As A-T has a relatively wide selection of MCs, our justification for adding the MC stage of the TT was to make the customer simple with multiple modules and with the common headshell and MM / MC transfer to shift between modules. It makes it possible to change pads very easily and rapidly according to music or the preference of the user for pads. Finally the substantial base cable is connected and the amplifier is connected, the outboard power source is connected to the table and the supply is plugged into an AC outlet. You are done. You are done. The height of the tonearm can or may not be adjusted. That wouldn't normally be possible if you had a different cartridge — one that is more or less wide than the VM520EB A-T. That means that the arm is parallely to the instrument / platter while you play a song. Strangely enough, while I used the provided VM520EB, I had to change the configuration of brackets before starting. But I just had to reach almost perfection for a minute. After all the parts of the AT-LP7 had been finished, I took 25 minutes to set up before I played my first LP. It can take a little longer if you are new to the vinyl game, but usually not longer than 45 minutes. I appreciate the simple and detailed setup directions provided by Audio-Technica. System modificationsThe listening room itself has been the biggest change in my system since my last review. My wife and I went back to Dayton, our home town in August from Cincinnati , Ohio. We purchased a condo with my office and musical room in the large and nearly square master bedroom. We 're happy that our neighbours tell us that my stereo is difficult to hear, and I think it's unlikely — our house is built of pre-stressed 8"-thick concrete columns, sounding really strong they seem to be. The room is 22'L by 18'W, with two walls of windows; I have bookshelfs and CD racks along one long wall, and LPs' racks alongside the other. My speakers are positioned on a long axis, about six fifths and five feet apart, each speaker roughly three and fifths from a rack full of books or LPs. A subwoofer splits the distance between the main speakers, but since this new space is very live, the sub never clicks on at the normal volume rate. But with further speech-position experiments, in which I am now testing, it may shift. The machinery itself remained at least constant. SoundingReadOne of my favorite albums is the Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, as I mentioned last December, in my review of the TD 206 and TAS 267 cartridge. I have this sound in four separate forms: original LP, original CD, FLAC update, and my favorite: 45rpm vinyl pressing. I was immediately struck by the articulation when I played the MoFi edition: tightly like a bowstring. Snare-drum strikes were as tight as a drum should be and sounding like pistol shots, bass notes. There was no sloppiness in voices crisp. There were multiple range rows, the vocal lead of Mark Knopfrer well ahead. This mix of turntable and cartridge on this album was perfect-sound quality encouraged me to select my most powerful LPs and play them. All of them is another MoFi 45rpm remastering: Sort of Blue (2 LPs, Mobile Fidelity and Columbia Sound Lab MFSL 2-45011). I love "So What," the first cut, and heard it critically. The sensitivity of piano playing by Bill Evans attracted my attention. Almost all of this 9:25-long track is very subtle and is often hardly audible behind Davis. Yet I saw a trick that I had never seen before through the AT-LP7. He attacks on multiple chords but instead depresses the leftmost or low pedal almost instantly to soften the pitch. His role is somewhat more prominent when he supports John Coltrane for tenor sax and Cannonball Adderley for alta sax, but not much. All these passages have been magnificently repeated by the AT-LP7, and are now strong and perfect. Although the track might not be the epitome of all recording perfection, the first and last guitars at "Life Alive" from Heart's Little Queen (LP, Portrait JC 34799) are sublime. Like in Miles Davis, the least comprehensive record players could cover pieces of musical filigree — here are signs of flute behind the rules which the A-T obviously repeated. Also obviously replicated was the voices-–Ann Wilson's hand, and her sister Nancy's support–. As always, however, the tom toms and bass drums sounds like oatmeal filled, with no real power in a track that demands a powerful drum line, because of the original engineering of the album. The AT-LP7 did not do that – they played on the album. Over more than half a century, the Manhattan Transfer has produced the best close vocal harmonies. Recently, in an early MoFi half-speed-mastered version (LP, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab 1-022, in a really good condition), I came across the tape of their live album in 1978. In 1947 Jimmy Giuffre composed 'Four Sisters' for Woody Herman's Second Sister's four-man sax section and Jon Hendricks' words. In that recording, the speed is a little slower than in the later records of the Move, which renders the term even more intelligible than usual with the precise articulation of the VM520EB cartridge. The voices stabilized and sounded full-bodied and directly up front, unlike the backband instruments. So good to know! In 1959, recorded in the same year as Kind of Blue, and in the same studio, the Dave Brubeck Quartet 's Time Out (LP, Columbia PC 8192) is old enough to almost discreet the two stereos: alt sax, drums and bass on the left; piano to the right. This makes it easy for the listener to check the channel separation of a cartridge and the VM520EB is excellent. I always play acoustic piano recordings during the tests because it is perhaps the resource to record beautifully. The sound may be sweet and melodic or more percussive or both at the same time. For an instrumental jazz-quartet the audience heard the comments distinctly. And the little number of players. "Three to Ready," with some backing by double bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello, begins with a rather simple melody taken on the piano from Brubeck. On alto sax, Paul Desmond takes up and coils in the left direction for a bit. Every solos played in turn in Manhattan 's vast Columbia 30th Street Studio, the sound was bathed with the inevitable reverberation. The AT-LP7 offered a lovely comparison to desmond's alta's smoothness with Brubeck's staccato music. And I could clearly hear the delicate Morello taps on his cymbals at the end, which made them glow in my room. Overall, it sounded the way it should have sounded through the AT-LP7. The sounds of the Dual CS5000 and Sumiko Oyster Moonstone, which I have heard from the AT-LP8 and VM520EB, have been comparable to those of my deceased Shure V-15 type V-MR. A couple appear complementary, the CS5000 (end of 1980s) and Moonstone. Once, I played "Three Set" for Brubeck. The combo Dual-Moonstone provided a bit heavier and released Wright's bass a bit more while also providing great detailed sound from the other instruments , especially those cymbals at the edge. The AT-LP7 and VM520EB were as detailed, maybe even slightly higher, but a little lighter. The distinction was commonly made — beating sound was given by the two combos of turntable cartridges. Neither can I live easily with. Read More: Rega Planar 2 Turntable Review VerdictAudio-Technica offers a wide range of home turntables, but all are sold by boat because they provide excellent value for money at fair prices. Nevertheless, the AT-LP7 is much more than one in the line than the other models. They offer easy configuration, stable performance and a sweet sound — a hard to beat combination. A nice twist and a high interest.
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