How To Be A 28 Year Old Know It All
Printed From: Graham Slee Hifi System Components
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Printed Date: 26 Mar 2026 at 10:54pm
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Topic: How To Be A 28 Year Old Know It All
Posted By: Graham Slee
Subject: How To Be A 28 Year Old Know It All
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2022 at 6:26am
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How To Be A 28 Year Old Know It All Michael Fearnley hides behind his anonymity of Michael Fidler on the ASR forum, and rubbishes my legendary Era Gold V phono stage to promote his Spartan 10 for commercial gain. Manufacturers might secretly hate each other's guts but at least we don't slander each other to steal orders. The entire Spartan 10 page is a continuation of his ASR forum Era Gold V put-down in every detail, except from coming out and naming it. His circuit, which I've been told he thinks is something special, is no technically different from the vast majority of NFB filter phono stages. On another of his pages, the phono stage RIAA amplifier is by a dual NE5532 op-amp. The op-amp hails from 1976 so is hardly state of the art today. Strip away the a.c. coupling of an early Gram Amp 1 or 2, and it's essentially the same schematic. That is followed by a passive section that mixes left and right channels at low frequency, and is followed by a Sallen and Key "low frequency" filter. The last time I saw that circuit was in a Rek-o-Cut product. By the looks of things, "he's copy and paste" and then has the nerve to trash my reputation. He's really pushing hard to get a foot in the door. First by rubbishing a 20 year old A-list design, the Era Gold V, which I designed when he was 8! And milking the same old drivel that will put most old enthusiasts to sleep - we've heard it all before! He boasts his superiority by specification comparison without a clue about the reasons for the Era Gold V's design choices. He boasts about his power supply but where's his transformer centre-tap? It has no mid-point reference? It has a single a.c. voltage coming from a Mascot wall wart. You can't get three connections from a two pole DC jack? As a UK limited company he's in breach of the law for not providing a trading address. So for his customers sakes, here are his details. And if they aren't correct, then the real Classic Audio Ltd will be rather vexed.    ------------- That none should be able to park up and enjoy the view without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps |
Replies:
Posted By: Mikeh
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2022 at 8:43am
I guess I won't be swapping out my Accession ------------- Mike Technics sl1210g with Victor U-2 or Technics EPC-205C mk4 Accession MM, Majestic + Proprius, Solo ULDE Innuos Zen mini mk3 streamer Harbeth P3ESR XD paired with 2x REL t5x |
Posted By: patientot
Date Posted: 29 Jul 2022 at 5:04pm
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The Spartan 10 uses an original new phonostage topology, consisting of several unique features that push the practical performance through the stratosphere. If it is so original where are his patents? Surely he must have some? If the product is so good why bash other products? Surely the product's performance must speak for itself, which in turn "sells itself" through word of mouth. If the product is so good why not offer a free home trial program to put the money where the mouth is? One more thing: his assertions around "electronically reprocessed for stereo" LPs are highly dubious. Most experienced vinyl people know these largely sound like garbage. Experienced mastering engineers also hate them and advise people not to buy them when they are digging for old LPs in the used bins. ------------- SL-1200 MK7 (modified) + Reflex M + PSU-1 used with AT150-40ML, AT VM610 MONO, AT VM95ML, Stanton 680mkII + Ogura, and Shure M35X cartridges. |
Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 29 Jul 2022 at 5:18pm
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Agree with you. How exactly does the practical performance get to the stratosphere? Also I own some of those reprocessed for stereo records and the mono switch doesn't help. Maybe he's thinking of Dolby Surround with the out of phase surround channel encoded in left and right channels, going mono can help with that but not with what is on those records. ------------- Jon Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC. |
Posted By: TheScorpionsTale
Date Posted: 01 Aug 2022 at 9:28pm
Quite...very well put, David. ------------- Graham SL1200 II with SME M2-9R and various carts / Revelation M with PSU-1 / Cyrus amp, CD and streamer / Kralk Audio BC30-3 Floorstanders / Bitzie and Lautus USB |
patientot wrote:Posted By: lfc jon
Date Posted: 01 Aug 2022 at 10:05pm
vary well put. ------------- Reflex M, Solo (both with PSU-1) CuSat50, Lautus, Spatia & Spatia links cables. Ortofon Bronze. |
Posted By: PaulRS
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2022 at 10:38am
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Trashing others is never a good way to sell anything! ------------- No Music, No Life! Paul |