The Source was an interesting deck with some unusual features, and the designer, Mike Moore, (the MRM of the original company) was not one for compromising. I had quite a few run-ins with him regarding what he thought were self evident truths and I thought were hokum, and vice versa. (Of course it is always like that - truth and hokum exist side by side and neither is absolute....)
It wasn't so much the design of the Source as our differing approaches to music and hifi. Mike loved the experience of listening to music which could transport him, which gave him a high through the effects and sensations which the replay process contributed.
If a system did that, then he didn't much care whether it was an accurate reproduction, or whether there was coloration, or the imaging was wild. On the other hand, I'd argue for systems which gave me a sense of being there, or being in the same space as the performers. So for me, imaging was primary - I wanted the performers to stay rooted, not wandering about as the notes rose and fell. Mike enjoyed listening in a live acoustic - his room in the farmhouse in Neilston was stone walls and stone floors. He liked the height effects obtained from sounds bouncing off the ceiling and floor. For him it added an extra dimension, to which he reckoned the deck contributed.
For me, height effects are fine, but they are not part of the two channel process, unless designed into speakers. Turntables don't do height - that's hokum. They might be able to improve depth and right /left imaging, or improve transient response, such that reflected sounds are more noticeable but there has to be reflection from a higher surface like a ceiling.
The effects of materials and resonances, and the contributions they make to the sound, were another thing Mike liked. If the result added to the emotional impact, for Mike it was good - he could take a bit of colouration. I liked to hear through the system, but in a different way - anything that struck me as out of place spoiled the effect even though it was impressive.
Although I was happier using the more traditional types of cartidge, we both liked Decca cartridges for their ability to create that spine tingling immediacy. And we both liked motorbikes, for the same reason.
Mike was an enthusiast in everything he did, whether it was hifi or, much to his wife's chagrin, second-hand cars. He could be cantankerous, opinionated and at times a bit paranoid, but always liked a laugh and was well aware of some of the more ridiculous aspects of the hifi scene, and not slow to comment on them. But he did enjoy listening to music and tinkering with his system. He was fond of valve amps (Audio Research and Concordant) and Triplanar arms. He admired the Oracle turntable, had a soft spot for Rogers LS3/5a speakers, and liked Decca, Benz, and van den Hul cartridges. The last time I saw him before he died in 1991, aged 47, he said he was working on a new deck.
Mike was an enthusiast in everything he did, whether it was hifi or, much to his wife's chagrin, second-hand cars. He could be cantankerous, opinionated and at times a bit paranoid, but always liked a laugh and was well aware of some of the more ridiculous aspects of the hifi scene, and not slow to comment on them. But he did enjoy listening to music and tinkering with his system. He was fond of valve amps (Audio Research and Concordant) and Triplanar arms. He admired the Oracle turntable, had a soft spot for Rogers LS3/5a speakers, and liked Decca, Benz, and van den Hul cartridges. The last time I saw him before he died in 1991, aged 47, he said he was working on a new deck.
