Teres 340, anyone heard / seen one in the flesh

Cardiackid,

Thanks for the concise review of CB's shootout, I think. Now you've got me lusting after a two-arm 320 to replace my 265. I don't really have space for a 340, but I expect to be seeing/hearing Cello's later this month. I suppose that will just make things worse.

I hate this place...

Hope you can make it Joe.

Say! Let's mount a paper clip on Cello's new Vector when he's not watching! Think he'll notice? It'd serve him right for sniping me on ebay yesterday. Grrr... :-)

Alvin? ALVIN!!

I appreciate the kind gesture but ebay's an open market. Please bid on whatever you want. Besides, I can always barge into your office and listen to it there.

Rather naively perhaps, my ebay handle is, well, the same as my A'gon and Vinyl Asylum handles. Not very clever but easy to remember.

Dave

A huge thank you to 'Cello' for sharing the opening weekend of his 345, oops, 340-2. Paul and I enjoyed five listening sessions with his amazing rig, usually in the company of 4-5 other audiophiles who were able to accept the invitation of our gracious host.

We were also pleased to have the chance to meet Chris Brady, who attended and set everything up. Sorry you couldn't make it Joe, but I adjusted my arm height many times in your honor! Kinda tough to do it on-the-fly after a few though.

Cello's 340-2, compared to my 265, offers a blacker background, more solid and stable imaging, and a notably lower noise floor. Paul and I agree that these particular differences are table related, not a function of other system differences. Pretty much as 'Cardiackid' described above. In short, the 340 is a smashingly good table. I haven't heard a Walker, Rockport, SME 30 or other reference caliber table, but if they're much better than this I'd finally be rendered speechless. (Maybe one of you should buy me one?)

We heard the following arms and cartridges, in nearly all possible combinations:
- Basis Vector (Cello's)
- Graham 2.2 (Cello's)
- Schroeder Reference (CB's)
- Shelter 901 (Cello's)
- Shelter 901 (mine, for quick A/B arm comparisons)
- Koetsu Urushi (CB's)
- Koetsu RSP (Cello's)

This isn't an arm/cartridge thread so I won't go into those differences here. Suffice it to say the the 340-2 made mounting and optimizing multiple arms about as easy as it can be, and clearly displayed the sonic character of each.

If you're interested in world class vinyl playback the Teres 340 is a must-hear, particularly considering its bargain basement price compared to the competitors. Contrary to the uninformed opinion expressed by at least one competitor, there is more to this table than just hunks of mass. Though it's invisible from the outside, CB has implemented purposefully selected materials and shapes in some intelligently chosen, non-obvious ways. His goal, shared with all top TT designers, was to reduce interfering resonances to the absolute minimum possible. To my ears he's succeeded to a remarkable degree.

You are in for a treat. Enjoy!

Hi Cousinbillyl,
You say you already have an Airy, so you're familiar with its sound? If you can say what direction you'd like to move it would help in choosing a second cartridge. It would also help to know what your second arm will be.

I second Larry's comparison of the RSP and Airy, except that calling the Airy "detailed" might leave the impression that it's a detail freak's cartridge, which of course it isn't. Rather than "more detailed" than the RSP, I'd call the ZYX slightly more lifelike or present. The RSP gently rounds leading edges, gently smooths decays. This accounts for its famed lushness. If a very sophisticated romantic's sound is what you're after, the RSP will bring you there. The Airy doesn't do that, but I don't know if this makes it any less musical. To my ears the Airy and RSP are about equally so. (Then again, Larry is a very sophisticated romantic and I'm not!)

I admire Larry's idea of waiting until you've heard the Airy/Teres/Schroeder combo before choosing a second cartridge. Your second step will more likely be in the right direction if you know where your first step has you starting off from.

I'd wait for the 400-3.

Sorry, just my pathetic attempt at humor. There's no such model AFAIK.

What little I know about the new model 360 (very little indeed) is posted on that thread.