Long-time Oracle user Ken Kessler advances his player to Mk III status. How well is the Canadian turntable showing its age?

Forgive me if I sound smug, but I find it eminently satisfying
that I -- a hi-fi reviewer -- have managed to avoid precisely
those upgrading patterns which keep this industry afloat. Unlike
the dazed-and-confused audiophiles who change components the way
Mickey Rooney changed wives, I remain loyal to components for as
long as is feasible. In my case, since my reference system is a
tool of my trade, I try to follow these occasionally conflicting
rules. Products are changed when:

1) They have been quite blatantly surpassed by too many other
products to represent what would be considered reference-calibre
performance.

2) They've been so long out of production that readers cannot
hope to find a shop demonstration which will allow them to
approximate the sound which I've been describing.

Exceptions to both rules are common, mainly because I can afford
to buy only so much equipment -- even at trade prices. There's
also a strong argument for never changing anything if the system
really is to be used as a known reference point rather than the
more obvious approximation of the state of the art. Hence, I do
often retain some long-in-the-tooth, out-of-production products,
for a number of reasons, and these include my cherished Beard
P100 monoblock amplifiers, Decca cartridges and other venerable
goodies. With the Oracle, I soldiered on for a couple years past
the 'Best Before...' date, using a well-worn Mk I Delphi with Mk
II suspension and custom power supply. With the re-establishing
of the Oracle name in the UK by way of a new importer, the time
seemed ripe for a look at the current, Mk III version.

Times have changed from the earlier part of this decade, when the
first Oracles appeared. Back then, they were contenders for the
state of the art, they were considered dear and they were
regarded as one of the best-looking record spinners ever
conceived. Only one of the three still applies unreservedly, and
that's the most subjective of the three points made. At least I
still think it's one of the best-looking turntables ever seen. As
far as cost is concerned, #1450 is now considered quite a common
tariff for high-end turntables, what with Versa, Goldmund, Basis
and a bunch of others offering decks for as high as #15,000;
Oracle themselves even have a model above the Delphi. But state
of the art contender? Probably not, because the Oracle Delphi has
too distinctive a sound to be neutral enough for king-of-the-hill
honours. Yet, as with every other component ever made, if you
know even a wee bit about system-building...

The Oracle Delphi Mk III will not shock anyone familiar with the
earlier versions as all of the changes are subtle and
evolutionary rather than radical. With the exception of the new
feet and the sleek pillar covers, the Delphi III looks very much
like the circa '79 original. The deck consists of a large perspex
base plate, smoked instead of the MK I's clear, on which rests
three pillars supporting a subchassis and platter. Also mounted
on the base plate are an illuminated housing for power on/off and
speed selector, the motor assembly and the dust-cover hinges. If
the Mk III looks substantially more modern than its still-stylish
Mk I and Mk II forebears, it's only because of the darker lid and
baseplate along with the ever-simpler tower shapes.

A physical description of the Oracle reaffirms the company's
stated design goal of controlling vibration and resonance; it's
as if every detail were inspired only by those demands. Retained
by the MK III are the screw-down record clamp, the Oracle Groove
Isolator Mat -- the stickiest in the business, a massive
'Flywheel' platter surrounded by a damping ring dubbed the
'Peripheral Wave Trap' and a subchassis consisting of a
seven-layer laminate made up of four layers of aluminium/
magnesium alloy separated by a special bonding agent. The
arm-mount assembly is a perspex disc which fits into a circular
opening at the end of an arm jutting out from the subchassis; the
disc is held in place by four Allen bolts. The subchassis holds a
removable bearing housing which contains the thrust pad and a
bath of molybdenum disulphide oil. The bearing itself consists of
a tungsten carbide tip fitted to the tempered steel spindle; the
spindle is located in the bearing housing by fixed bushings. One
neat touch for those of you who think in the long term is the
easy access to the thrust pad. By removing the bottom of the
bearing housing, the thrust pad can be replaced by the user or,
if wear is slight, be reversed for further employment.

