Does anyone have experience with these? - Most interesting with their liquid arm suspension but apparently no anti-skate.
I suggest google, but here is a link : https://www.welltemperedlab.net/products/simplex/
Sorry, I don't know how to make it live, so copy & paste.
Sorry, I don't know how to make it live, so copy & paste.
A close friend built a clone more than 40 years ago...
Yet, the antiskate has suddenly gone missing making people VERY suspicious😎
Yet, the antiskate has suddenly gone missing making people VERY suspicious😎
I expect it is much better implemented than the Black Widow. It was not good.
The golf-ball in a silicon bath works amazing well … according to rviews i have seen —many were skeptical going in.
Gets around the dilema of good (and expensive) bearings.
dave
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These tables have been around for a long time. Supposedly the ball floating in a bath of silicon fluid solves a lot of issues.... there a few on hifishark for sale.... the prices are quite reasonable.
https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/tested-the-well-tempered-amadeus-turntable-and-tonearm/
https://www.stereophile.com/turntables/899wtt/index.html
... but it has one fundamental problem: How do you ship it?
Anti-skate seems to be a religious thing nowadays. I've run my Linn LP12 with no anti skate for eons. First the Ittok, now the Ekos.
https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/tested-the-well-tempered-amadeus-turntable-and-tonearm/
https://www.stereophile.com/turntables/899wtt/index.html
... but it has one fundamental problem: How do you ship it?
Anti-skate seems to be a religious thing nowadays. I've run my Linn LP12 with no anti skate for eons. First the Ittok, now the Ekos.
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If High Fidelity is your aim by any and all means possible, look no further.
The best anti skate out there, engineering genius. It floats in the groove no imbalance of pressure to L or R.
Engineers out all metal to metal contact in the pivot, think about that...
I had one, the biggest regret ever was selling it, a very stupid move.
If you're getting the arm alone, the deck must be super quiet, they pick up everything.
Would recommend multi platter isolation, two platters minimum.
Stereo separation the best i've heard, the cartridge is damped by a highly viscose silicone. Clarity mind blowing.
They will get the best out of any cartridge you set on it, they get more output from a M.C.
If i was getting one today, a full enclosure lid custom made to cover the entire thing would be on the list,
as cleaning the goop out of that cup to replace it is not something you want to repeat, my one was Second Hand.
A bit of a fiddle to set up, but once they are, wow.
Bill is an engineering guru out of NASA.
His 'come back' was the Amadeus, there has been many models since.
Get one you will never regret it. You will not get better for the money.
There are few that would compare to the bar that the WTA sets , one of them is...
A headshell trough version by Townsend, Townsend Rock. Same principal, different end of the tone arm.
The best anti skate out there, engineering genius. It floats in the groove no imbalance of pressure to L or R.
Engineers out all metal to metal contact in the pivot, think about that...
I had one, the biggest regret ever was selling it, a very stupid move.
If you're getting the arm alone, the deck must be super quiet, they pick up everything.
Would recommend multi platter isolation, two platters minimum.
Stereo separation the best i've heard, the cartridge is damped by a highly viscose silicone. Clarity mind blowing.
They will get the best out of any cartridge you set on it, they get more output from a M.C.
If i was getting one today, a full enclosure lid custom made to cover the entire thing would be on the list,
as cleaning the goop out of that cup to replace it is not something you want to repeat, my one was Second Hand.
A bit of a fiddle to set up, but once they are, wow.
Bill is an engineering guru out of NASA.
His 'come back' was the Amadeus, there has been many models since.
Get one you will never regret it. You will not get better for the money.
There are few that would compare to the bar that the WTA sets , one of them is...
A headshell trough version by Townsend, Townsend Rock. Same principal, different end of the tone arm.
What is it you suspect is not good about it? I have one on a spare table, and it works quite well with appropriate cartridge.
Unfortunately, MC are not going to work out, but many MM carts are perfect.
You say this Simple works amazing well, "from the reviews you've read" so I assume you haven't actually heard one, right?..
Same with Black Widow? BTW, mine does not have the dampening rig a few of the later ones did, I've never seen that version.
Russellc
Here's a take on the Simplex turntable
https://www.witchdoctor.co.nz/2010/well-tempered-lab-simplex-turntable-review/
https://www.witchdoctor.co.nz/2010/well-tempered-lab-simplex-turntable-review/
Huh? Skating force is due to the cartridge being at an angle to the arm. The triangle of forces has to be completed with side-pressure from the groove. Friction force pulls the stylus along the groove, this is partially balanced by tension in the arm (due to the angle), so the rest has to come from the inner-wall of the groove, putting side-load on the cantilever.
The normal solution is to apply a small adjustable torque on the arm to compensate. Or have a long arm with a straight-mounted cartridge...
The Simplex turntable doesn't appear to have any anti-skate mechanism. Very low tracking force means less friction and less skating force of course, so lower tracking force makes skate forces smaller.
This is not correct. Look at the picture again. The ball has the string connectetd to 2 points, pulled together at the top.
Twisting them by moving the arm inwards creates the nessecary force.
If in doubt, do try this at home. Put a string through the upper 1/3 of a golfball.
Hold the 2 ends together and turn the ball ½ a round. Let the ball go.
What happens??? 😉
Yes, it is possible to sort of imitate the anti-skating action by twisting the suspending strings. But that is NOT ENOUGH, such a suspention does not provide a stable vertical axis. The needle+groove friction tugs the cartridge+tonearm off the ideal position.
Besides this construction is being a uni-pivot by nature, this means HUGE variations of the VTF with even miniscule LP thickness variations and wobblings.
I typed so many words only to avoid using a four-letter one, - the crap, to fully describe that tonearm.
Besides this construction is being a uni-pivot by nature, this means HUGE variations of the VTF with even miniscule LP thickness variations and wobblings.
I typed so many words only to avoid using a four-letter one, - the crap, to fully describe that tonearm.
The anti-skating force needs to be constant, not varying with arm angle, as the tracking force is constant, so that mechanism doesn't seem to be correct, and its certainly not an adjustable calibrated force producing mechanism!
Are you sure?
The radius of the grove affects the skating, meaning it should change depending on how close to the centre it is playing. Skating will also change with modulation of the groove.
Over the set-up of 1,000s of TTs i always understood that the anti-skating settling was always a compromise.
dave
The radius of the grove affects the skating, meaning it should change depending on how close to the centre it is playing. Skating will also change with modulation of the groove.
Over the set-up of 1,000s of TTs i always understood that the anti-skating settling was always a compromise.
dave
Yep, that and that fact that it's suspended in highly viscose silicone so thick if you put a pencil upright in the 'cup' is would gently fall to horizontal... Held by gravity, anchored by viscosity. It has to be heard to be believed, I've been lucky enough to hear/ demo/ own Regas to SME's, Michelles to Linns and others. The Welll Tempered Arm/ Turntable is no small improvement on the classics. If you want to get results that improve on the predecessors, one has to think differently.
This is what Bill Firebaugh does and well he does it.
Theoretically, when you think about it, the counter force applied by twisting the threads that hold the arm upright should increase as you twist them. So, as the arm traverses the grooves inward, the twisting motion will change.
If the arm is set to be neutral on the inner groove, then the twisting motion will increase as it traverses inwards.
However, I have no clue how strong that force is.
Looking at the whole set up on that turntable, the one thing that pops out is the length of the available tonearms, which are pretty long, huh? That should minimize the need for anti skating force. Behold... a 16 inch tonearm...
https://www.analogplanet.com/content/well-tempered-royale-400—-those-who-it-long