Downunder,
I'm afraid I diagree with your interpretation of the Hi Fi Plus review. You should re-read it. Mr. Gregory clearly did not think the table sounded lean. In a number of places he praises the table for its weight, harmonic development and decay. His point is that the table lacks the colorations (e.g., bass bloat) of typical belt drive turntables and that some people may prefer the colorations. An interesting analogy he uses is where a drinker of P.G. Tips (a mass produced tea bag in the U.K. (like Lipton, but much better)who typically puts sugar in the tea is given Twinnings Earl Grey without the sugar. The Earl Grey is clearly a better tea, but the drinker prefers the cheaper tea with the sugar. This was the type of experience I had when I moved over to the GPA. for years I had the VPI TNT HRX table. A great table, which was exciting to listen to. Friends of mine insisted that that the table was colored and I told them I could not hear the coloration. When I first moved over to the GPA (which I did while I still had the HRX) at first I thought the table sounded lean. It felt to me that it was not as "exciting" as the HRX. Well, it only took a few hours of going back and forth between the table to realize that in fact I was hearing everything, and particularly the bass, much more clearly and without added bloat. The bass was far more articulate and the leading edges across the spectrum were much clearer. Does that make the HRX or other tables that add warmth or slam bad tables? Not for the people that enjoy the sugar in their tea. The switch to the GPA is consistent with the rest of my audiophile journey. I have decided to continue to move towards components that add less to the sound while still remaining musically engaging. For example, I moved from pure tubes to a hybrid amp and pre-amp (Tenor 300s and Manley Steelhead phonostage) and stayed their for awhile because I could not find solid state amps that didn't add color, but were also musical. Eventually I found amps that had both attributes (the Dartzeels) and I feel that with the GPA I have also found that combination.
Some people may have gotten the impression from Fremmer's review, or some of the posts here, that the table is cold, analytical or lean sounding. I have lived with the table for over a year and I can unequivocally say that is not the case at all. (And, by the way, I don't think that was the message Mr. Fremmer was trying to convey in his review) For anyone living in the Westchester, NY area that would like to hear it or do a side-by-side test, I would be more than happy to host a night.
