Dgad, I know some people might call me an extremist having some tables and a few tonearms. And indeed in some respect I am one - maybe you too, being enganged in writings like this. I did not walk into a shop and bought them all, I collected over the years, especially the vintage ones and did repair and restore some of them. It is really a lot of fun playing with phono-preamps, tonearms, cartridges etc. But I do not sell and buy all the time - I do collect (maybe too much!!).
It is hard to judge which TT is the best sounding in my ears. Some people having visited me were overwhelmed by the many differences in the sound they could hear. Currently I am working with the Nakamichi and the Micro.
But back to our question. I know both producers very well, Thomas Woschnick and Peter Brem. I got in contact with them when both "developers took off". In the beginning they worked together and I was able to audition a Raven with a Grandezza tonearm. I liked this sound so much that I bought the Grandezza tonearm from Thomas (!). Now both people have quite a success and this is wonderful, isn`t it? despite they are running on separate ways. Both produce excellent pieces of audio-gear and do have their community - which is fine.
I don´t think there is any reason that we as consumers or afficinados continue the developer struggle for the final victory. Nevertheless we are allowed to judge the products like we perceive the products in our chains or at audition locations - and we should write in this forum about it.
I did hear the Black Raven at the Munich High-End show, but as I said it to Thomas this was not a good chain to judge the qualities of his new table. By the way it looks fantastic. The big DaVinci, which is a continous improvement project maybe reaching its final stage I heard twice and it is one of the modern masterpieces in my opinion.
I will not buy Thomas new black tiger nor Peters red italian horse due to the reason that my space is getting a little short. I hope you understand...
