A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Dear Dertonarm,

the turntable, arm and cartridge do form ONE mechanical system.

I agree.... but only once the stylus is in the groove.
Before that event I don't understand why there needs to be any physical connection between the platter and arm?

I also agree that the 'plinth' and 'platter' commonly produce unwanted side effects. That is why I wish to be rid of one of these (the plinth) and preface my theory by stating that the platter must provide "perfect isolation" from any resonances into the record? :-)

Cheers
Henry

Dear Timeltel,
Consider yourself excused.
I always welcome your idiosyncratic and knowledgeable interjections.

I hopefully expect more of them :-)
Regards
Henry

Raul,
Your last post is spot on IMO!!! I agree about there being much better sources for music reproduction. As dearly as we love our LP's, there are many imperfections in this medium regardless of the value of the source. For me, the big draw, other than the sound of vinyl, is the involment that I have with trying to perfect the sound to my liking. The endless fine tuning and experimenting trying to squeeze out the extra performance is very rewarding to me. For some reason, plopping the CD in the Ayon CD07 and listening isn't near as involving. Don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased with my digital source, just a little more disconnected than my LP's. I do have many CD's and LP's that are the same and I do compare them at times as a referance.

I always enjoy your post's Raul, you're a wealth of info and I always appreciate your oppinions. This time you're confiming what my ears have always heard.

Dear Raul, may I invite you to Munich. If you listen to a real Master Tape (very well recorded) played back by a Studer C37 and you do not change your opinion on TAPES you can select any item from my collection and take it home. Is this a word?

all the nice HiRez Digital recordings presented at CES 2011 sounded excellent but they are missing the warmth and the deep musicality of a Master Tape.

Well Raul,
You've finally managed to shock me.
Digital better than analogue....coming from the very person on this Forum who could rightly be called the 'Analogue King'?.......or so I thought?

I think there may be some people on this planet who are genetically or congenitally afflicted with a sub-conscious 'trigger' to digital sound.
I know that for me and my good friend Richard, we are physically unable to critically listen to digital for longer than about half an hour without our bodies internally tightening and our brains dreaming of another pursuit.
This was the case 30 years ago and is still applicable today.
Others of course suffer from no such handicap and I envy them.
Were I similarly blessed, I wonder if indeed I would suffer through the traumas associated with analogue?

Be that as it may, I disagree with you emphatically about the inaccuracies/distortions/noise inherent in the vinyl playback process.
For 25 years my humble $375 Rega Planar 3/Hadcock GH228 easily outclassed any CD player I heard in comparison.

As for your confession on Master Tapes?.............I'm sure you had one too many Tequilas before writing this?
It makes no sense on so many levels that I don't know where to begin unless you simply meant Master Tape 'Copies' played on domestic tape decks?

If what you say is true?............why in fact are you wasting so much time and energy in testing cartridges and headshells?
Why are you not contributing many more posts in the Digital Forums?

Dear Raul, my faith in your ears has been significantly diminished :-(