@isochronism
I have considered this too, and have gone back and forth.
Now the Well Tempered Reference is an odd duck of a table, and sounds very nice but is of limited appeal to the current vinyl market. I watched one languish on Audiogon for months with an asking price of $3K for arm and table from an original owner. Zero interest, and perhaps that is due to its 90's era cosmetics.
However, that arm is excellent if you are able to pair it with medium or higher compliance cartridges. It originally came with an Ikeda 9 on it, and that combo was problematic at best. I recently installed my ZYX 4D onto it and it sounds very nice and tracks extremely well. It could be that second table if I want, as I suspect the arm is as good or better than the one on my Brinkmann Bardo, which would be a far easier table to sell.
However, the Well Tempered would never accept another arm, and the Brinkmann would. So at that point I would be locked into two tables that I would not want to pull cartridges off and on with any regularity. As I think about it, I wonder how many times I would want to exchange arm boards on the SOTA, and how good is it for its overall health. Perhaps every few years as I would remove cartridges for maintenance.
Right now this is a thinking through the process and what my alternatives are. I sure clean my system up if I can get down to two tables, as my Esoteric phono stage accepts two inputs, so I could remove the Graham Slee Accession and Elevator combo that supports the third table.
As I sit right now I think moving the Brinkmann on makes the most sense, but its such a darn nice direct drive table. Although when push comes to shove, the SOTA is better in every respect, so it becomes expendable.
I have considered this too, and have gone back and forth.
Now the Well Tempered Reference is an odd duck of a table, and sounds very nice but is of limited appeal to the current vinyl market. I watched one languish on Audiogon for months with an asking price of $3K for arm and table from an original owner. Zero interest, and perhaps that is due to its 90's era cosmetics.
However, that arm is excellent if you are able to pair it with medium or higher compliance cartridges. It originally came with an Ikeda 9 on it, and that combo was problematic at best. I recently installed my ZYX 4D onto it and it sounds very nice and tracks extremely well. It could be that second table if I want, as I suspect the arm is as good or better than the one on my Brinkmann Bardo, which would be a far easier table to sell.
However, the Well Tempered would never accept another arm, and the Brinkmann would. So at that point I would be locked into two tables that I would not want to pull cartridges off and on with any regularity. As I think about it, I wonder how many times I would want to exchange arm boards on the SOTA, and how good is it for its overall health. Perhaps every few years as I would remove cartridges for maintenance.
Right now this is a thinking through the process and what my alternatives are. I sure clean my system up if I can get down to two tables, as my Esoteric phono stage accepts two inputs, so I could remove the Graham Slee Accession and Elevator combo that supports the third table.
As I sit right now I think moving the Brinkmann on makes the most sense, but its such a darn nice direct drive table. Although when push comes to shove, the SOTA is better in every respect, so it becomes expendable.
