2. analog
  3. 126766-117

If this sounds like YOUR Turntable story, please share your final chapter

You had a nice budget ($2k-$4K) table, which you enjoyed for years. It always served up the analog goods, and you always felt as if you were in a good place. However, like many of us, you have audiophilia nervosa. Having succumbed to this mystical force that commanded you to upgrade, you took the leap to the next plateau. You immediately heard the advantages of what your new, well designed table was offering up. It was quieter, music emerged from a blacker background. It had tighter, more articulate bass.....mids were clear, layered, involving, yet organized.... Highs were more extended,  filling your listening area with a more believable, 3D presence. You were in awe, for a while! Fast forward to the middle of the story. Even though the table was more substantial, and did many things better than your baby boomer table, you soon realized it appealed more to the brain than your heart. It could tend toward the drier side with many of your go-to vinyl treasures. You ultimately realized that while the new table received more check marks on the audiophile checklist, it was not as engaging on an emotional level. Let me cut to the chase. So you took one or two wrong exits, but you found your way back. In doing so, you once again found that engaging, special something, analog is capable of delivering. Which table brought you back to the analog promise land?
fjn04

Showing 2 responses by lewm

lewm
13,515 posts
 
You're leaving out the main characters in this plot: What tonearm and cartridge?  Did you transfer them to the new turntable from the old one en bloc?  If not, what?  It would also be good to know at least whether your new turntable uses a different type of drive system from your old one, which would be a principle culprit if you perceive a change of "flavor".  You could tell us that much without naming names, if that is a problem.

As for me, no, this has never happened.  I don't claim to have special powers of perception, but it has been my observation that every "upgrade" I have made in turntables per se has proven in the long run to be a real and lasting one.  I have no thoughts of every going back to any of the old units I have owned previously.
lewm
13,515 posts
 
fjn, Do you perceive an internal contradiction in your lament?  On the one hand you think there is something special about the WT, and on the other hand you also think it is the weak link.  Can you say how these two positions are both tenable? 

I can only give you my own private opinion on the WT turntables I have heard.  I generally keep this opinion private, because I know that WT has a lot of fans out there, and I do not wish to offend anyone, because after all, it's only my opinion.  Anyway, I don't care for the tonearms one little bit.  They are a classic example of a novel idea that is in the end not a good idea.  They are unstable as to azimuth, and I hate the golf ball bearing. And the combination of the tt and the tonearm (I don't know for sure which is more to blame) makes all LPs sound pretty much the same.  Always "nice"; always smooth.  Usually lacking in detail and seeming to flatten transients.  No offense meant to aficionados.
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