I heard the EMT 930 idler-wheel drive on Cyprus (fully restored under the supervision of A.J. Van den Hul himself among others) when I and it basically parachuted in at the same time, and I was awed at the master-tape-like quality I heard at that time, in terms of tonal correctness or lack of editing/addition, an amazing, powerful and musical record player to boot. I did not attend the comparison between the EMT 927 and my own work, which was organized by others without my knowledge, having been informed only a couple of days before the event, I hardly "went bonkers" (but I did - on my annual peregrination to the Greek islands - bring a 'table over to leave against some possible demonstration, which some might consider "bonkers", which I won't deny ;-)). The outcome of the vote was e-mailed to me after the event, which was posted unedited. Like my landing in a living room on Cyprus (also with a 'table) just as those fellows were setting up their newly-restored EMT 930 (which I only discovered as I got there), so the owner of an EMT 927 (who also owned an EMT 950, but was nevertheless and idler-wheel fan) simply popped up from out of the blue and offered (being an idler-wheel fan). Wish I could have been there, the 930 was a thing of beauty sonically and in terms of engineering. I seem to have some EMT-karma, and glad of it, I look forward to the next bolt out of the blue :-).
EMT turntables as good as other great vintage TT?
Are the EMT turntables as good as the great Micro Seiki turntables, or the Pioneer Exclusive P3, or any of the other great vintage turntables. How would they stack up to today's modern turntables? I realize there are many different turntables in the EMT line. I have been reading that the 930st or the 950 seem to be the one's to buy with the 927 being quite rare and very expensive. Could someone take the mystery out of this line? Are they more collectible than sonically relevant?