Wave Kinetics NVS Turntable - Stereophile Review

My experience with the NVS has been nothing short of amazing. The shipping crate was built like a brick #$!& house! No issues with the bearing damage or damage to any other part of the TT.

Setup was a piece of cake! As MF mentions.... Get everything level, plug in the power supply unit and the table is done. They remaining parts (tonearm and cartridge) are the typical challenges for most any tables right? My Talea II came with great instructions and I was able to mount and dial it in within an hour or so. Further tweaking ALWAYS occurs with my setups as I'm a "check, check and re-check" kinda guy.

Performance has been mind blowing. This table can and will convey a very "tape like" presentation. My frame of reference is a Studer A80 Preview Machine along with an AMPEX ATR-102.

Bass has great authority, sound staging is wide and deep. Quiet? As Fremer mentions "...It didn’t take long to hear that the NVS produced dead-quiet backgrounds similar to the blacknesses produced by the Caliburn and Onedof. Only the best ’tables I’ve heard (which are not necessarily the most expensive, the VPI Classic 3 being a case in point) can manage this level of deep, satisfying nothingness, out of which the music seems to leap. Only the best belt drives and the Rockport Technologies System III Sirius, another direct-drive model, have managed this kind of background blackness."

My NVS is a world class table IMHO and that's all that matters to me. I never heard a table that engages me the way the NVS does. I'm about enjoying the music.... not picking nits with what I'm listening to. If I can get a TT at a approx. 1/3 of what a Caliburn goes for. Throw in the fact that MF might not be able to identify either TT in a blind listening test then I did good! All I know is what I like and the NVS fits that bill!

Rockport Sirius III
The American Altar, but the Arm wire inside is so stiff that the Arm can not
track the inner 3 tracks properly, it skips, the only way out is to use a very
heavy cartridge,……..

I can promise you that is not the case! As mentioned in the other thread, I am sure the Sirius III you worked with was either damaged or not set up properly.

I have 2 Rockport 6000s, which share the same wire/arrangement as the Sirius III arm, and I have never encounter problem with “stiff wire” in the past 10 years. I have used both relatively high and low compliance cartridges on them with absolutely no problem with tracking.

Granted, you may not like the sonic performance of the Rockport, but saying that it can't track the inner 3 tracks properly is absolutely not true.

This thread would be more worthwhile if people commented on tables that they had actually listened to.

Syntax - I believe you have not even listened to the NVS.

Yet again, on this forum, a thread goes off the rails with the ramblings of those with axes to grind. I visit this website less and less each month as a result.

Syntax, Did you forget to mention the SME 30? It is an old design, not mentioned much in forums, only once hyped by MF in a review, uses the dreaded belt-drive mechanism and rubber bands for suspension. It doesn't need constant tweaking. There is no bling appeal. Oh, and it can't accommodate two arms. It was designed by engineers, though. With ears ;^)

I own an NVS owner and am delighted with the turntable. It is the best vinyl transducer I have heard to date. The dynamic drive is far superior to any belt or idler wheel drive table in my experience. The bass is deeper, tighter and more linear than I've previously heard. The overall presentation is full, rich, completely and naturally detailed. It's the whole package, rendering the information in the groves in total and complete resolution. It just, simply, sounds right. I say this because I find nothing annoying, nothing I'd like to change or tweak- I'm at ease when I listen. The fact that MF finds it a virtual toss-up against the mega $$ Caliburn is a nice bonus.

My understanding is that the reported bearing damage on the show unit was due to inferior packaging which has been completely rethought and reworked. The current palletized wood crated package is a thing of beauty.
My unit has been completely trouble free and has functioned flawlessly.

In response to Syntax: I find your ranting indictment of so many highly regarded turntables a pointless exercise in opinionated arrogance and, if I'm not mistaken, your Lyra Olympus retailed around $12k- do as I say, not as I do!!