…there were two audiophile connoisseurs coming from different directions but sharing the same audio hobby.
they agreed meeting in the one or the other country to have fun – also listening to good music.
By the time a kind of consultative exchange developed, on audio gear, on technical background information, on people working in the so called High End business, on life style and on travelling & food!

a regular exchange always happened to be right after the Munich High End show.
This year the focus was on speaker tuning & performing a very special EMT workshop.

speaker tuning was quickly done as the “speaker man” went in the only possible direction – but you need to have an ear and experience when it comes to adjusting drivers, X-over as well as in- and out phasing.
so a real good testing and decision taking on what could be improved was the outcome and the implentation took place 🙂

Then the “phono man” asked the ” speaker man” to have an eye on the EMT R 80 and its Ortofon RMA 297 and somehow the “speaker man” turned into a “phono man” (we have seen this before…). Balancing the arm and adjusting the “underground world” were the next steps being taken.

A hot discussion on carts which can be carried on the RMA started. In the end the counterweight being designed for low weights like the TSD 15 puts a limit to potential carts.
The Ortofon A90 with its 19.3 gramm built into an EMT shell with diamond connection matches the weight’s mass. Connected via a Silvercore 1:20 SUT the A90 produces a wonderful and warm sound also delivering the high fequences. So did the special FR-7f with diamond connection via the FR AGT-5X  SUT, all playing via the EMT JPA-66 phono stage.

In difference to the A90 the FR-7f and also the Neumann are too heavy for the standard counterweight.
We discussed and developed different possible solutions. In the end the heavier counterweight of the RMG 309 allows to handle both carts.

Finally we listened with some of the carts and enjoyed the sound. We both agreed continuing our next exchange at a different place again with good food and music. And at next years’ High End we will compare three Ortofon arms, the RMG 309i (an Ikeda production), the RMG 309 and the RMA 297, possibly some other stuff too…