Vpi vs. TW Acustic

Hifigary,

The Hovland is outstanding. In my opinion you're going to have to spend alot to get significantly better.

Wendell

One of the biggest "phoney" rip offs in the high end is on the turntable front!!Here,most folks simply go for the biggest hype products,and seldom use common sense to make a personal decision.

The table is meant to "simply" spin a record,without adding much of it's own character.Of course getting it "perfect" is kinda tough,but there are a host of not very pricey tables that will do the job most admirably.

Yet,this is high end audio,and alot of folks like to think they are getting better performance,because they have spent alot of money.These are the not too high audio IQ hobbyists,who are led by the nose by audio reviewers or,as in the case on this thread(from personal experience)by audio retailers,who have ONE agenda....guess what that might be?

A good VPI or Sota will knock the socks off of the over-priced,underdesigned(but OH So Pretty)Raven!

You also get a Company that is local(in the USA)and will probably be around after the economy shakes out....yet....

Common sense does not always prevail in high end audio!!

Best to all

Sirspeedy, before I read your response I ( with my dealer's advice) decided to keep my Aries and upgrade my nearly worn out Benz LP to a Benz LP-S as a more economical and immediate way of improving the front end instead of a wholesale change of the table. I also got a new platter belt which has made an improvement-BTW VPI's belts leave a lot to be desired-what with stretching over time and costing 20 bones a piece! But better that than the cost of a new belt along with a new table.

Sirspeedy, I would have agreed with you years ago, but comparing the TW to some very fine turntables yielded a distinct sonic improvement. Much to be said by the wonderful motor, vibration dissipation, and sonic performance. I know you have your disappointments, but most people who don't have "full range" systems capable of playing bass would not hear a difference between many very good tables. But when you get to the level of a true full range system, the differences in design, isolation, speed stability and energy dissipation become very apparent.

One of the biggest "phoney" rip offs in the high end is on the turntable front!!Here,most folks simply go for the biggest hype products,and seldom use common sense to make a personal decision.

The table is meant to "simply" spin a record,without adding much of it's own character.Of course getting it "perfect" is kinda tough,but there are a host of not very pricey tables that will do the job most admirably.

Yet,this is high end audio,and alot of folks like to think they are getting better performance,because they have spent alot of money.These are the not too high audio IQ hobbyists,who are led by the nose by audio reviewers or,as in the case on this thread(from personal experience)by audio retailers,who have ONE agenda....guess what that might be?

A good VPI or Sota will knock the socks off of the over-priced,underdesigned(but OH So Pretty)Raven!

I agree with you.
Unfortunatey it is not the performance, which counts today. Most buyers have different priorities and of course everyone thinks, he got the best (whatever it is).
The customer normally compares old with new, the usual mistake. An old belt is inferior to a new one, old bearing oil is ....yes, you know.
Most want something, they don‘t know what, but the "machine has to do something", it has to be fast, it has to be powerful in Bass or whatever.
Most units today are highly colored. That means too, they have "something" in some frequency which is always there, "a kind of speed" for example, that means, even Schubert will sound fast, or they have no good abilities in the high frequency range (based on non existing vibration abilities etc....)
But only a few want a 1:1 unit (recording:reproduction), they don‘t know what to do, because it can be possible, that they don‘t like what they hear.
Then it is bad (but in reality it could be right) and they lok for something else. They don‘t know for what, but they know it has to be out there.

20 years ago the magazines had a different policy, they tried - in general - to push the curtain and they made serious comparisons. That's gone. Today it is business, every month a new Hype and we all know, how it can be made.

I listened to the Raven AC a lot of times, well, it is black and heavy.
The Linn LP12 of today.