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Micro RX 5000 Renaissance?

It may be just a coincidence, but looking through the various reports of the recent Munich high end event I've noticed no fewer than four (!) different turntables that all look suspiciously like the Micro RX-5000.

TW Acoustic and Kuzma launched new models visually 'inspired' by the RX-5000 design, Acoustical Systems showed a table that looks like an exact copy and DB Systems (www.micro.nl) also showed an exact copy, leaving no doubt of its objective by simply calling it 'The Tribute'. And then of course there already was the TechDas AirForce 5.

Does anyone know more about these newbies and what's under their bonnets? It would be interesting to compare their performance vis à vis the original and hear how much technology has moved forward. Or not.

While I'm a happy owner of the RX-1500G, the RX-5000 has been on my radar for quite some time. So with this Micro Renaissance going on, should I wait for a mint original to cross my path or should I go for one of these new tables? It seems Micro enthousiasts are now spoiled for choice........

edgewear
amg56's avatar
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amg56
887 posts
 

Now why did all the Capitalists move their business offshore to China, along with IP so they could build it? Where did China get it's taste for Capitalism from? Ok, call it Communo-Capitalism, but it's producing more billionaires per year than any other country. They are hard working, opportunistic and clever. I am not jealous, and have worked with them sorting out their traffic in the big cities. I have seen their industries. Wow. May be the western world has gotten a bit lazy in comparison.

I am not commenting on their Government or the way the upper-echelons of their business exploit their workers. Who is brave enough to change it? They are the new economy...

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nandric
4,086 posts
 

Think in terms of ''cost of production''. Labor is one of them.

This explains ''capitalist investment'' in China. In the time

that both Sovjet Union and China were ''socialist countries''

there was no investment of either in the other country.

edgewear OP
543 posts
 
@amg56, I agree. The capitalist need for cheap labor ushered in globalism - as a slightly more civilised form of colonialist exploitation - and the communist regime in China opened their doors in a desperate attempt of revigorate their own declining pre-industrial economy. Necessity is the mother of invention and copying is simply a part of that process. And so they became the world's sweat shop.

Fast forward a few decades and they have evolved into innovators in several key sectors like energy, mobility and digitisation to power, move and manage their economic transition. The second industrial revolution made - uh - 'America great', but the third industrial revolution will happen in the East, as well as the power shift that goes with it.

Now they've learned all the tricks from the former Masters of the Universe like a real sorcerer's apprentice, we're now talking about moralism over here in the 'decadent West'? That would be the mother of all cynicisms. Or would that be Mr. Trump starting a trade war to 'bring back the jobs' and 'make America great again'?

I wonder what all this has to do with my initial observation that reputable Western brands are building turntables that look like the RX-5000? Does it show that the former copyists are now being copied by us? Perhaps a reverse trend as just another sign of our own decline?

amg56's avatar
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amg56
887 posts
 

I appreciate your assertation following in the vein of my observation. I didn't mean to take the focus off the RX-5000. I own an original DDX-1500 (and BL-91L and a couple more). I do not my originals cheapened by copies, which damn it, work better.

However, this is the direction the economy and products are headed. We can hardly stop the destruction once the bull is in the china shop.

edgewear OP
543 posts
 
@amg56, don't worry, my last remarks were very much tongue in cheek. I sort of enjoy the way discussions on this forum tend to take unexpected turns. From RX-5000 clones to paradigm shifts in global economic power is just a small step in 'lateral thinking', so I feel right at home here...... ;-). 
 
@lewm, you mention two 'weak links' in Micro turntables, the motor speed controller and the construction of the armboards. The first one contradicts my own experience. I've had several German made modern tables (from Clearaudio and TW Acustic) that exhibited problems in speed control. That was the main reason for going back to vintage Micro. Both my RX-1500G and BL-91 are flawless in that regard. The gunmetal AX type armboards are very heavy and solid, so I wouldn't know why they could be considered 'not the most stable'. Especially compared to the acrylic or aluminium ones used by these 'modern' German tables........


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