When will we ever hear turntables demoed fairly?

Hello Inna. I have no opinion on that - I have neither the experience nor the theoretical framework.

Hello Terry9, nor do I have what could be called an opinion. Tom Fletcher did design his tonearms to be used with his turntables, but I heard that some people get better results, for them that is, by putting different arms on Nottinghams. But they also usually put heavy MCs in those arms, so it's a quite different set-up. Turntables are complicated, another reason why I very much prefer tape.

The TF/NAS tonearm that I had from 1997 was the Mentor. One "set" the VTA by shoving the arm tube up or down in its socket, and fastening a grub screw. It was crude, and not repeatable. The tonearm may have worked well in theory, whatever theory that was, but, since it was virtually impossible to set up precisely, was a poor performer. IMO.

I finally got tired of the whole business and bought a Trans-Fi air bearing tonearm. Quell Difference!

Many “boutique” retailers will only offer 3 (if you’re lucky) turntables to compare.

• One of these might be a potential candidate.

• It’s unlikely you’ll be able to compare with the alternates from your shortlist.

• They might be able to demo same arm & cart but it might involve swapping.

• If it doesn’t involve swapping the samples might sound different anyway.

• Even with “identical sounding” samples (an impossibility in my view) the setup will vary slightly for each one.

• Even if you notice what’s wrong how long is the demo going to take before all setups are optimal?

  (“Setup” also means mechanical support, cable dressing etc)

It's unlikely that you ever will hear an in-store demo that's completely "fair" and this isn't necessarily due to either incompetence or unscrupulous behavior on the dealer's part.

Frequently, confirmation bias sets in, and the dealer doesn't pay as much attention to a setup he doesn't prefer.

Dialing in something like azimuth (on arms capable of it) can't be done by the "numbers" - even if you use the Feickert software, so there's a bit of subjectivity in this area as well.

If you're looking at an arm or a cartridge (not a complete setup), it gets trickier still, as the turntable's attributes can influence the results.  The best example I can point to is when I was developing the new Galibier drive system. 

During the early prototyping stages, I plugged in a Kuzma 4Point and Dynavector xV1S and the sound was overly aggressive.  The Kuzma was new to me at the time, so I didn't have a good handle on its attributes.  By the time the drive system was production-ready the Kuzma's attributes began to show and what was previously aggressive, was now a sweet, extended  treble.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design