This assembly rests on three squat pillars, and it's here that we
find one of the main revisions (beyond aesthetics) which
justifies the MK III suffix. A trend started with the MK II and
continuing with the MK III is the simplification of the gawdawful
set-up procedure, the most annoying, confusing and difficult of
any turntable I've ever examined. For all of the irritationality
accompanying the setting-up of even the most basic of true
three-point suspension subchassis decks, there's a commonality to
the descendants of the AR-XA and Thorens TD-150. Those which
don't adhere to the pattern, like the original Logic and the Pink
Triangle, at least tried to improve on the set-up procedure. Not
the Oracle.

As before, the suspension kit consists of a variety of
bell-shaped springs of varying tensions which are colour-coded
for use with arms of differing weights. The owner's manual gives
a rough guide to help in the selection of which springs are
required. The springs hang from the pillars and are fitted with
cups which support the subchassis itself. By turning the cups one
can alter the spring rate to ensure that the suspension is
levelled, centred and bouncing at the desired 3.5Hz. Through a
complex array of lock-nuts, washers and star-shaped felt
thingies, Oracle has created an absolutely wonderful, stable
suspension which -- once set up correctly -- does everything as
it should. But getting there, even with the help of the detailed
owner's manual, is such a chore that I cannot recommend this deck
to anyone who cannot find a dealer capable of doing the setting
up as part of the package. I know that Gamepath has trained its
staff to perfection -- the installation of my Delphi cannot be
faulted -- and they're training the retailers, so there should be
no excuses for any but the most masochistic of audiophiles for
taking home a boxed-up Delphi. As for the MK III's suspension
changes, the damping has been improved and the set-up is supposed
to be easier, meaning that the spring selection is now simpler
and there's one step (height adjustment) eliminated, but I find
the whole thing as terrifying as before. The consolation is that
the Oracle, once installed, stays in tune as securely as any
turntable I can name, including the incredibly stable Alphason
Sonata. My Mk I needed less attention than any product I've ever
owned; I'm assuming (after only two months with the Mk III) that
the stability of the new unit will be on a par with its
predecessor.

Drive for the Delphi has changed from an AC motor to a new DC
motor. It powers the platter via a flat cross-section belt which
surrounds a lip under the inner section of the single-piece
platter. The motor itself is situated in a new, smarter-looking
housing and features fine-speed adjustments for 33 1/3 and 45 rpm
and input for the power from the outboard mains transformer.

Using an Oracle, like any component, requires a short period of
familiarisation, if for no other reason than to grow accustomed
to the product's peccadillos. Because operation of the Delphi Mk
III is identical to its predecessors, I had no problem with the
screw-down clamp, press switch location and so on; it was a case
of welcoming back an old friend. Or, rather, one which had
undergone minor reconstructive surgery. What hadn't changed was
the necessity to operate the Oracle as a system, much in the way
that Linn doesn't approve of owners tampering with its
turntables. In other words, you have to use the clamp and the
under-the-mat label-raiser to couple the LP to the platter, and
you must use the hyper-sticky mat. Failure to employ either
results in a loosening of the bass and slight smearing, but I
learned that the clamp is probably more important than the
mat...to my relief. (See below.)

The Delphi III was fitted with the SME Series V tonearm and
inserted into my reference system consisting of Audio Research
SP-9 preamplifier, Apogee Diva loudspeakers and a slew of
amplifiers including the Denon POA 4400A, the Raymond Lumley
Model 150 and the Valfet monoblocks. Cartridges included the
Audio-Technica AT-ART1 and Ken Chan Koetsu as well as the
recently serviced Koetsu Rosewood Signature. Talk about deja
vu...

Whatever any anti-subjectivist tells you about the weaknesses of
our aural memory, the return of the Oracle into my system
signalled a kind of familiarity which restored my faith in
audiophilic tendencies. It was an easily discerned rearranging of
the sound back to something I knew. I don't know how to describe
this without stretching your credulity even more than is usual,
but it's like returning to anything else from your past. I
haven't driven a Triumph TR-3A in 19 years, but I'm certain that
everything would fall to hand within mere yards of travel. I
haven't even seen a Scott 344-C receiver since 1972, but I know
the feel of the press switches and the dual-concentric volume
control. Maybe it's just my selective memory.

