Schroeder vs. Triplanar VII Sonic Differences

Hi All,

Lots to catch up with on this thread. A couple of quick points, and I'll try to return to this later in the day.

Quattro ALU = Gavia (with change to TPI platter version)

Quattro Supreme = Stelvio (with the change to the Stelvio TPI platter)

Early this year, I decided to make a final existential split with Peter (Redpoint) by letting him have all naming references to Italian motor cars. It only made sense to complete the vision - the romance I have with all things involving mountains.

Peter and I speak on average twice per week. When I told him that I was giving up the Quattro name, he mentioned to me that just that week he decided to eliminate Testa Rossa moniker from his lineup. Great minds think alike. He too, wanted to simplify and break with the past.

About that time, it also dawned on me that some platters (i.e. the Stelvio) followed this mountain naming pattern, but that the other two platters (Teflon/Alu and PVC) spoke more of material science.

Of course at this time, the Teflon / Alu platter was evolving into the graphite topped, TPI interface.

I began to see a pattern unfold - that 90% of Gavia turntables are ordered with the "middle" platter (the Teflon / Alu on Mike's 'table and now, the graphite topped, TPI version).

With the evolution of this platter to the graphite topped TPI, it made sense to re-badge this platter as the Gavia platter.

The name change was completed by renaming the PVC platter into the Serac.

I think I'm done with name changes now. Folks seem to be having less difficulty with this scheme. They have an easier time pronouncing all of this than they do the name Galibier.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier (guh-lih-bee-yay)

Hi Thomas,
Thanks for your reply. If you could forward(privately) which dealer it was, I will see to fill in this information gap.

Hello Andrew,
I don't want to use this forum as an advertisement platform(I said that before) but only to supply information of general interest(sometimes it's hard to draw a line). So I'd prefer to answer questions regarding the SQ version via phone or mail. I'd do it here if I won't get hammered for it... ;-)

Hi Rick,
Just a plain New York Style pizza would be enough :-)
I love New York and seeing a fellow audio enthusiast is just one excuse to visit the area. So you could count on me dropping by when the next opportunity comes up(regardless of which arm you'd buy)

Cheerio,

Frank

Doug,in all honesty,you seem to becoming a bit guilty of what I was being accused of some months ago.
I really tried to make my comments rather benign,and specifically stated that the criticism "was not earth shattering",and could be attended to,with some "fotzing around"!I am certain my conclusions are not inaccurate,but none of this should be of any consequence anyway!
My intentions were to simply "rap anlog",on a subject that may be of interest,but nothing profound.
I make sure to keep any additional feelings I may have about certain arms,like the one I currently own,and it's "still fabulous" performance,to a minimum,as I believe this subject has been played out,and there is clearly more interest in other arms,on these threads.Yes,there does seem to be a good bit of marketing,and defense of friends,going on,but who cares?I like it all,anyway.
There was no need to "correct me",though I still love you,and don't fall into the pattern that I regrefully did!
Best!

Just a bit of perspective. I'm used to Project, Rega and Vector tonearms. Fotzing is inherent with these arms so I've learned to accept it and look for techniques to make each task simpler and as repeatable as possible. Personally, I can live with just about any arm since I've built a set of tools to make most any adjustment I need to regardless of what the arm has built into it.

I do admit that there is an ease to use of arms like the 2.2, except for the issue of tuning the fluid as you guys have mentioned. I still have not taken my Triplanar out of the box but I can see that there are similarities in some adjustments to the 2.2. The issue of the VTA "slop" does not concern me as I liken it to the same issue I have when I use a pipe or cresent wrench. You learn to feel for the engagement of the teeth. This is much more known to me than the technique of adjusting things by ear which takes time and experience to learn. For me that is an issue no matter what arm I use.

I think I'm just re-inforcing what Thom posted before. To paraphrase, the "right" arm is the arm that works best for you. I'm still having fun fotzing with all the arms I can get my hands on. That's not to say that I don't listen to a boat load of music while I'm at it.

BTW, I'm breaking my silence here. I'll be in Denver the week of May 13, 14 if anyone would like to join in. All the plans are not finalized yet, but it will be a great time.

SirSpeedy,

Your assertion (now repeated) that these adjustments require "fotzing around all afternoon" is simply not true. Returning to a precise VTA number or fine-tweaking VTF takes 3 seconds, not all afternoon. To state otherwise serves no froggly purpose.

You knew this once, though you may have forgotten. These flaws and the simple fixes for them were addressed on the TriPlanar Tips thread, to which you yourself contributed.