Kuzma/Koetsu feedbak??

@thom_mackris - have you ever talked with Franc? He's pretty accessible (as you are) and might be able to work with you in a joint development to address what you wrote:
"I’m giving serious thought to integrating one of the Stabi R’s (or Stabi Reference) into the Galibier lineup.

This may seem odd for a turntable manufacturer, but with a direct sales model, my primary goal is to best fulfill my customers’ requirements and I think I’m hitting my head against the wall in trying to design a $9k turntable to compete with the Stabi R." 
Perhaps there's something the two of you could do together as a joint project that could add value, and bring it in at a price point in the States. 

Have a XL DC upgraded from my previous XL 4. I use a 4pt and ref313 arm.
Have tried a Coral stone in the 4pt - they did not gel at all,  produced a rather dull and un-dynamic sound.
My friend who brought the coral stone over has heard similar results in several different arm combinations - he reckons Koetsus respond best to FR arms.
Lyra, airtight and shelter carts have all sounded excellent. The cartridge phonostage interface is crutial in my experience. I had older naim gear (82 pre, 135s etc) that were not up to scratch.
The XL is an excellent TT in my opinion but I have only owned Garrard, Linn and sme TTs.  I have found it responds well to careful consideration of the support  structure and  placement. 
You might also consider the Kuzma stabli M - I have read reports of  it rivaling the XL - certainly worth a listen especially as a dealer who has the XL would presumably  have the M as well.

HI @whart,

... have you ever talked with Franc? He’s pretty accessible (as you are) and might be able to work with you in a joint development

Thanks for the suggestion. It hadn’t occurred to me to talk with him, although back in October, I started to discuss the concept with another highly regarded Eastern European manufacturer.

The challenges of walking through (reviewing) designs when the two of you are in the same room is significant, and when you’re located on opposite shores of an ocean, it’s exponentially more so.

Knowing two manufacturers whose idea of quality matches your own is never a bad thing (don’t get me started about a former partner), as one of the key challenges to maintaining quality can only be mitigated by having someone on location whom you can trust.

Galibier is a labor of love for me, and if I had to (for example) spend a couple months a year in Europe, it would fit into my lifestyle nicely ;-)

I’ve arrived at the opinion that there are a limited number of ways to work into more affordable price tiers. One of them is to be large and vertically integrated (where you own your own machine shop) and the other is to take advantage the currency game and and work in Eastern Europe or Asia. For me, the skiing is better in Europe and as luck would have it, I know more people over there :-)

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design