Cartridge / Tonearm opinions requested...

Lasercd,

Glad to note that you have taken the comments in the right spirit.

Re. the W-B arm, I feel that just because Chris Brady didn't say anything negative doesn't mean that it will be a suitable match! From his website, it is quite clear that he has virtually zero experience with it & he is not going to tell a customer not to use it on his 265 'table! Re. the W-B rep. in the USA - you can expect him to use those exact words. That's his job! I would take his words with a grain of salt esp. since there is no other user out there to confirm this.

Your other choice of Moerch DP-6 seems to be much better esp. since it has a proven track record on the Teres. This to me is more important than looks or W-B's carbon fibre technology (which no doubt is very appealing. The engineer in me digs that kind of stuff!).

As an aside (w/o meaning to be an Origin Live salesman!): TWL's recommendation of the Origin Live arms is also 2nd by me. I too have the Silver 250 on my Bluenote 'table with just excellent results. The TA-265, I think, warrants a better arm such as the Illustrious or the Encounter.

IMHO, chose an arm from the "tier 1" list or one of the OL arms & relieve yourself of this mental anguish.

Lasercd,

Glad to read that your mental anguish is over now that you have decided on a tonearm & cart.

We'll look forward to reading a post/review of your Teres 265 system. I'm esp. interested in reading your comments of the whole set-up & the synergies between the Teres & the tonearm-cart. Too bad we will have to wait so long!

Lasercd,

May I ask what made you conclude that the W-B arm was going to be the arm of choice?

Just a minor correction - Wilson-Benesch is a UK company & not a Japanese one (www.wilson-benesch.co.uk). From reading their philosphy of analog design, it is clear that they are proponents of low-mass design. This is a key point! Teres Audio is a big proponent of mass-loaded design. Everything they make is very heavy! They have very good design principles as does W-B & I'm not critizing any manuf. here - merely pointing out the diff. The ACT 2 arm is designed to go into a low-mass, rigid system. This leads me to believe that the synergies between ACT 'table & ACT 2 arm will be symbiotic & "made for each other" by design. It is not clear that the ACT 2 arm will perform the same way in a mass-loaded Teres design. It might & then it might not. The 2 philosphies are very different. My gut feeling is that the ACT 2 arm is a wrong choice for the Teres 'table. It might give you very good perf. but nowhere near the optimum that the 265 is capable of. Of course, this is my opinion!

A suggestion would be to chose a tonearm from Chris Brady's "tier 1" list. All tonearms there are proven to perform at the highest level with a Teres. I'm sure that you know that SYNERGY is a key part of obtaining top-notch performance. Getting a carbon fibre tonearm for the sake of looks seems to be the wrong method of chosing a tonearm. Again, IMHO!

Not critizing you in any way. Of course, you make the final decision as it is your system & you have to live w/ it. I feel that you might be compromising the TA-265 right from the get-go.

FWIW. I hope you take this in the right spirit. Thanks!