From: sgg5e@galen.med.Virginia.EDU (Stephen G. Graber)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: Well Tempered Turntable
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 17:23:15 GMT
Organization: University of Virginia
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

[Tom- I tried sending this response to the post about Well Tempered
Turntables via e-mail and it bounced.  It may be of some general
interest anyway so how about posting it to the group.  Thanks.  Steve]

Arthur,
   Congratulations, the WTT is a lovely turntable- I had my brother's
in my home for 4-5 months before buying a used VPI MkIII.  Thought I'd
take a stab at some of your questions!

In article <1hs9nsINN8n9@uwm.edu> you write:
>I picked up a WTT Classic of about four years' vintage last night, thanks to
>Audiomart.  Looks like a nice unit, complete with the VanDenHul silver wire
>upgrade.  (What's that alleged to do?).  Alas, the seller couldn't find the
>manual, although he's promised to tear the house apart.  I suspect a number
>of you could answer several questions:

The silver wire should give you a bit more open and detailed sound.
If the seller can't find your manual I may be able to get my brother
to xerox his- as I recall it was fairly informative.

>a).  There appear to be three adjustments on the arm- a rotating weight in the
>     center of a threaded rod on top, and a couple turnable knobs.  They
>     all can't be antiskating adjustments, and I don't think this has adjustable
>     VTA, so what gives?

Can't be too specific here as my memory for details sometimes fails!
You're probably right about the VTA, but one of the nicest features of
the WTT is it's azimuth adjustment.  I'm pretty sure the three
adjustments are arm balance, antiskate and azimuth.

>b).  I currently use a VPI isolation platform under the turntable.  Would that
>     be recommended for the WTT?  Obviously that separate motor is a different
>     design philosophy from most competitors, so I'm not intuitively sure
>     whether having them together on the sprung isolation platform is an
>     advantage in this case.

You may still need the platform as the WTT isn't all that well
isolated from the room.  I had to put it on Navcom feet to elimnate
gross mistracking from walking around my room- ie. the arm used to
bounce around as people bounced around!  The Navcom feet really worked
well in this regard.

>c).  He threw in a Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 cartridge, always Stylasted and
>     with only about 300 hours on it.  What's the scuttlebutt on this guy?  I
>     currently use a Talisman S, getting up in hours, and had envisioned
>     purchasing a Blue Point Special.  With my limited LP use these days
>     (despite the better sound than my EAD Ultra Rotel), it's hard to justify
>     a Clavis!  Anyway, how would the conventional wisdom rank those three
>     cartridges?

I seem to recall the Talisman S being a lovely cartridge with perhaps
a bit of a rising high end.  I've been using the Monster 1000 for 3
years now (sigh, its dead) and like it a lot.  It is very detailed,
almost analytic, good dynamics and great bass.  I find it tonally
quite smooth though perhaps a hair thin in the midrange.  Many folks
fault it for its analytic detail, I happen to love it.  Haven't heard
the Blue Points but the scuttle-butt I've heard is that even the
"Special" isn't very special, though it's probably a reasonable value
considering its low cost.  Actually, if you decide you don't like the
Monster I'd love to buy it from you- as I mentioned, mine is dead
(loss of soundstage and dynamics, stylus is fine) and I can't afford
to replace it so I'd love to find a deal.

>d).  I don't recall ever seeing a WTT with a dust cover.  Does it exist?
>     Otherwise I'll build one out of plexiglass, just as I did for my Nitty
>     Gritty.  I have one cat who loves to sit on turntables, despite my
>     pleadings.

My brother was able to buy one that fit reasonably, although it wasn't
hinged, that is you had to lift the whole thing off to put a record on.
I think it cost him $100, so you could probably make something better
for far less.  Hope the cat doesn't try to sit on spinning records!

>Any miscellaneous thoughts on the WTT would be gratefully accepted.

As I said, I think its a great table and probably the best at its
price point.  I found that the VPI (using the same cartridge) had a
significantly wider soundstage and a better bass presentation.  The
differences were pretty apparent upon listening, though in truth their
magnitude is probably pretty slight.  I think the WTT is well made and
bet it should give years of service.  Enjoy!


--
Stephen G. Graber                  sgg5e@Virginia.EDU
Department of Pharmacology         
University of Virginia             work: (804) 924-9977
Charlottesville, VA 22908          home  (804) 973-1283