" The kit contains of simple mechanical parts which do not involve any significant labor or parts costs at all. "
ahumm.
have had exactly the same feeling about a phono and line stage amplifier made somewhere in Japan.
it seemed like a simple aluminum box with some nice wooden front to me.
it contained some simple parts and looked nice.
but hey the retail price of the phonobox is 28000 euro alone! and you need the linestage 'box' to get any music at all which set you back another 28000 euro. seemed ridiculous for a little box with some simple parts in it. *it's just not fair*.
it seemed to me looking at pictures on the internet these boxes contain maybe a few thousand dollars of parts. (but i'd never seen any in real live)
so it happens that just 3 days ago i was in the opportunity to listen to these nice little boxes in their latest incarnations.
they were even smaller size then i thought they were.
56000 euro of preamp. not counting interconnects and powercords.
the Lyra Connaiseur.
and then the music played..
it made me realise in a split second that the designer (Mr. Jonathan Carr) must have spent all his time and effort for the last decade and surely even long before that to create such an extalted experience.
now i'm in full admiration and even humbled by the Connaiseur amplifiers. the question is not: are these too expensive? the question is: can i afford these?
it's very easy to opinion or judge from behind your PC and put interpretations and hearsay on AudioGon. it is another thing to speak from first hand / longer experience. that makes some posts and some personal reviews worth gold here, others less valuable.
i could explain and so justify the years of time and effort creating the Platine modification kit. could tell about the months of labour on parts and supplies. the simple idea alone.
the most brilliant ideas always seem to be too simple isn't it?
some audiophile friends who have followed me spending my time and effort on this kit said i'm crazy.
call it crazy but i cannot stop beeing enthusiast about the inherent qualities of the Verdier Platine which i own for almost 14 years now.
in passing time many truly expensive TT reached my ears and i feel very privileged to have experienced the Goldmund Reference and the most expensive Continuum TT.
after those experiences the Verdier Platine still stands fier.
"anyone should throw away the poor original motor/motor control"
well i would not advise to do that.
if you need to throw away the stock motor you have surely experienced problems with either set-up or the linen tread. i cannot judge any situation from here, but after almost 14 years Platine ownership i say the stock motor is very good and causes no single problem anywhere.
"using a 5$ motor"
to my knowledge the stock Philips cost about 100 euro and that is a figure i came by a decade ago.
the motor served me until now and i am very confident it will serve some more decades. (there is also a little modification concerning the 3 rubber grommets which hold the motor, no big thing but important nevertheless)
if anybody experienced problems concerning the stock motordrive it is good to ask themselves if these socalled 'problems' are due to a 'bad' motor or happen to lie elswhere. anybody report on motor failure yet? never heard about that happen.
with the tape drive one (the biggest) problem is indeed removed and that is the linen tread drive which is the cause of all negative experiences ie speed, stability, focus, tight bass and things concerning 'PRAT' in general.
it is not about the tread itself but the problems it creates and causes by it's nature, and opposed to the design of the Platine beeing spring suspended.
there are some claims of audiophiles who owned the Platine for a relatively short time and putting reviews on the www having had bad bass, bad PRAT and found much better TT elsewhere. these reports will feed the 'need' for a whole other design motordrive.
Let me state that the quality and design of those uprade motordrives are beyond question. the people behind those motordrives are great guys with a passion for anything Vinyl and having good expertise.
but ask youself the question: is it just another motordrive or is it the tapedrive which came as the solution to earlier problems?
and how and where did those problems occur in the first place?
'some say the magnets can cause cancer'.
'some say...' ;-)
any Platine owner is invited to read my papers (too little space here) on this matter and the modkit too.
http://www.callas-audio.nl/index.php?page=platinemodkit.htm
i'm open to any discussion / experiences of other owners concerning the beloved Verdier Platine and will eagerly try to help out any Platine owner anytime.
be it stock or modified :-)
keep those black discs spinning.
