Brinkmann Balance.

Gary J

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Jan 11, 2018
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Can someone tell me if they have listened to the Brinkmann Balance? all the reviews are old and I was wondering how it compares to the other highly rated tables today. I am looking at these tables now, Brinkmann Balance, Kuzma Stabi M, Technics SL-1000R not out yet, TW Acustic AC3, Avid Acutes Reference SP, TechDas Air Force 3. Customer service is also very important to me so if you have had a bad experience please let me know about that. All of the tables in this thread are $20000+ turntables so any advise would be appreciated.
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Hi Gary, I see you’re casting your net a bit wider.
 

Gary J

Well-Known Member
Jan 11, 2018
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Sprit Hi, why not, all the tables I have listed get good reviews on this site. I am just wondering if someone has compared them to each other and what the results are.
 

awsmone

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Apr 6, 2014
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Hi Gary

A friend had the acutus reference, we as an audiophile group weren’t impressed
My friend who is electrical engineer tested it, and found the speed was widely out of spec

Acutus were not able to fix it to my friends satisfaction and he got rid of it
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Gary, I think you’ll find very few negatives in Balance or Stabi M ownership. For me, the ship on belt drive has sailed, and if I was looking for a $20k tt I’d very seriously consider the SP10R without plinth and arm for $10k, put it in an aftermarket plinth for $3k, and spend the rest on a commensurate arm, possibly a 4-Point or Schroeder LT or Thales Simplicity pseudo linear trackers.
I’ve moved on to a direct rim drive with air linear arm, and I won’t readily move back to belt drive/pivoted arm.
 

awsmone

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Apr 6, 2014
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Gary, I think you’ll find very few negatives in Balance or Stabi M ownership. For me, the ship on belt drive has sailed, and if I was looking for a $20k tt I’d very seriously consider the SP10R without plinth and arm for $10k, put it in an aftermarket plinth for $3k, and spend the rest on a commensurate arm, possibly a 4-Point or Schroeder LT or Thales Simplicity pseudo linear trackers.
I’ve moved on to a direct rim drive with air linear arm, and I won’t readily move back to belt drive/pivoted arm.

Gary I think Marc has a point, high torque dd or rim is a different sound to belt except in mega echelons like AS or caelus etc

Heard AF and wonderful smooth sound , both af3 and af1 very quiet, but not my personal cup of tea , but others love it, which is great, I think reviews aren’t going to tell you whether you will like it

The other which gets good review here at WBF is sme30
 

BruceD

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Dec 13, 2013
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I auditioned the Brinkman up against a Kuzma and the Dr Feickert--- both the latter were superior . I also felt the same with another Brinkman( Bardo?) with a Triplanar demo--same non dynamic output.

I'd leave out Brinkman frankly.

BruceD
 

jeff1225

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Jan 29, 2012
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i can tell you from experience that the Kuzma XL is superior to the Brinkman Balance.
 

Gary J

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Jan 11, 2018
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Thanks once again for the great info, I have been looking at this site for the last two years before I joined because I wanted to make sure I was dealing with a site where people were not mean to each other and acted with intelligence so hats off to all of you great people. I would like to share some things I have learned, I emailed Technics about the SL-1000R table saying I noticed some runout albeit small on the side of the platter while looking at some youtube CES videos and they wanted serial numbers and a video of my table, as you know the table is not out yet. Sometimes when dealing with a large company it can be hard to get things done and I have talked to people that own SP-10 tables that tell me if the table was not so good they would not deal with Technics. I can also tell you this, I have emailed Franc Kuzma several times about his table and he has never failed to email back usually within 12 hours. OK lets flip this coin over, I have a Basis Debut Vacuum with a vector 4 arm, when AJ died rest his soul he was a great guy that really cared about his product it left the company without a leader, AJ was Basis with no one left to develop new products. I have been doing audio for 38 years but I am taking care of my mother that is 96 now and I do not have a chance to hear all of the new tables out there. I will nix the Avid and Brinkmann from my list. You may laugh but I think the Stabi in red looks great, it breaks up that solid black look. I will also take some time and wait for the SP-10 and SL-1000R to make their debut maybe DD is the way to go.
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Hey Gary, kudos to you looking after your mum, you deserve some top quality analog in your life. There is an awful lot of choice out there, I don’t envy your task, especially if you can’t easily audition many pieces. FWIW, I would put the Technics top of your list, I do have a strong suspicion it will offer a strong set of superlatives. Of the belt drive set, the Stabi M would be my tt of choice.
Btw, I guess we should be honoured you rate us for being an even tempered bunch. You obviously haven’t caught some of the infamous spats of old LOL.
 

Gary J

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Jan 11, 2018
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Sprit I guess I should reveal the rest of what I am listing to so here goes, Sound Lab Ultimate 1 speakers 90 degree version but updated to the latest bass focus panels, Quick Silver Mono 120 amps, Lumin S1 server, Convergent Audio Technology Legend Black Path Edition preamp with built in phono, and Purist Audio cables on speakers and components. The system sounds great most of the time but there are days that it seems to sound less exciting. Maybe it has something to do with the moon in the seventh house and jupiter aligning with mars, not sure.
 

