Well Tempered Amadeus

Bob, are you a current owner or someone who is thinking about the WTA? Personally I've found the lightweight arm incredibly easy to lift and cue.

I just traded in my ScoutMaster for an Amadeus GTA (from Jay at Audio Revelation, who has been super in supporting the decision and the setup).

So far, so good. I'm very happy with the new table, even though my VPI was pretty much maxed with SDS, periphery ring, etc. The WT has so much more life and sounds anything but sterile.

The sterile comment was in reference to my VPI setup. It was excellent sound, but the WT has so much more life to it. I'm also hearing small details that I never knew existed in my records, like echos on voices and guitars and resonance on acoustic instruments.

After adjusting the table a little bit, everything is locking in and I am going from "quite happy" to "absolutely ecstatic" with this change.

I have recently added a Herbie's 5mm Turntable Mat and Supersonic Stabilizer to my Amadeus GTA, and the differences are astounding.

http://herbiesaudiolab.net/ttmat.htm

A much quieter background and deep well-defined bass are the results, with no perceived negatives. The reviewer for the Absolute Sound was right when he said that isolation would help this table. I believe I've taken the sonics up a notch again with these simple isolation tools.

Hmm, I guess only you can be the judge of how shaky your hands would be but short of a neurological condition I can't see how the WTA wouldn't be easy to handle. Remember that the arm design on this table is very unique and it doesn't sound or handle like other tables on the market. I'm sure if I'd tried it this way on my VPI tables I would have had poor results as well.