Teres, Galibier and Redpoint

I just found this thread and the references to my comments on my audition of the Teres 360 and Galibier tables last year.

First, I've owned Koetsu cartridges for 20 years and have a fond affection for their lushness. When I heard the Teres dem, the overall tonal presentation was fine and I've enough experience to make allowances for the cartridge.

For me the difference between the 360 and the Galibier was that the Teres didn't have the same leading edge clarity and natural decay of the notes in the lower registers - it was kind of smeary.

The way I characterized it at the time was that it sounded like the bass player was playing behind the beat. This was particularly apparent on complex rock music. Ymmv.

If Chris has improved the line then I look forward to hearing for myself at RMAF in October.

Congratulations on reaching your decision. You're right about the value for money. And you're also right about the journey - the real fun will start in a few months when your table arrives.

Have you decided on arm and cartridge?

Great thread - excellent insights into the challenges of system synergy. I agree with Doug and Thom about demo room first impressions.

I made the trip to Colorado a year ago and heard Galibier first. Thom was running a Lyra Titan on his Schröder Reference at the time. Whilst I appreciated the detail and incisiveness I was disturbed by the "leanness" of the presentation. So Thom set up his Micro Seiki MAX 282 with his trusty Denon DL103R which matched the rest of his rig far better and allowed me to forget about the system and enjoy the LPs I had brought along.

The next day I went to Chris's and started with the 200 series tables, which were clearly second best to the Galibier. When Chris switched to his 360 the detail retrieval was much improved, like focusing a lens on a camera. However on some challenging tracks I had doubts about the timing and speed of bass (as reported earlier in this thread and elsewhere). The progression through the Teres line however was seductive - the lower priced tables had the effect of setting a new baseline for me.

Fortunately I had another day in Colorado and was able to get back to Thom's to calibrate my listening impressions.

He set up his DL103R in his Schröder and even though the cartridge is technically inferior (in terms of detail retrieval) to the Urushi that Chris was running, I was able to hear and enjoy my music without the electronics getting in the way.

I guess my point is to acknowledge how difficult it is to compare competing components in different systems and I would suggest it's important to limit the variables and to go back to check component A again after component B.

The side bar is to confirm the lesson we all learn the hard way that good system synergy is never achieved by assembling the most expensive or most favored individual components.

Whilst it's great fun to hear products that aren't finalized and to hear experiments with motor torque, I can't help thinking that their effect is to overwhelm the listener and shift their perceptual baseline. Unhelpful for the listener but perhaps not the vendor who engages the listener in the product development process.

In my case, my choice was also influenced by the simplicity/reliability of the table because I'm 7,000 miles from Denver.

Xsheaffer, I agree that if you hear significant differences and clearly favor one table then it would not make sense to go back. My interpretation of Dan's experience was that he liked the Galibier then scaled the Teres hierarchy - which was somewhat disorientating. Different isn't always better.

In my case, a year ago, many of the sages here were highly in favor of the Teres line whilst Galibier was hardly mentioned. So my auditions were already prejudiced (in favor of Teres) by reviews here.

As more audiophiles hear both tables the reports are balancing up the recommendations. I suspect that Thom has raised the bar with the graphite platter innovation.

I think it's essential though that anyone who's thinking of buying a good turntable should do what you, me and Dan did - take a trip to Colorado, check out both Galibier and Teres and let their ears decide. The relatively small cost of flights and hotels is insignificant compared to the outlay on a new table.