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Scheu Audio Das Laufwerke No 2 Arrives Safely

Purchased a Scheu table from a verified dealer here on Audiogon. The shipping took awhile since the table was in Poland, but the who process was successfully completed. It did take a bit of time to get through customs, but the table had factory packing that safely protected it during its journey. Since the table weighs 42 kilo, that was no easy task! Transit time was a couple of weeks, and apparently that was longer than expected. The Audiogon dealer was fantastic to work with, I cannot say enough good things about elberoth2 as a seller. 

After unpacking assembly went very smoothly, the Scheu is a relatively straightforward table to set up. Put the very very heavy plinth in place, oil the inverted bearing and shaft assembly, place the platter on and allow it to settle. Place the motor and install the belt and the table is ready for arm install. Since the arm board is articulated I can place the Dynavector DV505 arm in place and then move the arm board to get correct spindle to pivot distance. Now its just the matter of aligning the cartridge. 

The table is up and playing for several days now. The speed controls are superb, and once set they do not change. The table is pretty much colorless, and to be honest I think it is able to faithfully portray what is on a record. Now it comes down to tone arm and cartridge, and if there are any restrictions in sound quality its going to be of the components chosen for those positions. Perhaps there are incremental improvements that can be had over the  Das Laufwerke No 2, but I would guess they will be minimal and out of my financial reach to achieve them. 

I have three tables, a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse, a Well Tempered Reference, and the Scheu. I could happily live with any one of them. I have the most money invested in the Cosmos Eclipse/SME V/ Transifiguration Audio Proteus, I will say that I think the Scheu and Dynavector is probably equally capable, and certainly a better value given what I was able to purchase them for on the used market. 




neonknight
neonknight OP
392 posts
 
@mijostyn

My SOTA is a vacuum model. It is the current generation Cosmos Eclipse. I got it at the beginning of 2020. 

antigrunge2
1,405 posts
 
I have been running the same turntable albeit on a slate base with a Verus rimdrive, a Dynavector DV 507 MkII and a Zyx Universe cartridge for the last 15 years and think it amazing. Mass loading simply works and the Scheu design is second to none
neonknight OP
392 posts
 
So I have had the table up and running for a few days on a trial set up.  For the moment I have an Ortofon MC200 installed as its my cheapest cartridge, and this was put on just to make sure everything works properly. Cartridge alignment is easy to do on this one and that is one of the reasons I chose it for initial install, but its amazing how quiet in the groove it is and how well it tracks. Now the MC200 is a vintage cartridge and it has its own character and limitations, but all in all it sounds quite respectable. Funny thing is if you read about its design philosophy there are many aspects about it that have carried over to current Ortofon cartridges, and in some ways this is the great great ancestor to the A90. One liability to the MC 200 is the output voltage is wickedly low at .09 mV, so perhaps I will source a SUT for it at some time in the future. My next step is to install and align the Ikeda 9 Kawami cartridge, but that process is tedious as its so difficult to see the diamond since it is a direct scanning design. I do have the high mass OEM headshell available, so that is what the Ikeda will go on, as I recall that head shell weighs 15 grams. But since I have a removable head shell, I can see myself experimenting with a couple of other cartridges for this table. 

I have owned a few tables over the years, and the Scheu and Dynavector are as colorless and transparent as I have experienced. While there may be performance gains to be had by the ultra high end tables, I would suspect my system and room are not at the level of refinement to take advantage of those tables. I believe this is about as high as I can hope to climb, and I am fine with that cause the sound is very very nice. Electronics are a Halcro DM8 pre amp, AVM Audio AMP Essential mono-blocks, Esoteric E-03 phono stage, and JBL 4365 speakers. So I modest system. My other two tables are a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse with a SME V and Transfiguration Audio Proteus and a Well Tempered Reference with ZYX 4D. The Scheu is every bit as enjoyable to listen to as the SOTA, and truth be told I could be happy with any one of these tables. 

Looking forward to many an evening of listening with this table, it is worth every dollar I spent and more. Paid 3800 for the table including shipping and 1100 for the arm, and I can't think of anything I would rather have for under 5K. 
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