$650K Turntable?

[garylkoh]

In matching the turning condition between repro system to cutter lathe, the best way is cut a test tone (1 K) before music signal in processing then when doing repro adjust the repro to same frequency by showing from a frequency counter first, this will be perfectly match, I don't think every cutter lathe in exactly same condition, best to adjust by each vinyl if looking for that kind of high request in repro
tony ma

Riverside Records did this in their Fortissimo XK series in the early 1960's. They had a 1 min 400Hz tone locked band for system set-up.

Anybody still have these albums? They played from the inside to the outside (like a CD) to take advantage of the tangential centrifugal forces, and were pressed in clear red vinyl that today, 51 years after they were first pressed still sound absolutely new and quiet. The Blue Mitchell Orchestra recording is worth hunting down, as is a percussion recording.

 

[DonH50]

Personally, I'd love to hear more insights from the designer about the how, what and why behind the design choices that were made. Since it appears to be a one-of-a-kind prototype, perhaps he'd share some of his trials, tribulations, and triumphs? Probably just the geek factor, but perhaps others share my curiosity?

 

[Steve Williams]

Personally, I'd love to hear more insights from the designer about the how, what and why behind the design choices that were made. Since it appears to be a one-of-a-kind prototype, perhaps he'd share some of his trials, tribulations, and triumphs? Probably just the geek factor, but perhaps others share my curiosity?

well FWIW, he has been in touch with me and will be making a trip from Germany to the SF Bay area at the end of May and he plans on having a listen at my house

 

[DonH50]

I'm jealous of the both of you!

Perhaps you could help with some Q&A and translation? We expect a full report regardless of the discussion, y'a know!

 

[Steve Williams]

I had the pleasure of meeting and hosting Rainer Horstmann at my house yesterday as he and his wife arrived in the SF Bay area for a California vacation. We spent 3-4 hours yesterday not only listening to music but discussing his much talked about $650K turntable. It was most interesting. Presently his TT is due to be completed in the next few months just in time for an audio show in October in Germany and I have been invited to attend.
There is also an American on the East Coast who apparently owns an audio store and has offered CAD's of his TT. This has been a labor of love and encompasses the past 7-8 years of his life. He decided that he wanted to design and construct the very best TTand seeing the photos and listening to his description, he just might have done that.

Each TT is hand made by Rainer in his garage and takes almost one year to build. He will build only one per year and he seems to think that he will build only 5.

I found our visit to be very rewarding. He is an honest, intelligent and highly articulate man who has made this project his life's ambition.

 

[flez007]

On second thought, my $100 turntable in 1982 had the ability to count tracks .

It is a BIC right?

 

[flez007]

... I really hope that this is a clear indication that economy at a global scope is wildly recovering....

 

[andromedaaudio]

well cool that steve has met the designer in person .
I find the repeatable computarized and storable catridge settings a good idea ,via touchscreen nice .
Camera cool but not nescesarry, (well it might be a good idea for number search afterall ,or looking for dust /needle damage ,cartidge adjustment whatever)
Nice project .

Let's stay focused on turntable features please. No digital vs analog debate or others like it.

 

[Steve Williams]

well cool that steve has met the designer in person .
I find the repeatable computarized and storable catridge settings a good idea ,via touchscreen nice .
Camera cool but not nescesarry.
Nice project .

I did meet him. He and his wife visited me last year and we talked extensively about his TT

 

[andromedaaudio]

I am sure it was very interesting .
I am starting to like these play features actually , it kind of brings CD player comfort/handling to the analogue world , you can even play random numbers via smartphone .
And all those high tech repeatable adjustmenttechniques will bring cartridge adjustment to another level is my opinion.
Whether this table is a music player or not i dont know

 

[Mosin]

Tim,
I think you have a very good point. Interestingly, I was talking to an acquaintance of mine yesterday who is a Dubai oil man....He tells me that he is making about $25M a month and is looking for things to buy that pique his interest. ( Yes, you read that right, that's a month)
So, I mentioned audio to him, unfortunately for the high end manufacturer's he wasn't interested, But you can see that he could have one helluva system with his budget

I think that there are many people, like my acquaintance, who are in the same position as he is, therefore, if you as a manufacturer find one....or two or? and these guys are into audio just a little bit-- well the rest is history

True. I was told by a man that my turntable would never sell in a certain country because it wasn't priced high enough to garner the interest of audiophiles who live there.

