$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Viggen,

The Gyro SE is a great table. Can you tell me a little more about the RS Labs tonearm? Thanks.

Dougdeacon,

Thanks for the compliment regarding my narrative!

I know what you mean about there not being enough dealers available to demonstrate high-quality analog front ends. I guess we are lucky in the Bay Area because we have the Analog Room. They have a lot of nice equipment, but I must point out that they do not carry Teres or Origin Live. : > (

http://www.theanalogroom.com/

I have two systems. One sits in my living room in an open rack. Luda, amazingly enough, didn't object! She uses that system to play her Russian music and I use it when she is watching Russian TV in the family room where my other system resides. Sometimes I find myself in the living room nursing a glass of wine and listening to jazz or classical music as I await my turn in the family room. Lucky for me the family-room TV will disappear soon and will be replaced by a Steward FireHawk screen. Whoopee! In compensation, Luda gets two, or maybe three TVs!

I wasn't aware that MDF rang like a cowbell! Well, I'm exaggerating a little. All of my speakers are made of it to one degree or another, including the chambers that house the woofers of my Martin Logans.

By the way, part two is coming; I just need an opportunity to write it.

Joshua,

I, too, considered the Teres 150/160. I think either one would be a very fine table indeed, and will place you miles ahead of many other tables you could buy. The differences between the 150/160 Series and the 200 Series have to be small. If I were blindfolded, I might not be able to tell the difference. But someone like Dougdeacon or Twl might because of their considerable experience with analog. Later, if you like, you can always upgrade the tonearm making your analog setup even more spectacular.

You know I am not surprised to learn that you were a little underwhelmed by the VPI Scout. Don't get me wrong; I am sure it's a nice table. But I don't always trust what Stereophile writes. Sometimes what they publish seems a bit political, as if they are trying to buy off or placate luminaries of the audio industry or various manufacturers thereof.

When I get the Teres 245 set up, I will let everyone know how it sounds.

Hi Artar,

Regarding the RS-A1, it is imported by Sakurasystems.com. There's a wealth of information on that tonearm on audioasylum's vinyl section. I am attracted to the tonearm's simplicity, but it lacks a cueing/antiskate device which makes most people scared of using it incase they damage the stylus.

There's also two reviews available on the web; however, both the reviewers who are gaga over the tonearm kept the samples gratis of the distributor, so I take their reviews with a pinch of salt if you know what I am saying.

I am waiting for a used one to pop up.

Dan_ed,

Wow, your system is all ready way he-man-like! You could buy a Teres and then you would have two tables in which you could spend the rest of your life trying to figure out which is better. But don't be surprise that the Basis might sound better on one type of music and the Teres on another. This outcome would really drive you nuts. Why, you might even need to make a new rack to house both tables! I know it would be a rough job, but someone has to do it, right? Then you could give us a blow-by-blow description of the shoot-out. That would be great!