What is turntable “liveliness”.
I have listened to turntables for sixty years. I bought my first high end TT about thirty years… it was revelatory. I do not swap tables often. I do a huge amount of research and then stay with one for fifteen years or so. My most recent upgrade was from a VPI Aries (heavy mass) to a Linn LP12 (light weight, sprung)…very nearly the very top level. Could we please not turn this into a religious thing about Linn… mine is an outstanding TT which compares favorably with any other $45K analog leg (TT, cartridge, and Phonostage)
The term lively comes up in descriptions. One of the differences in character I noticed between the VPI and Linn… which I thought might be considered liveliness was to me a bit of what I perceived as the images very slightly jumping around… the kind of thing you would think of when you see films of “The Flash” maybe vibrating in place. While I found this gave me the feeling of the notes wanting to jump out at me, I found it a bit disconcerting. I attributed it to a relatively light weight rig, that is really good at rejecting low frequency vibrations (it is a sprung table… known to be lively sounding) up to a relatively high frequency… but beyond that not. Something a really heavy rig would not be effected by.
To test my theory, I had a Silent Running Ohio Class vibration platform constructed for my turntable. The image smear, as I called it disappeared. There is no smear and it has great solidity.
Is this attribute “liveliness”?
Can’t say that rings a bell as described but should not happen. Maybe a sign of stylus not tracking properly perhaps due to setup and or tonearm/cart mismatch issues. Could also have something to do with inherent cart design and/or performance. Cart picking up some kind of high frequency vibration also a possibility .
Turntables are very brittle devices. A lot can go wrong very easily. |
As a Marketing Term used as Speil to get a reaction, the term' Prat' if invented by a individual from the UK has more than one connotation. As it was directed to a Audience of what one would suggest to be mainly mail. Iy can only be suggested a Misogeny is an underlying context for the creation of the term 'Pfat'
For the Linn TT design, making the Statement as Speil "She's a Belter" might have been kinder to the females of the UK |
Thank you for your comments. I find my observations very roughly follow yours… but you mention dark… I my observational word is solidity. So, definitely not the same but in a broad spectrum… over in the same area. I’ll have to ponder your comments some more. Thanks for your comment. Hmmm, good thought. Of course it went away with isolation.
|
@ghdprentice I can definitely see "solidity" being a better term in some contexts. My friend with an HW-40 would call it "solidity" too. Your isolation & support structure, and gear partners (especially cartridge) matter a lot. Choice of arm (metal vs. 3D) also influences this. I think it's no coincidence VPI partners with Van den Hul (lively with lots of top-end energy) and Audio-Technica cartridges. I had great results with a VdH Crimson on VPI, and even more impressive w/ Colibri on Avenger if not for that Colibri being a bit of a sibilance machine (not the table's fault). Across a number of contexts made as similar-as-possible, I extrapolated the VPI tables as being a bit "dark" relative to SOTA and Clearaudio Innovations. The Avenger more so than Aries 3. The 3D / Fatboy arms more so than metal. I really really liked AirTight PC-7 on VPI tables; it can be a little hot on Clearaudio but wow on a VPI. Too bad it was discontinued :( |
