New Thorens Reference Table

Funny
DeadRock said:
...I rarely polish...the aesthetics of smudges and fingerprints be damned!! :beerchug:
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Thing is I have a suspended wood table in blood wood that is classic in aesthetics. I have a second table with massive clear acrylic platter and black acrylic base. Anyone who comes into the room comments on the acrylic one, even though the wood one more advanced in terms of electronics and parts. People seem to like the quasi industrial designs versus the classic execution.
 
IMHO..."classic" almost always includes the simplest applications of lines and curves. Beyond that...I think a lot of people get hung-up on stuff that reveals it's age and I find this especially true with consumer products (as opposed to "art")...somehow..."old" is not good...perhaps unsettling?

Cheers!

David
 
DeadRock said:
IMHO..."classic" almost always includes the simplest applications of lines and curves. Beyond that...I think a lot of people get hung-up on stuff that reveals it's age and I find this especially true with consumer products (as opposed to "art")...somehow..."old" is not good...perhaps unsettling?

Cheers!

David
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These are my two tables. The Scheu gets all the attention. The SOTA is ignored even by seasoned audio hobbyists.

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Personally, I would rather own an original Thorens Reference over the new one and it is solely based on looks. As far is which one would sound better it is my believe that the old one would sound plenty good and considering the difference in appearance even if it didn't sound quite as good as the new one, I would rather own an original. When it comes to the SOTA'S I would rather own the millennial model so it's not all about looking vintage, but rather just personal taste.
 
@Mister Pig The SOTA is a turntable where the Scheu is a kinetic sculpture that also happens to play records. Visually it appeals to a tremendously larger number of people including those that don’t know what a turntable is.
 
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Pio1980 said:
Thinking out loud on your experience, the subjective results difference gap between a typical high end combination player and a well-sorted out AR XA/XB?
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My AR that was Morinfied has been in the care of @Audiofreak71 for the past several years. I do get to hear it on a regular basis. Marc worked his magic on it and Bill built the most stunning plinth. I picked the Lacewood, and Bill says he will never touch the stuff again. It is a one of a kind beauty.

Performance wise it is excellent for its price point. As far as a drive unit there is little to fault it with. The reason I passed it on is the limitations of the arm. Don't get me wrong the arm performs quite well, but its limited in that VTA is not adjustable and the user will either have to shim the cartridge in the headshell or have varying thicknesses of mats. This is just not an attribute that I could work with in the long haul. But if you do accommodate it, the sound you get from a modified XA is excellent, and to better it takes serious money.

If you can DIY all the mods you get an awesome value. If you build a new base or get one of the real walnut ones and refinish the top you can have a visually striking table. There are are days I miss looking at it. But I only have room for so many tables, and the two I have are as good as my analog playback can achieve.

In the end a modified AR XA is excellent, and if you can work with the arm you can install moving coils that cost $1200 or even $2000 and get exquisite sound.
 
Blue Shadow said:
When did Blazz (bland jazz aka smooth jazz) become audiophile music? It is equipment selling tunes. The guys bring over real jazz and rock. So outside the showroom we listen to other genres.
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Decent engineering and production for demonstration is why it's used.
"Taste" vs those qualities is irrelevant to those standards, tho they can be demonstrated with most genres when employed.
 
lini said:
And to be honest, from a certain degree I just can't take extremely ambitious overkill efforts in playback equipment for what I'd nowadays regard as rather flawed, though still somewhat fascinating medium all too seriously anymore.
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Hi Manfred,

Without wanting to veer too much into off-topic, there is a company (PS Audio) that is doing very interesting processing of vinyl replay signals in the digital domain, including what they claim to be correction of tracing distortion tailored for the stylus radius. Like a dynagroove done at the playback side, not at the cutting side. And other compensations.

It would be interesting to see a 2023 Transcription Turntable with a world-class A/D (and D/A) converter and digital correction algorithms. Plus, of course, re-centering like the Nakamichi TX1000 did. And an electronically damped arm, like the Sony Biotracer, but done with care for the acoustical performance.

The active suspension of the Thorens is an innovation, although I do think it's a bit overkill.
 
I think the Oracle tables are consistently good looking, and the Transcriptors/Michells interesting looking, but in general I like a wooden box plinth with all the stuff inside its dimensions. A clean, non scuffed up dustcover is nice also. The oil rig look is okay, I suppose, but what advantage does having everything hanging out at odd angles waiting to be bumped, while taking up vast amounts of space, actually offer (other than attracting dust that might otherwise end up on your other furniture)?

Two minutes later - I realize that both the Oracles and the Transcriptors, while plinthless, do fit inside dustcovery options. So maybe that helps them in my eyes.
I say this having used a Micro Seiki Rx 1500 for years - great table, but a dustcover would have been nice.
 
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