New Teres Direct Drive Motor Available as Option

Thom has hit this one right on the money. Its so easy to attribute the success or failure of a component to a specific element of the design or architecture when it is the series of design decisions and the implementation of the design that makes the most difference. Otherwise, there would be very little difference in components. You could just cookie cut any component "Add 2 of these caps, three of these resistors, simmer with tubes and install in a resonance proof case". Burn in for 250 hours and listen ;~)

Pauly- I would strongly recommend jumping on the next used/demo Teres that shows up here. It does happen from time to time. At a discounted price, there is virtually no risk. Also, I guess one way to look at the "investment" end of it that you talked/balked about is this way. If the table you are interested in provides an equivalent audio experience that is 15% higher than what you could get for the same price elsewheres, and if it requires you to pay up front and get delivery 1 year later, (at no risk, see the no questions asked return policy) then you have gotten a 15% return on a one year term investment with no risk. How much are 1 year CDs (no not the silver disks!!) at your bank paying this year? If its 15%, please provide your swift #s so I can wire you some money ;~) Seriously, dealing with boutique manufacturers has some pluses and some minuses. The pluses generally tend to be on the performance side, the minuses tend to be on the convenience and risk side. Here, I think its mostly on the convenience side. AND you get the satisfaction of a handmade product and the ability to deal directly with the builder.

I'm not trying to start a war here and yes I have a Teres TT (bought used; I only had to wait 1 week for mine (thanks Nick)! But its hard to use steely-eyed banker logic to evaluate a product that contributes to such an emotional experience as music (live or recorded, if its not evoking an emotional response, why listen?)

Well, John- who would have thought that that humility would be your most endearing character trait? ;~) I'm not a mechanical engineer or a physicist, but wouldn't torque mostly be an issue in terms of coming to speed from a stop? Once turning at relatively constant 33 or 45 or 78 rpms, wouldn't there be very little torque necessary to overcome stylus drag. I ask this as a serious question, based on my perception of torque as an attribute of a motor that contributes to its ability to accelerate from a stop or at least from low rpms, as in a drag racer from a starting line, where torque at low rpms is just as important as total horsepower at high rpms.