I went from a Michell Orbe SE to a Transrotor ZET-3.2 last year. The process had been painful as the dealer was not a man of his words. I received a table with missing parts and broken power supply. After months and months of empty promises, I had to finally find another dealer to provide me with missing parts and get the power supply fixed to get it up and running 8 months after I bought it.
I had many communications with the distributor. They were initially very resistant towards providing any info and are very strict that you can only go through a dealer. The manufacturer never responded to my questions related to setup and operations. This experience was completely opposite of when I purchased my Michell Orbe SE years ago. Back then, I had some static issues and got a direct call from Jon Michell himself to help troubleshoot for me.
Anyways, through the process, I learned that these two companies actually had some histories together. But both sounded very different. Maybe the difference is really between the spring-loaded vs. mass weight. The Michell just sounded more airy while the Transrotor has more weight, authority, and impact.
Back to the table. Yes, the armboard is quite expensive. I am running mine with an SME V arm. I am hoping to add my Graham 2.2 arm onto the other pod. But it cost something like $400 for another armboard. So for now, the graham sits on the Michell Orbe SE. I believe the Michell Armboard is only $150 to $200.
Something I learned from the second Transrotor dealer:
1/ From time to time, place the belt in a sandwich bag and add some talc (baby powder) and shake. This will extend the life of the belt. He told me this was a trick he learned directly from Transrotor;
2/ When starting, don't turn on the power supply and let the belt do all the work to pull the platter. This is how belts get stretched. He said to use your finger to push the platter to get it going before turning the knob on the power supply.
With these two steps, the belt should last for a long time.
FrankC
I had many communications with the distributor. They were initially very resistant towards providing any info and are very strict that you can only go through a dealer. The manufacturer never responded to my questions related to setup and operations. This experience was completely opposite of when I purchased my Michell Orbe SE years ago. Back then, I had some static issues and got a direct call from Jon Michell himself to help troubleshoot for me.
Anyways, through the process, I learned that these two companies actually had some histories together. But both sounded very different. Maybe the difference is really between the spring-loaded vs. mass weight. The Michell just sounded more airy while the Transrotor has more weight, authority, and impact.
Back to the table. Yes, the armboard is quite expensive. I am running mine with an SME V arm. I am hoping to add my Graham 2.2 arm onto the other pod. But it cost something like $400 for another armboard. So for now, the graham sits on the Michell Orbe SE. I believe the Michell Armboard is only $150 to $200.
Something I learned from the second Transrotor dealer:
1/ From time to time, place the belt in a sandwich bag and add some talc (baby powder) and shake. This will extend the life of the belt. He told me this was a trick he learned directly from Transrotor;
2/ When starting, don't turn on the power supply and let the belt do all the work to pull the platter. This is how belts get stretched. He said to use your finger to push the platter to get it going before turning the knob on the power supply.
With these two steps, the belt should last for a long time.
FrankC