A "house sound" among turntable manufacturers ?

Hi all,

It's certainly a simple matter to significantly alter a turntable's sound by either setup variations or tonearm and cartridge swaps.

In the 1990's I owned a Merrill - first trying to run my SME V tonearm on it. The sound was fairly lifeless, no matter what I tried.

At the time, I was in communication with two other Merrill owners who shared that observation of the Merrill/SME combination.

Now, the Merrill is more flexible than most suspended turntables, in that it provides for shifting the turntable's center of mass to compensate for tonearms of differing weight.

In spite of the, the Merrill does appear to be sub-optimal with the SME tonearm, and if you heard this combination, you would not even get a hint of the potential of the Merrill.

I cover this topic a bit on my FAQs page, mentioning that in general, you'll run into fewer outright tonearm incompatibilities with a non-suspended deck.

Of course, there are infinite ways to make good parts combinations sound bad. With a Schroder tonearm for example, a screw that's just a wee bit too loose or too tight will alter the sound dramatically.

If I were a betting man (which I'm not), I'd guess that most turntable designers have a fairly consistent musical aesthetic which they express throughout their line (I certainly do). If you heard components selected by them and set up by them, you'd hear a family sound.

OTOH, if you hear a rig set up by anyone else, it's likely to be a pig in a poke.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Rnm4: Before reading your comment I had the same thought, so I smiled to myself when I read it. Hopefully, some info will emerge that's more in line with my question. In any event, I'm comfortable with the notion that others feel free to do their thing. Some will find their comments interesting and helpful too.

Opus, "...light enlightenment" ?! Too funny. I do hope your ? gets answered, though this may may the proverbial cat and his tail, a circle going round and round. Kind of like a...TT! Cheers.

This certianly appears to be tru with TW Acoustic. The Raven One supposedly sounds very close to it's bigger brother the Raven AC.

The materials and bearing design and motor are the same.

And I certainly bet Thom's new Serac will have the Galibier house sound at an extrely attractive price, since it too shares the motor and bearing (i think) from the bigger designs, though materials vary quite a bit, while design parameters (mass loading, ribbon type belt and battery motor supply all being part of Galibier's philosophy)

Tripper: Well, even if the cat doesn't quite catch its tail, maybe it will have experienced some degree of amusement ! Emailist: You anticipate the Serac having "...the Galibier house sound..." Could you please offer some description as to what that sound is like ? Most appreciated.