Durand Telos Sapphire with composite arm wand (final version)

mep

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Apr 20, 2010
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I like the looks of the new tonearm better than the old one. The cartridge mounting and geometry now looks 'normal' instead of looking like a grasshopper slung under a piece of wood at an awkward angle.
 

Dre_J

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Mar 5, 2012
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BTW, the record the Mike referenced is a veritable analog unicorn: the mythic creature combining a great performance, well recorded, on quiet vinyl and relatively inexpensive. A must for even a casual jazz fan:



I prefer the Nautilus pressing to the standard East Wind pressing.

What! Now I have to find the Nautilus. I thought I was done searching for this one...

FWIW: I took this LP with me to the show. Every time I played it the cell phones came out taking pictures of the cover and some systems got a serious workout on the drum solo. I was selective in which system got to play it in order to save the vinyl and the speaker/amp from crying "uncle".

Dre
 

jazdoc

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What! Now I have to find the Nautilus. I thought I was done searching for this one...

FWIW: I took this LP with me to the show. Every time I played it the cell phones came out taking pictures of the cover and some systems got a serious workout on the drum solo. I was selective in which system got to play it in order to save the vinyl and the speaker/amp from crying "uncle".

Dre

You will also need the Great Jazz Trio's East Wind (rather than the Inner City) pressing of "At The Village Vanguard". Tony Williams' drum solo on Parker's 'Moose the Mooche' is a real system torture test. Another great live performance, well recorded on a quiet slab of vinyl...

 

Mike Lavigne

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You will also need the Great Jazz Trio's East Wind (rather than the Inner City) pressing of "At The Village Vanguard". Tony Williams' drum solo on Parker's 'Moose the Mooche' is a real system torture test. Another great live performance, well recorded on a quiet slab of vinyl...


i also listened to 'Moose the Mooche' last night....no torture at all.;)
 

PeterA

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Dec 6, 2011
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Mike, It looks like you are providing us with the world premier/announcement for this new arm. Perhaps this is off topic, but it is very interesting to read about a new launch like this in a forum thread started by an owner describing his personal unit in his own system. In the field, so to speak. This is a big departure from the more conventional/traditional channels like a formal announcement at CES, RMAF, Munich or some other show, or even in a press release in some industry magazine.

This introduction provides the opportunity for interactive dialogue with the public. It's a novel approach and I wish Joel luck with his latest arm.
 

Mike Lavigne

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Mike, It looks like you are providing us with the world premier/announcement for this new arm. Perhaps this is off topic, but it is very interesting to read about a new launch like this in a forum thread started by an owner describing his personal unit in his own system. In the field, so to speak. This is a big departure from the more conventional/traditional channels like a formal announcement at CES, RMAF, Munich or some other show, or even in a press release in some industry magazine.

This introduction provides the opportunity for interactive dialogue with the public. It's a novel approach and I wish Joel luck with his latest arm.

my own view is that with the web, combined with very small scale manufacturers, it's more typical that shows are not as much the only focus. shows are notorious for providing unreliable performance references; they are more like beauty pagents. how a product works in a familiar mature system has more value to many. how does that product compare to other current references can only be answered in a system using those.

users who are cutting edge enough that they are pushing product development will tend to be exposed to products as they come to market. in this case, my system (among others) was used as a test for stages of development too.

i've been involved in other product's 'first looks' such as the Playback Designs MPS-5, Dobbins 'The Beat' tt, and the Wave Kinetics NVS. so this is nothing new.
 

ddk

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May 18, 2013
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hi David,

i do not know what type of Sapphire is used for the Sapphire parts of the Sapphire Telos. my understanding is that it's some sort of industrial grown crystal product. whether that is what is known as sapphire glass or not i don't know so i don't want to speculate. i know that getting the sapphire bearing tower built is very expensive and takes time.

the sapphire bearing tower does incorporate the actual bearing itself. it's an inverted cup at the top of the tower. with the normal Telos with the unobtainium metal tower the bearing cup is some sort of sapphire cup inside the armwand. whether that bearing cup in the armwand is a jeweled sapphire or not i don't know. maybe you do.

