My dealer used to know this guy. He told me to stay clear of him at all cost.
Completely AGREE. I have been saying the same for years. I hate to speak negatively of others, but it's a fact in this case and caveat emptor could not be more applicable.
As far as the product itself, it's an mix of oddities: They tried to emulate the look of a cutting lathe, and they chose a high torque motor because cutting lathes use them... but then why no vacuum hold down?
Personally, I think the cutting lathe emulation is nonsense: the act of cutting a record is completely different than the act of playing it back. To a lay person it may seem like it makes sense since the way the record was cut should be the way it's read; but it actually doesn't make sense. A high torque motor is more difficult to speed control. You do not need anywhere the torque required for cutting for reading the grooves, so why get the drawbacks of a high torque motor?
Also, he's completely wrong about "belt drive being sh~t!". There are many great belt drive tables. He knows about 20% of the solution and unfortunately is too obtuse and full of himself to know what he doesn't know, admit it, and learn it.
And he makes cast iron seem like a high tech material, because of the ~20 odd molds he had to scrap and the difficulty in CNC machining. I owned a precision machine shop. Iron is NOT difficult to machine and there are many reasons why no other TT is made from iron. It's a terrible material for resonance, for example.
I know Fremer has a K3 but it was a heavily discounted prototype, and the two men have had a falling out since the transaction. I don't know if Fremer regrets getting one; but I would not be surprised if he unloads it in the near future.
Note to future entrepreneurs in this industry: if you get the most influential reviewer to own/promote your product, do not piss him off!
Actually have no idea why Weiss is heavily promoting $100K++ products on social media all of a sudden. As if someone is going to be influenced by his videos at this price point. He also disdains the audiophile community and has openly said so (something about 'we ask too many questions'), so it's a bizarre move to be putting out these videos, which will only invite criticism. I guess his traditional channels of promotion through architectural magazines and to his musical 'friends' have panned out.