A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Dear Daniel,

BTW - there were turntable designers contributing to this thread.

Yes....you are a turntable designer and Raul is a tonearm and cartridge designer.

Unfortunately you must prove it with a 'pudding'?
So far we know that Ralph can design amplifiers and Raul preamps.
No 'puddings' yet for turntables, arms or cartridges?
Although I don't doubt that dessert may someday eventuate?
And I certainly look forward to your turntable debut at CES this year? :-)

Cheers
Henry

Dgob,
I'm really excited about your experiment because I am familiar with the Mambo (not too different from Raul's Acoustic Signature model) and knowing the way the armboard is connected to the 'plinth', I believe you should experience a marked improvement if you separate it onto spikes?

The only caveat is whether it is heavy enough to maintain the stability required?

My apologies to Dertonarm as I have just seen images of the Apolyt turntable he designed in 1990 (google it) and it is quite stunning and interestingly, has massive independent arm pods.

To these eyes it would be a disappointment if it didn't sound as beautiful as it looks?

Will the 'new' one be a more affordable version of this Daniel? :-)

Cheers
Henry

Dear Henry, sorry to say, but the new version will rather be the "big brother"..... in all respects ;-( .....
Cheers,
D.

Halcro, here is our 'table. We've been making it about 10 years. It looks all the part of an Empire, but looks can be deceiving. The photo is from about 2000 or 2001.

http://www.atma-sphere.com/products/208.html

Dgob, I have a little thought experiment for you. You have the platter on its stand or whatever, and you have the separate arm tower. But we are going to put a vibrator under the arm tower but not the platter, and run it. The question is, will you be able to hear the result? I think you can.

That, in a nutshell, is what the issue is. There simply can be no extraneous motion besides that of the arm tracking the LP! **Any** other motion is a coloration. So if the arm tower is able to vibrate or resonate at any slight amount that is different from the platter, you have coloration. Cheesy plinths totally allow for this sort of thing- that is what I have seen over and over- and so getting rid of a cheesy plinth is likely a good idea.

But that is simply not the same as having a plinth that is properly engineered! (This is sort of the same argument that because a particular LP is scratched and warped, therefore all CDs are better than all LPs.) And you are experiencing a step towards that, as your platform for your towers is in fact your plinth. Try coupling the platter and the arm more tightly into that platform and see what happens. The more dead you can make the platform, the stiffer you make it, the better the 'table will sound.