Upgrade from TW Acustic Raven AC-3 to what?

Thuchan

Yes thanks for asking, nice to know you care - I felt comfortable before & now after your comments.

I think as you would clearly know, having more than one nice turntable gives you a perspective that one can not do everything.

BTW - how many raven's were offered at very good prices :-)

Downunder, perfect!

when it comes to evaluating what might be the right TT for one`s own system - as Alectioning is doing - it is not only a question of technology (drives: DD, idler-drive, thread etc.; motor units, experience of the developer etc.), of quality (built material, oil of bearing etc.), of decoupeling measurements, of surrounding installations (tonearm, cartridge, cable, phono pre etc.) but also of VALUE !

What do I mean? When selling your TT you might be confronted with a used market which doesn´t gives you the value back your TT deserves. In the case of very high rated TTs I made the experience you can sell those instruments to a very small niche of people - but you can!

In the case of TTs between 8000 and 14000 Dollars (crazy world - it is a lot of money) and if the buyer doesn`t agree on the value of your TT (because there are to many in the market or the manufacturer sells new units with large discount)it might become difficult selling your high rated machine.

If I am buying another TT I will look on the VALUE of the TT much more as I used to do. This would be my advise from my recent experiences.

A cow will never be worth the price of a horse. But maybe in a world of blind it will be different.
The typical audiophile will sit in front of his machine and will think
- Yes, that is it. A review winner. Component of the year. I don't hear it, but I spent so much money, it has to be better. the other ones say the same...
The Listener sits in front and thinks
- Man, so much money for such a cheap made unit
The Collector sits in front and thinks
- Yes, it looks good and no matter what is out there, I am the first
The experienced Audiophile sits in front and thinks
- Great. Let's go for Lunch
Times are tough, but modern

Allectiong

The Raven-AC-1 that i have been using over the last few years is an incredibly engaging TT.this is a result of its neutrality and ability to manifest the micro and macrodynamics of the music. it really is a neutral table and chances are you are hearing something that is not optimum.

Try relooking at your cartridge vtf and vta, vtf being a huge factor. Sounds like you may on the high side. Your tonearm may be to low. Try playing with vta.

Try placing record directly on the platter. You may be hearing resonances introduced by a mat. Make sure you compensate for vta if the thixkness of the mat is large.

As dgad mentions, optimize azimuth and anti skate.

Try experimenting with all these parameters. These have major impacts on the sound.

I was lsitening to my system friday and was amazed at how easily the Raven AC allows the music to come through once everything is as optimum as possible. Lightnin hopkins, john lee hooker,sonny/brownie, muddy where right there. The energy they were puttin down was NOT lost by the Raven ac-1.

You will get a lot of suggestions. Start with the basics. Make broad adjustments to understand the ramifications of the range of settings. Then fine tune. I dont think the table is the issue; however you may want to try one motor. Also, make sure you have the new motor controller. Big improvement.

Pardon me if you are seasoned in these matters and you have tried all of this.

Andrew

I assume that you are getting a lot more bass and sound staging from you CD player so you are sure that you are not limited by your amplifier preamplifier and speakers.