Brinkmann/Spiral Groove/TW Acustic Black Night...?


Hi,

I'm seriously considering one of these turntables at the moment, and I would truly appreciate any opinions regarding them related to sonics, reliability, flexibility, ease of use & maintenance etc.

The candidates are:

- Brinkmann Balance anniversary (turntable, 10.5 tonearm, Ti-cartridge, tube power supply, HRS-platform)

- Spiral Groove SG1 + Centroid tonearm

- TW Acustic Black Night + Raven 10.5 tonearm

The price for these setups (used or new) are quite similar when adding a cartridge within the 4-5000$ price range to the Spiral Groove and TW Acoustic tables. But, I can get the Black Knight + Raven 10.5 tonearm new at about the same price as the others used.

I'm using the Brinkmann Bardo today, which I believe is a very neutral and reliable table. But, to some degree it doesn't manage to engage me enough emotionally being rather correct and slightly sharp around the edges. What I'm looking for in an upgrade is first and foremost a more generous and musical presentation (warmth, scale, texture, body, flow) - more music and less hifi if you wish.

My taste in music is varied, but I tend to optimize my system based on what I listen to the most (sing- and songwriters), which means that the handling of voices, acoustical instruments and piano are critical.

So far, my gut feeling tells me that the TW Acoustics Black Night might be the answer partnered with the right cartridge.

Of the three, only the Brinkmann Balance is available locally for audition.

My phono is the Zanden 1200 MKIII. The rest of the system consists of an Aesthetix Callisto Eclipse (preamp), Karan KA M2000 (monos) and Sonus Faber Futura (speakers). Cabling is Nordost Valhalla (power) + Kubala Sosna Elation (interconnects).

Any inputs are most welcome!
128x128sidekick_i

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Taste is always different, but check the speed ability first from your choices before you do a serious investment. Some are really out of 33.3, some ignore that, because they like this kind of Pace, Rhythm and Timing. A Timeline from Sutherland can be a wake up call :-).
Same for Tonearm Geometry, some can handle demanding tracks better than others.
Good tables have no "sound", they spin a record correctly and that's it. Based on design some have a better frequency area than others. On a top System you get the emotion from the records, each one will show you something new, even with music you didn't like before.
But when you are not interested in digging a bit deeper, Linn LP12 is famous for midrange pushing, when you want foot whippin' with Schubert Chamber Orchestra, Ravens are generally a good ticket for that, Cheap (more or less) and good is Oracle Turntable with a Triplanar Arm...there are a lot of choices.
Anyway, I would be careful with "recommendations" for blind buy, when you are willing to invest a few thousand $, a personal visit, Dealer or Private owner, will be cheap at the end of day. I listened to many very expensive rigs, the majority of owners told and wrote me the most beautiful things about diving into music, at the end I asked for mercy and was glad coming home without deep depressions. But, that's me. And sometimes you can learn something. Not everything today is done the way you expect for the thousands of Dollars you want to spend :-)
Spiral Groove is the only one which can be called a serious design. The other alternatives are toys for boys.