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When will we ever hear turntables demoed fairly?

To my amazement after 45years we still have no way of ascertaining the sound of turntable designs.Every stereo store has tables set up with different arms and different cartridges.How then is anyone to determine what is contributing to the sound when an apple is being compared to an orange and then to a pear.It's absurd and to make matters worse you are listening to different phono stages and amps and and speakers.If you can't isolate what is contributing to what what's the point.End of rant.

brucegel

Showing 1 response by moonglum

moonglum
619 posts
 

Many “boutique” retailers will only offer 3 (if you’re lucky) turntables to compare.

  • One of these might be a potential candidate.

  • It’s unlikely you’ll be able to compare with the alternates from your shortlist.

  • They might be able to demo same arm & cart but it might involve swapping.

  • If it doesn’t involve swapping the samples might sound different anyway.

  • Even with “identical sounding” samples (an impossibility in my view) the setup will vary slightly for each one.

  • Even if you notice what’s wrong how long is the demo going to take before all setups are optimal?

    (“Setup” also means mechanical support, cable dressing etc)

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