In my last post I described my first impressions of the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply powering my Classic Turntable Company hot-rodded Garrard 301 (HERE).
The Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply is beautifully built, and provided meaningful but subtle improvements to my CTC Garrard 301 turntable's performance in terms of overall musicality and sonics, making everything sound and feel a little bit better, more emotionally engaging, and more like what I hear and feel from a live music listening experience.
My Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable was restored and hot-rodded by Christopher Thornton of Artisan Fidelity, with all the deluxe sorts of things one expects from Christopher, like the "long base" plinth design that features a mass-loaded and constrained-layer damped Cocobolo and Panzerholz core, so I could accomodate my 12-inch Thomas Schick tonearm.
My Schick tonearm utilizes a Thomas Schick graphite headshell mounted with a Soundsmith Carmen MKII phonograph cartridge, and is equipped with the exotic Acoustic Revive PC-TripleC/EX Headshell Leads.
My Thorens TD124 Statement is fitted "with a large bore stainless steel self lubricating precision main Sapphire bearing assembly featuring advanced synthetic co-polymer thrust pad," a CNC'd idler wheel with stainless steel hub, an austenitic stainless steel precision balanced high mass main platter, and a Thorens factory restored TD124 aluminum clutch platter.
Other goodies are new chassis mushrooms, a new switch compressor condenser, a new Plexiglass strobe window, an E50 motor rebuild using new precision bushings, felt rings and seals, as well as a replacement stepped pulley wheel for E50 motor.
Christopher uses non-magnetic stainless steel main chassis screws and armboard screws, and a Schurter IEC inlet with shielded oxygen free copper internal power cabling.
I further hot-rodded my Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable by installing a Woodsong Audio Thorens TD-124 Platter Adapter ($75 USD), and a SPEC AP-UD1 Analog Disc Sheet ($350 USD), which together provided a significant performance upgrade from the stock components that came with my Thorens TD124 Statement.
It turned out that my Artisan FidelityThorens TD-124 Statement turntable still had the old-style MKI version of the motor rods, so I also removed the MKI suspension rods and installed an AudioSilente MKII suspension rods upgrade kit (€60 Euros, HERE), and a Hanze Hifi Thorens TD-124 Motor Decoupling Spring Kit (€39 Euros), which also provided a nice boost in performance.
Together, the Woodsong Audio TD124 platter adapter, SPEC AP-UD1 Analog Disc Sheet (record mat), AudioSilente MKII suspension rods upgrade kit, and Hanze Hifi Thorens TD-124 Motor Decoupling Spring Kit made a substantial performance improvement in my Artisan FidelityThorens TD-124 Statement turntable that impressed the heck out of me. You can read all about these Thorens TD124 turntable upgrades in my Positive Feedback review HERE.
I use my Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable in my vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre based audio-visual system where I enjoy both music and film sources (above).
My vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers were restored by Gary Fischer, which you can read more about HERE, HERE, and HERE.
The amplification electronics are long-time favorites of mine, the Leben CS-600 vacuum tube integrated amplifier and Leben RS-30EQ vacuum tube phono preamplifier, which makes for a great combination to provide thrilling music and film performances from the vintage Altec A5's. Have I ever mentioned how much I love integrated amplifiers? I love them a lot!
I use Acoustic Revive RCA Absolute FM Interconnects for the Leben kit, an Acoustic Revive Absolute Power Cable for the CS-600, an Acoustic Revive Power Reference TripleC NCF AC Power Cable for the RS-30EQ, an Acoustic Revive RAS-14 AC Power Conditioner for the Thorens TD124 (along with a generic power cable), and Duelund DCA16GA tinned-copper speaker cables to connect the Leben CS-600 to the Altec A5 loudspeakers. Everything is plugged into a Belkin ten outlet power strip, which in turn plugs into a standard AC outlet to connect to wall AC.
I checked my line voltage prior to listening and it read 120V ± a few tenths to half of a volt as it varied over time.
