$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Twl does the lead loading in the acrylic platter do anything for bass response? I'm not accussing it of being bass shy cuz I don't know what the bass sounds like on any Teres. I do know that on other acrylic plattered tables that the bass seems to be greatly improved with more platter mass, or perhaps it is a combination of things?

Twl,

You know, I do enjoy the process, but I also see the journey as part of the hobby of analog reproduction. Spinning vinyl is not only rewarding in its own right, but it carries with it greater involvement on the part of the audiophile, from the choice of turntable, tonearm, and cartridge to the selection of music. There’s simply more to do as you know, which brings me, certainly, closer to the music. And then to share these experiences with others makes it all the more rewarding.

>>We are just trying to provide some insight that will help you to make your decisions about some of the details.<<

That’s for sure; there’s a lot of detail. Putting together a very good analog front end entails an attention to detail; otherwise it would be very easy to make a very big mistake, like putting the wrong tonearm on the turntable.

DC motors have been used in turntables for sometime, especially direct-drive ones, which are not very popular at all for good reason – lousy sonics unless the table costs nearly a million dollars. The direct drive model I once owned used a quartz controller to maintain consistent speed, or so said the marketing literature, and a built-in strobe to help with speed adjustment. All of this technology could not compensate for a lack of bass, dynamics, and presence of a black background. Instead my last turntable was more adroit at highlighting surface noise over inner detail and micro dynamics.

My concern about AC motors is the amount of shielding they have in order to reduce hum in cartridges, like the Grado Reference line, that have no shielding and are susceptible to turntable hum. I’m glad the Teres doesn’t use an AC motor. If I should ever decide to use a Grado cartridge, hum shouldn’t be an issue, or at least that’s what I have been told.

In addition to stylus drag, I also imagine that bearing friction and air friction affect speed consistency, but to a lesser degree. If the platter were spinning in a weightless vacuum, it should continue to rotate without any fluctuations in speed for ever. But you are right: the stylus will have the greatest impact.

It’s interesting to note that stylus drag is accumulative; that is, as a record is played over a 20-to-30 minute duration, the speed will diminish over that time. Why is that? It’s also equally interesting how an AC motor can achieve a “speed lock” without some form of a feedback sensing system that supplies the needed electrical pulses should there be any current drop in the AC line.

>>The bottom line is that the heavier the platter is, with more rotational momentum, the less likely that stylus drag will significantly affect the speed. With the heavier platters, even a TT which uses speed controls will not have to engage in compensating pulses to the motor very often, if the platter stays at correct speed in the first place.<<

This is a good argument for the lead-shot platter, and as a $350 upgrade, it seems to be a no brainer.

>>However, I do know that if something severe happened to the platter speed, that the controller would account for the change immediately.<<

Is the adjustment instantaneous or is there a lag time? If a lag exists, is it audible?

As for the acrylic platter, would it be possible to use a felt or Neoprene pad to reduce ringing in the upper midrange, or is that undesirable? Without the pad, the vinyl will be laying directly on the acrylic.

Hey Doug,

What does ROFL mean? Is it like “ROTC?”

I think it’s fairly obvious that Twl is very knowledgeable, but I don’t know how he came by that knowledge. Some amateurs are quite talented. Maybe Twl is one of them. But apparently he is not an amateur so it would be interesting to learn about his background as well as yours. So start talking… : > )

And thanks for the very informative experiment you ran this week. But the very things you described missing in the expensive turntable/tonearm combination used with a cheap cartridge – “no highs, not much bass, kinda slow and sludgy” – are some of the attributes of the Koetsu Tiger Eye/Denon setup, except I didn’t really hear slowness and sludge. Hmmmm?

Letch,

I wouldn’t imagine that there’s a large difference in sonic quality between the platters used on the Teres 255 versus the one used on the 265, but you will need to ask Doug for more information. I think it’s more a matter of aesthetics than sound. I prefer the look of acrylic on wood, rather than wood on wood. But that’s me.

While you know I like the Teres 255, please keep in mind that you will have to do some finishing work, and you will need to feel fairly comfortable with that decision. I am sure that more than a couple of hours are required despite what is said on the Teres web sit. But if the process does not intimidate you, by all means go for it!

If I were to buy the Galibier, I would choose the upgrade platter, especially after reading Twl’s comments above about rotational momentum reducing stylus drag. I think that’s important. However, the PVC platter does not appeal to me from an aesthetics point of view. Sure PVC might be heavier, but I like the look of acrylic much better.

I don’t know what you have read about acrylic platters, but there seems to be many turntables that use acrylic for their platters including Clearaudio, Transrotor, and Bluenote, just to name three. And if you go with the lead-shot version, you will be buying a platter with a lot more mass, which should help reduce the upper-midrange resonance that Twl talked about. I am also wondering what a platter mat might do as well?

Let me know about your listening impressions after you have heard the Teres. I won’t get that opportunity before I buy.

Artar,

I guess I'll give you the quick rundown on my TT. Since wood is my business, and one of my favorite hobbies it was a fairly (ha!) straightforward affair. Selecting the woods for the look I wanted was actually harder than everything but the veneering of the radii on the plinth.

The quality level I was shooting for is probably a little less than what Chris sends out. I knew I'd never sell it, so there was one thing I really didn't care to get too anal about. To look at the pictures it looks like an heirloom piece. But there are a couple of slight flaws in the veneer that I didn't feel like fixing. Since I had a vacuum clamp/veneer bagging system on order at the time, I knew if I wanted to fix it it would be easy. I used cauls and clamps, and while I could have made it perfect, I wanted to get it done. If I would have waited for the bag, it would be perfect.

The process itself was simple, if you have access to the tools and knowledge:

Select grain you want to show, lay out wood, cut wood.



Joint wood, plane wood, cut wood again, lay up wood, glue wood, clamp wood, sand.



Layout holes, drill holes, fill holes with lead, plug holes, making sure that the curly end grain on each of the teak plugs lines up exactly, then sand.



Sand some more, prep for veneer, veneer, sand, sand some more, sand even more!



Many coats of shellac, using steel wool in between each coat.

Final polish with pumice suspended in paraffin oil using a felt pad.



Easy, eh?

One thing I did was make it a little bigger all around than a “stock” Teres. I just wanted some more heft. The other thing I did was to make sure the top and bottom surfaces were parallel. I mean parallel within .005” using a surface plate and dial indicators. I about crapped when we tested that, because on top of the sanding, I used a scraper for a better finish. I did use a machine sander to do the first rough sanding, but only down to 220 grit. I ended up with 800 grit & the scraper. Watching that needle not move was one of the most satisfying moments of the build.

Now I have steel templates to use for the next ones I build. There are a couple going now, out of various materials. I also bought 2 acrylic plinths from Chris. Why, I don’t know, but they were only $150 shipped. I may make some cool stands out of them!

If I ever get time to revise my site, I’m going to include a quite lengthy Word document that details what I did, complete with sarcasms and my bombastic wit!

P.S Now that I found out how to do pics, I'm going to have fun 'till the mods put an end to it!