New TT ideas please

I've gone steeply up a curve on this thread alone. I know there are differing views and nuances, but you lot seem to handle such things in a very gentlemanly fashion (apologies to any ladies).

Many dealers lambaste the web, but those are the ones that don't like an educated customer.

Many, many thanks to all here.

Cheers

I used to have a Garrard 401 on my mono system in my home office. The 401 is dead mint and I constructed a high mass 7 layers Birch plywood plinth and quite happy with it.

The plinth was 22 x 24in. in size and weight approv. 40 to 50lbs. I also used a stethoscope on the plinth near the motor housing or on the tonearm base to see if I can heard some noise but I can't detected any. It sounds quite nice.

One day I bought the 401 upstair to my main system....The comparison was fair...Everythings were the same, the only difference was the tonearm wire inside the SME 3012 S2 tonearm. Same TT stand, same catridge, same setting in volume, same phono interconnect. When compared to the Verdier, The Garrard 401 was noisy. very noisy. There are alot of 'stuff' in the music background. Without the comparison with the Verdier, I cannot detected it. I sold the 401 the next day and I would say no more idler wheel TT for me.

If you have a Lenco, Garrard or even EMT 927 or 930, you should buy, borrow or steal:) a Verdier and compare it to your favourite idler wheel TT. You might have the same result as mine:) !!!!! The Verdier that I'm talking about is the one with the magnets.

Terry,

Before you posted I stated clearly - twice - that I have not heard and was not commenting on the more costly suspended tables. For you to leap to the conclusion that I, "dismiss suspended turntables out of hand" was a considerable overstatement that ignored what I actually wrote.

So, why bring an $80,000 JEM Blue Pearl (12x Hatari's budget) into the discussion as a counter-example to something I very carefully did not say? I'm sure a $300K Ferrari would outperform my $25K Mazda and whatever car Hatari drives too. We knew that.

Suspensions are difficult to do well. Some very costly implementations may succeed, or not. I don't know - for the third time.

The ones I've heard within Hatari's budget did not meet his stated priorities (which are very similar to mine) as well as the four brands I mentioned. I've stated my relevant experiences and my understanding of them. Please share your own of course, but save the Michael Moore wisecracks.

Dan, my understanding of plinth is the non suspended 'chassis'. My apologies if I used the term incorrectly.

I do not slate non suspended tables. Suspension plays a very small part in my choice of table. It is all down to implementation. My posts were in response to Doug slating suspended tables and then motivating with one liners.

There seems to be this commonly accepted 'truism' that suspended tables are soft on bass and transients because their suspension allows the platter to 'give' way. That is simply ridiculous considering the effective mass of the platter assembly vs. that of the tonearm cart combination. Any movement caused by a rise or depression in the record groove will be manifested in the tonearm moving up or down. As such, both suspended and non suspended tables suffer this phenomena equally.

+++ If there is sufficient drag on the platter during dynamic passages there actually could be a rotational twisting reaction on the platter/bearing/plinth as well as the drive. +++

Dan, the drag required to cause that would probably cause the stylus to be ripped out of my Koetsu. I can report my Koetsu is still fine.

+++ Bodies in motion tend to stay in motion unless. . . yada, yada +++

Actually they do not. If they could, we would have perpetual movement machines that actually work. I can assure you, my TT is dead still ... always. It doesn't budge. The times I have (accidently) bumped it, it returned to equilibrium in second, with no stylus sliding across the LP.

BTW, I adjust my VTA on the fly every time a play an LP. In fact, I adjust a couple of times per LP and would consider buying an arm w/o this ability. Cannot fathom why you consider it an issue on suspended tables as I most certainly do not have the steadiest hands (or best eyesight) by a long shot.

Regards
Paul

I've tried both sprung and unsprung suspensions on the same TT (VPI TNT III.) The best result was achieved after converting the TT to a hard-mount suspension & coupling the plinth to a large dump for internally generated vibration(sandbox). The vibration dump was then decoupled from earth vibrations using heavy springs. This combination of coupling & decoupling made a larger difference than any other upgrade I've thrown into my analog front end. This includes comparing SME to Graham, Oracle to VPI, and BAT to Atma-Sphere.

Doubtless the sprung vs. unsprung debate will continue. A sprung TT is probably a manufacturer's best bet to accommodate the widest range of rack & room variables. An unsprung TT that is freed from rack & room variables is probably more difficult to design and more expensive to manufacture due to exotic laminate construction & massive structure. Fully integrated rack/TT system like Rockport are very expensive.

But in the end any TT is probably only as good as its platform.