The Wand Turntable I go to the DBL site sometimes to re-look at the tonearm - would love one but can't for various reasons Spotted the details on the table - thought it looked interesting - thought others might agree.
Interesting they are using to help launch production. Cyrus did the same for its USB DAC Soundkey in 2016 or2017.
$US3600 retail w/o arm but Simon is looking to sell a dozen pre-production units at 40-50% of that to get feedback. If the performance is anything like his tonearm, it will easily be worth that. He says he's gotten good feedback on the earlier prototypes he already has out there.
Been following this for a while too and curious about the crowdfunding campaign. Simon kindly sent me some photos of an older version when I bought a Hana SL from him. Being such a good guy is a great way to get people interested in your product! It was at High End Munich but I didn't notice any coverage online, sadly.
Not doubting you, but I'm surprised at the price. This video from 2017 shows 1800 euro; I guess things must have changed since then. I'm planning on a 'table upgrade in the next couple of years and I've been eyeing up this one, a PTP Solid 12 or a Technics SL1200G. Good time to be into vinyl!
Didn't realise this thread was going and started another one. Never mind, just put out here that a good friend has had a Wand TT on demo is a reasonably high end system (Sanders Audio)for a couple of weeks and was impressed enough to place an order. He was a Linn owner for many years and currently runs a Well Tempered TT so has a fair idea on sound and build quality. From the feedback I've received it appears that Simon is still finalising some details around feet and motor but the major parts are in place. As a bundled package with a Wand arm, Hana cartridge and perhaps the new Pure Audio phono stage it should be a tempting thought for those looking to upgrade. I was offered the chance to join the pre production listening group but it's just too much hassle to change out my TT for the couple of hours a week I get the chance to listen to vinyl. Can't argue with the fact that Simon is a gent to deal with and I love my Wand Plus arm.
Might make some sense cost-wise for those living in New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and like. Makes no sense anywhere else given the abundance of excellent tables already available, widely distributed, and widely supported. That's why no ripple at Munich and why it's being crowd-funded.
My understanding, from Simon, is that it would have been played in Munich, and thus likely covered, if someone had not dropped it onto a concrete floor.
Greetings, all, As the newly appointed U.S. distributor for Wand tonearms and turntable, I’m expecting to receive a ‘final’ prototype Wand 14-4 turntable in August. It is expected to go into production this Fall and I plan to demonstrate it at both Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and Capital Audio Fest in October and early November, respectively. I’ll be happy to answer any questions folks might have and hope to see some of you at the shows!
Now where did I see the mirror image of the top plate, motor, and speed-change dial of this before? Elac Miracord? I'm unipivot all the way, but the tonearm looks little different to a Roksan Pug; still, anything without a finger-lift is off the radar for me (as are outsize platters -- I value my stylus!) Where's the quoted three-point suspension on this David?
If you could see the entire plinth, the skin deep resemblance dissolves quickly. An arm lift obviates the need for anfinger lift. Also, the extended front edge of the arm tube essentially serves that purpose. The three feet are isolating.
Yes, I know what an arm-lift does and there's a reason that 99.9% of tonearm designers put a finger-lift on and put it on the the right-hand-side of the headshell rather than the front. Some Manufacturers and their Distributors never learn. The feet may well be "...isolating", but not from motor vibration -- which is the main point of a suspension, and which this turntable clearly lacks despite its advertising claims. Just another motor bolted to a piece of plywood. 1000s of $ for this? Pass.
Really a fair point: starts to get ridiculous how a VERY simple design which is the belt driven turntable claims thousands of dollars price. If I compare this with the MUCH more demanding direct drive (we have been discussing the mighty Technics in another threat), then it becomes even more obvious. I also do NOT buy the “tight tolerances” argument: manufacturing has developed massively and it’s not a big deal to make parts that fit well together. All in all I’m more and more enjoying the competition coming out from Japan.
Overpriced, rudimentary turntables seem to be a Kiwi speciality -- look at WTL -- £1000s for a Chinese-assembled TT made out of $20 of parts at most, and with the most appalling lack of quality control and customer service. Want to see how bad? Go here Listening #140 to see how they flip off their customers, both paid and prospective (look for my comment 'Overhang and VFM Submitted' by davip on August 23, 2018 - 12:32am)...
