Teres 260 or Galibier Serac?

I found some things that I didn't like about the belt-driven design (namely the stretching of the belt-splice over time and the audible sound of the splice passing the motor pulley).

Both of these problems do exist with the stock belts supplied by Teres and Galibier. But they're easily resolved by DIY-ing one's own belt - a 15 minute task.

My splice hasn't stretched in over two years of daily use, and a properly taped splice makes no noise going around the pulley. These are not difficult problems to solve. Ask anyone who's ever spliced video or audio tape.

The Verus is probably well suited for rock. It was intolerable in our system/to our ears for classical, or any recording of acoustic instruments and top quality vocalists, but for feedback-rich music that's heavily mixed in the production studio, it might provide a great listening experience for many.

Definitely an area of personal choice and sonic priorities.

Rsrex and Williamdc,

The Verus we tried was indeed an early one, but the problem was not that it didn't keep constant speed. It kept perfectly constant speed - just not at 33 1/3.

Speed inaccuracy (not instability) is a high probability outcome when coupling a stepped speed controller with an O-ring and platter of unknown circumference. Do the math - oops! - you can't. ;-)

If one doesn't notice .16% pitch inaccuracy then it's no big deal. But we do - particularly when listening to familiar records in our own system.

Subsequent to our report CB did halve the size of the controller steps, which you apparently remembered, so any speed error is now also halved. That's nice, but it still doesn't match the accuracy we get from our modified Ref II. (We confirmed this with a diagnostic strobe that Paul made, not just our ears.)

The Verus's second, unrelated sonic problem was a smearing of HF overtones and harmonics. The systems we've heard when visiting other A'gon members would mask this muddying. Our system doesn't, not because it's "better" but because harmonic extension and accuracy are at the top of our personal priorities. Our system is tailored to get those right. That's why, when discussing the Verus, I always append a "YMMV" after my comments. It pleases you and that's what matters, but it isn't perfect. I know two others who've tried and returned one for reasons similar to ours.

We did invite CB to visit and hear for himself, but it's a long trip just to deal with the lunatic fringe. We also asked him for a belt-compatible Verus capstan, since that would have let us eliminate one possible source of the smearing (resonance storage/rebound in the rubber O-ring and feet). He wasn't able to supply that either. If he had, we might have kept it happily. Oh well...