10 things I learned buying an audiophile TT

I thought I could share my experiences in the aid of helping others in the same situation. I have spent the last year researching via literature ( primarily this forum) to determine what the shortlist should be to upgrade from a 25 year old but beautifully maintained Rega Planar 3. I have been gravitating towards quality reissues or early pressings on vinyl over the last few years and felt it was the right time to move on up.

I also finally spent serious time w speaker positioning while the search was on and I must say all those who said fine tuning speaker placement is one of the most crucial factors in quality sound were correct. Frankly this aspect was shocking to me. I still can't believe how this factor is so fundamental. Worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars and of course it is free .

The second concern was synergy. I can't justify rebuying my entire system at once and I dearly love the sound of my old harbeth speakers which seem to work beautifully with my space as evidenced by how great my rega sounded compared to other setups I have heard. So I figured TT was the next logical upgrade. My hope is if I have a great room with speakers working to it and a sympathetic TT I can always later get amps a cartridge and a phone amp to play well with a known quality TT. I realize it ain't perfect but at least I'm starting with a known speaker / room synergy.

I determined the budget to be about $4000 to $8000 CAD which for me qualifies as Audiophile and for those who disagree well these are the arguments of the fortunate and so be it. The budget was heavily considered and after much reading it seemed there was a consensus that this is either the bottom or mid level serious equipment range. Thus I hoped to get the biggest bang for the buck without getting divorced. I disregarded the nosebleed stuff as not relevant to most including myself.

Also please don't respond with the shoulda looked at this and that, because the point of the thread is to guide others in terms of guiding principles not specific equipment. Others ears may prefer different stuff so if we keep to guiding principles it will make this thread more efficient to readers. So my policing finished with .....my shortlist was;

Well tempered Amadeus $4000 CAD
VPI prime $$5000
Mitchel Gyro $$6000
Mitchel Orbe $8000
All prices rounded roughly

These all seemed to have long established reputations and cherished by their owners and reviewers alike for a long time. I also took my own records most well known so I could control the experience. Most shops were problematic and here follows a list of things I learned to ask for in advance:

- it is common to have $50000 speakers and $12000 cartridges and $30000 phono stages etc. Hooked up to the TT in the showrooms because they know they are being compared. Before you show up tell them you want the ancillary equipment to be at the level you want and try to have a relatively comparable system for each different TT you are trying. It ain't gonna be perfect but you can avoid having a $500 cartridge on one and a $12000 cartridge on another

- some of the showrooms selling a $100000 system don't know how to set up speakers for the listening chair. Angles distances etc were not remotely maximized making comparasin s difficult since we know this aspect is crucial. I found this incomprehensible and that was a factor in not buying from a specific shop because you obviously want the place you buy from to have expert staff. You are buying not just the equipment but potentially a long time relationship.

-many shops will adjust the volume louder when they switch to the more expensive TT when you are doing a side by side comparasin. Don't be shy about adjusting the volume yourself.

To cut to the chase I ended up with a Well Tempered Amadeus but ended up with a hybrid of a new Well Tempered Amadeus GTA but the early model not the Mk2 but fitted with the current new Amadeus tone arm (the Symmetrix ) rather then the LTD. Without getting to detailed on brands i found my choice to provide at least equal and sometimes better sound at a lower price point then the others. It is quite possible the other more expensive TT's did in fact sound better but my ears maybe simply could not hear the difference. For me if my ears can't hear it there's no point paying for it.

I am extremely happy with it but it was a long journey. I Hope my experience is of help to some.

Edit : I don't think this totals 10 things I learned.

 

Bravo and congrats my friend

 

How about a brief synopsis of the sonic differences between the old Planar 3 and the Well tempered Amadeus, for those unfamiliar with the brand.

jeff

 

Congratulations! Based on my ownership of a WT arm years ago, I concur that their products are well priced and provide excellent reproduction.

Now that you've discovered the importance of speaker placement, consider the potential value of acoustic treatment, if you're not already using it and it's feasible in your room. The funds I've spent on that have been among the best invested in my 50 years of audiophilia.

Enjoy your new 'table!

 

congrats!

saw this, interesting stuff!

Philosophy » Well Tempered Lab

 

Glad you are a happy bunny. How would describe the difference between your new TT and your old one? Would be interesting to hear your views

 

The Orbe would have given better bass and more scope for arm upgrades (and likely better speed stability). I've not heard the newer Well Tempered designs but viewing one up close in someones house ( it was parked up as a spare) it struck me as a bit lightweight and Heath Robinson. However since it includes arm it is considerably cheaper. I also had some concern as to correct alignment and VTA with this unique design when discussing with the owner. Certainly should beat an older Planar but I'm wondering if the new P3 and more so P6 would be close for less outlay?

