walker proscenium

Koegz, as a Walker Proscenium owner (but without the most recent tonearm upgrade), I would say "Yes" in response to your question:

is it possible that his turntable can make that big of a difference as he says?

The Walker turntable makes a huge difference in the overall sound. The qualitative difference is something one simply has to experience, as you have, to begin to understand why the Walker truly is so special. Granted, Lloyd is a genius at setup and there are a lot of additional items in that system of his that make a sonic difference (his Velocitor power conditioners, his isolation devices and stands, his Extreme-SST contact enhancer, his line stage...). But it is largely the turntable that you're hearing and reacting to.
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ditto, but to emphasize that every item in that system is extraordinary. And none of it euphonic. Squeeky clean would be an appropriate adjective. Even switching to the cables he's using would likely make a shocking difference in your system. There's alot of good stuff out there, and there are some that take it to the next level.

What you heard is what you heard. Ask Lloyd why, and I think he will tell you that many things contribute to the sound. The turntable is but one of the elements. To have a system that sounds like Lloyd's entails much optimizing and a good ear. He no doubt had cleaned the records with his Prelude and he no doubt used his Talisman prior to playing them. He has modified his speakers, his phono stage is in at least its seventh version. I doubt if you can just buy a Prosenium with your system and get the same sound.

While Tbg's are quite reasonable, I would venture to say that based on my personal experience hearing the Walker in three homes with all different systems(one being Lloyd's), the Walker table did tremendously in every setting. It provides a sense of realism I've rarely heard elsewhere, and extracts an incredible amount of detail from LPs without sounding etched or analytical.
My VPI TNT6-HR is not much different than your HR-X, and I'd say it's still a big jump from either of our tables to the Walker in level of performance. Cheers,
Spencer