New Teres Direct Drive Motor Available as Option

This is a very quick initial review on the new Verus motor just received for use on my Micro-Seiki RX5000 - detailed analysis to follow.

The motor is easy to set up, needed some changes via dip switches on the board as outlined in the manual to get the right torque for my heavy platter. Stops and starts with no drama, easy to use, there is an option to stop the platter to change records and with my high inertia platter it takes just a couple of revolutions.

Soundwise, very comparable with my Lenco for PRat, seems to create a solid low end typical of idler drives, coupled with the dynamics of the Micro engineering it takes the deck to a new level over the silk belt drive. It is early days, but very favourable impression so far and I believe I have the best of the Lenco with the extra resonance and depth of the Micro. Best combo so far. More to follow

Steve

Any further listening impressions, Steve?

Inquiring Micro Seiki Techies want to know.

Fred

Fred,

The motor continues to deliver the goods. I first had the motor sitting on a detached (from the Micro plinth)solid piece of maple 5" thick on brass footers, but when I switched to the motor sitting on the same plinth as the table the bottom end tightened up with greater slam. This is the current preferred set up. I also got a slightly better sound with a Shakti stone on top of the control box and use a Graniteaudio 555 power cord. A bit of audio voodoo with the Shakti, but it seems to add a bit of bite and clarity - but I need to validate this with extended listening. THe control box needs a small weight on the top to reduce ambient noise from a transformer buzz. I need to have some extended quality listening time this weekend and I full publish a full review. I have some nice pics and I will endeavour to put them up here as well. I have had my IO Sig phono stage out for a tune up at Aesthetix and that goes back in to the mix tomorrow to allow for a true comparison.

Stay tuned

Steve

Did you try a plain old brick or rock or piece of slate as a control for the benefits of the Shakti stone?

The Verus arrived here yesterday. Setup was straightforward and operation is simple. Spinup and spindown times are quite reasonable. I do need to retrain myself to not give the platter a push to get things going - caught my hand a couple times just before. :-)

Basically just checked that all was in order and operational. The primary issue for me was the size of the motor controller box and where to put it. The motor pod is sitting on the same 3" maple block as the turntable. Lightly holding the motor as it drives the platter I do feel the traversal of the wheel against the platter as not 100% smooth/continuous. I may need to fiddle with motor position a touch.

Listening at the end of a long evening, I'm gonna recheck my impressions tonight. TT is a Teres 320 which has a 37 pound platter. Ergo, my expectations are more oriented toward improvements coming from an improved motor than from increased rotational stability. Will report back.

Do folks have observations on the sonic character of different Verus torque settings?

Tim