Orbit Plus Review - The Prodigal Deck Arrives

Roivas, thank you for an excellent review, I've been eagerly awaiting it.

As for the skip on Abbey Road, I'm wondering if altering the tracking force might help.

Also, do you have plans to do a cart/stylus swap? I'd be interested to hear how well a new cart or higher OM stylus might scale. Maybe it would help with the skip too?
 
Between the OM5E breaking in over some hours of use and checking the tracking force things should get even better as time goes on. Excellent practical review of the table, some of the surface noise heard includeing clicks/pops I'm sure is due to record condition and extent of cleaning.
 
Not knowing the cartridge in question, often times different cartridges track differently and sound differently, including how much surface noise is heard and how pops and clicks compare to the level of music.

I would think that 6 months to a year from now, a consensus will be available here for the best matchups for that arm/table, after people have experimented with various makes/models.
 
Nice review.:thmbsp:

I like the comparison to the D2, as well. I have a Q3 here that is a second system/back-up table, and if this new table approaches that at this price it's good news for people looking to get into vinyl with a new table, IMO.

I got my Q3 for $20, but I have noticed that this era of non-SL-1x00 tables has been creeping up in price around here.
 
just wanted to throw in my two cents worth on the cartridge/tonearm matchup thing. I am using the orbit basic, but as far as I know, the tonearm is identical to the plus. I have replaced the ortofon with my at-12sa (shibata stylus) cartridge. To get the VTA correct I had to slide the screws all the way to the front of the slots on the headshell. Once I did this, I have found it sounds wonderful and tracks very well. It has only skipped once, and it was on an area that always skipped on my old table (AT-PL 120). When I replayed that section of the record several times, I was unable to reproduce the skip, so I count this as a big improvement!

Overall, I am extremely happy with the orbit.
 
Thanks for that info, forte14!

Also, I saw your review in the other thread, very nice review and good to hear it's competing well (if not better) than Audio Technics's table that's in the same price range.
 
you're welcome! I'm glad you liked the review. I would definitely recommend the orbit over the at-pl 120 unless wow and flutter would be a big hangup. At some point in 2014 I may get that acryllic platter upgrade since the consensus on it seems to be "worth the money"! :)
 
Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I'll get to the couple questions tomorrow morning (really today morning).

However, I wanted to quickly say that I think Tracking Force is a part of the issue with the skip I encountered, but I wanted to leave it unadjusted as it came out of the box. Everything else has played very well, so no problems there.

The unboxing/set-up review is here.

The review video is here.
 
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Roivas, thanks for the great review. I've been following the Orbit saga with interest. I'm currently using a vintage tt but this caught my attention early on as for the price it really seems a no-brainer.

One note on your videos. As you mentioned, they might not be live yet (which they aren't as of me typing this), but the first one actually comes up as "private" so you might want to check the settings on it.
 
Roivas said:
Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I'll get to the couple questions tomorrow morning (really today morning).

However, I wanted to quickly say that I think Tracking Force is a part of the issue with the skip I encountered, but I wanted to leave it unadjusted as it came out of the box. Everything else has played very well, so no problems there.

I made two videos, one about setting up the turntable and the other that is a video review. You can see them by clicking on the links below
[as of this posting, they might not be live yet, as they are still uploading to Youtube. They should work in the next few hours, though, and I'll remove this disclaimer once I see that they are working.]

The unboxing/set-up review is here.

The review video is here.
Click to expand...

Nice job!
 
Brianito said:
Roivas, thanks for the great review. I've been following the Orbit saga with interest. I'm currently using a vintage tt but this caught my attention early on as for the price it really seems a no-brainer.

One note on your videos. As you mentioned, they might not be live yet (which they aren't as of me typing this), but the first one actually comes up as "private" so you might want to check the settings on it.
Click to expand...

What that was, groan, was my video being flagged by Youtube as being in violation of copyright because their automated bots heard the music in the background. So, I had to go in and contest the copyright claim before anyone else could hear it. But thanks for the heads-up. It should be all clear now.
 
Thanks a lot for this review! I was contemplating an upgrade from my SL-D3, but since you've stated that the Orbit+ and the D2 are comparable, I think that a new cart will be the economical approach.
 
Great job Roivas. Can't really ask for much more than that.

Question: Were the same speakers used for the table comparisons?

Any chance you might put the cart on the SL-16xx on the Orbit? I don't have a lot of faith in the Ortofon. They tend to be thin sounding to me, even with break-in.
 
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wushuliu said:
Great job Roivas. Can't really ask for much more than that.

Question: Were the same speakers used for the table comparisons?

Any chance you might put the cart on the SL-16xx on the Orbit? I don't have a lot of faith in the Ortofon. They tend to be thin sounding to me, even with break-in.
Click to expand...

I was using two sets of the same model of speakers. I have an older set of black Audioengine P4's that used to be my default system. Then I bought some in woodgrain a few years later to better match the look of my current set-up. Both are, in theory, pretty close to identical.

I'm definitely going to swap out the cart on the Orbit at some point, just to experiment. However, I need a tracking force gauge, and this is a good excuse for me to finally get one. Until now, I've relied on the indications of the knobs on my counterweights. Well, no more!

As for what cart I'll use...I am not sure. Right now, I'm using a Nagaoka on the Technics, but I alternate frequently between that and a Shure M97xe. I also have a 2M Red that I could pull off of my SL-D2. So, right now I've got some choices to make.
 
Anybody can post a file of a silent groove and if possible a file of 3150Hz?
Would be interesting.
gusten
 
Neat review. Neat table. Thinking that I might want to save the cash up to get one in the near future. Acrylic platters look pretty sick. I'd have to get the +. Lol.
 
I will be looking to pick up one of these either as a present to myself or as my first major purchase of the new year. Is there any advantage to getting the Plus over the Basic? U-Turn isn't very clear on the advantages apart from upgrading to the Prestige Black.

I was surprised to see they recommended the ART DJ Pre II for use with the Plus. My current setup is very similar to that, except the turntable the Prestige Black is in is a well-abused Technics P-mount. It performs admirably, but it's a bit fiddly, and the volume's a bit lower than it is with my b other P-mount cart.

But I will definitely be getting one of the two.
 
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