As a matter of interest on that particular day, I had brought with me a motor and controller from another highly regarded turntable manufacturer. Would he mind if we tried it on his turntable? Now this really should be interesting, for we would be using the same drive belt and only changing the motors. Would we hear any difference? George just smiled and said “be my guest”. Well it was ridiculous, for George’ s motor just sounded better and not by a small margin. Firmer base, a wider more stable image and overall a more homogenous sound. The rhythm and timing of everyone’s playing just seemed a lot tighter transforming you closer to the original performance. Hmmm, something interesting is going on here!
Someone once described Art is actually a science with more than seven variables. Certainly, I have discovered that in building a reference turntable there is a huge challenge, for everything seems to effect the sound of everything else! There are so many decisions to be made, so many different turnings to be taken on the path, to arrive at the destination of exceptional sound quality, really is a great challenge. George actually mounts his motor in a giant motor pot which is placed on the left hand back leg of his turntable stand. The joy of this system, is that the motor can be swung from the left or to the rear, depending on your personal preference. Obviously, if you already own a suitable stand, he can build the pot to operate as a free standing device.
Almost any pick up arm can be accommodated with the turntable, so when George asked me which one I would like to use, I really gave it some careful thought. At the time I had started to read about a new pick up arm made by an American called Joel Durrand. Interestingly, the arm wand was made of wood and it was called the Talea. How interesting I thought. With a beautiful turntable featuring so much wood, I thought it would make sense to match the material and Joel’s Talea seemed to be the obvious choice.
I rang Joel in the States and he showed great interest in George’s turntable. It was not long before I realised that Joel’s ethos seemed very close to George’s, which could be summed up as saying that they both manufacture products “up to a standard” and not “down to a price”.
I was just about to order a Talea along with George, when suddenly, Joel dropped a bombshell and said “by the way I am bringing out a new pick up arm called the Telos. It does not supersede the Talea, but is built to an even higher standard”. Although I would have to wait longer, the choice seemed obvious and I ordered a Telos.
Again, I hope from the photographs of the new arm in it’s box, you will appreciate the attention to detail which I believe is outstanding. However, I have also included some photographs of Joel’s Talea arm mounted on George’s own turntable.
Ok, things are looking great so far. We have got a turntable that looks amazing and certainly goes round beautifully! We have got a pick up arm which must be in the top handful of those available. What cartridge should I use? There are so many to chose from, and I just do not have the luxury of free samples to play with. The secret seemed to be in the use of both manufacturers material i.e. wood. At the time, I had been reading a lot about a new reference cartridge made by Miyajima Laboratories. This was there Kansui and it seemed to employ many interesting design features. Actually, it is not ridiculously priced and so I purchased one from the UK importer.
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