My friend Chad surprised me with a ticket to see the Lucinda Williams concert in Seattle this last weekend (above), so Chad, myself, and Mark - one of Chad's friends in Seattle - went to the Lucinda Williams concert that is part of her 20th Anniversary "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road" Tour.
The concert was an open air concert at the Woodland Park Zoo as part of the "Zoo Tunes" concert series. The concert was outside in a cozy & comfortable setting, and the sound reenforcement people really had the concert sound dialed in perfectly.
For the concert Lucinda played through every song on the Car Wheels On A Gravel Road album in order, to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Lucinda was in great form, as was her band, and they really performed to an appreciative crowd.
Lucinda gave a brief bio of her life to start the concert, talking about traveling around the world with her Dad, poet Miller Williams, and how learning about poetry from her Dad informed her song writing sensibility.
Before each song, Lucinda explained how the song was written about an experience in her life, and if you're familiar with Lucinda's music at all you know her songs are about some pretty dark and dicey life moments, yet each one is about a true life event that she talked candidly about. I was so impressed to find out that Lucinda is exactly who she appears to be in her song's lyrics.
It was a great concert, and it was really interesting to hear Lucinda talk about her life and the events that inspired her songs.
Lucinda wrapped up with concert with a rousing rendition of Neil Young's "Rocking in the Free World" that brought the crowd to their feet.
Lucinda made an impassioned plea for people to get out and vote the current administration out of office so that we can continue "to rock in the free world" and not be subject to the oppressive Orwellian political regime that's now in place in the USA. That brought the crowd to a long standing ovation - right on Lucinda!
I did the same sort of comparative listening to the HAT TPS & Thorens TD124 combination that I did with the HAT TPS & CTC Garrard 301 combination, where I listened back and forth to the Thorens with and without the HAT TPS, and listen for the differences in performance.
I decided I'd repeat our fun experience at Lucinda's concert, and have some fun listening through Car Wheels On A Gravel Road.
In my first comparative listening session with the Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable on Lucinda's Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, the result was much the same as I experienced with my CTC Garrard 301, where the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply provided a subtle overall improvement that seemed more musically natural in terms of timbre and tone, with a little more musical & sonic nuance in evidence, a little more natural sounding dynamics (particularly on dynamic peaks), the presentation was a little more coherent and well balanced overall, which taken altogether was a little more like hearing Lucinda live in the concert I just attended.
The magnitude of improvement from adding the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply was greater in my Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre based audio-visual system, with my Thorens TD124 turntable, than it was with my Duelund-Altec Project "Stokowski" Altec loudspeakers and CTC Garrard 301 turntable based system, but it was still more to the subtle side of performance improvement than to the dramatic side.
I know that Jaap and Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply owners are very enthusiastic about the significant performance improvement they were hearing in the Netherlands, but what I was hearing in my listening room in the Pacific Northwest of the USA was not a dramatic improvement, but rather what I was hearing was a desirable but subtle improvement.
So why wasn't I hearing the same significant performance improvements that they were in the Netherlands from the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply?
Was it the difference in 225V and 120V line voltage between the Netherlands and the USA, or was it just that I had access to much less noisy line voltage here in the Pacific Northwest of the USA than what they have in the Netherlands? I don't know, I'm just speculating. I did find out the answer, as you'll read in a moment.
Puzzled, I contacted Jaap and asked for some advice, as I wasn't sure I was getting the best from the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply, and I really wanted to make sure I was getting the best performance out of it for its upcoming feature review at Positive Feedback.
Jaap was a little puzzled too by my more subtle results, and suggested I try a couple of different output voltage settings for Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply to see if I could find a sweet spot where a more dramatic improvement was evident.
Jaap told me in the Netherlands they set the output of the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply at 200 volts, which is about 10% lower than their 225 volt mains voltage, so Jaap suggested that I try setting the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply to about 100 to 105 volts, then adjust the Thorens TD124's speed regulator so its running at the correct speed, and then give it a listen.
