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High mass vs Low Mass Turntables - Sound difference?

As I am recently back playing with analog gear after some 15 years away, I thought I would ask the long time experts here about the two major camps of record players -- high vs low mass-loaded-type tables...

For example, an equivalently priced VPI table (say a Classic, Aries or Prime) versus a Rega RP8/10 or equivalent Funk Firm table...  the design philosophies are so different ... one built like a tank, the other like a lightweight sports car...

Just wondering if the folks here have had direct experience with such or similar tables, and what have been your experiences and sense of strengths and weaknesses of these two different types of tables.



128x128jjss49
pryso
1,501 posts
 
Corvette vs Lotus?

Both win races but driving them is a hugely different experience.  I think it comes down to personal preferences.

I don't believe there are "absolutes" in the audio hobby.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Pretty sure the analogy doesn't extend to Sumo wrestlers.

schubert
4,867 posts
 
I’ve owned over a hundred tables just cause I like to play with them .
Most expensive was a Linn 3k job .
I tried to figure out what was best but I got so tied up in music I forget to take notes .
All I know was Sansui 929 was the most beautiful one and the one I wish I still had and for that reason .

The only absolute Is God .
13blm's avatar
13blm
47 posts
 
Heavy platter turntables virtually always produce lower w&f and drift. The tend to produce what I would call an "elegant" or graceful sound. They also tend to have a lower noise floor. You know it when you hear it. It is a myth that they sound slow and it has absolutely nothing to do with energy storage. The bearing is the usual culprit in "slow" sounding systems. Did any of you stop by at Axpona?
Regards,
Bruce
Anvil Turntables


10timps's avatar
10timps
4 posts
 
I have a better idea. How about getting a Well Tempered table and not worry about resonance? No vibrations will get through the cup of goo the arm sits in. Oh, BTW, no bearings in the arm either. 
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