Where can I hear Teres

Please don't take what I said as if I were disappointed by the Redpoint. I thought it was a nice sounding table and accompanying system. In fact, I've listened to an SME 30 with Aesthetix IO sig, Wavestream V8 tube amps, and Avalon Eidolon Diamond speakers at a dealer up the street and been far LESS impressed.

Regarding the "bashing" of Teres done by Redpoint - I would have to say that based on what I've read and what Teres themselves claim about the sound of acrylic bases (not-so-good sounding), I can find logic in how an acrylic platter would sound "lower end" than other materials. This is perhaps made evident by the new Teres Cocobolo platter.
Redpoint has uses many materials - in fact, they have more platter combos than what is advertised on their website.

I asked the Redpoint rep. numerous hard questions about the table...in fact, I sort of monopolized his time...and the one stand-out reason they seem to think their platters are better is that they weigh twice as much. Given the philosophy of Redpoint & Teres tables (higher mass the better), this too makes sense to me.

on Teres platters, the Lead Filled areas are just lead shot and air. Redpoint uses Lead Shot and a mineral oil. Redpoint has tested various oils ranging in viscosity to find what they consider to be the best. The purpose of the Lead shot is not only to increase mass but diffuse micro-vibrations. My gut tells me that lead shot suspended in oil would diffuse vibrations better than lead shot in air. It seems micro-vibrations aren't strong enough to move lead shot effectively when it is suspended in air. The density of the oil allows for some of the weight of the lead to be displaced - making it "easier" to counter vibration with slight movement...also, the oil displaces vibrations itself, fills gaps, lubricates the lead, and increases the mass by a wee-bit.

Another interesting differentiator is that on Teres bearings the nut which secures the bearing housing to the base is rather small and apparently grips the base by only 1/8 of an inch. IF the hole drilled for the base causes any chips in the wood, the contact area of the nut diminishes further.

The Redpoint bearing housing is larger (1.75" vs. 1.125") in diameter and threads directly into the base - hence requiring no nut.

Also the Redpoint bearing sits on delrin - something which Teres claims sounds better but is not as durable as teflon.

Bwhite - I made the same speculation about the advantages of suspending the lead shot in mineral oil in an earlier thread discussing possible tweaks to the Teres only to be told that this was not possible because of potential leaks (seems to me it would be pretty easy to keep oil from leaking out of a wood or acrylic base)
It also seems to me a that basic understanding of the physics would confirm your intuition that lead in air would be too resistant to movement to absorb the very fine vibrations that you would desire it to do. By suspending it in a more viscous medium, you decrease its effective weight but not its mass making it far more capable of absorbing vibration.
The Teres platter with lead looks cool but I wonder about its real effectiveness.

As I mentioned before I have never seen or heard the Teres in the flesh so I would never claim that the Redpoint actually sounds better than the Teres. I suspect that both tables are quiet good and most likely a much better value than anything you can get through normal distribution channels for comparable money. After meeting the people involved with Redpoint I was very impressed. The Testa Rosa sounds incredible in my system and I cannot imagine having the desire for a better table. I am sure that if I had chosen a Teres I would probably feel the same as well. Its very refreshing to have these type options in an industry that seems to have many products priced way too high.

Jyprez, I remember that post. It seems the acrylic may not take a liking to the mineral oil. And the brass plugs may not contain it. Redpoint seems to have designed their platters around the concept of them being filled with oil, hence they are sealed.

Peter from Redpoint mentioned that he has tried every thing from thick motor oil to alcohol as a filler and they've settled on something in-between.

I don't know Peter but he seems to be a maniac when it comes to tweakery. Everything he claims to have done to the table is simply as he put it, "because it sounds better". He is driven to push the design to its maximum potential.

I am sure both the Teres and Redpoint are fantastic in their own rights - regardless of the materials chosen. But.. if I were to go out on a limb, I would say that the Teres base (or almost any lead shot filled wooden base - Cocobolo, or maybe even Ebony) with the Redpoint bearing system fitted into the wood base (via custom threaded insert), the Redpoint Teflon and Aluminum platter, and the Redpoint motor....

(Not to fault the Teres motor design *I* just don't like the idea of a sensor - hunting for speed all the time. The Redpoint "solves" this with a speed dial.)

Anyhow, that could quite possibly be the hot setup - taking the best of both designs. That said, I have often found that a "team of allstars" doesn't always perform as harmoniously as logic dictates it should. In any given system - audio or otherwise - there are weak links which are counterbalanced by stronger influences. Ultimately a system or design is simply a sum of its parts and how those parts interact with one another.

A few minor corrections to a good thread.

The Teres bearing housing is 1.5" in diameter.

The original Teres bearing used a delrin thrust plate. We switched to teflon coated brass about 18 months ago. We found that the brass sounds quite a bit better, at least in the Teres that is.

I tried the oil and lead approach and found that it did indeed sound marginally better. However, there were some issues. Oil is actually a little more difficult to contain than it may seem. The seal must be very good or it slowly seeps out. I ended up with a thin film of oil on the bottom of the platter after just a couple of days. Another issue for the Teres platter was simply cosmetics. No way to get the bubbles out and it just didn't look very good. I thought that the sonic gains were just too small to justify leak hassles and the cosmetic loss. Sorry to be too pragmatic but I do think that cosmetics matter, so long as they are kept as a minor part of the equation. To put things in perspective, a cap change in the motor regulator circuit made a bigger sonic impact than the oil.

The Teres motor has a clever way around the "hunting" issue. Once the speed locks in the controller switches to a mode where the voltage can only change a few millivolts per minute. This is just enough to compensate for some slow drift. Once the speed is locked it sounds identical to a fixed regulator. The sound of a fixed regulator but no need to adjust.
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Chris