Brinkmann/Spiral Groove/TW Acustic Black Night...?

Sidekick i,

The TW will initially "sound" more like real music but that image will fade fairly quickly!
The Spiral Groove and arm will be the best of the three for reasons of musicality, pace,timing and accuracy.

That said, the cartridge itself will be the final arbiter as to the ease or harshness of the sound.

The S.G. is Allen.s twenty year plus labor of love and as such is built compact,complete and refined!

At 4 to5k you have a wonderful selection of cartridge's available...Pick the cartridge first THEN the tt...:-)

Azjake

Black Night is the best sounding best made out of the 3.They are all wonderful tables.You should hear them all and make the final decision.

@Peterayer

I know the Bardo well, and I've also heard the Balance at the Scandinavian distributor of Brinkmann on two occasions. I believe the Balance to deliver more authority and weight, but being a belt-drive design (compared to the direct-drive of the Bardo), there might be other differences in the presentation as well (which are hard to isolate as the Balance were a part of another system totally).

The TW-tables are most certainly different animals. Based on the testimonals of many owners, the attributes (warmer, fuller etc. - as you describe) might be close to what I'm looking for.

@Syntax

Thanks for valuable advice. I will listen to all tables of course, but I won't be able to try them out in my own system (which is logistically impossible). Buying used means I'm willing to take some risks, potentially passing the table on if things don't work out. Sometimes that's the only way forward for an audiophile with a passion for the slight exotic living in the northern hemisphere :)

@Azjake

Yes, the cartridge may have the most significant impact compared to the table and arm. Harshness/hardness = listening fatigue = less musical enjoyment is (still) my biggest challenge. A change in turntable setup will most certainly only be a part of the solution. I've been working with my room acoustics, speaker positioning, tube rolling etc. for quite some time, and things are slowly moving in the right direction.

I love the compactness and elegance of the Spiral Groove. Refined indeed.

@Ebm

Well, I have to admit I'm a sucker for the design and craft behind the Black Knight...

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In the end, there will always be a rather high degree of gambling involved when choosing new gear as you will never know for sure how things will work out in your system (especially in the long run). Anxiety and thrill goes hand in hand :)

Thanks guys!

Brinkmann Bardo has such good reviews, there was another thread on Bardo versus Oasis, so the direct drive did not suite your taste? I was wondering because the reviews are so favorable, and the direct drive system reasonably unique.

I have a spiral groove sg2 with the tri-planar and I am smitten. Great prat and very musical. Just how vinyl should sound.