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Well Tempered 400 Royale turntable

Rob400

Rob400

pfm Member
Being a very satisfied WTL Versalex user I have been looking forward to the introduction of this new fall ship model.

http://audikron.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/WTL_Preisliste_2015VK.pdf

Priced in Germany at 15.5k GBP to include it's dedicated stand. Not the great sound at a bargain price deck that we've become accustomed to since the introduction of the Amadeus and out of my financially reach right now but I wouldn't be surprised if it sets new standards for turntable sound quality.
 
Yes, but don't forget the 9000€ for the dedicated stand.

So about the same price (without the stand that is) as an SME 20/3 with V arm?
 
New cartridges too. One looks like a Nagaoka, the other an Ikeda. The latter should be rather good.
 
Interesting turntables and company. I wonder what prompted the move to New Zealand, and the shifting of manufacturing to Opera Labs, Beijing.
 
avole said:
I wonder what prompted the move to New Zealand, and the shifting of manufacturing to Opera Labs, Beijing.
Click to expand...

Frank Densen. He is the money maker. William Firebaugh is the inventor and perfectionist. I have it on good authority that Bill tears his hair out at the inconsistent Chinese quality control. I wouldn't be buying from the first batch of 400 Royales even I had the funds.
 
At 16" in length, I can't help but wonder if the downsides of higher moving mass, lower arm rigidity, and higher counterweight inertia outweigh the upside of smaller tracing errors. Good thing that alignment remains fixed -- with such a very arm, any alignment error would be magnified, resulting in higher distortion.

I am very happy with my WT GTA and EMT JSD-6, and I doubt I could ever justify spending this kind of money on a new turntable. Still, it is fascinating to see how the WT design has evolved. TBH, if it were anyone other than Firebaugh, my reaction would have been a lot more negative.
 
surprised myself by the pricing very unlike well tempered. Must be pretty special then ??????????? I have the RIAA phono stage and it is ballsy and musical as hell even though it lacks the finesse and refinement of high end stages. The new phno stage at many multiples its price might be interesting. Esepcially as they managed to get it right first time with such a fun sounding product at such a cheap price. PS obviously the the basic phono stage would not be considered good ennough for a high end turntable but there is an intoxicating grooviness that makes any further improvements upon it a worthwhile consideration.
 
This one doesn't make sense to me. The appeal of the WT decks is that until now they have been modestly priced by virtue of using inexpensive components in a clever way to get a great result. This thing is priced with the uber-decks. I'm sure it will sound great but uber-decks are not about SQ alone. They need to be special, to offer pride of ownership. Given that many other great sounding and great looking alternatives are available, why is the target market going to spend a large sum of money on something that looks like a giant Rega?
 
Regarding the 16" arm, I'm wondering if that applies to its overall length and perhaps having an effective length of around 12". Just a feeling from from seeing the photo, but not easy to judge given the angle of view.
 
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