New Teres Direct Drive Motor Available as Option

Any word yet?

The Verus outer-rim drive may not be shipping yet. For an upgrade, check with Chris to see if you can try the new drive before returning your old outboard motor.

Looking at the line drawing, I wonder if the small nub on the bottom allows the Verus simply to lean into the platter while one of the 'wings' on the base stops against the stand to prevent the drive from torquing around. Just speculation on my part.

Tim

Wrt the Verus, I think "try it" means exactly that - try it in your system. Most of those interested are Teres owners for whom the Verus is available for a trial period and as an upgrade at a different price than a new motor only purchase. Whether on the inside of the platter or the outside of the platter, whether the friction comes from a mechanism or from gravity, the architecture seems basically the same, compared to, say, a belt drive.

Willster, I do agree one cannot fully appreciate the quality and value of Teres tables by looking at their website.

Tim

Some manufacturers may have enough capital to invest (risk) in making their turntables available through a dealer network while building a sufficient number of tables in advance that they are at hand for purchase. Hi-end audio may have as many who took that route and failed as there are still around. Nowadays, only those already established or financially well-heeled manufacturers can go it soley with a bricks n mortar retailer distribution model.

A build on demand business model - especially where the market is small - is one that were I a banker - heh - I might be more inclined to back. It would seem a much lower risk for the manufacturer and his creditors to take on.

When I bought my first Teres (a 255) I did a half year of research. I wanted sonics at a price point and the most TT for my dollar. Frankly there was very little in the marketplace at that time that could match the Teres build quality and sonic capability for the dollar. To get that I traded my money and three weeks of waiting. I was buying a hand-crafted turntable, not a CD ladder - frankly I wasn't concerned about the fact that my audio dollars weren't working for me while I was waiting.

A Web-based high-end is not everyone's cup of tea. Some people are not comfortable with a purchase if they cannot touch the product before they buy. If you need a box on a dealer's shelf then that's what you need. I have no problem with that and wish there were more dealers with stores I could visit. However, it is unclear why someone who prefers that approach would come to this thread with contrary observations about products whose distribution doesn't suit them.

I seriously doubt you can get comparable quality for the same price when a dealer mark-up is factored in. Its a trade-off - it may not be for everyone. To me Teres is a damn fine table, sonically, ergonomically, visually, and in its quality of components and construction. Customer service beyond reproach. Continuing innovation. I had no problem with that trade-off. And apparently - if the marketplace is the judge - it seems to be working. It is extremely rare to hear someone who is not a satisfied Teres customer, and Chris & co. appear very much in business, so regardless what someone might say, it seems like Teres is a successful enterprise with products people want to buy.

Tim

Dgarretson - As Doug points out:

"According to emails from Chris, the performance jump vs. belt drive is inversely proportional to the weight of the platter. Lighter platters have less rotational inertia, so they benefit most."

Presuming this holds true, in terms of yielding improvement, the lighter platter would to a higher degree - so this may be the more bang for the buck solution. However, in terms of overall sonics there is enough difference between say a 255 and a 320, apart from the drive system, that the latter easily bests the former by a pretty wide margin - at least to my ears. The inertia of the larger platter coupled with superior isolation provided by Stillpoint dampers make significant contributions to speed stability and lower noise. When I upgraded from a 255 to a 320 I definitely expected improvements, but the 320 significantly exceeded my expectations. I would be quite surprised if a 255 with Verus could exceed a 320 with the Reference motor.

Over time, I've found my skepticism about Teres improvements consistently disappointed, and Chris' assessments to be quite accurate. Of course I'll wait to hear the Verus and judge for myself, but I have no reason to doubt that it will be an improvement commensurate with the upgrade price. We'll see - I hope the Verus starts shipping soon.

Tim

Chris and all, what is the size and composition of the Verus' O-ring?

I'm already looking forward to lively debates about sonic merit and wear from various O-ring materials (urethane, flourosilicone, polyacylate, etc.).

Anybody wanna buy my tape splicer?

Tim

The Verus arrived here yesterday. Setup was straightforward and operation is simple. Spinup and spindown times are quite reasonable. I do need to retrain myself to not give the platter a push to get things going - caught my hand a couple times just before. :-)

Basically just checked that all was in order and operational. The primary issue for me was the size of the motor controller box and where to put it. The motor pod is sitting on the same 3" maple block as the turntable. Lightly holding the motor as it drives the platter I do feel the traversal of the wheel against the platter as not 100% smooth/continuous. I may need to fiddle with motor position a touch.

Listening at the end of a long evening, I'm gonna recheck my impressions tonight. TT is a Teres 320 which has a 37 pound platter. Ergo, my expectations are more oriented toward improvements coming from an improved motor than from increased rotational stability. Will report back.

Do folks have observations on the sonic character of different Verus torque settings?

Tim