This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below
I did however think that the Miyajima Shilabe was the better pick. While a brighter more lit-up cartridge will increase cymbal precision, it will emphasize the softer depressed presence region for an undesirable direction to take. Although in general like amplifies like, the Scheu Analog and Miyajima Lab combo magnified assets rather than flaws.
I only hinted at it earlier but this deck is not easy to set up and use. I missed having a tone arm support for one. I’m also no fan of unipivots where setting azimuth becomes very tricky, particularly with a non-damped arm like the Classic Mk2. The Scheu simply performed so perfectly coherent that I couldn’t really complain.
I must confess to not expecting such a refined result from such a simple concept. This contradicts a bit my ongoing assertion that the designer behind any project is most important. In DIY this seemingly becomes twice true. So this is a simple fact. Although Scheu Analog is a normal commercial enterprise and not a DIY outfit, there is much DIY philosophy at work here. That’s why I mention it. Yet the performance is very good. This ought to be remembered most. The sound is very well differentiated particularly—and paradoxically so—in dynamics and tone color. However resolution in general isn’t as high as with other decks I mentioned. The bass goes low and is powerful but it lacks the forceful attacks and drama that comes from those.
Description The plinth was conceived to be as small as possible but at once heavy and stable. It is thus an elongated trapezoid oval to minimize its surface. One chooses between a 7.5kg/80mm and 4.4kg/50mm platter. On the bottom we have a flat round base with four holes – three on the circumference, one for the axis. The outer ones fasten the metal footers with big knurled heads sharpened on the other end to set the level. The central hole passes a big bolt to tie all the plinth parts together.
On this flat sub plinth we place a round container and fill it will small heavy pellets. This ballast chamber gets covered by the top plinth and locked down by a brass block with steel pin topped by a ceramic ball. This ball is covered in an oily film. The tone arm meanwhile is mounted to a socket supported on metal pins. The arm board extension has a large stock opening to allow mounting an SME tone arm.
The motor is placed separately. It is a heavy solid metal cylinder of quite small diameter and drives the platter by thread rather than rubber belt. A small switch selects speed. Two chromed knobs are fine adjusters for 33.3 and 45rpm. The power IEC is on the side. As an asynchronous motor, the wall wart power supply outputs 12VDC.
The Classic Mk2 tone arm exists in 10/12" versions where spindle to pivot length is either 227mm with an effective mass of 11g or 293mm/14g. VTA is set classically with a single screw. The tone arm design is incredibly simple and nothing more than a channeled aluminium bar ending in a flat plate sized for a head shell.
On the back of the arm are three slots, one horizontal, two vertical. The first one mounts the chrome-plated brass counterweight. This fix isn’t very precise and has a lot of free play. On its end sits a threaded pin on which to move a roller for precise tracking force application. The
Scheu Classic is an undamped unipivot affair. The pivot is a steel blade and the race a specially shaped steel bolt. Two threaded lateral pins set azimuth. One of their bolts runs a classic anti-skating thread. There are no scale markings so one sets by trial and error.
