10 Levels of Turntable Mastery

During my long noviciate of acquiring purported TT mastery, every year or so when I rechecked arm/cartridge set-up I found it way out of adjustment. I suspect it was my measurement tools & skills that were improving, rather than shifts in geometry.

Top-ranked TT masters are occasionally spotted at bicyle race shops discussing the mysterious properties of Italian hub grease. They wake up wet after dreams of being caressed by three-armed octopuses with names like Grace, Graham, or Schroeder. They puzzle physicians in ERs with toes broken by dropped 5 lb. record weights. They sometimes forget to remove their stethoscopes when exiting the listening room.

I look for the pocket protector.

A sure sign of the level 10 geekmaster.

Does a foot broke by a 90 pound platter count for anything, or is that just entry into the Darwin Awards?

Grimace,

before enlightenment, clean records, adjust VTA; after enlightenment, clean records, adjust VTA.

TML 10: master: built their own turntable and arm and it kicks ass on everything commercially available. This is not by the individual's claim; the knowledge of this is gained only by word of mouth. Anyone who says he is, isn't; turn around and run as hard as you can.

That's classic right there. And so true.

OK, lets see if I can pick up where Atmasphere left off:

TML7: May not be able to fully set up a Linn, or address the vageries of voltmeter based diagnostics on azimuth adjustments, but certainly has real-world experience with multiple tables/arms/cartridges and can set them up to perfection using manual tools. Probably a dealer.

TML6: Less extensive experience than a TML7, but can still adjust a TT to perform flawlessly. Someone who still fusses with VTA adjustments for each album, due to its minutely varying thickness from the previous one. A believer and owner of high end (and probably priced) products.

TML5: Someone with limited experience (3-5 tables), but has tracked down and solved resonance, isolation and adjustment issues successfully. Has gone through multiple cartridges and appreciates MC's and better phono stages. This is probably the go-to resource for the local audio club

TML4: Can adjust their own table and maybe 1 or 2 more to peak performance. Can discuss setup options with some knowledge. Understands all the terms and has heard differences when tweaking them. Has spent too much money on this hobby but thinks he has it "almost there" right now (wrong). Posts stupid messages on threads like these.

TML3: Appreciates MC's over MM's and can basically set it up to sound good. Not truly into the tweakfest that this could become, but willing to try a few things. Appreciates good sound and music and is still shooting for the best they can afford. Not sure if upgrading the phono stage will buy him anything better in terms of sound. Cleans their records. Curious about a speed controller and these new/old - fangled direct drive thingies.

TML2: Owns one of the set it and forget it tables. Likes to look at the high priced jewelry, but not sure why anyone would pay that much for a small improvement. Still into MM's. Thinking of buying a record cleaning product.

TML1: Still owns their 1970's Dual table, with original cartridge, which sounds just fine. Owns an AQ brush.

Looking for additional edits and additions to these - so chime in.

Bob (BTW - I'm at TML4 if you haven't figured it out by reading the above)