Got a New CD Player and Now I'm Bummed

Dodgealum,

Here's my $.02...

I think the emphasis on your TT placement is misplaced. You took great pains to isolate it from both footfalls and directly radiated energy from the speakers. While some airborne energies may be trapped and resonating within the enclosure, there are other factors limiting your analog reproduction and in my estimation they are much greater.

You've acquired a truly high performance digital source. It gets the very best from the media it plays and is not susceptible to the distortions that are so difficult to reduce when playing vinyl. The Esoteric's sonic clarity is exposing the flaws of your analog equipment. This direct comparison has sensitized you to its distortions and non-linearities and now they bother you. (They don't bother many people, including the "my $500 rig will outplay any digital source" crowd.)

Some of the weaknesses in your analog front end were mentioned or alluded to by others, so apologies if I repeat anybody's advice or ideas.

1. The motor controller supplied by VPI with the Scout is notoriously inadequate. That's why they sell the SDS (as mentioned above). Without a good controller you have no hope of speed accuracy, and speed accuracy is job one for a TT.

2. The Scout is driven by a rubber band (in effect). No drive mechanism containing elastic torque couplings can maintain constant speed when faced with a variable load (ie, stylus drag). That is not an opinion, it's basic engineering. My platter weighs more than your entire TT. It has several times more rotational inertia than your platter. Yet if I switch to an elastic belt like yours my sonics go instantly downhill. Transients are dulled, dynamics are softened, bass is limp, mids and highs are smeared. All the tweaking in the world will not eliminate the flaws inherent in an elastic drive train.

3. Rubber(y) material in contact with a TT (especially the platter) is a sonic no-no. When an elastic material encounters vibrations (intra-platter resonances) it temporarily contracts (changes shape) to absorb the energy. Being elastic, however, it wants to return to its resting shape. When it does so it releases the stored energies back into the platter - shifted in time, frequency and amplitude. These vibrations reach the stylus through the record. Result: sonic mud.

4. Your tonearm, like any unstabilized unipivot, is incapable of fully performing a tonearm's primary job: holding the cartridge squarely over the center of the groove. It relies on the reaction to groovewall pressures to maintain azimuth stability. This puts undue pressure on the cartridge suspension. Result: reduced dynamics, slowed pace, a serious decrease in both low level detail and HF extension. Since the entire arm/cartridge responds to unequal sidewall pressures by making reactive microscopic azimuth changes, crosstalk is increased and always varying. Result: bloated images and poor L/R soundstaging.

I could go on but you get my drift: your present TT and arm have inherent weaknesses and your new digital rig has exposed them. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy them, but you shouldn't expect them to outplay a top class source. That just isn't going to happen - and it's all your fault for buying such a nice digital spinner! ;-)

My guess is you'll have to spend about $5-7K for a TT and arm that will reduce distortions and non-linearities enough to roughly match the Esoteric (note: none of the choices you listed addresses the problems I mentioned). You could spend a lot more to really beat the Esoteric if you choose. Whether you should is up to you of course.

Dodgealum,

Thanks for taking my post as it was intended, and not as an idle trashing of the Scout. As you, Jdolgin and Restock all said, it's a great rig at its price point. But price points require compromises. Comparing a $2K component to an $8K one just isn't fair - unless the cheaper one wins of course. :-) I wouldn't put my Denon DVD-3910 up against your X-03SE (except for movies!)

Restock listed the tables that I would, along with some others. ;-)

An Amazon would fit your space but they're driven by a belt that's thinner and stretchier than yours. I'm not sure how much of an upgrade it would be, though you could easily put a better arm on it.

Garrards can be an effort to keep running properly if bought used, and $20K+ if ordered new. Proceed with your eyes open.

Teres is abandoning belt drive for rim (Verus) and direct (Certus) drive. The Certus tables are $14K+ and too big for your space. The Verus has some implementation peculiarities which cause polarized responses. Many (most?) people love it, especially rockers and those upgrading from lesser rigs. Some incredibly picky classical and acoustic jazz twits (like Paul and me) found it unlistenable. It depends on one's pitch sensitivity and whether one demands tonal, temporal and harmonic clarity. A Verus would certainly outplay a Scout by a large margin. Whether it would fit your budget, space and preferences is up to you.

No experience with the Raven One or DPS tables. Restock's description of DPS's approach to stylus drag was interesting. It's technically correct that constant, high drag is the mathematical equivalent of high rotational mass. Either one presents inertia, which reduces the amplitude and velocity of stylus drag decelerations. Properly implemented, it sounds like a nifty way to stuff *some* of the benefits of a very massive platter into a smaller package. Tricky to do well, but maybe they have. It's gotta be worth a look.

Galibier's entry level Serac table ($3250) would stomp all over a Scout. It addresses the issues I mentioned above almost as well as my $6K Teres. Excellent motor. Superb bearing. Same non-stretchy drive belt. My only advantage in speed stability/stylus drag resistance is a heavier platter. The main question for you is: would it fit. Check it out.

Finally, I agree with Lewm's most recent post (except for the "pig-headed" thing). Trying a non-elastic belt would cost you nothing and would be educational. A fellow A'goner, prompted by my insistent postings on this topic, DIY'd a mylar belt for his VPI Aries or TNT (I forget which). He's been stunned by the improvement, even though the VPI motor is not the ideal candidate for a linear drive belt. It would be worth your time to make this experiment. A used SDS or Walker controller would also be a low-risk upgrade, as he pointed out.

Happy hunting. Don't forget to enjoy the music during all the madness.

Doug

French fries,

As Dgarretson noted, the problems caused by an elastic belt are hardly so obvious as wow and flutter. I haven't heard those from a table since the one I had as a twelve year old. ;-)

My verrrry lengthy description might have read like a description of horrible sonics. That wasn't my intent. But the musical benefits of linear torque delivery to the platter only need to be heard for a few seconds to be convincing. I have a friend with an Aries who DIY'd a better belt from mylar - he'll never go back. You should give it a try.

Dgarretson,

Thread drive is a nice improvement over rubber, but you could double that improvement with a wider belt that combines thread's non-elasticity with greater surface area - which reduces slippage as the belt goes 'round the motor capstan (a risk with thread). It requires a motor capstan and platter than can accommodate a wide belt of course, but having experimented with all the above and more we know it's worth it.