Either way, the sound of the latest Oracle is nothing more and
nothing less than a refinement of its predecessors. For those of
you who haven't yet had the pleasure of living with this gorgeous
creation, it makes non-fatiguing, wholly musical sounds the likes
of which enables 40-hours-or-more-per-week listeners like myself
to exist without suffering fatigue. I've heard this player's
sound described as 'soft', 'muted' and 'too nice'. Can something
ever be too nice? We're not talking about Bonnie Langford here --
we're discussing a turntable which simply refuses to add any
nasties.

The sound of the Oracle is the exact opposite of a certain
milestone player which everyone else I know adores and which I
happen to detest. The Oracle has a clear, extended yet
non-abrasive upper register. It is fast and incredibly
well-controlled without sounding hygienic or artificial. For this
alone it deserves your attention. The balance continues in this
manner down through the midband but changes slightly when the
lower registers are reached. Here the sound is slightly dry,
drier than the Mk I, but still a far cry from stretched-skin, B&D
control of either the best vacuum hold-down players (eg the
Versa) or the massive-plattered players like the Basis and the
coveted Goldmund Reference. As regular readers will know, I've
just described what is dream bass playback for one K Kessler, who
finds over-damped lower registers to be just as jarring as
screechy treble.

This, of course, should make me less than happy with the Mk III
since the most obvious sonic gains over the Mk I/II concern
greater bass control and damping. But the by-product of this is
vastly reduced smearing, more precise image location, quicker
transients and even greater transparency -- and that's across the
frequency spectrum. The change to Mk III status is therefore not
a mere marketing ploy but a genuine, worthwhile revision, like
Stax uprating the Lambdas to Pro or Signature level, or
California Audio Labs uprating the Tempest to Tempest II status.
And in case you're wondering, yes, the Oracle Delphi Mk III will
remain my reference for the foreseeable future, if for no other
reason than my financial status, which precludes the ownership of
a Basis, Versa or Goldmund. But I assure, I'm not suffering. It's
no more painful or sacrificial than using, say, a Leica until you
can afford an Alpa.

Still, if you spend a few years with any product, you're bound to
find lateral approaches to its employment in your system.
Allowing for the near-totality of the Oracle concept, there are
just a few aftermarket tweaks available. The Mod Squad
manufactures TipToes to replace the standard feet and I believe
that there are machined aluminium armboards and heavy-duty power
supplies available, but most owners will be content to leave the
Delphi alone. I have only one real complaint about this otherwise
astounding product, and I deal with it as follows:

I have always hated the Oracle mat. It sticks to the LP like a
leech and serious peeling action is required to separate the LP
from the mat when it's time to change records. It is, quite
simply, an absolute pain in the butt, a far greater inconvenience
than establishing the habit of twisting down the record clamp.
For years I'd been looking for a substitute mat which either
matched or improved upon the sonics of the standard mat. Felt,
hard acrylics, various types of rubber, Sorbothane -- they either
made the top end harsh or made the bass sloppy. Eventually I
struck upon the Sicomin mat, a thin, soft, fibrous mat which
didn't look like much but sounded simply delightful. It weighs
less and is much thinner than the standard mat, so suspension and
arm height adjustments were required for the changeover, but
that's a small price to pay for the removal of that accursed
adhesion.

Sonically, I suppose my Delphi III is now non-standard. The
changes include a lightening of the sound, everything seeming a
bit quicker and sharper than before, but it's still unmistakeably
an Oracle under my LPs. And, as if to make certain that I don't
forget the Mk I which served me so faithfully, this latest Oracle
has also emulated its predecessor in that the little bulb which
illuminates the Oracle logo near the on/off switch burned out
within days of the deck's arrival. As they might say in French
Canada, from where the Oracle hails, 'Plus ca change...'