Brinkmann Bardo vs Transrotor Fat Bob Reference

Hi Jeffl, thanks for your comments. You've got a very nice system btw! I think you're right; TR tables, espcially FB tables are HUGE in Germany, but not as well known outside Europe. I agree, the TR are beautifully engineered & look great, but more importantly sound excellent. But I also have a lot of respect for Helmut Brinkmann.

I can only respond about the bardo. Fremer has a review coming out in the April issue of stereophile. When I heard it I was surprised how different it sounded from la grange and balance. Much more lively sound.

Dear Chosenhandle, You wrote, "I was surprised how different it sounded from la grange and balance. Much more lively sound." Call me crazy, but perhaps that is the difference between belt drive and direct drive that you heard. Thus, the Transrotor, I think, uses a belt to drive a magnetic subplatter which then drives the main platter without touching it. Great idea as far as low noise, but it must have some "stretch-i-ness" in terms of precision, kind of like a rubber drive belt vs a string or tape drive belt.

For laughs, you must read the description of the Bardo in the latest Absolute Sound. Paul Seydor describes the drive system without using the word "direct" and makes it sound terribly exotic and novel and "magnetic". Heck, it's got a coreless motor and uses direct drive, both great ideas that seem unfamiliar to the reviewer.

Lew;

You aren't crazy! That is also what I ended up concluding. So did Fremer (if the excepts I read are accurate).

That table really has a nice pace to it. I liked it a lot.

I will read the article at TAS. Thanks for the heads-up.

Hi Lewm, reading your comments it would seem on paper the Bardo's direct drive system is technically superior to the Fat Bob Reference, however i'm not so sure the TR's belt drive would suffer from "stretchiness" since it uses a much shorter precision machined belt which only has to drive a low mass sub-platter, which in turn drives the main platter. Thus I would have thought TR's TMD is more accurate than a conventional belt-driven design? My listening impressions of the Fat Bob demonstrated it has excellent PRAT. It was clearly superior to the ZET 3.1 which does not have TMD and uses a more conventional design to drive the main platter. Stepping away from design differences for a moment, the other variable is implementation, so it would be great to hear from an AG'er who has heard both the FB Ref & Bardo.