advertisement


How good is Well Tempered Simplex

sonddek said:
I still own my Sondek which I bought in the mid 80s and I think it's very handsome, but I don't listen to it much as I have several other decks which are as much fun. The user name comes from the period when I discovered how good Technics DD is and was considering trying to Frankenstein a DD drive into my Sondek. I certainly did not mean to put anyone off a WT deck. I love mine.
Click to expand...
Maybe a JBE would be the alternative
 
Last edited:
matt j said:
So if it is a just a cheap £3 motor, some nylon belt and a bit of chipboard what does it do that other similarly simple/cheap decks don't ? What is its MO for want of a better term?
Click to expand...

took wow and flutter research engineering of second order systems and designed a turntable. I had a Sondek during the 90s did a degree whilst working in the trade and realised how limited the design really was even the JBE of the 70s was far more advanced shame it had a slate plint looked good though. The RD11 came close in performance the Max Townshend’s Rock was very good again he took an engineering route. Linn just refined a basic idea bearings wear quickly, beginning and end of side distortion broke this camels back along with the WT reference being able to play music for more naturally
 
Julian Slinn said:
Basically took wow and flutter research basically engineering of second order systems and designed a turntable I had a Sondek during the 90s did a degree and realised how dreadful the design really was talk about flogging a dead house even the JBE of the 70s was far more advanced shame it had a slate plint looked good though. The RD11 came close in performance the Max Townshend’s Rock was very good etc etc
Click to expand...

Then there doesn't appear to be any correlation between good engineering practice and sound quality, as the Sondek sounds great, as do many other similar suspended designs from Thorens and the like.
 
matt j said:
Then there doesn't appear to be any correlation between good engineering practice and sound quality, as the Sondek sounds great, as do many other similar suspended designs from Thorens and the like.
Click to expand...

the sondek with an EKOS suffered distortion the Ittok was better ironically for not showing this the Aro worked didn’t show any signs of beginning and end of side distortion although it was mid range forward compared at the time with the Karat the WT reference dropped an extra octave was neutral through out the frequency range and was far more enjoyable at least to me hence why I was more than happy to let it go 20 years ago and live with a Rega planar 3 the prob with the sondek was the main bearing would degrade quickly and the EKOS arm bearings wore. None the less many like the Sondek had an enjoyable evening with Roy and colleagues comparing the Rega against the Sondek during the mid 90s he was a love host
 
Last edited:
Since when has the main bearing of a LP12 degraded quickly? Mine was absolutely fine after 30 years of use before I swapped it for a Karousel.

I’d say build quality is far better than Well Tempered.
 
Alex S said:
A golf ball is one of the best engineered and built things on the planet :)
Click to expand...

You can better it though. One problem is that rotational friction in the goo is significant. There are other flaws in the design IMO. It's brilliant and inspirational but I've moved on.
 
Alex S said:
A golf ball is one of the best engineered and built things on the planet :)
Click to expand...

Especially the blue ones lol!

My Simplex is a wonderful thing, I love
its quirkiness and I think it sounds ace. But the LP12 is on another level from a build quality perspective.
 
JezmondTutu said:
Since when has the main bearing of a LP12 degraded quickly? Mine was absolutely fine after 30 years of use before I swapped it for a Karousel.

I’d say build quality is far better than Well Tempered.
Click to expand...
I replaced mine after a couple of years but hey each to their own the prob with the LP12 is design the ball race arm bearings however tightly controlled the tolerances are a uni pivot arm supersedes it an inverted uni pivot with controlled damping has all the advantages and none of the short fails
 
Julian Slinn said:
I replaced mine after a couple of years but hey each to their own the prob with the LP12 is design the ball race arm bearings however tightly controlled the tolerances are a uni pivot arm supersedes it an inverted uni pivot with controlled damping has all the advantages and none of the short fails
Click to expand...

Each to their own definitely. I’ve had an Aro for well over 20 years, also have had two Ittoks & an Ekos, all really good from my experience of them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top