Brinkmann/Spiral Groove/TW Acustic Black Night...?

@Peterayer

I know the Bardo well, and I've also heard the Balance at the Scandinavian distributor of Brinkmann on two occasions. I believe the Balance to deliver more authority and weight, but being a belt-drive design (compared to the direct-drive of the Bardo), there might be other differences in the presentation as well (which are hard to isolate as the Balance were a part of another system totally).

The TW-tables are most certainly different animals. Based on the testimonals of many owners, the attributes (warmer, fuller etc. - as you describe) might be close to what I'm looking for.

@Syntax

Thanks for valuable advice. I will listen to all tables of course, but I won't be able to try them out in my own system (which is logistically impossible). Buying used means I'm willing to take some risks, potentially passing the table on if things don't work out. Sometimes that's the only way forward for an audiophile with a passion for the slight exotic living in the northern hemisphere :)

@Azjake

Yes, the cartridge may have the most significant impact compared to the table and arm. Harshness/hardness = listening fatigue = less musical enjoyment is (still) my biggest challenge. A change in turntable setup will most certainly only be a part of the solution. I've been working with my room acoustics, speaker positioning, tube rolling etc. for quite some time, and things are slowly moving in the right direction.

I love the compactness and elegance of the Spiral Groove. Refined indeed.

@Ebm

Well, I have to admit I'm a sucker for the design and craft behind the Black Knight...

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In the end, there will always be a rather high degree of gambling involved when choosing new gear as you will never know for sure how things will work out in your system (especially in the long run). Anxiety and thrill goes hand in hand :)

Thanks guys!

@Captain_winters. Well, I guess it's a matter of system matching and personal preferences. The Brinkmann setup is very revealing (which can be a very good or a not so good thing...). I find it hard to really relax and enjoy about 70-80% of my music collection at the moment, which I'm now trying to adress. My analogue front end is probably only one part of the problem.

@Sunnyboy1956

Very interesting choices indeed ;)

Well, I can quite easily audition the Balance and Spiral Groove SG2 locally (maybe even within my own system). But, I need to travel to audition the TW Acustic AC...and I will probably need to travel half way across Europe to be able to audition the Black Knight unfortenately.

@sunnyboy1956

Thanks for the invitation. I'll think about it :)

I will not buy anything on this level "unheard" of course. The purpose of a thread like this is mainly to get an overall impression of the products at hand. Reliability issues, bad customer service etc. could exclude potential candidates on an early stage - which is something I would need to consider as well, besides sonic merits.