 

The Planar was pretty great. The only thing that I actually had an issue with was being unable to adjust the speed. I am very sensitive to that and it ran slightly slow. I believe that is unusual and they typically run a little fast but mine was a touch slow. This only came apparent during long sustained usually piano notes. I would not say this is something most people should worry about though and I think I had a slightly unusual issue which combined w my unusual acuity in this area combined to cause an occasional annoyance. It did rule rega off my search though.
In terms of sound I loved the rega but wanted more detail , life like presence more soundstage. ( (Damn that sounds pretty greedy). I think you get that from most serious upgrades and indeed all the TTs I tried did this. Well Tempered did it for less. You simply hear further into the music. Everything my little ol Rega did, the WT did better.

 

The philosophy is generally avoid nefarious vibrations and that results in paring back to the essence so for instance there isn't even a cue lever and it can look delicate. Aesthetics were not on my list of concerns and they have solid reputations for durability so that settled my mind on any worries. They are a bit fascist when it comes to not allowing certain adjustments but if the cake tastes great why allow people to mess with the recipe. For me personally that concept was a plus because I generally don't care for tinkering .
The bass is slightly weak but about the same as my rega so I think my benze cartridge might be driving that.
I intend to play around with cartridges and phono stages to tweak things but I am very close to what I want right now.

 

My answer to vinylkid sums up my initial thoughts re the sound. I am still new with it so I cannot give more detail until I have listened to a wider variety of music.

 

Hope you keep enjoying your new toy x

 

Enjoy your new TT and cart. If you're happy that's all that counts and ignore the opinions of others.

For soundstage width and depth I don't think changing the TT is going to help with that, more likely the cart and of course as you mentioned - speaker placement as well as your other equipment. As Barry Diament said, the further you can pull your speakers out the more expensive they will sound.

I fiddle and play with placement but always mark and measure where the speakers originally were. This was especially true when I was using Maggie 1.6s which were light and easy to move. I couldn't believe how expansive and deep a sound stage I could achieve but unfortunately the placement was not practical.

I went to audition Golden Ear 2s about 2 years ago and they used equipment and cabling that was far in excess of price in comparison to the speakers. Yes the speakers did sound very decent and the sound stage was unbelievable but when I asked them to use SS equipment in the $4K range and less expensive cabling the sound changed immensely but more closely resembled my system. In the end I passed on the speakers finding them not to my taste and kept on using the 1.6s.

Experiment - it doesn't cost a penny.

 

Well if your interlink makes such a differences, while its purpose is NOT to change the sound, your system sucks...

 

sorry I dont follow what you are saying...
apologies

 

thank's for the input , this helps every one of us as a comunity . Nobody wants to get ripped off , and not everybody has the time to do the extended research you did . So thank you for the insight .

 

Thanks but really I learned pretty much everything right hear on this forum. I felt the least I could do was compile the knowledge and throw it right back out for others.

 

Welcome to the Well Tempered fold. I have the original Amadeus and this thing blows my mind! So much detail but oh so musical!

There is an Owners forum on audiocircle forum so stop in there and introduce yourself. Good group.

Enjoy spinning records. I predict you will stay up into the wee hours playing records. I sure do.

 

Your VTA may need adjusting and its easy to do with the WTA. Just be sure you do not over tighten the set screws.

My Grado reference Master (I think that's what it is) came alive when I adjusted VTA for "tails down". I used a lined 3x5 index card to help me dial it in.

Do some research on your cart to find what is optimal.

Next step: acoustic paneling. This is the ultimate tweak. Except tweak is incorrect. It is an essential part of having a good sounding room. You should address this before you try to dial in the bass of your system.

I read up a lot - there is a forum on audiocircle with good participation from the industry - and bought 24 2x4 foot Owens Corning 703 rigid fiberglass and rolled my own. Not hard to do and my listening space went from unlistenable to magic. A profoundly positive change. I don't know why people don't pay
More attention to this aspect of their system.

Anyway- enjoy the tunes!

 

And one more note- if you notice a little bit of hashy hum it more than likely comes from the power supply. It's a cheesy switching wall wart supply.

I built my own linear 12 vdc supply with a retro analog voltmeter display. Way overkill but I had fun. While working on that I borrowed a linear 12vdc power supple from my 2nd PC monitor and that also worked well. No need to buy the $400 power supply from the manufacturer.

 

Thanks for all your comments. I also am sensitive to sibilance. I noticed it a bit too much on my rega on some records but not all of them. It is similar on theWTA so it may be the records masterings but I read that tail down VTA can help that as well as the thin bass. Don't get me wrong the sound is great I am talking very subtle minor tweaking at this point and it may simply be my ears or the benze micro stylus but I will explore this at some point per your suggestion

 

I would expect that there would be an adjustment that could be made underneath to get this corrected. The service manual (probably downloadable), a screwdriver (possibly non-magnetic), and a stroboscope (the old paper ones with a suitable light-source, or an electronic one [cheap from ebay china]) is what you need to do the job.

 

I don't hear much sibilance - just an occasional record. Off center records and incorrect speed bother me more.

BTW, I made a record mat from cork that is much livelier than the stock mat (which now functions as a platter dust cover )

Be sure to give your new system time to burn in. My cartridge was underwhelming for the first 40 hours. Sounded kinda thin and reedy. Improvement continued until the 100 hour mark or thereabouts. Biggest change came in the first 40.