$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Thanks for your kind words, Artar. I like the 10t's also, but they are power hogs and have pushed tube amplification out of consideration. It can be done, but not at price I can afford.

I completely agree with the fact that the turntable makes the biggest difference. I have experienced this recently when I purchased a turntable, tonearm and cartridge. Then an opportunity came along for me to move up the same turntable line so I simply moved the arm and cartridge to the new table. I was amazed at how much more detail and bass was being pulled from each LP with the same cartridge and arm. The dynamics just seemed to wake up. This is one reason why I am choosing to keep my current cartridge and I can completely understand why Jphii would chose to stay with his. A good table will allow what might be thought of as lesser arm and/or cartridge to perform at their very best, which may be quite good. I'm sure if I took my Vector/Benz and mounted them on my old MMF 7 I could be led to think that the Vector was not worth the money I spent.

Letch,
If you go with any Schroeder below the Reference, one advantage of a Teres would be CB's arm height adjuster. If optimizing SRA turns out to be important for you it's a much better solution than the set screw and sliding post method.

Some of Salectric's Galibier/Teres distinctions are worth a second look:

the Galibier accomodates 12" arms and it also allows two tonearms to be fitted easily,

A Teres accommodates 12" arms just as easily as a Galibier. Both brands have free-swivelling armboards. A two-armboard Teres is available, though it is a special order. Galibier does win that one.

I read a number of accounts of problems with the Teres motor controller, and I was skeptical of the whole servo control concept

I had a controller problem a few weeks after I received my Teres. CB overnighted a completely new motor/controller unit, which gave me the $100 Signature upgrade for free. I'm not personally aware of any controller problems since the Signature and Reference series came out last year. Even if Teres closed its doors tomorrow, the readily available schematics and parts list make it possible for any electronics technician to repair or even build a Teres controller from scratch. The benefit of self-regulating platter speed is obvious, DC motor speed creep will never be an issue. The music is always in the same key at the end of a side as it was at the beginning! ;-)

It seems that a Teres/Galibier decision must usually be made on aesthetics, budget and these relatively few features differences. No one who's heard both has said that either sounds clearly better than the other. Maybe Dan_Ed should add a Galibier to his Basis/Teres shootout. Go Dan go!

Sure thing, DougDeacon! To all, I am now soliciting donations for my "Dexter's Analog Lab" project. :')

Doug,

Thanks for muddying the waters! Kidding. Actually one of my concerns was that the Teres height adjuster would be a major plus. I am not that proficient with fiddling around with tonearms yet and while I had considered a Basis Vector (with the adjustment option), I just heard so much good stuff about the Schroeder that I felt that perhaps I should make the plunge with that arm. I am less concerned with the cartridge. I feel that I can work up to that after the fact.

Thanks for the info on the motor, that was a concern. I have a friend who lives in Colorado Springs so perhaps a visit with him is in order so that I can go hear both tables since they are both conveniently located in that area. I am less concerned with the arm situation since I'm blowing the bank with just this table and arm.

Not that these tables are cheap but it does seem that at their price point that they are SOA solutions that compete with the best.

I wonder how many of us would have to donate to get Dan_ed the Galibier for the three-way shoot-out......

I’m back from shopping at Holister, Co. and Abercrombie and Fitch. My daughter made out like a bandit: over two hundred dollars in ten minutes, half of which she paid! Not bad I say. And she is so happy about her new winter coat. (There is life, I guess, outside of vinyl, but I know it’s hard to believe, right?)

Letch,

Thanks for the kind words; I, too, appreciate your posting here. Your comments are always welcome.

Your choice between the Quattro Alu and Teres 265 will be a tough one, for there’re both fine turntables. I believe the October edition of Stereophile is carrying an article, written by Art Dudley, about the Quattro Alu. I only skimmed the text. I hate to admit that I spent more time drooling over the pictures.

I once had a suspended turntable, but it wasn’t in the same league as the Basis 2001 by any means. However, I did find it very musical, rich, and warm. In those days, you know when the covered wagons made their way west, I had no idea what PRaT meant, and I only discovered the definition for that acronym recently, I hate to admit. But the type of music I like is not full of fury or bombast; it is lyrical, smooth, and melodic. Later I purchased a direct-drive turntable on the basis of a review by Julian Hirsch. Boy did it every sound crummy, but I really didn’t know any better until now, thanks to Twl, Dougdeacon, 4yanx, and others.

In regards to the Nottingham Spacedeck, Luda, my wife, likes it the best of the ones I have shown her, including the Michell Gyro and the Teres 245. She likes the more traditional look of the Linn.

>>I wouldn't say shallow, I prefer to think I'm sophisticated in that way but it wouldn't be the first time I was fooling myself.<<

I would probably be the last one to call another one shallow, but since I like my equipment to look good, I feel a little guilty because the “really hardcore” audiophiles seem to be focused on the sound; aesthetics seem to be secondary. Well they are not secondary to me. Maybe that’s one reason I could never warm up to equipment like NAD despite the following it has gathered over the years.

I don’t take too seriously comments by others claiming to have Teres-killing decks. How would they know without hearing a friend’s unit or buying one for themselves to compare to their “world-beater?” As for Stereophile, I have mixed feelings. I agree: how can they lump so many turntables into one category? Well, the answer is that they try to compare various units on the basis of memory, whim, bias, personal relations with the manufacturer (e.g., the love-fest with Musical Fidelity), and, of course, advertising dollars. (Yeah, what’s up with putting the Graham Robin on the Gailibier? Oh that makes a lot of sense? Maybe Art should have tried something else, or better yet he should have asked the manufacturer for an appropriate arm and phono cartridge.)

If you need more information about the Schroeder Model 1, you may need to talk with Twl. You will have to examine that arm’s effective mass and its bearing assembly to determine whether it will properly accommodate your desired cartridge. Given you musical tastes, you could start with a Shelter 501, and from there you could try different cartridges. Here’s some data about the Model 1 that you might find useful:

1) Torsion-bearing, magnetically stabilized and damped

2) Virtually no bearing friction, no bearing chatter

3) Dynamic damping of the tonearm-cartridge-resonance through induction of eddy currents, adjustable

4) VTA repeatable and finely adjustable

5) Tonearm wands are interchangeable, available in 8.5 – 12inch length

6) Effective Mass depending on the armwand from 5gr – 35gr

7) Tonearm wands/rods made out of carbon fiber, jacaranda, ebony, acacia, bamboo, pertinax etc.

8) Incognito wiring, single run, other wiring upon request.

http://www.soundscapehifi.com/schroder.htm#model1

With different armwand material and armwand weights to choose from, you should, at least in theory, be able to match the Model 1 to virtually any cartridge. But I don’t know about the cabling or the bearing assembly of the tonearm being able to absorb the energy of a low compliance cartridge, like a Shelter. Once again, you will need to ask Twl.