So, I thought I'd listen at several different voltage settings with the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply and listen for any differences I heard, as well as compare it to the line voltage (120'ish volts) without the power supply, to serve as a reference.
The Hanze HiFi HAT Turntable Power Supply Set to 100V Output
First I set the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply to 100V output using the torque adjustment. Initially I wasn't able to adjust the Thorens TD124's speed regulator to give the correct speed at 100V, but after the motor warmed up for a while I was able to dial in the speed correctly.
Compared to the standard line voltage of 120 volts powering my Thorens TD124 turntable, the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply set to 100V sounded much like I described above, and was a subtle but desirable overall improvement.
The Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply set to 100V seemed more musically natural in terms of timbre and tone, with more musical & sonic nuance in evidence, more natural sounding dynamics and image presence, with everything being a little more refined, coherent, and well balanced overall, compared to my Thorens TD124 getting its AC directly from the wall outlet.
The Hanze HiFi HAT Turntable Power Supply Set to 105V Output
Next I adjusted the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply to 105V using the torque adjustment, and adjusted the Thorens TD124 to the correct speed using its speed regulator.
At 105V the presentation sounded more spacious and involving than it did at 100V, as well as all of the positive attributes I described above at 100V.
For example, I heard more distinction in harmonies and more prominent dynamics than I did at 105V, and I thought the music was more fun to listen to.
The Hanze HiFi HAT Turntable Power Supply Set to 110V Output
Next up was trying the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply set to 110V of output. I already mentioned that the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply provides nearly noise free AC to the turntable's motor, but as I understand it, there is a particular voltage setting that provides the least amount of vibration in the motor itself as it operates, which can yield significant performance benefits as well.
After all, any line AC noise or vibration in the turntable's motor is going to be passed on through the turntable to the phonograph cartridge tracing the groove on the record, degrading its performance.
Well it turns out that setting the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply to 110 volts provided a substantial improvement in performance over the 100V and 105V settings, and was a notable improvement over the 120 volt line AC from the wall outlet.
So, at a setting of 110V all those things I've mentioned before, the improvements in musicality, timbre, overall tone, musical & sonic nuance, improved dynamics, improved image presence, and a more refined, coherent, and well balanced overall performance, went from being subtle to being substantial.
I'm now hearing more of what Jaap intended for me to hear from the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply, and I suspect I'm at or near a sweet spot for reduced motor vibration that is responsible for the performance improvement.
The Hanze HiFi HAT Turntable Power Supply Set to 115V and 120V Output
Given the positive results I experienced at a setting of 110V, I thought I'd experiment a little more and try a setting of 115V and 120V to be thorough.
Well, I definitely prefer the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply set to 110V. A setting of 115 volts or 120V was a significant step backwards in performance.
Well, it was an educational day experimenting with the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply, and I've now realized a level of performance from it that compares favorably to what others have reported.
The Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply always sounded better than my 120V line voltage straight from the wall outlet, but the key for me was finding the best voltage setting for the motor, which appears to be 110V for my Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable, and that resulted in a substantial improvement.
I find it rather illuminating to realize that a change of between 5 and 20 volts going to the motor of my Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable can make either a subtle or substantial difference depending on the voltage.
So, at a setting of 110V the improvements in musicality, timbre, overall tone, musical & sonic nuance, improved dynamics, improved image presence, and a more refined, coherent, and well balanced overall performance, went from being subtle to being substantial.
So consider me impressed by the improvement offered by the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply to the performance of my Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable, with the caveat being it takes a bit of experimenting with the torque adjustment to find the best voltage to operate the TD124's motor at.
As I proceed towards the Positive Feedback review of the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply, I think I'll also try a few more voltage settings near to 110V, say 107.5V and 112.5V and see if I can improve performance a little bit more.
Now, I'll also need to go back to my "Stokowski" Altec and CTC Garrard 301 based system, and experiment with the voltage settings of the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply a little more and see if I can't find the "sweet spot" voltage setting for my Garrard 401 motor too.
More to come!
As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!
