$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Joshua,

I am glad you asked me about my decision-making process in regards to choosing a turntable, tonearm, and cartridge. Now is a good time to talk about it.

Before I get started, I think it's important to make it clear that what I have chosen is based upon a subjective, personal decision and is not an attempt to prove, objectively, that my choice is the only one. There are many analog front ends that I find highly desirable and eminently musical, turntables that I can live with quite easily. But I cannot afford tham all. I would like to also emphasize that my decision is NOT an absolute one that has led to the unequivocal Holy Gail of sound. If I have learned anything these past 30 years is that there are many valid and emotionally moving ways to convey the music we love though a careful selection of audio components.

Over the last six months, I have read dozens of reviews about various turntables and tonearms in my own personal quest to find the "right sound." Five turntables continued to attract my attention time and again. These turntables included, in no particular order, the following: Teres 245, VPI Scoutmaster, Nottingham Space Deck, Michell Gyro SE, and Scheu Premier MK2 (Eurolab). This list does not suggest that these are the only worthy candidates available. Today, more than ever, there are so many turntable choices that it leads me to wonder how anyone, especially a vinyl-nubee like me, can make a viable choice? Nevertheless, these five candidates have captured my fancy, and it was from this group I finally picked a winner for me.

Despite a great review by Paul Seydor and Robert Greene of TAS, the Eurolab was the first to go only because I would have to order it directly from Germany, and I would not receive any local service as a result. The Teres offers all the same sonic benefits, I believe, and maybe more, using a somewhat similar design, but in a more beautiful package. If I lived in Europe, however, the tables would have been reversed. (Pun not intended!) I would have been more inclined to buy the Eurolab and would have saved money in the process.

The next turntable to go, even though it received a recommendation from TAS, was the Space Deck, a curious name to be sure. There are many people who own and love this turntable. I am sure it sounds great and offers wonderful price performance. However, I was a little put off by the description of how the bearing oil is added to the unit, and I do not much care for the MDF plinth, which is covered by a simulated blue-black marble coating. I really don't like simulated substances, especially a vinyl coating that is made to look like marble. I know this may sound shallow, but that's how it is. And finally the tonearm most often recommended for the Space Deck is the Space Arm, not a bad pairing actually. With this arm, however, I felt somewhat restricted; I wanted more selection in order to create my own synergy.

The final three decks presented a really tough choice. The VPI Scoutmaster represents the best price-performance leader of the group and received a strong recommendation by Mr. Analog himself, Michael Fremer of Stereophile. The Gyro SE has to be one of the coolest turntables around, and it too has received strong endorsements. The Teres, of the three remaining units, is the class beauty, but unfortunately it is not only more costly, but it has to be hand finished, which didn't sit well with me at first. So for a long time I went back and forth between the Scoutmaster and the Gyro.

Anytime I attempted to choose the Scoutmaster, I congratulated myself on being prudent and cost-conscience. But after a few days, the decision would not stick; I didn't feel I had reached closure. Maybe it was that MDF plinth again, but this time finished in a high-gloss coating. Sure MDF is known to reduce vibration and unwanted resonance, but isn't it really glorified, compressed sawdust: you know, wood fibers and synthetic resins bonded together under heat and pressure? That sounds cheap to me. And then there's that tonearm. If I went for the VPI Aries, I could mount any tonearm of my choice, but with the Scoutmaster I got the impression, rightly or wrongly, that the best tonearm would be the JMW-9, which I feel lacks true anitskating. Twisting the tonearm cable doesn't sound very precise to me! Just how many turns are required and where do I make them? Thus, when I couldn't answer those questions to my satisfaction, I would jump to the Gyro thinking that a suspended design was the best way to go, even though some had argued that a sprung deck might be a little more "plush" sounding than a mass-loaded unit like the VPI. Also, the Gryo is not as easy to set up as the VPI, or so I was told.

While I went back and forth between the VPI and Gyro, the Teres kept grabbing my attention. It was that gorgeous rosewood base, that thick dazzling acrylic platter, and that awe-inspiring 50-pound mass that caused me to return to it again and again.

Eventually I had enough of this unabashed wavering so I forced myself to make a choice: the Gyro SE and the Teres entered the final round. At last I was making some progress.

End of Part One...

I pretty much had the same thought process as you regarding table selection, artar. I expelled the VPI because I dun like MDF. However, instead of going with a mass loaded platter design ie Teres, I went with a decoupled platter design as one of my finalists with the other one being the Gyro SE, a "sprung" design. I thought a decoupled platter would come close to getting the positive attributes of both table designs.

I am backing away from the encounter since my last post though. I have the OL Silver now and want to try something different. I am thinking RS Labs' RS-A1.

Artar 1,

Excellent narrative of the process most of us have to go through when choosing a vinyl front end these days. With so few dealers left it's nearly impossible to see, touch or hear most of the legitimate contenders, especially in the middle to higher price ranges.

I thoroughly agree with you regarding MDF. By far the weakest component in our system is the Salamander Synergy rack. Top, bottom and shelves are all MDF. Decently veneered and finished MDF, but as you say it's still just glorified sawdust. Our rack choices were sharply limited by visual concerns (there's that conflict again). It's sitting in our living room, where an open rack of audio gear was simply not acceptable.

The MDF top and shelves are much too ringy for best audio performance. Frank Schroeder recently commented that the length of fibers in MDF is too short for optimal damping behavior, compared to the long fibers in his wooden armtubes or, one supposes, in the hardwood base of a Teres. The base and platter of my 265 are far less resonant than the shelf it's sitting on.

Eagerly awaiting your chapter two...

Artar, I too have long been considering a TT upgrade, and the Teres has been on/at the top of my short list since TWL pointed it out in a thread I started here some time ago. (I, however, will probably spring for the 150 or 160 model for reasons of budget, and use it with my OL-modded RB-250. I'm almost there...)

Among the other 'tables on your list, I auditioned (and was very impressed by) the Gyro SE. The standard VPI Scout didn't impress me as much (at least in the context of the dealer system I heard it in, which was far less expensive than the one in which I heard the Gyro SE). I haven't yet heard the Scoutmaster.

I'm looking forward to "part two" of your post, and to hearing what your thoughts are once you have the 245 up and running.

Joshua

So as not to totally trash the product, MDF does have uses in audio, speaker cabinets for example. And there are also different formulas for MDF. But one should be judicious in where it is applied. As a former owner of a MDF-based TT I completely agree with the sentiments expressed here regarding its use as a plynth material.

I feel your Salamander pain, DougDeacon. I was using an Architype stand prior to building my own.

I am on a path to get to the decision point Artar is now at. I chose to make my decision between a mid to upper Basis line table and a Teres. I now have the Basis and hope to get started on the Teres after the New Year, if the gods continue to smile on my business. I'm hoping that my own little shoot out between these two makes will answer many of my questions regarding suspended vs. non-suspended, wood vs. acrylic, etc, etc. Since I can't do this in someone's showroom I decided to do it in my listening room. Talk about expensive hobbies. . .!