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Trans Fi Salvation direct rim drive turntable

Hi A'goners, I've just bought this turntable, confident it'll be my last upgrade. The rest of my system is a Tom Evans Groove Plus SRX phono stage, EMM Labs CDSA SE cd player, Hovland HP200 pre/Radia power amps, Zu Definitions Mk 4 loudspeakers, so a pretty good way to listen to vinyl.

Over the years, since 1995 I've progressed from a Roksan Xerxes/Artemiz/Shiraz, via a Michell Orbe/SME V/Transfiguration Orpheus, finally ending up last week with my new Trans Fi Salvation/Trans Fi T3Pro Terminator/Zu modded Denon 103.

This turntable (£2500 UK price, approx $4000-$5000 US) is the brainchild of Vic, a retired dentist, who, fed up with the shortcomings of belt drive and traditionally-pivoted tone arms, literally from the ground up devised first the Terminator air bearing linear tracking tone arm (now in T3Pro guise as on my system), and now the direct rim drive Salvation turntable, a technology in direct opposition to the hegemony of belt drive we've come to accept from the '70s.

In summary, he has developed a motor that directly rim drives an oversize platter. The magic is that vibrations are drained away from the platter and hence stylus. So minimal rumble is transmitted, the weakness of Garrards/Lencos in the past. This is mated to a substantial slate plinth which does a great job of isolating the whole rig from external vibrations.

Where this differs from direct drive is that the torque applied is high enough to counteract stylus drag, but it is strictly analogue controlled ie no digital feedback applying constant micro speed control. Speed is set correctly, torque is sufficient, and speed stability is like a rock.

This is combined with his air bearing linear tracking arm, discussed on other threads.

So technical description over, how about how it sounds? Well, years ago I always assumed the overhang in bass when playing lps on my previous belt drive/pivoted arm tts, apparent as a benign artifact, was all part of the 'romance' of vinyl, esp. when compared to the dry, clinical sound of early cd. But in 2007 I acquired the EMM cd, which had a natural analogue sound playing silver discs, but none of this bass colouration. On studying the growing reemergence of idler/direct drive, and their superiority in maintaining speed stability, I agreed that the belt speed instability might be introducing this.

Two years ago I came across Vic, and now I can report that eliminating the belt for high torque rim drive has taken this whole artifact out of the equation. Whole layers of previously masked information like rhythm guitars are now present, treble information has abundant naturalness and decay, and bass, which appears to be less in quantity compared to belt, is actually more accurate with a real start-stop quality, much more like digital, and the real thing. The other positives are more linked to the arm, including uncanny tracking across the whole record side; I'm really not exaggerating in saying that the last few grooves at the end of an lp side are as solidly reproduced as the first. Music with strong dynamic contrasts are really served well by the Salvation, and I am shocked at how good this all is after trepidation that the sound might be hyperdetailed but too assertive etc. In fact music is reproduced with a relaxed incision, and a welcoming detailed transparency.

The amazing thing is that all of this is not in anyway at the expense of the natural warmth and tonal dimensionality that still puts vinyl way ahead of any digital (imho).

The only thing, and Vic would like this to be known, is that his creation is a cottage industry, and he can only produce limited numbers to order.

I'm happy to answer qs on it, as I really want our community to know about a possible world beating product at real world prices. My tech knowledge will be limited, but no problem discussing sound quality issues.

I'm not affiliated in anyway to the product, just sold my Orbe on ebay and bought this. Regards to all
spiritofmusic
johnjc
63 posts
 
The Reso mat works well with a lot fo different TT
Yes it based on similar principles to the Transcription principles but nought wrong with that if it improves sound
I know the matt has been tested against a lot of different matts and seems the results have been pretty much in favour of the Reso matt; for what it costs to buy I think it os a no brainer
spiritofmusic OP
828 posts
 
One amazing aspect of the Salvation/Terminator combination, as a result of it's superior transparency and neutrality, is it's ability to resolve the differences in recording quality between lps from the Golden Age of audio (50's to early 70's) and those from this date to the present day.
All the natural tonal warmth, ambience and presence of albums like Yes 'Close To The Edge', Miles 'In A Silent Way' etc are presented in full glory, whereas the limitations of recent lps eg Muse 'Black Holes And Revelations', Rush 'Clockwork Angels' is revealed for the brickwalled abominations that they are.
But even with these, the Salvation/Terminator presents limitations in the most pleasant way possible, making this a 'warts and all' transducer but not at the expense of ever being unlistenable - neutrality and sweetness in equal measure. Unbeatable!
lewm
13,016 posts
 
Spirit, With all due respect, ANY decent turntable should readily reveal important differences in recording qualities among the wide variety of LPs you mention. If not, you've got a problem, but I would first blame it on tonearm/cartridge/phono stage/speakers.

As for Resomat, I've got no problem with the idea. I am one who has found consistently that I do not like the effect of heavy record weights or even peripheral ring clamps. (I have one of the latter, but I use it UNDER the lip of the LP so as to increase platter inertial mass without holding down the LP.) IME, record weights always tend to deaden the sound in ways that do not resemble real life. However, I agree that the trend is toward such devices and away from lifting the LP off the mat, a la Transcriptors and Resomat. I tend to like Boston Audio Mat1 or 2, or a good metal mat, both types used with no added rings or weights. This is on my DD or idler drive turntables. YMMV with belt-drives.
spiritofmusic OP
828 posts
 
I agree Lewm, it's just that this tt seems particularly adept at picking out spatial cues that really add to the presentation of tonality and transparency between different recordings. Other tts have done this as well, but often at the expense of really making poorly recorded lps sound v. uninviting. This isn't the case with the Salvation/Terminator. I'm still amazed that the removal of bass colouration and arm tracking issues has revealed so much hidden info with no reduction in the sweet spot that vinyl hits. In all the best blend of vinyl tonality with cd like precision I've yet heard.
My only experiment with a clamp/outer ring with this tt was way inferior than the undamped Resomat, so this is a keeper.
spiritofmusic OP
828 posts
 
Doing my best to keep this thread moving. The only downside I'm experiencing is an ABSOLUTE need for the setup, more precisely the Terminator air bearing arm, to have unimpeded air supply (v. easy to achieve by careful placement of the pump hose), and for the Salvation to be perfectly level and isolated to the max against vibration. This latter function I'm finding harder to succeed with: level is not so problematic, but a flexing in my wooden floor which was never an issue with my Orbe/SME V is a devil to contend with in this setup, causing all manner of tricky skipping (but only when dropping the cart, not during the middle of playback).
I'm v. close to installing an isolated wall shelf which will take all floor borne vibrations out of the equation.
Notwithstanding this, the tt/arm combination continues to make my jaw drop. It's doing an amazing job of removing the coloured sonic signature of time smear that no belt drive I auditioned could totally eradicate, in effect marrying the absolute advantages of analog warmth and digital precision into an experience well beyond the best turntables or cd players that I've ever heard.
And I still contend that with this setup, if it gets even 10% of what uber DDs like the SP10 Mk 3 or NVS do, it must be the bargain of the century. My hunch is that it is well beyond 10%, quite poss 90%+. Any established company would charge 5-10x it's asking price, just to cover the thousands of hours of R&D that would go into a new direct rim drive motor and linear tracking arm.
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