$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

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!

Viggen,

Thanks for the information. I found one of the reviews, and I know what you mean. As for the arm not having a damped cuing mechanism, my hands tremble so much that I would most likely end up bouncing the cartridge off the record surface like a basketball. I will have to think about it, but thanks for the tip.

Artar1, one of the neat things about the Galibier turntables is that it's so easy to add a second arm. I have both the 12" Moerch and a VPI JMW-10 arm mounted on mine right now. With the Teres I think you have to specify a different base in order to mount two arms.

Dave