Brinkmann Bardo vs Transrotor Fat Bob Reference

Hi Lewm, that's intersting! From your comments, the Bardo is obviously an excellent table straight out of the box, however fate obviously played a part in my decision to go for the TR. Still I will keep an eye on this thread, it would interesting to read any comments from members who have directly compared both the TR Ref and Bardo..both outstanding bits of kit!

I have the Bardo and an Technics Sp10. Both were improved by connecting to a Purepower conditioner. Both were further improved by running the power conditioner on battery pack without connecting to the wall. I checked the speed with a strobe and the same speed is maintained. The sound is more focused with better high frequency detail. It is also smoother with lower noise floor.

My belt drive table seems less sensitive to the power conditioner.

Hi Glai, that's interesting and implies the Brinkmann is more sensitive to line noise. Picking up on earlier discussion about the differences in the belt drive vs direct drive approach, I received this reply directly from Transrotor in response to a question asking why why they decided on the belt, as opposed to direct drive approach -

we chose the belt drive because we think it is the best way not to bring resonances from the motor to the platter. The negative aspect of the belt drive (the belt slip) is compensated by the magnetic drive, the TMD

I don't know about the Bardo, but the SP10 external power supply converts AC from the wall socket to DC and delivers three discrete DC voltages to the main chassis. I guess it could not hurt to supply it with "clean" AC, if one lives in an environment where the AC could be contaminated with noise from machinery, etc. But Glai, if your SP10 was not running rock solid at speed before you interposed a conditioner, then I would posit that it is not performing optimally, possibly due to bad electrolytic capacitors, if you've never replaced them. I was supposing that the Bardo motor also runs off DC derived in its outboard supply, when I stated that an additional outboard supply, between the wall socket and the Bardo box would be redundant, at best. What I meant was that there would be no expense with respect to purchasing something like a Walker Audio Motor Controller or VPI SDS, or the like. AC regenerators or purifiers and whether they help is another matter.

I merely want to state my experience that cleaner power improves the playback of the Bardo which the OP is interested in.

My Bardo and Sp10mk2 both benefit from cleaner power. THe SP10mk2 even more so. This experience is different from " The Bardo, like all direct-drive turntables, must include its own outboard power supply which needs to be linked to the motor speed via a servo, in order to stablize the drive. In this case, additional AC treatments preceding the motor supply module are unnecessary if not even a bad thing".

My Bardo has the upgraded power supply and the Technics SP10mk2 is from Artisan Fidelity with new caps and more. Both hold speed without and with the power conditioner. In the case of Brinkmann, there are power supply options with both their DDs and BDs which change the sound significantly. Maybe your sp10mk3 has a better designed power supply that takes this out of the equation.

I am in the suburbs not very far from power line with a dedicated subpanels and lines installed by AV solutions. The AC off the wall rages from 119V to 121V. Crude THD measurements is 4%. Unplugged from the wall, the regenerate AC is 120V with 0.8-0.9 THD.

The improvement I hear seems to be more than just speed stability. I suspect that it is related to less vibration of the motor. The noise floor drop away with softer notes played softer and overall increased in dynamic range and more focus. The gains on belt drive are less.