^^^ Don ...
I have the original turntable and arm that they were selling when Well Tempered first hit the market back in the '80's. In fact, the table has one of Bill Firebaugh's very first arms on it. I bought the arm from an aerospace engineer who bought it directly from Bill Firebaugh after attending a demo at the engineer's audio society meeting. When I bought it, it was still new in the box. Then, I subsequently bought just the table from an audio dealer who was selling the tables at the time. I guess you could call the table I have "The Classic Well Tempered Turntable."
Over the years I've modified it some what:
1. The tone arm has been rewired with Cardas pure copper wire.
2. A heavy brass clamp is bolted around the arm's dampening fluid well. The well is made of thin metal and rings like hell without the brass clamp. Adding the clamp was like installing a huge Herbie's tube dampener on it with the same results.
3. I had a specially machined brass counter-weight made to replace the aluminum one that was on the stock arm.
4. When I had the brass counter-weight machined, I also had a new brass bolt and nut machined as well. Its what holds the tone arm in place and fits from underneath the table.
5. I put one layer of heat shrink along the entire length of the arm to reduce any micro vibrations there. I tried two layers but it over-damped the arm and dulled the sound.
6. The stock belts have been replaced with a custom belt built by originlive in England. Amazing what their belt did to improve the sound. I highly recommend an originlive custom belt to any owner of a belt drive turntable.
http://www.originlive.com/turntable-belts-replacement-new.html
7. I'm using a Von Gaylord "Legend" IC between the turntable's Cardas junction box and the ARC PH8.
http://vongaylordaudio.com/beta/cabling/
Ray Leung is the engineer behind all of the Von Gaylord products. He's a genius and his electronics, speakers and cabling reproduce tonally correct reproductions of the actual musical events. I'm a big fan of his cabling. In fact, I'm a big fan of Ray. He's an exceptional gentleman and knows his music and sound.
So, with all of these mods, some which were inexpensive, and some that were expensive, I think I'm getting the best out of my turntable at this point. I'd sure like to try one of ARC's Reference phono stages though.
And just one more point ... I have tried a variety of after market platter mats. So far, just the bare acrylic platter sounds best. I'm tempted to try one of Herbie's platter mats though. I think he has a generous return policy if you don't care for the results.
http://herbiesaudiolab.net/ttmat.htm
If you take the time to wade through Herbie's customer reviews, there are a couple of guys using Herbie's mat on their WTT and claim its a major improvement. I may pop for one soon.
Take care ...
Frank
I have the original turntable and arm that they were selling when Well Tempered first hit the market back in the '80's. In fact, the table has one of Bill Firebaugh's very first arms on it. I bought the arm from an aerospace engineer who bought it directly from Bill Firebaugh after attending a demo at the engineer's audio society meeting. When I bought it, it was still new in the box. Then, I subsequently bought just the table from an audio dealer who was selling the tables at the time. I guess you could call the table I have "The Classic Well Tempered Turntable."
Over the years I've modified it some what:
1. The tone arm has been rewired with Cardas pure copper wire.
2. A heavy brass clamp is bolted around the arm's dampening fluid well. The well is made of thin metal and rings like hell without the brass clamp. Adding the clamp was like installing a huge Herbie's tube dampener on it with the same results.
3. I had a specially machined brass counter-weight made to replace the aluminum one that was on the stock arm.
4. When I had the brass counter-weight machined, I also had a new brass bolt and nut machined as well. Its what holds the tone arm in place and fits from underneath the table.
5. I put one layer of heat shrink along the entire length of the arm to reduce any micro vibrations there. I tried two layers but it over-damped the arm and dulled the sound.
6. The stock belts have been replaced with a custom belt built by originlive in England. Amazing what their belt did to improve the sound. I highly recommend an originlive custom belt to any owner of a belt drive turntable.
http://www.originlive.com/turntable-belts-replacement-new.html
7. I'm using a Von Gaylord "Legend" IC between the turntable's Cardas junction box and the ARC PH8.
http://vongaylordaudio.com/beta/cabling/
Ray Leung is the engineer behind all of the Von Gaylord products. He's a genius and his electronics, speakers and cabling reproduce tonally correct reproductions of the actual musical events. I'm a big fan of his cabling. In fact, I'm a big fan of Ray. He's an exceptional gentleman and knows his music and sound.
So, with all of these mods, some which were inexpensive, and some that were expensive, I think I'm getting the best out of my turntable at this point. I'd sure like to try one of ARC's Reference phono stages though.
And just one more point ... I have tried a variety of after market platter mats. So far, just the bare acrylic platter sounds best. I'm tempted to try one of Herbie's platter mats though. I think he has a generous return policy if you don't care for the results.
http://herbiesaudiolab.net/ttmat.htm
If you take the time to wade through Herbie's customer reviews, there are a couple of guys using Herbie's mat on their WTT and claim its a major improvement. I may pop for one soon.
Take care ...
Frank