Retail price I saw quoted was $36,000. Motor is state of the art with probably the best motor controller available in the commercial world, but I don't know the details, either. Just knowing who builds it and who designed and constructed the motor controller is good enough for me, if I had the dough. |
Hi,
Thanks for your interest in my turntable. Saskia uses a new idler design based on traditional principles from various disciplines, some from audio, some not. Anyway, I admit that I have been somewhat apprehensive in disclosing details of its construction because it is a new design, and I would like to protect my ideas. Rest assured, though, it is a design that takes into account the various parameters that make for a decent turntable...at least as best I can manage.
Win
Win Tinnon Audio, LLC. |
There's one sure way to find out...at a price. |
I am in the process of considering a new turntable and tonearm and this is one of the turntables that caught my eye. However, it does not appear to utilize a 12 inch tonearm and I am most interested in the DaVinci Grand Reference Grandezza arm. |
I don't think anybody is going to reverse engineer your TT from pictures. If it's as nice as you say, it will help sales. I would never considering buying something sight unseen (even if I did hear it). It seems very strange to hide what's under the hood. |
Ketchup-Think about what you've said: " I would never considering buying something sight unseen (even if I did hear it)".
Now, presumably, if you'd "never consider buying something sight unseen", you'd be in a position to see "what's under the hood" of this tt by simpley lifting the platter. And I'm curious how you'd be able to "hear it", without actually seeing it.
Since the vast majority of new TTs are belt drive, there's little to see 'under the hood'. And even when there *is* (say, the guts of a speed control), I don't know of any manufacturers who give us a 'look' at the circuit diagrams, or even a photo of the PCBs, in their advertising.
As for your contention that "I don't think anybody is going to reverse engineer your TT from pictures"-that's almost laughably naive. |
Hi,
Thanks John, what you say is a concern that I have. Because my turntable is an idler without any top plate, it required a drive implementation that is different from those idlers of the past. Like anyone who makes something new, I would like for the world to see it, though. That makes it a catch-22 for me both from the standpoint of being proud enough of what I have done to share it with others, and on the otherhand, getting the fallout for not doing exactly that. That said, quite a few people have seen it, but I am apprehensive about showing it on the Internet for the time being. It isn't that I don't want to, but not showing it makes more business sense for now.
If someone is serious about Saskia, I hope he does hear it, and see how it works. Then, he can decide if the turntable meets his expectations.
Tmmvinyl,
I have made a turntable with a provision for a twelve inch tonearm for a customer who wanted to use the arm from his other table until a Schroeder arm on order arrives. It was a temporary measure, however, so that the table would accommodate the shorter tonearm later. It would be easy enough to make the turntable special to accommodate any size, but this would be something to discuss in person, depending upon your specific tastes and needs. There are a variety of different ways to do it.
Hopefully, all you guys will make it to RMAF this time!
Best,
Win
Win Tinnon Audio, LLC.
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Is this turntable custom built by the designer or is it engineered and machined in a manufacturing facility? |
I make the then old-fashioned way, by hand. |
I should say the old-fashioned way. The word "then" typed itself into the post. ;) Anyway, various parts of the turntable are built in machine shops, a company does water jet work on the raw slate, another makes the basic part of the controller enclosure, and Mark Kelly does the controller circuitry in Australia. I do all assembly and finish work. |
Win,
I am not an engineer, so please forgive my crude attempt to ask an engineering-type question. How do you communicate dimensional and geometric tolerances to your component part manufacturers and machine shops? In other words, since the ultimate success of your design depends on micro tolerances, how do you make certain that each turntable you build is precisely uniform from one turntable to the next?
Tom |
Tom,
I send appropriate CAD drawings to the vendors. They build from those, and I accept or reject according to the outcome. This is all done in close contact with those involved, of course. The slate, for example, can be cut to an accuracy of .0006". Metal is even more accurate than that. One particular company, IDG Mfg. LLC., is owned by a machinist named Colby Lamb who has done work with me from the outset, so he is the key vendor. It is nice to have those who understand what is expected beyond that of a simple job that has been contracted, and he is that guy. If you think about it, the tolerances of most anything in a turntable are subject to the whims of temperature or humidity, or both, but in the case of slate, this is diminished over wood and some other materials. Unacceptable variance is still a big concern, however, so great care in the process is still necessary for all aspects. That is the most painstaking part of the assembly. In other words, I haven't discovered a way to snap the design together. It requires a lot of time and effort from those involved.
Win |
