EMT turntables as good as other great vintage TT?

I heard the EMT 930 idler-wheel drive on Cyprus (fully restored under the supervision of A.J. Van den Hul himself among others) when I and it basically parachuted in at the same time, and I was awed at the master-tape-like quality I heard at that time, in terms of tonal correctness or lack of editing/addition, an amazing, powerful and musical record player to boot. I did not attend the comparison between the EMT 927 and my own work, which was organized by others without my knowledge, having been informed only a couple of days before the event, I hardly "went bonkers" (but I did - on my annual peregrination to the Greek islands - bring a 'table over to leave against some possible demonstration, which some might consider "bonkers", which I won't deny ;-)). The outcome of the vote was e-mailed to me after the event, which was posted unedited. Like my landing in a living room on Cyprus (also with a 'table) just as those fellows were setting up their newly-restored EMT 930 (which I only discovered as I got there), so the owner of an EMT 927 (who also owned an EMT 950, but was nevertheless and idler-wheel fan) simply popped up from out of the blue and offered (being an idler-wheel fan). Wish I could have been there, the 930 was a thing of beauty sonically and in terms of engineering. I seem to have some EMT-karma, and glad of it, I look forward to the next bolt out of the blue :-).

Dear Jean, Sorry to have mischaracterized your response to the EMT 27/Lenco comparison. I thought myself when I wrote the sentence that the word was not quite accurate. I meant to convey that you were excited to find that the two tables were in the same league, which is a lofty one.

Any of you EMT owners in the USA, Where do you get these tables serviced? Bob

Since they were made for radio stations to run 24/7,
there isn't much more than checking the oils once
a year in the motor and platter bearings.
This is for 930 and 927 idlers.950 is a direct drive
and more complicated.There you'd need real service
which is available in Europe.
That is one reason why 930 stayd in production so
long after 950 came out.

We have a BBC Wide Body EMT 950 in our soon to be open DUMBO Brooklyn, NYC showroom for OMA (Oswaldsmill Audio) precisely so that audiophiles can hear the real thing, and A/B to the turntables which OMA manufactures (both direct drive and idler drive.) Although we don't have space for this at our now open SoHo, Manhattan OMA Showroom, we also have a dead stock, complete Technics SP10 MK3 system (Obsidian base, EPA 100 arm, EPC 305MK2 cartrdige) at Oswaldsmill, in Eastern PA, also to use as a reference, and to allow customers to make informed comparisons with our products.

I like to let customers judge for themselves which is superior, which probably answers some of your questions.

Jonathan Weiss