 

[flez007]

On second thought, my $100 turntable in 1982 had the ability to count tracks .

A BIC maybe?

 

[flez007]

True. I was told by a man that my turntable would never sell in a certain country because it wasn't priced high enough to garner the interest of audiophiles who live there.

Ask Gary same thing!

 

[JackD201]

Dont't forget the R. The Russian Billionaires appear to be more ostentatious than their Brazilian, Indian and Chinese counterparts.

 

[cjfrbw]

True. I was told by a man that my turntable would never sell in a certain country because it wasn't priced high enough to garner the interest of audiophiles who live there.

Must be the same country in which a marrying couple were to be given a pair of the big MBL speakers as a wedding present.....but only if they were the right color.

 

[Derainer]

Well my dear audio-friends in this forum,

at first I have to say, that my journey through the USA in the last summer was a very nice trip.
Steve and I had a very nice meeting at his home. Just the time to talk together was too little.
Thank you Steve.

The other thing, I want you to tell you today is, how my story is going on.

In October last year I was on a two-day fair in Krefeld AAA (Germany) Our presenting room was totally full
with interested people the whole two days, although we had problems with the stepper motor.
One guy from Korea asked my about the price of my turntable. I told him 650.000,-- $ and he said:
“well that’s not to much for my boss. Give me a call, when the TT is ready,
and he will come to visit you in Germany, to see how it works. Than perhaps he will buy it”

In the meantime I had two publications in German professional audio journals. One is to reed here
at the bottom of my webpage.
http://www.avdesignhaus.de/AnalogLaufwerkStudie-Node_15728.html
Download: Artikel im AAA-Magazin als PDF (Größe: 714 KB)

I got a lot of phone calls from China, Japan an most of all from the States. Yes you reed correct.

But there is another important point, what I must tell you today.

You will remember, that I wrote in this forum, that this first TT I developed is only a study for me.
I built it all for myself, just to find out, what technical features are possible.

And now, since the beginning of this year, I’m working on another, second TT.
I’m taking an extract of all the best features and put them together, and realise them in my new TT project.

The result will be a plinth with nearly 50 kg and it will have a heavy platter with nearly 30 kg
This platter will be equipped with magnetic bearing (as my 1. TT)
It will have a vacuum clamping for all sizes of records.
And it will be driven by a Direct-Drive-Motor.
The plinth is able to get equipped with up to four (via remote) height adjustable tone arms.
Or it can be equipped with just two normal tone arms.
And instead of the third and fourth, the plinth can have my new tangential tone arm.

Well, as far as I know, the fact is, that a direct driven platter with a weight of 30 kg did not exist until today.
Am I right??? So my second TT will be the first one. The new motor is not able to buy on the world market,
it is especially developed only for my new TT project.

The new tangential Tone arm will have a small linear motor, that also has been developed just for my TT project.
This tangential tone arm works absolutely smooth and precise and with absolutely no noise.
It is designed very compact, and it can be used also for a lot of other ordinary TTs.

So as you can imagine now, this is a modular construction technique.
You can start just with the DD-Plinth and with one height adjustable tone arm.

Then you can expand up to four electrical height adjustable arms. (all via remote)

Or you can get a new and very best tangential tone arm, that has ever been made.
It’s up to you, how much money you can spend.

Now you want to know how much? I know… I expected that.
Well, I don’t know precisely today... I’m sorry for that.
But maybe the plinth with just one arm base 35 K and than each further arm base 5 k
And now the new tangential arm may cost 25 to 30 K. That’s much less than 650.000 right?

And that all has been born and developed by: working and studying, and working again, and trying out,
and changing technical parts, making them better, try out again…
more than 4 years in nearly 4.000 hrs of time and by spending more than 250.000 $ all alone by myself.

Don’t you think, that this whole work is 650 K worth, or maybe much more?
But I will not sell it anymore, I will keep it as my beauty.

And now the story is going on…

Thanks for reading and thanks for your rapt attention.
Best wishes to all of you, Rainer

P.S. Don't ask me too much and too difficult questions, because my english is a little bad.
I will inform you early enough, when ther are news.

 

[Steve Williams]

Well my dear friend in this forum,

at first I have to say, that my journey through the USA in the last summer was a very nice trip.
Steve and I had a very nice meeting at his home. Just the time to talk together was too little.
Thank you Steve.

