Who's selling their Continuum Table now?

DaveyF · Mar 10, 2012

I was looking at this ad: http://app.audiogon.com/listings/continuum-caliburn-turntable-with-stand-and-2-arms

Can't help but think that our dear MF is trying to clean shop. Could it be that MF has heard a better TT and can get another great accommodation price, LOL.

Mike Lavigne · Mar 11, 2012

DaveyF said:
I was looking at this ad: http://app.audiogon.com/listings/continuum-caliburn-turntable-with-stand-and-2-arms

Can't help but think that our dear MF is trying to clean shop. Could it be that MF has heard a better TT and can get another great accommodation price, LOL.

no, that is Michael Green from Santa Fe. he is/was a Continuum dealer.

cannot say what motivates Michael to sell.

DaveyF · Mar 11, 2012

MIke, I had heard that MF was looking to replace his Continuum, also. I wonder why these people are trying to unload the TT

Not that the asking price is shall we say a "fire sale"

Syntax · Mar 11, 2012

DaveyF said:
MIke, I had heard that MF was looking to replace his Continuum, also. I wonder why these people are trying to unload the TT
Not that the asking price is shall we say a "fire sale"

Continuum is down

andromedaaudio · Mar 11, 2012

Is that a fact ???
That would be a shame , the market is probably to small for such a niche product .
Well if i could get my hands on a nice criterion i probably would someday , i doubt we ll ever see such a sophisticated turntable design again.
You ll buy a piece of audiohistory

Syntax · Mar 11, 2012

andromedaaudio said:
Is that a fact ???
That would be a shame , the market is probably to small for such a niche product .
You ll buy a piece of audiohistory

Buy 2
(1 for the replacement parts)

FrantzM · Mar 11, 2012

andromeda

I am certainly not a prospective buyer ... just an audiophile... Could you tell me what makes the Continuum thing so sophisticated

andromedaaudio · Mar 11, 2012

I am a industrial factory mechanic by trade, i do also shaft laser alignment , thats my background i just love machined cnc parts , have you read about the bearing, the arm construction and everything else how it was developed ???
Its just high tech .
( exept my mdf speakers

)

FrantzM;95710]andr
I am certainly not a prospective buyer ... just an audiophile... Could you tell me what makes the Continuum thing so sophisticated[/QUOTE]

mep · Mar 11, 2012

I still think their tonearm looks like somone lifted it out of a 1950s Seeburg jukebox.

andromedaaudio · Mar 11, 2012

M fremer summed it up quit nice .

http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/106con/

FrantzM · Mar 11, 2012

andromedaaudio said:
M fremer summed it up quit nice .

http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/106con/

Color me cynic ..

but this is interesting to me

Caliburn: suspensionless turntable with O-ring drive; cogless, battery-powered DC motor; vacuum holddown. Speeds (adjustable): 33.33, 45, 78 rpm. Wow & flutter, Rumble: not specified.

Emphasis is mine, nowhere on their website do you see any mention of Wow & flutter or Rumble ... Rarely have I seen a larger assembly of PhD and other degree-ed professionals to design a TT, likely unique, yet no mention of the most fundamental of turntable measurements " Wow & Flutter and Rumble? this science could not tell me the signal to noise ratio of the contraption or have we come to a point that these don't matter either in TTs?

MylesBAstor · Mar 11, 2012

FrantzM said:
Color me cynic ..

but this is interesting to me

Emphasis is mine, nowhere on their website do you see any mention of Wow & flutter or Rumble ... Rarely have I seen a larger assembly of PhD and other degree-ed professionals to design a TT, likely unique, yet no mention of the most fundamental of turntable measurements " Wow & Flutter and Rumble? this science could not tell me the signal to noise ratio of the contraption or have we come to a point that these don't matter either in TTs?

W&F is essentially meaningless for the best of today's tables. They are all the same. This measurement was perhaps important years ago with idler frives, etc. but today what's more important are a turntable's micro as opposed to macro speed fluctuations. That's why you see power supplies akin to an amp by companies such as Avid, heavy platters, flywheels, etc. That's why motors are carefully chosen. That's why perhaps until recently AC were superior to DC drives. (eg. DC motors were constantly hunting and searching for the right speed.)

andromedaaudio · Mar 11, 2012

Well with such a design approach i dont even have to know , call me stupid no problem .
If a manufacturers statement would be that important , but i agree with you on that .
Have you ever compared/measured efficiency numbers of loudspeakers or loudspeakerdrivers , some are very optimistic factorynumbers

FrantzM said:
Color me cynic ..,

but this is interesting to me

Emphasis is mine, nowhere on their website do you see any mention of Wow & flutter or Rumble ... Rarely have I seen a larger assembly of PhD and other degree-ed professionals to design a TT, likely unique, yet no mention of the most fundamental of turntable measurements " Wow & Flutter and Rumble? this science could not tell me the signal to noise ratio of the contraption or have we come to a point that these don't matter either in TTs?

