Wave Kinetics NVS Turntable - Stereophile Review

David,

above you mentioned how much you liked the SME 30 when you heard it. i agree it's a fine turntable. you see used one's with an SME arm in the 'around' $15k + or - range frequently. you could do much worse than buying one of those, adding a cartridge and phono stage and seeing how you liked it. they are built like tanks so a used one well cared for should be trouble free.

it would be fairly easy to sell if it did not seem worth it to you.

you'd be hard pressed to find a new tt and arm for $15k that would offer more....or even as much. there would be other alternatives of course, but since it is a reference for you already why not start there. then it's your ears you are trusting. the best choice i think.

as far as....

"i just want to believe that ok, for $10K-$15K, a big chunk of cash, someone could build a turntable/arm with EVERY bit of advanced technology available and DARE anyone to get more MUSIC out of the groove. May the 1st contestant step forward please."

.....from what my ears tell me nothing is even close to that happening. it's telling about the cost of production of high tolerance pieces that modified vintage tt's in that price range exceed the performance of new ones in that price range.

Sorry for, essentially, a double post. I made the 1st one yesterday afternoon and when it wasn't posted by late evening I reposted, thinking the initial post was lost somewhere in cyberspace.

I should add that I've owned several belt, idler and direct drive tables over the years- JA Michel Orbe, Basis Debut V vacuum, Jean Nantais Lenco and EMT 948. The Lenco and EMT were both completely restored, including custom plinths, arm boards and contemporary high end tone arms. At Rocky Mountain I've heard countless other high dollar tables of every drive method and never walked away truly satisfied.

I am now truly satisfied!

Dear Vicks: Well MF has good reason$$ to give that nod to the Caliburn. Is sad to tell but today I trust less and less on " pro "-reviewers, no one is un-biased. Yes, through the years I learned many audio subjects from them but now???

I trust higher in every single NVS owner as all the ones posted here because some way or the other all of us " mere mortals " are looking for the same: non-biased ( $$$$$ ) highest quality performance level on each one audio system to reproduce recorded MUSIC.

I love the NVS looks and " only " for that I could be a proud owner, unfortunately I have not that kind of money but I hope to have sooner or latter the opportunity to give a listen to.

Now, it is obvious for all the first hand testimonies that something different is happening down the NVS " land and this thread gives me an opportunity to share some thoughts that I had and have for years with no true or real answers elsewhere, maybe the NVS design is that " answers ":

what suppose that a TT must do, a perfect TT ( theory )?: spin with absolute accuracy at 33.1/3rpm with no speed fluctuations in the very short and long times.
Making that job in absolute dead neutral vibration/noise/resonances-FREE playback to transmit NOTHING to the platter and from here to the LP and obviously nothing from the TT to the arm board.

This is IMHO the first main TT target and the second one could be : to aisle the TT from external induced vibrations/resonances/noises.

There are other TT design targets but the idea is that the TT it self has NO single " negative/positive " influence in the cartridge/tonearm work: we are looking for dead accurate and neutral job, a perfect TT.

Well, we all know that that TT does not exist ( at least I don't know it:yet. ) so any one of us has not that REFERENCE to compare against it.

Each one evaluation/comparisons we make it against other similar TTs and through our each one experiences these are our reference(s) but we really don't know how the perfect TT could " sound " we don't have the true reference at all ( the ones that likes R2R is a different reference and I don't want to open other " window " about. ).

So what are we hearing/evaluating through any TT as the gorgeous NVS? is it a real improvement? is it to be nearer to the perfect one or only different kind of " distortions " that like us more?

We can/could think that we are nearer to the perfection because the new TT ( NVS ) sounds to us better compared on what we heard/owned in the past.
Some of you mentioned Rockport or Walker but IMHO we can't compare two TTs where in one we have a different tonearm than in the other.

In the other side we have not almost any single information/measures from almost any single TT manufacturer that could tell us: how near or away is that TT design from that first main target design:
+++++ " absolute dead neutral vibration/noise/resonances-FREE playback to transmit NOTHING to the platter and from here to the LP and obviously nothing from the TT to the arm board. " ++++ ?????

That for me is critical and an important subject for us as an audiophiles and customers. I would like to know for sure where I'm seated.

All of you know that sooner or latter will appear another " perfect " TT that we will like it more than the NVS and that's will be because it is the " perfect " one or only a different handle of distortions.

If I'm going to pay 50K or 150K for a TT: I WANT TO KNOW.

IMHO as an audio item customers and as audiophiles we have to improve our self and be more exigent with the audio item manufacturers for them take the job to design products that really fulfil our quality level expectations to enjoy the MUSIC in a near perfect way.

So what are you hearing through the NVS or what you own? the perfect one? or are we hearing only a good TT where we paid for it not for the highest quality performance but for its weight/kgs?

The trend on the last years on TT designs is: more $$$ for more metal kilos and I think that the weigthy ones are still to come. No, I'm not saying that the NVS is only that: kilos, NO and yes I would like to be aproud owner of it as any one of you!.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul, Your "main target" for TT design sounds right. Neutral, and speed stable and accurate. The latter can be verified with the Timeline or similar measuring instrument. The former is a bit more of a challenge as "neutrality" is subjective in this case. As far as internal or external vibration isolation/dampening is concerned, that too can be measure to some extent by instruments.

I have read no professional reviews which attempt to verify speed issues with the Timeline and rarely do reviewers listen with a stethescope or simlar device for vibrations. Perhaps these forums could be a place for sharing these test data for various owners tables if we really want to "know" the truth.

Admission- One of my personal "dream" turntables (so far) would be a VPI TNT-6 (no longer made) with a heavy platter upgrade and a Benz High-End cartridge, with the SDS motor controller, 12in. JMW arm. my current phono stage is a Lukaschek which is "supposed" to be quite good. i love the fact that it has no settings to adjust at all...
And i would like to compare THAT to other tables costing "whatever". No, of course i don't expect it to sound AS good as a Walker or (fill in the blank) but i want to see if the differences are really that great once you are immersed in the music. i would want to use clean-copy decent recordings, but NOT necessarily audiophile pressings (since i only have a few).
Just so more of my (amateurish) thoughts. we're still talking over $7500 here so even this example is hardly cheap, but it might just keep ME happy for a very long time. Or hell, why NOT the SME-30 (or an Amazon reference?).