The other thing, I want you to tell today is, how my story is going on.

In October last year I was on a two-day fair in Krefeld (Germany) Our presenting room was totally full
with interested people the whole two days, although we had problems with the stepper motor.
One guy from Korea asked my about the price of my turntable. I told him 650.000,-- $ and he said:
“well that’s not to much for my boss. Give me a call, when the TT is ready,
and he will come to visit you in Germany, to see how it works. Than perhaps he will buy it”

In the meantime I had two publications in German professional audio journals. One is to reed here
at the bottom of my webpage.
http://www.avdesignhaus.de/AnalogLaufwerkStudie-Node_15728.html
Download: Artikel im AAA-Magazin als PDF (Größe: 714 KB)

I got a lot of phone calls from China, Japan an most of all from the States. Yes you reed correct.

But there is another important point, what I must tell you today.

You will remember, that I wrote in this forum, that this first TT I developed is only a study for me.
I built it all for myself, just to find out, what technical features are possible.

And now, since the beginning of this year, I’m working on another, second TT.
I’m taking an extract of all the best features and put them together, and realise them in my new TT project.

The result will be a plinth with nearly 50 kg and it will have a heavy platter with nearly 30 kg
This platter will be equipped with magnetic bearing (as my 1. TT)
It will have a vacuum clamping for all sizes of records.
And it will be driven by a Direct-Drive-Motor.
The plinth is able to get equipped with up to four (via remote) height adjustable tone arms.
Or it can be equipped with just two normal tone arms.
And instead of the third and fourth, the plinth can have my new tangential tone arm.

Well, as far as I know, the fact is, that a direct driven platter with a weight of 30 kg did not exist until today.
Am I right??? So my second TT will be the first one. The new motor is not able to buy on the world market,
it is especially developed only for my new TT project.

The new tangential Tone arm will have a small linear motor, that also has been developed just for my TT project.
This tangential tone arm works absolutely smooth and precise and with absolutely no noise.
It is designed very compact, and it can be used also for a lot of other ordinary TTs.

So as you can imagine now, this is a modular construction technique.
You can start just with the DD-Plinth and with one height adjustable tone arm.

Then you can expand up to four electrical height adjustable arms. (all via remote)

Or you can get a new and very best tangential tone arm, that has ever been made.
It’s up to you, how much money you can spend.

Now you want to know how much? I know… I expected that.
Well, I don’t know precisely today... I’m sorry for that.
But maybe the plinth with just one arm base 35 K and than each further arm base 5 k
And now the new tangential arm may cost 25 to 30 K. That’s much less than 650.000 right?

And that all has been born and developed by: working and studying, and working again, and trying out,
and changing technical parts, making them better, try out again…
more than 4 years in nearly 4.000 hrs of time and by spending more than 250.000 $ all alone by myself.

Don’t you think, that this whole work is 650 K worth, or maybe much more?
But I will not sell it anymore, I will keep it as my beauty.

And now the story is going on…

Thanks for reading and thanks for your rapt attention.
Best wishes to all of you, Rainer

P.S. Don't ask me too much and too difficult questions, because my english is a little bad.
I will inform you early enough, when ther are news.

Rainer

welcome back

indeed it was fun meeting you and your wife last year

 

[Derainer]

Good morning Steve,

thanks for your welcome. Later I will try to post some pics from my new linear motor.

By the way, since end of the last Year I use the Dynavector Cartridge "Te Kaitora Rua" It is a superb pickup, one of the best in the world.
It makes so much more fun to listen to my vinyl, than ever bevor.

At the end of this week "Andy" (member in this forum) and some friends from the German AAA will come to meet me at home,
just to see the TT and to listen to it. Maybe "Andy" will give a feedback here.

best regards,
Rainer

 

[_Tom_]

Dear Friends,

some months ago some audio - friends and me had the large pleasure to get a presentation of Rainer shown, in that he the development of his first turntable documented.
It was much impressing.
Rainer is a man who developed with heart and brain, you will notices it if you speaks with him. He told us so many parts of his development, and it was great to see with how much enthusiasm he this Machine developed.
But the first public demonstration of this turntable on the AAA show in Krefeld was still more impressing, even if it could not show any tone because of the problems already by Rainer mentioned.
I'm very interested in Rainers second turntable, and I hope to see him when Rainer has finisched.

 

[NorthStar]

---$650,000 for a turntable! ...Gimme a freakin' break man!