Where can I hear Teres

A few minor corrections to a good thread.

The Teres bearing housing is 1.5" in diameter.

The original Teres bearing used a delrin thrust plate. We switched to teflon coated brass about 18 months ago. We found that the brass sounds quite a bit better, at least in the Teres that is.

I tried the oil and lead approach and found that it did indeed sound marginally better. However, there were some issues. Oil is actually a little more difficult to contain than it may seem. The seal must be very good or it slowly seeps out. I ended up with a thin film of oil on the bottom of the platter after just a couple of days. Another issue for the Teres platter was simply cosmetics. No way to get the bubbles out and it just didn't look very good. I thought that the sonic gains were just too small to justify leak hassles and the cosmetic loss. Sorry to be too pragmatic but I do think that cosmetics matter, so long as they are kept as a minor part of the equation. To put things in perspective, a cap change in the motor regulator circuit made a bigger sonic impact than the oil.

The Teres motor has a clever way around the "hunting" issue. Once the speed locks in the controller switches to a mode where the voltage can only change a few millivolts per minute. This is just enough to compensate for some slow drift. Once the speed is locked it sounds identical to a fixed regulator. The sound of a fixed regulator but no need to adjust.
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Chris

Chris, Thanks for the additional information. (It is good to hear both sides regarding this technology)

Regarding the bearing housing being 1.5" in diameter. I am a bit confused because the Teres site says, "The Teres bearing mounts via a 1.125" diameter threaded mounting stub (see drawing)."

Did this change?

Bryan, the bearing housing is not actually the mounting stub. The bearing housing is above the mounting stub, and the stub is just the connector that goes through the plinth. They are all one piece, but the upper part houses the bearing and the lower part is the mounting stub. Also, even though I don't want to turn my TT upside down right now, I think that the nut that holds the bearing mounting stub to the plinth is more than 1/8" on each side. It is a large nut with plenty of surface area to hold real tight. And the bearing housing shoulder that hugs the plinth on top is the 1 1/2" part that makes an excellent "clamping" arrangement for holding it to the plinth. No problems in that area.

As far as Redpoint's negative comments about the Teres, I say let the market be the judge. Also, notice that Chris was very objective in stating the reasons for his design decisions, and made no derogatory references toward Redpoint.

TWL - thanks for pointing that out. Also, I agree. Chris is a true gentleman and very informative! Always.

My math skills are lousy but I'll give this a try...
Assuming the nut which secures the bearing to the base is a hexigon, measuring 1.725 diameter (from Teres website) and threads around a 1.125" spindle. I estimate this would provide .3075" (slightly less than 5/16) of contact at the widest point on each side of the bearing and .1825" (slightly less than 3/16 but closer to 2/11).

This means that the average contact area of the nut would be .245" or ever-so-slightly less than 1/4". Which is double what was suggested.

The Teres Bearing Mounting Stub is 2.5" long and from the pictures I just looked at (in the 200 series manual)shows the bearing sitting inside the "mounting stub" at what appears to be a 1" depth. So since the bearing housing of the Teres bearing differs in diameter for the reservoir and the mounting stub making a statement that the bearing housing is X diameter is not exactly true is it??

While it sounds better to say the bearing housing is wider (or as Redpoint put it - the Redpoint bearing is a Teres bearing on Steroids) but does it really matter? Honestly now.

Bryan, thanks for the calculations. I was sure that it was more than they were stating.

Regarding the massiveness of the bearing housing, it is at the point where it is so massive already, that I really don't see why any larger is better. The Teres bearing totally dwarfs the Linn bearing that you have on your table right now. It is like a 747 next to a Cessna 150. I would say that the whole matter rests upon the sonic performance. Nothing else is really germaine to the discussion, except maybe appearance. If these "improvements" are not sonically better, than what purpose do they serve? I don't know if they are or not, but I have my suspicions. My suspicions are that Teres and Redpoint are targeted at similar markets, and that Teres has achieved better penetration of that market. Redpoint is playing "catch up". Apparently they've decided that "attacking" the competition will steer sales in their direction. I doubt it. I think that Redpoint is suffering from "styling" difficulties that will not allow it to penetrate into the high-end audiophile market, as its appearance will visually detract from many high-end systems. This is a major consideration in design, and one they have not yet mastered, in my opinion. Whether it sounds as good as a Teres, I don't know.