Well Tempered Reference Bargain - FYI..

Can you tell me more about the WTR. I have been reading good things about this table. Shahinian's website says they are the best tables around and John Farlowe of Exposure uses a WTR with a DV Te katora in his system. How does it compare to the LP12 ? how is the timing ?

Greg

Nice scrappy post Tony.You must work for that really unhelpful IT Dept at Wash U. What do you think of the NA Spacedeck?

John
How about those Cardinals 0 and 3 ????

Hello,

At the risk of sounding like a CD put on constant repeat, I think the WTs strength is it's resolution of detail and it's very precise bass, its timing is equal ot a CDS2 (i've compared both using the same recordings, blah, blah, blah).

It requires no set up or maintenance apart from the initial adjustments to the arm - basically, you adjust the arm damping to the damping of the cartridge - there is a complex mathematical way of doing this (mearsuring fall times, etc), but I ended up doing it by ear - took 15 minutes.

It is very user friendly and doesn't go out of adjustment.

I have a Arkiv2 and Prefix/Hicap with my WT and maybe I'm going deaf or something but after all the LP12's I've heard I can't see how anyone who isn't hard of hearing not preferring the WT

cheers,

Dev

...three WT-based setups.

The turntable just disappeared leaving music at the end of the room. "Ah! So THIS is transparency!" was the feeling I had.

I'm not really sure how others use the term, but when I 'listed for the turntable' it simply wasn't there.

- GregB

Insert Witty Signature Line Here

I played with a Well Tempered Reference (Reference arm, Te Kaitora cartridge) for a couple of months last year. I was trying to choose between it and a Voyd 0.5 Reference. In the end, couldn't choose because I had to buy a car...:(

Strengths: Fantastic resolution like I've never heard before or since. Fabulous stability - makes an LP12 sound all wobbly by comparison, no matter whether you're using an Armageddon or Lingo. Great timing (in fact you could say it was spot on). Wonderful scale - not obvious (like an LP12) or unnatural, just effortless. Some people say it hasn't got bass, but what they mean is it hasn't got bass colouration. But it makes the LP12 sound small-scale by comparison - both had a Te Kaitora on at the time.

Weaknesses: Not the greatest communicator. I found I admired what it did more than falling in love with it.

To get it to work at its best, it needs to be placed on a mass-heavy stand. Mana is a no-no.

The Well Tempered Reference is probably the best record deck I've heard short of a Goldmund Reference (that was spectacular), but bear in mind it communicates in a different way to what you're used to probably. It does things very differently from an LP12 which bounces along adding its colourations to everything (very nicely, mind you).

Finally, it's a set-and-forget deck. Once the arm is setup, it doesn't need fettling or servicing, unlike the LP12's suspension (Tony:).

Regards,
Frank.
PS NA Spacedek - yuk. Prefer the Gyro.

Frank
Good post. I agree with what you are saying. Even the bit about not "falling in love with it"..but this changes after a while! Then when you realise what it is doing, anything other source is second best.

Yes, and NO MANA!
Try the DV-XV1 on it, WOW

Cheers
Goose

There are some reviews of WT's in general on
http://www.audioreview.com/

just type 'well tempered' into the search facility

Cheers
Goose