Teres Audio Verus Direct Couples Motor, Anyone?

Lewm,

If someone has positive results I'm happy for them. As I keep saying, this is a YMMV sort of component. The Verus will satisfy many listeners while failing to meet the needs of some.

Our Verus was not defective, at least not compared with other Verus's. Chris checked it out after we returned it with our report. The O-ring was smooth, seated properly and everything was operating as designed. He and others listened to it and heard no problems. They simply do not listen to music the same way we do.

The problems we heard do result from elements of the design. They are predictable in theory, though their sonic effects required listening to verify.

I actually posted my concern about the rubber elements back in July, weeks before we received the Verus. We were hoping not to hear any ill effects, but unfortunately we did.

A speed controller that relies on incremental steps instead of continuously variable adjustment risks having insufficient resolution. Steps of a certain size might be "small enough", or not, depending on the listener.

We have not heard any idler wheel tables so I could only speculate. FWIW, a friend who owns three Garrards and hears speed problems with nearly every belt drive hears no loss of dynamics or pacing on ours. It's all in the implementation.

"Holographic mylar" is a material sold by McCormick's, a company that supplies belt materials for Teres and Galibier DIYers. McCormick's is linked on both company's sites. Galibier has used this material for years and we've found it to be superior in performance to the 7 or 8 others we've tried.

Agaffer,

I'm glad the Verus produces accurate speed with your platter but that doesn't mean it will produce accurate speed with some other platter.

Those dip switches don't control the speed of the PLATTER, they control the speed of the MOTOR. With any rim drive the RPM's of the platter depend on its circumference. Do the math or do an experiment. Increase your platter circumference by putting a single layer of tape around it at O-ring height. Now check your speed again. I guarantee your RPM's will be different (slower).

My wood platter is not the same circumference as your acrylic one and no dip switch setting gave us a stable strobe pattern. It was either too fast or too slow. Our platter circumference needed an "in between" setting, which unfortunately does not exist. You get accurate speed with a setting that does exist, and that's good! :-)

Chuck911,

I agree the Verus motor is notably quieter than our Ref II/gold motor. That aspect of the Verus is clearly superior, great work by Chris. We'd love to try it implemented as a belt drive, which would eliminate one of the two issues we had.

Best to all for the holidays!
Doug

We compared a Verus with our Reference II/gold motor and holographic mylar belt, on our 320. It went back to Chris. The Verus's measured speed was inaccurate and it colored the sound in ways that did not suit our music or our ears.

For other music in other systems the Verus might be a net positive but there's no guarantee. I've corresponded with people who've liked it and other people who've disliked it.

Try it yourself, but keep an open mind and critical ears.

Hi Agaffer,

The speed controller only ensures speed stability of the motor. It does not guarantee speed accuracy of the platter, which will vary with the circumference of the platter (and the O-ring).

The controller steps are in .32% increments. At a concert A=440 Hz, a speed shift of .32% equates to about 1.4 Hz. A 1.4 Hz shift up or down might be inaudible to many. It was noticeable to me and much more than noticeable to Paul. YMMV, as always.

Exceptional pitch sensitivity is not necessarily a blessing. My mother and I have both walked out of restaurants because the piped in music was intolerable. Paul's worse. He hears it from the parking lot and refuses to walk in the door! ;-)

***
The Verus's O-ring and feet act as rubber parts always act when constrained and exposed to vibration, they store energy and release it back into the platter, delayed and phase-shifted. The audio term for this is "feedback". Whether it would bother someone is probably music-, system- and listener-dependent.

Many rock music listeners expect and enjoy feedback. To them, music without feedback does not sound or feel "real". Tube microphonics and the waveform diffractions of some horn speakers are forms of feedback too. People who listen to any of these might enjoy or not notice the Verus's additional feedback - since they hear similar effects every day.

OTOH, we listen almost entirely to acoustic instruments and non-amplified vocalists. One of our major system goals is timbral and temporal accuracy (which requires VTA/SRA adjustment for each LP, unfortunately). For us, feedback of any kind is identifiable, artificial and unwelcome. Most of our system improvements/upgrades have been aimed at reducing it.

Some call it musicality and presence. We call it a coloration. It depends on one's perspective on music and sound.

I am surprised that the bump in the Verus O-ring is so audible.

Ours didn't have any bump. Unlike Chuck911's, our O-ring arrived sanded quite smooth and round. There was zero rumble in the dead wax or between tracks. It was just as quiet as our belt drive, which is dead quiet.

Given the Garrard reputation (again, I haven't heard) for rumble and a noisy motor I'd expect the Verus might often be a significant upgrade. Assuming a smooth O-ring it is very quiet. The motor itself is superb.

You're right about the stepped speed controller. It's fixable, but not by me!

Chris,

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you made that change.

The invite's always open, assuming you can tolerate our choice of music! ;-)