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Upgrade from TW Acustic Raven AC-3 to what?

I have had the TW turntable (with 10" Da Vinci Grandezza arm and Grandezza cartridge) for two years. I have been happy with this TT and can live with it for a long time although i wish it wasn't as dark sounding, that the soundstage could be more spacious and the bass tighter. The upgrade bug in me is wondering for 50K ore thereabout, is there a TT that is superlative over the TW? One that would end my upgrading itch for the next 10 years?
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dertonarm
1,042 posts
 
Yes, the "camp two" is considerably smaller. You may add to that short list the big Micro Seikis, Final Audio, Epic and Melcos of decades past. Than the german Apolyt from the 90ies with so far 15 units built and featuring the most extreme and most expensive approach of this principle. The classic Platine Verdier however does feature eddy-current brake (side effect of its vertical magnetic supported bearing) and is used today by various owners with all kinds of DIY-drives (I have seen idler-wheel driving PVs as well as tape, belt, thread and even transmission belts).
Cheers,
D.
stiltskin
499 posts
 
D.
So you prefer belt/string over any other method, so.

With anyone here the sound you get or strive for serves your own sonic interest and adjectives.
I use one belt drive table and one refurbished direct drive table. I prefer the dd, silly cheap compared to the belt drive.

lastly a question for Dover, what do you think of someone dumping a Walker Black Diamond for a refurbished Technics SP10 MKII ?????
mosin
410 posts
 
The original topic was, "Upgrade from TW Acustic Raven AC-3 to what?"

That is the proverbial can of worms, isn't it? We can sit here ad infinitum, and discuss the merits of this or that implementation, but at the end of the day the user wants to improve upon the turntable that he currently owns. That turntable happens to be a very well-respected one, so his choice is likely to be another that is built with equal passion, but its builder will be acting with a different vision of how it should sound. The bottomline is that the implementation of the vision should be in keeping with the buyer's expectations. He wants a different sound that more closely meets what he feels is right for his particular system.

It isn't about technical merits at this point. Rather, it is more about choices that meet personal criteria because he already has a top-flight turntable.

lewm
13,421 posts
 
Stiltskin, Be prepared for a lecture.
Mosin, I was thinking along the same lines. In fact, Alectiong may have already made his choice while we've been carping. I am very curious to know what he bought, or maybe he wants to sell his Raven/Grandeeza first.
dertonarm
1,042 posts
 
I do prefer thread drive with calculated slippage over idler wheel and direct drive. This allows me to use the platter mass (static mass.... ) I want and know to be essential to go past the frontiers and I get an extremely constant (by using extreme inertia) speed for free. The high platter mass is a conditio sine qua non in my ears and eyes and sadly is contradictional to the principles of both idler wheel drive as well as direct drive. Both direct coupled drive principles imply direct control of the platters speed at every single moment. Really high inertia (I am talking about a 110+ lbs platter with 10" diameter spinning... ) is working against the control (and the needed control in these drive principles) in ID and DD TTs.
I do not question the fact that there are people who favor ID or DD and who think the sound they present is great and the best they ever heard.
Fine.
Yes, Alectiong has long moved on and our discussion is also long going in a direction which goes far beyond anything Alectiong wants to hear or talk about.
The discussion about drive principles will go on as long as TTs are build. As will the discussions about 9", 10" or 12"+ tonearms, MMs or MCs, tubes or solid state, full-range vs. multiple-driver and so on.
Everyone follows his ideas or the ideas he likes best for whatever reason.
Fine.
There is no problem at all. Some will continue with idler wheel drives, some with direct drives old and new and some with belt drive. Very few will go for thread drive with high platter mass and slippage.
Fine.
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