A few days ago my wife and I went to our dealer so we could listen to our Scoutmaster Sig. and see if it was fixed. For some odd reason it appears that the original arm had some issues that crept up over time and had to be replaced. The dealer and VPI completely took care of everything for us and we were extremely happy to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Now we could finally spin some vinyl! When we arrived everything was already hooked up, and there was no time wasted for listening.:rocker: After a couple of albums it was apparent that the table was fixed and ready to go home with us. YES!!!!! Except for fun I put a record on the Well Tempered Amadeus TT, www.welltemperedlab.net ,to see what this table sounded like (especially since it was already hooked up to the same system.) Actually, I had heard this table once before when Mike Pranka (a real nice guy)from Dynavector gave a demo of their ultra elite cart on the Amadeus. He was accompanied by a rep (name escapes me at this time) from audioquest showing the differences between the original blue notes in pristine condition and the new limited edition reissued 45rpm's. To say the new blue notes sounded better would be an understatement. Ok, back to the TT..... I thought it odd that Mike would use a $2900 table to demo a $9000 cartridge but maybe he was out of options and that was the only one he could muster up at the time. My friend and I went over after the demonstration and kind of laughed at the design and commented to each other that there was no way I'd buy a golf ball turntable. I attributed the good sound I heard to the dynavector cartridge and wondered how well it would had performed if it were on a real table with a serious tonearm. How wrong I was!!!! Now, fast forward a couple of weeks and back to listening, with me putting a record on to the Well Tempered table. We had been listening to Diana Krall and Norah Jones so I chose Diana for a quick listen and the plan was to be out the door with my Scoutmaster and go home. Well, as soon as the first song, Little girl Blue, was half way through, my wife leaned over to me and said what I did not want to hear...."This sounds way better than ours". Ouch! My only ray of hope was that the cartridge on there was the difference and if I wanted mine to sound this good then I could just buy that cart, which was also a dynavector(XV-1 I think). So I decided to investigate futher and do a fair comparison. I asked if we could listen to the Amadeus(Well Tempered TT) against his VPI Aries 3 which had the exact same cartridge complete with the top of the line Dynavector arm. This way we could get a better idea as to how the Amadeus would perform against another very fine table using the same cartridge. So he moved the WTA to the other room where the Aries was and we listened again to both tables side by side. WOW!!!! I will not say that the Amadeus smoked it but there were some flame marks on the Aries
. I'm just kidding. Both tables sounded amazingly wonderful but if there was one better than the other I could not give a clear winner. Different presentations, yes, but the Amadeus sounded convincingly like a $10,000 + table. I inquired if he could equip the Amadeus with my cartridge(Karat 17d3) just in case we decided to change turntables. So the next day we traveled back to my dealer and listened again to the WTA only with my cart now playing the music. There was no doubt about it to my and my wife's ears that the Amadeus was much more musical and involving than my Scoutmaster Sig.; even with all the accessories(periphereal ring, center weight, SDS) being used. Now I know this may be hard to believe especially looking at a turntable that uses a golf ball as a bearing, and of course your opinion may vary, but I sold my Scoutmaster and all the trimmings (knew of someone who wanted mine) and bought the Amadeus that day.
There are a few catches however. It may be difficult to use another manufactures' arm with this table, but there are pictures around on the internet that have a Dynavector arm installed on the Amadeus. I'm not sure about this so if you like to fiddle this may be something you will want to check on. Also, as of right now there aren't a whole lot of different finishes available, it dosen't appear they are making the glossy acrylic version anymore, but there may be another alternative sometime later this year. Something that is not a positive or a negative but rather a point of interest is that there is no lifter. You have to lower the needle yourself. Just a note though on this, the way the bearing floats in silicone makes it really simple to place the needle on the record. With my former arm it was not near as smooth and effortless as this one, so it should not be a problem unless you are very accident prone. Another little surprise is it appears that the belt is some type of fishing line(let the jokes begin), but who cares as long as it works. And work it does, beautifully!! One more HUGE tidbit......After audtioning one of these bad boys you may find yourself as I was trying to sell off your current table and getting the Amadeus. It's that good!
Just so no one misunderstands me, please only take what I've typed as an encouragement to go and hear one for yourself. You may not be as moved as my wife and I were and therefore think that Fountain guy is a nut who has a golf ball fetish. However, if you are in the market and have a budget that is around $2900(includes table and arm) or even a $10,000 budget, put this table on your list. I do not believe you will be dissappointed and may even save thousands of dollars trying to achieve what the WTA does so effortlessly.
Glen
P.S.
Jeff (tonepub) are you going to be able to review this? I would be very interested in what you think.
. I'm just kidding. Both tables sounded amazingly wonderful but if there was one better than the other I could not give a clear winner. Different presentations, yes, but the Amadeus sounded convincingly like a $10,000 + table. I inquired if he could equip the Amadeus with my cartridge(Karat 17d3) just in case we decided to change turntables. So the next day we traveled back to my dealer and listened again to the WTA only with my cart now playing the music. There was no doubt about it to my and my wife's ears that the Amadeus was much more musical and involving than my Scoutmaster Sig.; even with all the accessories(periphereal ring, center weight, SDS) being used. Now I know this may be hard to believe especially looking at a turntable that uses a golf ball as a bearing, and of course your opinion may vary, but I sold my Scoutmaster and all the trimmings (knew of someone who wanted mine) and bought the Amadeus that day. There are a few catches however. It may be difficult to use another manufactures' arm with this table, but there are pictures around on the internet that have a Dynavector arm installed on the Amadeus. I'm not sure about this so if you like to fiddle this may be something you will want to check on. Also, as of right now there aren't a whole lot of different finishes available, it dosen't appear they are making the glossy acrylic version anymore, but there may be another alternative sometime later this year. Something that is not a positive or a negative but rather a point of interest is that there is no lifter. You have to lower the needle yourself. Just a note though on this, the way the bearing floats in silicone makes it really simple to place the needle on the record. With my former arm it was not near as smooth and effortless as this one, so it should not be a problem unless you are very accident prone. Another little surprise is it appears that the belt is some type of fishing line
(let the jokes begin), but who cares as long as it works. And work it does, beautifully!! One more HUGE tidbit......After audtioning one of these bad boys you may find yourself as I was trying to sell off your current table and getting the Amadeus. It's that good!Just so no one misunderstands me, please only take what I've typed as an encouragement to go and hear one for yourself. You may not be as moved as my wife and I were and therefore think that Fountain guy is a nut who has a golf ball fetish. However, if you are in the market and have a budget that is around $2900(includes table and arm) or even a $10,000 budget, put this table on your list. I do not believe you will be dissappointed and may even save thousands of dollars trying to achieve what the WTA does so effortlessly.
Glen
P.S.
Jeff (tonepub) are you going to be able to review this? I would be very interested in what you think.
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