Well-Tempered Golf Ball?


In this month's TAS they describe the Well-Tempered Amadeus as follows: "tonearm is suspended from fishing line (which I've seen and understand) and damped with a golf ball."

Can someone explain this golf ball? Are we talking a Titleist here or merely something that reminds the author of a golf ball?
grimace
To add a log to the fire, I spoke to a dealer who said that the arm has no adjustable overhang, and that Firebaugh has developed an arm geometry that is unaffected by imprecise alignment!!!!!!

Wow, that is a new one on me. But I totally believe it. I used to own a WTT for many years. It was fantastic for the price, though taking a bit of time for the arm to settle each time during set up.

Firebaugh's work speaks for itself. If I didn't own a Raven One, I'd most likely buy the Amadeus.

(Just don't ask me what the WTT to R1 jump in quality was like, unless you have the money to afford the R1)
Emailists, Do you truly believe the dealer who told you that the WT tonearm is "unaffected by imprecise alignment"? If so, I have some herbal remedies to sell you. He was correct in saying that there is no (easy) adjustment for stylus overhang, because the headshell has two discrete holes in it, not slots in which the cartridge can move forward or rearward to fine adjust overhang. I guess this is a perfectionist approach, but it is a pain in the arse when you want to align your cartridge properly (at least on the WTT Reference). The only way to do it is to loosen the nut that affixes the vertical shaft of the tonearm, which is located on the underside of the tt chassis, then twist the shaft on its axis. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to re-tighten that nut without altering the adjustment by at least a tiny amount. The propaganda about immunity to imprecise alignment reminds me of their earlier claim that the (original) WT tonearm had "no bearing".
Audiogoners are well informed and have very strong opinions on all thing audio, myself included and many are well to do, myself unfortunately not included.
I have just gotten an Amadeus and I can say from hearing it at length that it is a nice sounding turntable amongst many others TT's in production.Yes, it is wacky and yes there are some design features that are perplexing to some. I am not going to fan the flames of the nay sayers buy saying it is the best deck in the world but until you hear one please try not to be too suspect and condemning . To each his own. Golf anyone? LOL
It's quite easy, Lewm, if you can understand it all. The arm isn't the least finicky, and in some ways is quite a departure from the old WT. Firebaugh has made it easier for you, not harder--that's the beauty of it, and it sounds better.
check here.....
At the WTL blog, found through the "Resources" page at welltemperedlab.net:

welltemperedlab.wordpress.com/...

Take care
I wonder if the damping fluid viscosity is critical,
I bet It is. Great idea IMO. I wonder if a thread
(Schroder style) would yield even better results.

Hey what about a Ginko style Base with 4 Golf Balls
to complete the look.