You’ve obviously never used either of the designs in any form. Either that, or you can’t overcome a personal bias for a particular design. I own a Wand Deluxe tonearm. It’s mounted on an Origin Live Aurora turntable. The Aurora has a three-point foot/base with height adjustment for levelling. The forelift on the front end of the Wand tonearm works perfectly well, and it handles securely. It takes only a moment to get used to it. The tonearm itself is one of the best unipivot designs I’ve ever seen, and I think the designers have hit a home run. Fabrication quality is excellent, installation is straightforward, and the tonearm is a stellar performer. The best way to design a unipivot tonearm is to first ensure that the tonearm is micrometer-straight and perfectly laterally balanced (among other things). That eliminates a sidelift. On the Wand, again, the forelift works perfectly. There are even unipivot tonearm designs (e.g., the Naim Aro) that work just as incredibly well on suspended turntables as they do on mass loaded turntables. There are many successful turntable designs. The are vibration absorbing designs using heavy mass loading. There are vibration dissipating designs using lightweight mass materials. There are a couple of different successful suspension designs. There are combination designs using heavy mass loading or moderate mass loading and suspended motor mounts. There are many more successful approaches. That you personally prefer suspension designs only speaks to your preference, but it doesn’t alter the obvious success of many other designs. Origin Live makes both suspended and non-suspended designs, and all of the company’s turntables are excellent at each price point. Thus far, all of the user reports on the Wand turntable are very good. I think that your reduction of the efforts of the Wand TT design as nothing more than a motor mounted to a piece of plywood may be needlessly insulting to the designers over there who’ve already previously produced excellent products for the audiophile marketplace.
Have you used the Wand turntable then, or did you simply manage to not read its Specifications (where I did)? As you talk mostly about Origin Live turntables and the Wand arm, most of your treatise is irrelevant to my post. Still, I'm game -- try going here: The Wand Turntable , where you'll see the Manufacturer's blurb for his TT and read where it says (verbatim, in quotes) : "German Plywood main structure", its motor un-decoupled from that 'plinth'. Like I said, "...a motor bolted to a bit of plywood". . "Zentroidal™ three point suspension system". As the Distributor confirmed, that 'suspension system' is actually its three feet. As such, the Wand TT design is indeed "...nothing more than a motor mounted to a piece of plywood", and the only thing that is "...needlessly insulting" here is their legerdemain in description of their TTs suspension to potential customers. No do I "...prefer suspension designs", 'obviously' or otherwise. What I prefer is manufacturers not to BS when it comes to describing their products (closely followed by fanbois getting rattled out of context). If You are happy for a three point suspension system to simply mean that something has three feet then I would imagine that you would be happy with just about anything. Alright?
While I haven't used a Wand TT I did have a tour of Simon's work space last year when he was still very much in the development stage. Please don't think that this is a cobbled together bitser from a garden shed. This is a well thought out design by Simon (and others) making use of decades of industrial design experience. Keeping something simple but working to a high standard is something that can be hard to pull off. As I mentioned in an earlier post, a very good friend acted as a beta tester and was impressed enough to order one. Actually using the item and putting your own money down is a pretty good recommendation. If the table works as well as the Wand arm then it will find plenty of satisfied customers. As for the lack of a finger lift on the arm, I don't have one on either of the two arms on my TT and have never came close to damaging a stylus. The Wand arm is actually very easy to use via the protrusion at the end .
As an inveterate manual-cuer I like to be able to see where I'm putting my stylus and a 'protusion' at the front of the armtube gets in the way of that from above and is no substitute. SME will happily explain to you why a fingerlift is sound-degrading and unnecessary but remain unable to design an arm, even today, that is the equal of a 40-yr old Hadcock complete with one. I remain unimpressed with the pricing of the Wand TT given its touted simplicity and irrespective of the decades of "...industrial design", an issue it shares with its WTL neighbour. That is, why is a suspensionless plywood turntable (thus a motor, the wood, and a platter) over three-grand? Even if one sees respect for the engineering of a Sondek for half of the price as the ravings of one who "obviously" prefers suspended decks, the unsuspended armless RP10 has engineering (and 'design') coming out of the wazoo yet still manages to be ~ half of the Wand's price. So the question remains, why is this plywood turntable, devoid of engineering, suspension, or decoupling, so expensive? I'm not the only asking this question in this thread and I think that we're all familiar with gouging in audiophilia. One could ask the same question of Pro-ject, McIntosh, Funk, MoFi, etc., and the answer would be the same -- because it's far cheaper, and with far-greater profit to be made, to not engineer. That is why suspended decks are now in the minority, not because mass (or no mass in the case of these plywood wonders) is better. Neither is the purchase of an acquaintance necessarily a reliable endorsement for others -- there are people on this forum who regard a TT designed for DJs as the pinnacle of audiophilia...
