Grand Prix Monaco review in new Stereophile- OUCH

Its all about system matching. Get the right cart with the arm, TT AND phono, you will hear magic. Get it wrong, and nothing you spin will sound right.

I believe that up to a certain price point, any TT worth its salt, should perform at the top level, class "A" or whatever you like to call it.

Grooves / Michael, I disagree that hall effect commutation has the effect you say it has, I think the problem is much simpler and was first "outed" by Sansui's engineers 20 years ago. It comes down to Newton's Third Law (you know the one, equal and opposite reactions etc)

The motor control electronics continually vary the drive to the motor to keep the platter speed constant. Any competently designed servo loop does this to an exquisite degree, virtually eliminating speed variation as a concern, but the variation in drive simultaneously torques the motor's mounting in the opposite sense.

By definition in a direct drive this counter torque is transmitted to the turntable chassis whence it proceeds to wreak havoc. How the designer copes with said havoc defines the success of any DD effort and it means that the designer is faced with a very different set of challenges from the designer of a belt or idler drive TT.

Mark Kelly

Mike said:

"That said, the Monaco stomped all over the Merrill (and most suspended 'tables I've heard) in the bottom octaves."

I am having a philosophical struggle as to how a table can play the bottom octaves exceptionally and not the rest of the spectrum.

Two things occur to me: 1) the Monaco is really not playing the bottom octaves correctly but is coloring them in a desirable manner for bass. If this is true then the coloration may also be affecting the middle and upper octaves.

2) On the other hand, one could say the exact same things about the Merrill: it is not reproducing the middle and upper octaves correctly but coloring them in a desirable manner.

A turntable, among other things, has to spin accurately through groove modulations and drain external and internal vibrations. How does a Monaco do this correctly for bass but not for the mids and highs? And how does a Merrill does this correctly for the mids and highs but not for the bass?

Or could this have nothing to do with the turntables which are both reproducing very accurately but the downstream components? I know Mike did a lot component matching but maybe at this level the components have to be exquisitely matched for balanced results. I know that when I tweak something on my table/arm/cartridge it can take many hours to dial it in to where I feel I have maximized that tweak.

The Dynavector is the cartridge I'd recommend using with the Monaco... and did in the review!

No need to apologize for disagreeing! However, looking at the Monaco close up, examining the build quality and taking into account what must have gone into designing, building and actually manufacturing such a product, I don't think it's overpriced. The computer box, which looks like nothing, is packed with a sine wave commutation computer, which alone, is expensive. In fact, some experts with whom I consulted doubted it could be sine wave commutated because of the price of the product. Sine wave commutation is expensive....Mr. Lloyd didn't specify the system until his manufacturer's comment.