Mike Lavigne · Mar 11, 2012

DaveyF said:
MIke, I had heard that MF was looking to replace his Continuum, also. I wonder why these people are trying to unload the TT
Not that the asking price is shall we say a "fire sale"

a while back Continuum parted ways with their designer and main engineer. it seems since then things have not gone well with them. whether that was the problem or a sign of other problems only those inside would know.

personally i hope that a company like that can continue. David Payes, who is the main guy behind the company, was a person i used to communicate alot with in the past. a very good guy.

FrantzM · Mar 11, 2012

MylesBAstor said:
W&F is essentially meaningless for the best of today's tables. They are all the same. This measurement was perhaps important years ago with idler frives, etc. but today what's more important are a turntable's micro as opposed to macro speed fluctuations. That's why you see power supplies akin to an amp by companies such as Avid, heavy platters, flywheels, etc. That's why motors are carefully chosen. That's why perhaps until recently AC were superior to DC drives. (eg. DC motors were constantly hunting and searching for the right speed.)

Myles

I'll leave it there because the thread is not about the design of TT or their price, I'll retreat but not before mentioning that I find your rationale flawed ...
We can take this to another thread if you want.

DaveyF · Mar 11, 2012

Frantz, I am curious as to why you find Myles's rationale flawed?

It seemed to make sense to me.

If Continuum is no more, I pity the poor owners of these machines, the value and for some unknown reason...desirability, will plummet.

Like I pointed out in my other thread about companies going under and the effect on the consumer of same.

microstrip · Mar 11, 2012

MylesBAstor said:
W&F is essentially meaningless for the best of today's tables.

Absolutely true. Wow and flutter single value measurements are weighted low bandwidth values, and would be be meaningless and error inducing, even for experts, if used alone. Unless you look at the spectral graphs and other secondary artifacts of the noise you would get a misleading picture. Several turntable manufacturers, e.g. Ceres, explain it.

A similar situation would happen if professionals would use only the wow and flutter as a mechanical descriptor to choose their tape reel recorders - only after some PhDs developed a model and a technique for measuring scrape flutter we could get a better view of the sound quality of the machines. But no manufacturer listed it, although it was used during development.

cjfrbw · Mar 11, 2012

Schadenfreude for the cheapskates? MF will unload before he cannot make a profit or recoup the accommodation pricing?

Must be a few sheiks that are mad that their Rolex will now be a Casio.

My thought about the edifice/status turntables is that they are not refine-able, much less repairable. Above 20K, probably refinement counts as much as any other technical feature of a turntable, that somebody listened to it and did this and that until they got things right.

The big TT's like Rockport, Contunuum, and Goldmund are massively expensive white sheet engineering projects, how do you tweak them? They represent an act of faith that theory and execution will just work, which does not always jibe with listening results in analog.

jdza · Mar 11, 2012

If Continuum is no more, I pity the poor owners of these machines, the value and for some unknown reason...desirability, will plummet

Maybe for a year or 5. Look at Micro Seiki,Thorens Reference,even Cotter prices nowadays

Absolutely true. Wow and flutter single value measurements are weighted low bandwidth values, and would be be meaningless and error inducing, even for experts, if used alone

I agree. I have a Kenwood W&F meter and measured everything I could lay my hands on. All tables had a DIN weighted measurement of no lower than 0.04%. Then I realised I was measuring my test records,not the tables.Reel to Reel decks are a little better as you can record a tape,then play it back and measure. Here I found the biggest culprits to be the NAB adaptors,Reels and actual tape used for recording.With test tapes MRL states that their tape is only reliable to 0.04% DIN wghted as that is how low their A80 'll go. Tough luck for A820 owners trying to earn bragging rights.

Mike Lavigne · Mar 11, 2012

cjfrbw said:
The big TT's like Rockport, Contunuum, and Goldmund are massively expensive white sheet engineering projects, how do you tweak them? They represent an act of faith that theory and execution will just work, which does not always jibe with listening results in analog.

actually, execution mostly does just work. if you listened to these products when they were introduced they clearly advanced the reference. i have no experience with the Goldmund; i do with the Rockport and Continuum.

but; technology marches forward. so heroic efforts don't have unlimited shelf life at the cutting edge.

Who's selling their Continuum Table now?

Well-Known Member

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

VIP/Donor

Well-Known Member

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

VIP/Donor

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

VIP/Donor

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

Well-Known Member

VIP/Donor

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

Well-Known Member

VIP/Donor

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

Similar threads