WiredState Audio Community

morphing the morch!

can't wait for wizard mandy to transform this 9-inch beauty into a 12-inch wooden wonder:

Francis,

I think the dungeon master will have fun working on that

It should be finished in a week. It is not going to be curvaceous (pakembot-kembot) because that is extremely difficult to make. However, the new wood I am using has a nice grain and tougher than Kamagong.

I truly don't know how it will sound. For VD and me, it is really another venture into new things. I have a feeling though that it will sound better than the metal arm.

Remember? WOOD IS GOOD, METAL IS FATAL. We shall see.

looking forward to seeing it at Francis' Place! btw, i should my kamagong arm to a german writer for Sound Practices, audio yearbook and man was he Impressed!
and this gentleman is An expert on the EMT and the Klangfilm gears. now i got some bragging rights with this arm!

ok, it's now done, installed (temporarily on my 301 table), and playing really nicely...

mandy dropped by 2pm this afternoon and we worked on the morch for 3 hours...adjusting the mechanism to make it work with a 12 incher! well...success comes to those with lots of patience and perseverance...

just done some 7 hours of listening while making some very fine adjustments on vta, azimuth, tracking force, overhang and alignment...

i'll take some pics and post them here. the arm is made of "binayabas" which mandy says is harder than kamagong. this was machined very beautifully and even came with it's own wooden box.

initial impressions: a very refined sound, sweet midrange but not syrupy. larger soundstage than what i'm used to...a very relaxing non-fatiguing sound. vocals and strings have a certain organic/woody sound which is quite pleasant actually. it has decent prat and was surprised at how dynamic it was on some materials i tried. highs a bit rolled-off but could be the cart, speed was there when needed. i use a denon dl103r and mandy wants me to try a nude version. i have never heard this kind of sound character in my room before with the gear i have, so a very welcome change!

thanks mandy for another superb creation. bravo. i love it!

gear: garrard 301 with a denon dl103r on mandy's arm and joey's plinth....phonostage is mickey's 407/417, preamp is also mickey's using a single 407a. amp is an ambel-modified angela amp using W.E. 300b driving lindsay horns. cables are all silver diy.

CONGRATULATIONS, Sir!

Thanks Francis.

It must have been a sight. Two men (one young, one old) on the floor, sighting, squinting with their myopic eyes, adjusting their toy for hours! It was hard on the back and thigh muscles but in the end they got to pretty much what they wanted.

In the beginning the sound was not that good. The piano was a little "muddy" and the bass seemed a bit bloated as we both noticed. Since the arm was very light, I anticipated some mismatch problems so I brought along a 2.5 gram brass weight that can be mounted on top of the headshell.

After we put the weight on, the sound of the Morch simply blossomed! Yes, right before our eyes (ears?) the Morch morphed!

As observed by very many, the Denon operates best by adding mass, sometimes up to 3, 4 grams. What happened in our case seem to support that.

A final touch up might include upping the added weight to 4 grams. The arm is so light that it should not distress the Denon. As a matter of fact the initial "heaviness" of the sound could be the resonance of the arm/cart creeping up to the audible region.

Further lowering the VTA ( it is at present still very visibly "tail high") should widen and deepen the soundstage even more.

Finally, using a nude Denon will provide among other things, the highs that Francis was looking for.

Thanks, Francis for your patience.

mandy, we're now almost there!! ... with a heftier headshell, a more secure armboard and the nudie, i can't wait to get my arm back...hehehe...talking about withdrawal symptoms...

i hope you don't prolong my agony...

along with me and Val who were there to see the work in progress of this fine arm, i must say it is a learning experience watching mandy at work. what i learned is how mandy started by setting up the speakers first, making sure the soundstage is focus as this is important to the setting up of the arm. we heard how the arm sounded before it was adjusted by mandy. where he set up the VTA (lowering it) and setting up the weight and azimuth and the result was a rich and musical sound. it sounded beautiful with a mono as well, what was amusing is watching mandy dance and wiggle his way around Francis' listening room over Perez Prado's cherry pink and apple blossom white. and you can tell that once Mandy starts to dance then that means things are going well!

looking at the work that mandy did for the Moerch, one can see that this is not an easy job, also the moerch is not an easy arm to play with. but what he was able to achieve is a very responsive arm, any adjustments can be heard clearly.

this experience is further improved upon by Val's Black speghetti! i did not realized Val is an excellent chef! Val you and Mrs. Sogono are definitely clasmates in the culinary arts!

in the meantime, i hoped to hear the additional mods from mandy as he prepares to undress francis' denon

pigdog wrote: what was amusing is watching mandy dance and wiggle his way around Francis' listening room over Perez Prado's cherry pink and apple blossom white. and you can tell that once Mandy starts to dance then that means things are going well!