Mike

Thanks Mike for the clarification. I understand that its also unclear to you as what the designer means by Sapphire, neither do I nor is there any explanation on his website, thought maybe you'd know. The term jeweled doesn't mean precious, its synthetic corundum that can be used to either cap the bearings or used as a hole and cap. What I was wondering if that new translucent tower is made from some kind of resin or from a block of sapphire crystal. Don't know about his metallurgy but both of these "sapphire" materials are industrial and readily available at little cost. Anyway, ENJOY!

david

PS If you find out I'd still like to know what he's calling "Sapphire"
 
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puroagave

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I prefer the Nautilus pressing to the standard East Wind pressing.

nautilus was the importer/dist at the time and often put their sticker on the back, they didn't press the records they were all D2D pressed in Japan. I have seen a Jpn reissue of "the great jazz trio in LA" cut from tape and there's a RBCD mastered from the same tape.
 

Bruce B

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Apr 25, 2010
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Thanks Mike for the clarification. I understand that its also unclear to you as what the designer means by Sapphire, neither do I nor is there any explanation on his website, thought maybe you'd know. The term jeweled doesn't mean precious, its synthetic corundum that can be used to either cap the bearings or used as a hole and cap. What I was wondering if that new translucent tower is made from some kind of resin or is from a block of sapphire crystal. Don't know about his metallurgy but both of these "sapphire" materials are industrial and readily available at little cost. Anyway, ENJOY!

david

PS If you find out I'd still like to know what he's calling "Sapphire"

I thought Joel was a member here at WBF. Maybe he can shed some light on the materials and construction.
 

mep

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Apr 20, 2010
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I thought Joel was a member here at WBF. Maybe he can shed some light on the materials and construction.

I always wanted to know what metal "unobtainium" was. It's easy to see from the pictures that Joel likes to use dissimilar metals. Look at the cueing mechanism for example and you can see what I'm talking about.
 

jazdoc

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nautilus was the importer/dist at the time and often put their sticker on the back, they didn't press the records they were all D2D pressed in Japan. I have seen a Jpn reissue of "the great jazz trio in LA" cut from tape and there's a RBCD mastered from the same tape.

Interesting...I have both. The Nautilus is a lovely gatefold while the EastWind is a regular jacket with OBI. I have compared the two and prefer the Nautilus pressing. The photo in the gatefold is interesting...what was Ron Carter doing just before the photo???

photo (19).jpg

Back to our regularly scheduled programming....
 

Dre_J

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Mar 5, 2012
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I prefer the Nautilus pressing to the standard East Wind pressing.

Mark,

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I originally posted my response earlier. Hearing you say Nautilus instead of East Wind confused me up for a moment. I checked last night and the copy I had at the show was my Nautilus gatefold stickered D2D East Wind pressing. No need to search for a duplicate. Thank goodness.

Dre

P.S. To answer your question about the picture on the inside cover of the gatefold, I think Ron Carter had the sniffles from a cold...:)

BTW: Congratulations on the new Telos upgrade Mike!
 

puroagave

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Sep 29, 2011
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Interesting...I have both. The Nautilus is a lovely gatefold while the EastWind is a regular jacket with OBI. I have compared the two and prefer the Nautilus pressing. The photo in the gatefold is interesting...what was Ron Carter doing just before the photo???

View attachment 15435

Back to our regularly scheduled programming....

doc, we're going to split an atom together, ready...what does the label on the vinyl look like?

here's an eastwind gatefold, you sure the difference is not the jacket?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RON-CARTER-...8703175?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item54073d2f47
 

flat6

New Member
Jun 9, 2012
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It's interesting that some of what you describe with this new arm is similar to what is described with the new VPI composite printed arm. The Schroder LT arm wand is also composite I believe. Perhaps this will be a new direction for tonearms. Would you say the composite arm tube or the Sapphire bearing makes a bigger difference?

my Schroder LT arm wand isn't composite.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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My guess, between $30-$40k. I could be wrong though, but I think I am in the ballpark for the fully pimped out sapphire model.

I don't know about that. Isn't his record weight $3k-$5k?
 

rockitman

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Sep 20, 2011
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I don't know about that. Isn't his record weight $3k-$5k?

I tried the $3,000.00 Harmonix TU 812M Million Maestro weight versus my $500.00 Stillpoint's LP1 on my AF1. I preferred the LP1 by a good margin. Of course everyone's mileage may vary.
 

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