HI All,
High performance record players should actually be considered as a sub-system within the larger hi fi system. There are several components which make major contributions to the sound of the record playing sub-system. It's not just the turntable. My record player is complex. Each of the major components have been carefully considered in an attempt to optimize the playing of records. To write only about the turntable would not do justice to the overall record playing sub-system. So, I am going to test your patience and write about each of the major components. Is it good? Yes, I think so. Could it be better? Always.
The last in a long line of turntables with tangential tracking I have owned is my current table and my favorite. It is a Sota Nova in piano black with a Sota Cosmos laminated lead/acrylic arm board. This turntable is a belt drive with a vacuum record hold down on the lead/acrylic laminated platter. There is a center record clamp to complete the vacuum seal. The turntable platter and motor are mass balanced and coupled to the tone arm mounting board using a quasi-Linn LP-12 arrangement. It rests on the turntable stands top support frame with classic Tip Toes.
The arm is an Eminent Technology ET-2 air bearing arm fully tricked out with the horizontal arm damper, silver cartridge wiring and the optional high pressure manifold. It is mounted to the arm board with mini-spikes. Anyone who has an ET arm knows what I am talking about. With the vacuum platter, the system both puffs and sucks. God help me if I ever get the hoses mixed up!!
The arm air source is a heavily modified (for quiet operation) small Craftsman shop air compressor with high efficiency particulate and water filters and a precision pressure regulator. It resides in a back bedroom closet because of the remaining noise which is not audible from my listening position. The arm runs at 25 PSI manifold pressure and the pressure is monitored with a very sexy 0 to 35 PSI pressure gauge. It looks like an instrument from a WW2 submarine. I found it at a surplus store.
My cartridge is a bit old. It is a Monster Sigma 2000 low output moving coil, a very nice cartridge. The pre-pre amp is built into my Audio Research SP-11 MkII hybred tube/FET preamp. The cable from the turntable to the preamp is self designed and is, if I may say so, great. Humility has never been one of my vices
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The dedicated turntable stand is a Lead Balloon. It has not been available for a few years but is a killer stand. All cavities have been filled with lead shot. The entire stand weighs in at about 200 lbs. less the turntable. It is spiked on the top to the top support frame on which the turntable rests and at the bottom to the house cement slab.
I could go on but I won’t. There are a number of detail features I have not mentioned that isolates the table from the environment, absorbs vibration, and reduces electrical noise. The sub-system is completely free from acoustic feedback and is electrically very quiet. It sounds good too, IMO.
That’s it, folks.
Sparky
Still better then whats sold in the shops under brands like Thorens today...