Nah, I was just helping digest Val's delicious black pasta

Thanks Val, Francis and thanks Chester for your wonderful book on Chinese Bridges. Your book on Chinese Houses is fascinating, I already sent it to Patis, I'm sure she will love it! Thanks Marlene for the yummy Buttered Cream Dory, I might try that in my resto (with your permission of course).

picture! picture! picture!

Thanks guys. It's a coincidence that my brod-in-law and his family - who last Tues descended from LA to spend Holy Week with us - had this terrilbe itch to visit Alabang Town Center on Easter Sunday. Whenever they're here I'm the designated tour guide. Tamang tama, while they're malling, I could now accept Francis invitation. VD lives just a stone's throw away from the mall. The black pasta? we'll I could cook it with my eyes closed. I prepared it Sunday morning and it was ready for serving on Francis dining table by 3pm. This is also the dish that I was supposed to bring to Ding's (dimfer) place also on the same day, alas I had to issue a rain check because I have to be on standby for my brod-in-law's wishes: (next time Ding ).

But the black pasta was only incidental. The star of the show was the kamagong tonearm that Mandy made for Francis. I'm all agitated by so much excitement because he'd be doing mine next. You should have seen how he did those kembot moves. The master at work was a pleasant sight to behold.

It's a pity that I had to leave early. My guests proved to be the killjoy (joke ) on that joyous day.

joey3rp will work on the custom brass base for the morch and mandy will be modifying the headshell to give it more mass and make it easier to install a nudie denon...

with such work from the masters, i can't wait to listen to the new system...

will have an open house once the table is up and singing...

I second the motion!!!! Picture naman diyan !!!!!

will try to take some pics and post soon...

vintage_dog wrote:joey3rp will work on the custom brass base for the morch and mandy will be modifying the headshell to give it more mass and make it easier to install a nudie denon...

with such work from the masters, i can't wait to listen to the new system...

will have an open house once the table is up and singing...

Pwede ba ako sumama sa open house?

Jon Agner wrote:I second the motion!!!! Picture naman diyan !!!!!

Teka muna, nag mamake-up pa

BTW, it will also be the premier showing of Remus' art. OUR VERY OWN CARTRIDGE RETIPPER!!

mandym wrote:

Jon Agner wrote:I second the motion!!!! Picture naman diyan !!!!!

Teka muna, nag mamake-up pa

BTW, it will also be the premier showing of Remus' art. OUR VERY OWN CARTRIDGE RETIPPER!!

Uy, ano kaya ginamit ni Remus, elliptical stylus na kaya for the DL103? This gives our broken carts a chance to sing again

are you kidding? those black pasta are to die for! they are GOOD!

btw Jon, we really missed you!
any thoughts on remus' retipping? i got an ortofon mc25 that needs retipping

audiostar wrote:Thanks guys. It's a coincidence that my brod-in-law and his family - who last Tues descended from LA to spend Holy Week with us - had this terrilbe itch to visit Alabang Town Center on Easter Sunday. Whenever they're here I'm the designated tour guide. Tamang tama, while they're malling, I could now accept Francis invitation. VD lives just a stone's throw away from the mall. The black pasta? we'll I could cook it with my eyes closed. I prepared it Sunday morning and it was ready for serving on Francis dining table by 3pm. This is also the dish that I was supposed to bring to Ding's (dimfer) place also on the same day, alas I had to issue a rain check because I have to be on standby for my brod-in-law's wishes: (next time Ding ).

But the black pasta was only incidental. The star of the show was the kamagong tonearm that Mandy made for Francis. I'm all agitated by so much excitement because he'd be doing mine next. You should have seen how he did those kembot moves. The master at work was a pleasant sight to behold.

It's a pity that I had to leave early. My guests proved to be the killjoy (joke ) on that joyous day.