Well Tempered or Teres .....

I use a 103r and really like it with the K&K step up. Since any Shelter requires a step up too, you can save about $550 by using the 103r, more with a 103.

I'd go with a cocobolo 245, RB250, K&K, and Denon to start. You will be amazed! Remember, I have the non lead loaded platter. That saves about $1225 over a 265. In my case, I wanted to do my own platters to see what I can come up with.

You are looking at about $2800 for a 245, $250 for the K$K, $241 for the 103r, and probably $300 for an arm. So, for about $3600 you are looking at a setup that IMHO NO Well Tempered will touch. At least the one I listened to isn't even close.

Using my Audio Note Soro SE Phono is almost dead quiet. I'm having a bit of frustration with my ic's between the K&K and the Soro, but when I get that figured out it should be absolutely black. I retubed everything in the amp, and that took the phono stage to NO NOISE when the ic's aren't connected.

What's the rest of your system?

I also took some more pics of the new armboard that will be going up today.

Hi Jphii,

Your recommendations are certainly in line with my thinking, the cocobolo 245 and the RB250 is what I am leaning toward as my initial new table and arm. Since I find my system a work in progress the arm, and cart choice will be always subject to a change in time. (the Denon sounds lke a great idea too!

My system consists of:

Dynavector 10x4
Teksonor turntable (Italian table with a plinth made of a solid block of olive wood.)
Marantz 150 tuner
Nakamichi RX202
Threshold SL10 Pre (I like this pre, build quality second to none, and extremely quiet with a great phono stage.)
Bottlehead Paramours, upgraded
Klipsch Heresy
Klipschorns
Ess AMT1
Stax Earspeakers

And also a mint GAS Son of Ampzilla that I sometimes listen to.

At this point,my Khorns are the only thing that is destined to stay for a long, long time.

look forward to your addititions to your Teres Site!

Happy Listening,

Richard

Richard,

I have never heard a WT so I can't comment on them. I can say that if you want black backgrounds and powerful dynamics, a Teres will supply them in spades, especially with the cocobolo base.

Do a search for cocobolo + acrylic + Teres and you'll probably turn up the post by Twl where he compared the two directly in his system. For him, the cocobolo won hands down. Night and day, etc. etc.

For tonearms, again with the goal being maximum dynamics, I'd stick with a gimball based design. Few unipivots will stabilize a cartridge as well, and a stable cartridge body is essential for allowing maximum cantilever acceleration and extension. That's what creates dynamics. My Shelter 901 on an appropriate arm is dynamic as hell. I wouldn't put either Shelter on a Unify.

Enjoy the hunt!

Thanks Doug,

Interesting point with regard to the Gimball based design arms and dynamics, now that I think about it, it does make a lot of sense.

In my heart of hearts I really do feel that the Teres Cocobolo is becoming more of a reality day by day. (Now I just need to take the plunge.)

Richard

In addition to Twl's logical arguments, one of the factors that convinced me of the advantages of dual bearing arms for bass and dynamics was the way I acquired my cartridge.

I knew I wanted a Shelter 901. We listen to a lot of large scale classical, and last year the 901 was being widely discussed as the best cartridge on the planet for that kind of music. People were marveling at its perfect control during the most complex and dynamic passages. They were also remarking on its deep, powerful and musical bass.

Then one showed up for sale here with just 100 hours on it. This is pretty rare so I grabbed it. Out of curiosity I asked the seller why he sold it. "Didn't like the bass." was his answer. WTF?! So I asked what arm he'd used it on. It was the Well Tempered arm. Not exactly a unipivot but certainly not a gimbal design either. I didn't say anything of course, but he should have kept the Shelter and sold the WT arm.

Everything everybody was saying about the 901 is true. Properly supported and set up, it continues to astonish us every day. IMO a low compliance cartridge like this performs best when provided with a very stable platform, ie, a high mass non-suspended TT and a dual bearing arm. Really good suspended tables like a top Basis, SME or Walker might do as well, but they all cost $15K+.