Gary J

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Jan 11, 2018
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I forgot to mention the Basis Debut Vacuum turntable with Vector 4 arm which I am looking to replace now.
 

BruceD

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Dec 13, 2013
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I forgot to mention the Basis Debut Vacuum turntable with Vector 4 arm which I am looking to replace now.

Really? thats a great TT and combo?--why not keep and upgrade the Cart ( Madake) and possibly a isolation (Stacore/etc) and better stand/base( Minus k Phenolic?-cheap as chips?)

BruceD
 

Gary J

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Jan 11, 2018
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Bruce I knew sooner or later I would get this question, first I cannot get into it to deep because if I did I would hurt Basis Audios business and they are having a hard enough time as it is with AJs passing. As good as the table is I have had it 14 years and I have been offered a good price for it by some so while I can still get a good price for it now I want to move it while the table is still popular also I am not sure about the companies future. I hope this makes sense.
 

Audiophile Bill

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Mar 23, 2015
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Out of your choices I would take either:

> Technics if DD is your thing
> Stabi M if you prefer belt
 

BruceD

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Dec 13, 2013
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Bruce I knew sooner or later I would get this question, first I cannot get into it to deep because if I did I would hurt Basis Audios business and they are having a hard enough time as it is with AJs passing. As good as the table is I have had it 14 years and I have been offered a good price for it by some so while I can still get a good price for it now I want to move it while the table is still popular also I am not sure about the companies future. I hope this makes sense.

Fully understandable good luck with your search--yes I agree with others here the Kuzma is fine TT (with the 4Point to match)for belt--with possibly the upcoming new Technics SP10 for DD

BruceD
 

awsmone

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Apr 6, 2014
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Canberra Australia
Hey Gary, kudos to you looking after your mum, you deserve some top quality analog in your life. There is an awful lot of choice out there, I don’t envy your task, especially if you can’t easily audition many pieces. FWIW, I would put the Technics top of your list, I do have a strong suspicion it will offer a strong set of superlatives. Of the belt drive set, the Stabi M would be my tt of choice.
Btw, I guess we should be honoured you rate us for being an even tempered bunch. You obviously haven’t caught some of the infamous spats of old LOL.
+1 for looking after your mum

I agree good customer service is important
If you like belt drives then the Kuzma is top rate for two good reasons

It was designed to go with the 4 point which is a dream arm
Second it has a high quality dc motor

If your going belt rather than dd or rim, you want massive platter and good motor and great belts

Plus Kuzma M is mutcho sexy which doesn’t hurt ;)
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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...I emailed Technics about the SL-1000R table...Sometimes when dealing with a large company it can be hard to get things done and I have talked to people that own SP-10 tables that tell me if the table was not so good they would not deal with Technics. I can also tell you this, I have emailed Franc Kuzma several times about his table and he has never failed to email back usually within 12 hours....I have been doing audio for 38 years but I am taking care of my mother that is 96 now and I do not have a chance to hear all of the new tables out there.

I am not an analog guy at all by choice (Despite admiring analog and having heard great things about RTR Tape, I elected many years ago to focus on the best digital playback I could get and leave it at that.)...but I can say that i bought Mr. Kuzma's older Transparent Ref cables many years ago. He was, just as you say, super responsive, helpful and knowledgeable. I have since upgraded all of my cables, but I do remember that great experience. That is worth something if you are going to invest not just money (but all your audiophile time) with a particular design. you want to really enjoy that time and not have hassle. You've got 2 great choices from the sounds of it...and a remarkable system!...look forward to seeing how this works out. Wow...she is 96 years old! God bless...hopefully you will be listening to great music for many many years to come as well!
 
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PeterA

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Dec 6, 2011
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Gary I think Marc has a point, high torque dd or rim is a different sound to belt except in mega echelons like AS or caelus etc

Heard AF and wonderful smooth sound , both af3 and af1 very quiet, but not my personal cup of tea , but others love it, which is great, I think reviews aren’t going to tell you whether you will like it

The other which gets good review here at WBF is sme30

HI Gary. I am curious why SME is not on your list. Of course, I am very biased, but I have had great experience with customer service and both of my SME turntables have been extremely reliable. The 30/12 sounds fantastic and is very speed stable. I did once directly compare a Technics SP10 III in a Porter plinth with the same arm and cartridge to my SME 30/12 in my system. The owner and I listened for four days to the SP10. It sounded very different from my SME. Then we put the SME back in the system and immediately knew which sounded more natural and like real music. We suspect that the issue was with the plinth or copper mat on the SP10 so this may not be reflective of what the new SP10 sounds like.

Have you heard SME tables, and if so, why did you not include them on your shortlist?
 

Gary J

Well-Known Member
Jan 11, 2018
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Hi Peter, I have talked to several people that for one reason or another said they did not like the sound of SME tables. Some have said the price keeps going up and up on SME tables to the point that now they are not worth the money. Now, I have not listened to the table and yours as you said sounds great but it is what I have heard from others that has pulled me back from SME tables. Once again I am not an expert on SME tables and I may have talked to people that have different listening tastes then me. It is impossible for me to hear everything that is out there so I will take a second look at SME, thanks for the info.
 

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