I'll start....
Well Tempered Labs Simplex - around $2k.
A very "musical" table that easily competes with much more expensive decks: the arm is the most interesting part - a unipivot design that uses sand filled 10.5 tube attached to a golf ball that is suspended by fishing line from an overhanging pillar into a tub of goo (silicon bath). Has a fixed headshell position - all carts mount with the same geometry. Azimuth on the fly, which is good.
Fiddly to set up, once you dial it in correctly, it has a certain magic about it. Excellent speed stability. Excellent "flow" and "musicality". Very low noise floor and tracks warped records like a laser. Mates well to Dyna carts, but really is unfussy. I ran a xx2 into a Dyna P75 for a couple years with much success.
Weaknesses. For the price not much. Cheap build - looks and feels very "budget" - painted Mdf with cheap materials used throughout - parts total wouldn't be more than a couple hundred dollars I am guessing. You are paying for the engineering nous, not the materials used. The silicon "goo" is a nightmare to adjust to the right level (especially if you follow the manual) and once it get some on the deck you have much fun cleaning it off with lighter fluid.
Touted as a simple to set up deck, but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners, there is alot to get your head around and small changes in the amount of dampening (amount of goo and degree to which the golf ball sits in the goo) & VTA/SRA combo make a large difference to the sound quality.
I just acquired a very used (abused?) Simplex in part exchange for a Yamaha GT 2000 I had, and after a day nursing it back to health (and a good 1/2 day fiddling around setting it up correctly) it is singing along quite happily. Very different to the GT 2000 it is more relaxed, has a "flow" to it the GT 2000 didn't but is comparatively lazy on the leading edge. Stuck a Benz LP-S on it for fun, and it seems to be coping all right (although the counterweights needed some augmentation...).
I like the WTL sound, and have a Versalex arriving end of January.
Probably the first time a Simplex has sat on a FE Pagode MR as well...
Here are a couple shots of yon beastie:
And this is what it replaced...28 kg of Japanese 1980's muscle deck, which was also around 2k imported from japan + another $280 for an outboard psu. Excellent deck as well although not as quiet as the WTL.
Well Tempered Labs Simplex - around $2k.
A very "musical" table that easily competes with much more expensive decks: the arm is the most interesting part - a unipivot design that uses sand filled 10.5 tube attached to a golf ball that is suspended by fishing line from an overhanging pillar into a tub of goo (silicon bath). Has a fixed headshell position - all carts mount with the same geometry. Azimuth on the fly, which is good.
Fiddly to set up, once you dial it in correctly, it has a certain magic about it. Excellent speed stability. Excellent "flow" and "musicality". Very low noise floor and tracks warped records like a laser. Mates well to Dyna carts, but really is unfussy. I ran a xx2 into a Dyna P75 for a couple years with much success.
Weaknesses. For the price not much. Cheap build - looks and feels very "budget" - painted Mdf with cheap materials used throughout - parts total wouldn't be more than a couple hundred dollars I am guessing. You are paying for the engineering nous, not the materials used. The silicon "goo" is a nightmare to adjust to the right level (especially if you follow the manual) and once it get some on the deck you have much fun cleaning it off with lighter fluid.
Touted as a simple to set up deck, but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners, there is alot to get your head around and small changes in the amount of dampening (amount of goo and degree to which the golf ball sits in the goo) & VTA/SRA combo make a large difference to the sound quality.
I just acquired a very used (abused?) Simplex in part exchange for a Yamaha GT 2000 I had, and after a day nursing it back to health (and a good 1/2 day fiddling around setting it up correctly) it is singing along quite happily. Very different to the GT 2000 it is more relaxed, has a "flow" to it the GT 2000 didn't but is comparatively lazy on the leading edge. Stuck a Benz LP-S on it for fun, and it seems to be coping all right (although the counterweights needed some augmentation...).
I like the WTL sound, and have a Versalex arriving end of January.
Probably the first time a Simplex has sat on a FE Pagode MR as well...
Here are a couple shots of yon beastie:
And this is what it replaced...28 kg of Japanese 1980's muscle deck, which was also around 2k imported from japan + another $280 for an outboard psu. Excellent deck as well although not as quiet as the WTL.
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