What is turntable “liveliness”.


I have listened to turntables for sixty years. I bought my first high end TT about thirty years… it was revelatory. I do not swap tables often. I do a huge amount of research and then stay with one for fifteen years or so. My most recent upgrade was from a VPI Aries (heavy mass) to a Linn LP12 (light weight, sprung)…very nearly the very top level. Could we please not turn this into a religious thing about Linn… mine is an outstanding TT which compares favorably with any other $45K analog leg (TT, cartridge, and Phonostage)

The term lively comes up in descriptions. One of the differences in character I noticed between the VPI and Linn… which I thought might be considered liveliness was to me a bit of what I perceived as the images very slightly jumping around… the kind of thing you would think of when you see films of “The Flash” maybe vibrating in place. While I found this gave me the feeling of the notes wanting to jump out at me, I found it a bit disconcerting. I attributed it to a relatively light weight rig, that is really good at rejecting low frequency vibrations (it is a sprung table… known to be lively sounding) up to a relatively high frequency… but beyond that not. Something a really heavy rig would not be effected by.

 

To test my theory, I had a Silent Running Ohio Class vibration platform constructed for my turntable. The image smear, as I called it disappeared. There is no smear and it has great solidity.

Is this attribute “liveliness”?

ghdprentice

Showing 1 response by sokogear

A perfect TT has no sound. It measures vibrations and that is probably what you consider lively. If it is perfectly isolated, then you have to look at the internal noise it makes. Saying eliminating that, they are all the same, is a ridiculous statement. Eliminating that is what separates them.

IMHO, the speed consistency is second to vibration and easier to achieve. I would challenge anyone to detect a .01-.05% speed variation.

The thing you have to do is eliminate the vibration where the stylus touches the groove, so the cartridge an arm can do their jobs. The TT has to not add to it.