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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
thekong
203 posts
 
I would like to offer another point of view on the Reso Mat. I and my friend tried out the Reso Mat on his highly modified slate plinthed Lenco, with a variety of arms including the Terminator. We felt that while the sound seemed to be cleaner, there was a loss of body / mid bass. Both of us felt that the compromise was just not for us. So, I suppose, as many other things in audio, this is system / TT dependent.

Then I have this question about “over-damping” with clamps / weights / vacuum on LPs. I always wonder how a LP can be over-damped, as it is supposed to be inert, and the cartridge is playing on the top side, in free air.

I can understand the clamping may causes stress on a warped LP. I can understand the interface between the LP and platter / mat may result in some vibrations reflect back to the stylus. There are certainly possibilities that they could affect the sound. However, I really don’t understand how a LP can be over-damped.

Yes, if “over-damp” actually just meant a deadening of the sound, I can see that happening, but that is not really over-damp is it, at least not in the technical sense, right?
spiritofmusic OP
828 posts
 
Vic is definitely of the opinion that no matter how much you try to fix a warped lp to the platter via clamps/rings/vacuum hold down etc, the v. nature of the warp, being fixed and unforgiving will mean that the warp will 'fight' the flattening and push against the fixing somewhere in the grooves. At some point obv. the stylus will hit an undulation and leave you with the same problem of tracking, perhaps exacerbated by the fact the lp is now overly fixed due to being held artificially static. Vic's o'all conclusion is that less artificial fixing of the lp to the platter will prevent such non-flat 'hotspots' being an issue ie if you cannot have a totally flat lp, accept the fact and make do with less restriction. Who knows how much groove stress/distortion is introduced by over fixing a bendy lp to the platter, against it's 'will' (lol!)
Please note, I am only surmising what is poss. going on here, this tweak like all others must be reas. system dependent.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
There are (many?) records which are concave on one side
(convex on the other) and need a clamp to be 'flattened'.
For my SP 10 I use the Orsonic 'disc stabilizer' which is
only 200 gr. It is not the weight but 'suction' working method.
For my Kuzma I use the provided weight of 330 gr.'obligtory'
because of the TT's suspension .
spiritofmusic OP
828 posts
 
So, can we all agree that the Resomat will be system specific? With the Salvation in my set up it appears to work better with than without. In others the opposite will often be true. At c.$50 a shot, surely it can't harm to try?
redglobe
223 posts
 
Along the lines of Kong and Nandric, these are other considerations of playing warped records and concept of clamping/bonding the LP to the platter (assuming a sonically inert platter).

The original lacquer is flat, making it perpendicular to the cutting knife: front to back, and left to right.
However, a floating and warped LP is no longer flat. Most LPs are not flat.
This changes the azimuth, the VTA of the stylus, and the vertical tracking force, dynamically. This should result in lost music retrieval.
With the short cantilever of the T3 pro and a warped record that undulates, there are changes in the perpendicular angle, front to back, of the stylus in the groove. So, when dealing with millionths of an inch of cut music, this would result in lost music retrieval. It also induces an artificial frequency, albeit, low level, that is not part of the recorded music.
My experience with various clamps and mats is that the seeming reduction in sound dynamics is truly the elimination of resonant feedback. The longer I listen to a well bonded LP to the platter, the more obvious becomes the music reproduction.
The hard surfaces give a solid platform, and various material densities of the platter and mats cancel out resonant frequencies. I contrast the importance of the hard, stable, platform of the turntable platter with trying to walk while the ground is shaking.
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