Turntables currently considered top of the range. Do you know what they are ?
I haven't been following this for a number of years. Just curious.
Does any of you have one of those ?
"Top of the range" is British English, that was intentional. When I think turntables, at least under $50k or so, I always first think British.
@dwette Wow… they have come a long way… my initial inquiry about the Brinkmann went off to Engineering and at that time… about 4 years ago..a quick quote of $5 K.. i should revisit… now… where did i put that 3rd TT ? Actually it’s over Italian Mag lev feet… |
Wow, that's an awesome find. Seems like a ridiculous bargain in this context. I've spent this kind of money on just a couple of CMS platforms, and they surely don't help solve problems in bass frequencies - which (I imagine) the Minus-K should soak up like nothing, based on the physics. Like @tomic601 , I should've revisited more recently. |
@mulveling My current thought – if I upgrade to Master Innovation – is to get a three-shelf HRS EXR rack for the phono-stage and TT, with a Minus-K under the TT. I'll repurpose the HRS R3x isolation base I have (with the right feet) for the phono-stage. |
If you guys want to see something wild - check out these 2 video clips I made a couple years ago, with a VPI Aries 3, stylus in groove (at rest), and system on with volume set to "loud" listening level. This was my "energetic" problem room (small office). The 1st video shows extreme excitation at ~ 100-ish Hz from lightly tapping the shelf surface the TT sits on. It’s literally like a drum. Laptop speakers won’t reproduce this frequency; you need headphones or desktop speakers. And turn the video volume up. I could absolutely hear this frequency creep during playback, from feedback. It sounds remarkably like a ground hum, except that it rises as you increase volume. At a certain point, it can runaway (very bad, had to keep a finger on mute). 2nd video shows a greatly reduced effect, even as I slap the platform much harder! And it’s at the same system volume level. This is thanks to the metal 10.5i arm and HW-40 feet (squishy foam - with hockey pucks for spacers), versus the 3D arm and Classic Signature feet (hard - with Herbie’s giant fat dots for spacers). I should have made a video with the same feet, to show that much of the blame actually goes to the 3D arm. Fatboy arms were a similar story. That’s a not-cheap CMS Sotto Voce rack and $2K Platinum shelf. Completely useless at this frequency! In the end, I think the rack’s architecture, table plinth design, and 3D tonearm are all to blame. And the Avenger Reference did nothing to help here. I thought its tripod plinth design might help, but it didn’t. Might have a video of that floating around somewhere. Anyways, the Clearaudio Innovation compact had NO problems at 100Hz, but you had to watch subsonic feedback for woofer flapping (dangerous) - that’s from the float bearing IMO (again, the Master adds enough mass it’s less problematic). You can put this on a Townshend spring platform and it helps a lot! The problem with the VPIs, is their size makes it hard to fit onto a Townshend if you’re space constrained. I guess I should’ve tried the pods. And the SOTA Cosmos, of course that does fine no problems :) |
Best turntables I've ever heard, bar none: https://www.idler-wheel-drive.com Have a Clearaudio and an upgraded Oracle to the MK VI. My Nantias modified idler arm is the best thing I've ever heard other than a fully restored Ampex professional reel to reel like this: https://reverb.com/item/36230409-ampex-300-3-tube-reel-to-reel-tape-machine. And those two are close. Makes the reel to reel not worth the trouble. |
