Teres vs VPI, SME, Origin Live, etc.

I'll let others comment on the table differences as I haven't had an opportunity to A/B what you are considering. I will say that the 265 Teres is very, very good, IMO. A good friend has this table with a system very similar to yours. He is using a Triplanar arm with a ZYX Universe Silver cartridge and it is a stellar performer.

I will say without any hesitation that the Illustrious is not in the same league with the Shroder. Not even close.

For reference I had the pleasure recently of direct A/B of the Teres 340 and 360 as well as all three Shroder arms, a Triplanar and a Graham 2.2. Identical cartridges were used for the evaluations. Both tables were made to accomodate two arms. This was a real once in a lifetime event and I would be surprised if anyone has A/B'd directly, in the same room at the same time any of these tables.

I haven't compared the hardware you mentioned, but you might put a Galibier Table on your short list.

I have a Galibier Quattro ALU with the Teflon Platter and a Tri-Planar Tonearm, and couldn’t be happier.

Galibier’s Thom Mackris’ help, suggestions, hand holding (this was the first table I set-up) were absolutly first class. http://www.galibierdesign.com/index.html

Dealing with Thom was simply a wonderful experience. While Thom is certainly a business owner, my experience suggests that his motives are not primarily monetarily driven; but driven by a desire to share the conclusions of his many hours of tweaking, along with his love of music reproduction with those of us found on forums like this. I know it sounds trite to suggest that he’s not in it for the money, but considering the many hours he spent with me, the manufacturing and machining costs associated with his 100lb. plus turntables, he’s obviously making some bucks, but working equal hours in the profession he’s educated, would I imagine, bring more monetary, but certainly less personal rewards.

In fact dealing with "cottage industry" folks like Thom of Galibier, Mick of Supratek (pre's & amp's), and a local fellow for cables, have been very rewarding, and special experiences. While the rest of my rig can’t be necessarily described as comprised of cottage industry components, my CAT amps, and Soundlab speakers are very close to being so –e.g., not much advertising, few periodical reviews, but oh, what marvelous equipment!

For reasonable prices (i.e., relative items with similar sonic attributes), and the service one receives, my experiences highly recommend taking this small or cottage industry path. Obviously, that’s not to say that the equipment found at the more mainstream company’s can’t compare, because I'm sure it can; however for me, knowing where my money is going, and being able to contact the designer – especially for a complex item like a turntable, has been a big positive.

Good luck on your hunt…..Mike

I urge you to consider a Scheu premier II table direct from Germany. A 9" arm version with 80mm platter can be had for under 2000 shipped methinks. The standard 50mm platter is maybe 200 less. It can be ordered in a single 12" arm configuration, 9", dual 9", or dual 9"/12". This one is hard to beat for the price and an extremely good and well built table. I have a SME 312 arm coming to mount on mine to replace a unipivot arm I don't much like; ie, just cannot stand the side to side rocking motions of unipivot arms.