Wave Kinetics NVS Turntable - Stereophile Review

I probably should not have been shocked by the price of the turntable Plus arm Plus cartridge (Plus a highly specialized stand for the turntable) -somewhere over $65K before you get to put on an album. I was also "not shocked" that the record player did not always "come up to speed" on the 1st attempt, i would be sending the motor and/or controller back the next day if that were to happen to me.
the review of the latest Walker is in the Abs.Sound too and it seems to also present some problems for its owners. at least they got it to sit level now thanks to a new pump modification.
I like records a lot, too, but making a big case out of how good the newest turntables are in extracting more and more information is STILL tempered by a number of very legitimate concerns. I don't know what the "magic number" is for a spending limit on analog playback- $10K? $20K? more? for me personally that would be NMT "10", but i am trying to understand the rationale is (beyond pride of owning a mechanical masterpiece) for putting so much EFFORT into that part of the hobby, with a $5 album as your software/weakest link.

vinyl still sounds better than digital. It's as simple as that. What's the cost of admission for top rate vinyl playback ? Pretty steep....but not necessarily Caliburn, walker, NVS steep....and let's not forget arm, cart and phono stage costs.

David,

i have 10,000 reasons (my Lp collection) to optimize vinyl. however, no doubt that top level vinyl performance does require a sizable commitment. and simply the physical commitment to the space, fine-tuning and energy to change Lps is not for everyone.

i'm less invested in my RTR master tapes, but only have around 125 (200-225 reels) of those. so the thing about vinyl is that there is so much great music on it.

there is a level of vinyl performance maybe at around $20k or a little higher 'all in' for hardware that get's you quite ways near that top level.....and maybe another level over $30k that gets even closer. that very top level is typically not a starting point for vinyl set-ups. and price is not always the best way to look at performance as there is lots of high performing gear that is not ultra expensive. although some of it is quite expensive. and certainly there are plenty of viewpoints on how that goes.

Sorry for forgetting the phono stage in my 1st entry... that can run a bit more....
The best turntable i ever got to hear was the SME 30 playing Jobim records at an audio show. the sound was pure magic, no argument. i got to stare at a classic Goldmund Reference turntable a few times at a local dealer- and words fail me when i try to describe the effect that had on me.
i just don't want to be the one who has to find the perfect VTA or some other tiny adjustment that dials in the best sound. my best efforts went to assembling a Thorens and that went quite well. but that's kid stuff compared to Fremerology.
Sometimes i have read about the extensive set-up procedures for certain high-end tables (taking two men two days) and i want to "get out an 8-track" in retaliation.....

Well I hope this post doesn't put the kiss of death on it but I have a Final Audio Parthenon VTT1 turntable built in the 1970's before the big Micro's & Melco's even existed. It weighs 70kg+, with defined energy paths using copper, aluminium, gunmetal and SPZ ( no spongy rubbers or plastics exist in this deck ), platter mass 20kg, inverted bearing, thread drive and has an oscillator preamp to generate precise sine and cosine waves and power amplifier to drive the AC motor. It has never broken down in the 40 years it has been running, apart from replacing the drive thread. The oscillator preamplifier has never needed servicing and still has all the original components including electrolytic caps. The main bearing has negligible wear - according to an engineer friend the design of the bearing is such that wear does not affect the performance. It also passed the dreaded Sutherland Timeline test that has failed so many high end decks.
The cost of this deck in the 70's was about the same as a Toyota Corolla, so given the proliferation of CNC machinery etc there should be no barrier to producing something similar for $20-25k. I note that the Kondo Ginga which is the Final Audio in drag is around $60k.
I find it hard not to be cynical when super expensive components break down on review. The hapless customer certainly doesn't have the podium of a magazine and its readership for leverage on product failure.