EMT turntables as good as other great vintage TT?

Jake, All of your presuppositions are correct in the mind of someone out here. I will only say that if you decide to make a plinth, it is not such a black art. Baltic birch, panzerholz, and mdf are wood or wood-derived materials that others have used to make plinths for idler- and direct-drive turntables with some claimed success. Slate works too. No-plinth may work, as well. Sadly or fortunately, you will have to make up your own mind. These things are controversial even for the more commonly restored vintage turntables (e.g., Lenco, Garrard, Technics), and there are just not a lot of folks with EMT 948s that they want to modify. Most owners appear to want them to remain totally original. Suggestion: Start with a totally original set-up. Make sure it is mechanically up to specs. Get used to its sound before you make any changes, and don't do anything to the table that cannot be undone.

Lewm,
Thanks! I realize what you say is excellent advice. I was just hoping to gain some knowledge from folks about why they were making the decisions they were making and what they learned from doing so

Hello Jonathan,

I own also an EMT 950 BBC. What set-up do you have currently in your DUMBO Brooklyn, NYC showroom for OMA (Oswaldsmill Audio). I'm interested in your tonearm, cartrigde and amplication.

cheers,

broederen

Hello Broederen,

The BBC EMT's used moving magnet carts, not the EMT MC carts. Our deck is entirely original, and I intend to keep it that way. As EMT did not make MM carts, we are using a moving iron cartridge from Soundsmith, which we represent. The amplification is of course the original EMT 950 amplification. OMA (Oswaldsmill Audio) also makes idler and direct drive turntables using slate as a plinth material, and a full line of tube electronics, from phonostage to power amplifiers. I'm sure you will find our website easily with any search. At the Dumbo space which I'm hoping to open in April (we already have our Soho Showroom open) all four of our horn systems will be available for audition as well.

Regarding other posters asking about plinths, as for the EMT 948, although OMA has made many slate plinths for nearly every idler and professional level direct drive turntable, about the only brand we refuse to make a plinth for is the EMT. None of the EMT decks was designed for use in a high mass plinth, and the EMT 950, for example, has an extreme low mass platter, even though the overall deck weighs several hundred pounds. The idea of trying to redesign or improve on the performance of an EMT is ludicrous. You either like the sound or you don't, but you are not going to make it better with a plinth from the usual suspects.

Jonathan
Oswaldsmill Audio

I've got an EMT 948 that I originally played "naked" / without a plinth and it sounded great. I later built a plywood, in this case premium oak plywood, plinth- 23W x 22D x 7.5H which the 948 drops into. There is a rim around the perimeter of the 948 with a small tubular rubber gasket which is in about 1/2 inch from the outside edge. The unit was designed to be placed into the dedicated metal stand for studio use. So- a drop-in perimeter mount, at least for the 948, is the way EMT designed the table to be operated. My 948 sounded noticeably better in the plinth. BTW- I'm replacing my plinthed 948 w/ Reed 2A tonearm with a new direct drive table whose price is SUBSTANTIALLY more than the EMT. The new table will be here in a couple of months and the EMT will be up for sale. If anyone has an interest in the 948 let me know.