2008 RMAF – – – all things analog.

Doug...just a comment on the elasticity of the belt...I guess thats why the rim drive makes the VPI's sound so much better.

Ralph

Sorry for jumping on you but this keeps coming up and it's just not true. The Papst motor ex the empire TT has less than 2 watts of output power. Even the small Hurst motor and the Airpax (Linn etc) have more power (and therefore more torque) than that motor, the motor ex the Garrard etc etc.

Whatever you are hearing it's not motor torque that's causing it.

Hello All,

I'd like to correct one misnomer regarding the OMA room at RMAF this year. The Schroeder tonearm on Saskia was not a Model Two. It was a Reference SQ that Frank built specifically for Saskia.

Jonathan Weiss
OMA

Hi,

The arm model error was an easy oversight, so it is entirely acceptable in my mind. What is important to me is that a conversation has been spurred on regarding the merits of the frontend of any system. It will always be a "different strokes for different folks" deal, but at least people are beginning to consider the topic on a different plane. That's the key. If I have managed to develop a turntable that can illustrate the difference, I am thrilled. If not, I'll just try harder. In any event, the passion of the music is the driving force.

As far as drive systems go, I am perfectly willing to concede that a fantastic turntable can be built using any of the available means, and perhaps some we haven't thought of, yet. The trick here is to avoid the mistakes of the past, and improve upon what we already know. Of course, it helps to have a few new ideas spring up along the way.

By the way, Doug, I am ecstatic that you and Paul like my turntable, and that you went to the trouble to tell the guys here!

Win

Quiddity,

We've gotten virtually all our (hundreds) of L'oiseau Lyre LP's off ebay. They're readily available from sellers in the US and Europe. Intercontinental postage can be a killer, but at least these LP's are almost invariably in perfect condition (since you and I may be the only two humans who actually play them!).

Speaking of counter-tenors, among our other most-difficult-to-reproduce LP's are Harmonia Mundi titles featuring Alfred Deller doubled by a recorder, especially one recorded in an echo-ey, stone space. Most systems (including ours during nearly three years of trying) couldn't avoid mushing the pure and similar but slightly time- and timbre-differentiated tones into an inharmonious hash. Frightful and sometimes literally painful. It's only in the last year that our system's been able to reproduce that LP with real clarity and enjoyment.

I used to carry it when visiting other systems, but I got thrown out of the room too often. Again, it wasn't so much the fault of the music as the inability of the system.

Jonathon,

My apologies for mis-remembering your tonearm, which was half the basis for my comment that Win's table deserved top flight companions. So many rooms, so much gear...

FWIW, I'll stand by that comment relative to the cartidge. Win might remember the first thing I said after we'd listened for a bit, "You've proved once again that a great table (and arm) can do amazing things for a mediocre cartridge."

I can only imagine how your room would have sounded with a cartridge having real speed, clarity and neutrality. Of course if you'd done that I might still be sitting in Denver! :-)

Win,

Just reporting what we heard, good and bad, though not naming many names in the latter case unless required when discussing the good. Keep on trying. You've produced the first rim driven table that works for our ears and priorities, and it does so brilliantly. I was sure that Vivaldi LP would expose a weak spot based on the emails you and I traded several months ago, and I was thrilled to be proven dead wrong.

Doug