Teres 260 or Galibier Serac?

Yeah, it is my recollection that Doug mentioned that the Verus motor he got was one of the first and it didn't maintain a constant speed.

I am very happy with my Verus. I have a 255 and upgraded from Belt Drive. For me, the biggest advantage was that the speed became rock solid, lending a wonderful solidity to the music.

I listen to a lot of classical music and the Verus really was a large improvement.

Just to follow up on the Verus I agree with Wiliamds as I compared it with silk and belt drive on my Micro RX5000 - which has huge rotational inertia with an additional Audiolife platter. The Verus gives more stability and definition compared to the belt drive - another way is to say more dynamics. I was critically expecting to loose some finesse and texture as a trade off, but that was not the case.

Flyingred, have you listened to the Serac in comparison to the Gavia. Last time I compared the Serac platter against the Stelvio platter on a Gavia table (at Thom's place) there was a substantial difference between the two platters. I would have guessed the difference between the table is quite big, although the Serac is probably still excellent value for money. My suggestion from that experience might have been a Serac base with Gavia platter. Can you elaborate some more on the comparisons in your experience?

As for the sound of these two. I would think the Serac is just a bit more neutral. Especially if a Gavia platter is used. Hard to say really.

I'll stick with the tried and true, simple, and extensively field tested tape drive. God forbid any ever happen to Thom Makris or Chris Brady, but I know I can source what I need should I ever have problems with the motor Thom supplies. Keep it simple works best for me. I think it costs about $35 for the supplies to make tape belts for a life time.

Rsrex and Williamdc,

The Verus we tried was indeed an early one, but the problem was not that it didn't keep constant speed. It kept perfectly constant speed - just not at 33 1/3.

Speed inaccuracy (not instability) is a high probability outcome when coupling a stepped speed controller with an O-ring and platter of unknown circumference. Do the math - oops! - you can't. ;-)

If one doesn't notice .16% pitch inaccuracy then it's no big deal. But we do - particularly when listening to familiar records in our own system.

Subsequent to our report CB did halve the size of the controller steps, which you apparently remembered, so any speed error is now also halved. That's nice, but it still doesn't match the accuracy we get from our modified Ref II. (We confirmed this with a diagnostic strobe that Paul made, not just our ears.)

The Verus's second, unrelated sonic problem was a smearing of HF overtones and harmonics. The systems we've heard when visiting other A'gon members would mask this muddying. Our system doesn't, not because it's "better" but because harmonic extension and accuracy are at the top of our personal priorities. Our system is tailored to get those right. That's why, when discussing the Verus, I always append a "YMMV" after my comments. It pleases you and that's what matters, but it isn't perfect. I know two others who've tried and returned one for reasons similar to ours.

We did invite CB to visit and hear for himself, but it's a long trip just to deal with the lunatic fringe. We also asked him for a belt-compatible Verus capstan, since that would have let us eliminate one possible source of the smearing (resonance storage/rebound in the rubber O-ring and feet). He wasn't able to supply that either. If he had, we might have kept it happily. Oh well...