My Teres Audio Certus 450 Turntable

[naturephoto1]

For those that have been keeping track and keeping score, there is finally some good news on the preparation of my Teres Audio Certus 450 Turntable (that I first brought up in November), the brass plating is completed and it looks very good. Chris Brady of Teres Audio has indicated that hopefully the finished turntable will finally ship either later today or tomorrow after waiting for over 9 months.

I am providing the cell phone photos that Chris sent of the work being done on my particular turntable. Chris forgot his digital camera, but they do not look too bad. Chris has indicated that he will send me more photos probably later today/evening after the turntable is completed. The finished Turntable weighs 145 pounds. The turntable will be sent to me and Chris will hand carry the fragile Teres Audio Beta Test Reference Tonearm when he comes to install the whole system including the Soundsmith Strain Gauge Phono Cartridge and Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp.

Rich

[Johnny Vinyl]

Great news Rich!

I guess you'll have it then by the weekend?

John

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by John72953

Great news Rich!

I guess you'll have it then by the weekend?

John

Hi John,

I don't think that I will have it certainly assembled by the weekend. Chris and I have to work out the schedule as to when he will bring the Tonearm and install everything and the Turntable is being shipped from Denver. That will in all likelihood be a weekend, because unlike some of us, Chris does have a full time day job with Cray Computers. I will keep everyone posted. This could be an interesting several weeks with the Turntable and the anticipated comparison of the stock versus upgraded components.

Rich

[richteer]

Great news! You must be getting pretty excited now that delivery day is getting near...

[naturephoto1]

I have not received any photos of the Turntable in semi-complete form, but I just received FEDEX tracking info that 2 packages with a total weight of 202 are being sent to me from Teres Audio in Denver.

Hopefully, it will arrive sometime next week.

However, due to the Easter holiday weekend, I suspect that I may not be able to have the turntable installed until April 18 or 19. But, I will have to hear from Chris Brady as to when he can come east. It is even possible, but unlikely that this could be as early as the weekend of April 4 and 5.

Rich

[Johnny Vinyl]

WOW!...It's getting close Rich! You must thrilled! I know I would be! Be sure to take some pictures and post them!

John

[richteer]

Originally Posted by John72953

WOW!...It's getting close Rich! You must thrilled! I know I would be! Be sure to take some pictures and post them!

John

Agreed--lots of pics are a must!

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by richteer

Agreed--lots of pics are a must!

Yes..Mr. naturephoto1!

John

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by John72953

WOW!...It's getting close Rich! You must thrilled! I know I would be! Be sure to take some pictures and post them!

John

I just got an e-mail from Chris Brady that I am going to cut and paste here and include the photo of the turntable (Chris has told me that this is the 3rd Certus 450 turntable ever made and there may have been about 6 or 7 of the big brother Certus 460 ever made).

Rich,

Sorry for the slow response. Your table shipped today via FedEx. You
should have gotten the tracking numbers is a separate email.

Attached is a picture of the complete table. Sorry for the not so great
quality.

I need to once more apologize for another shipment delay. We discovered
a fatal flaw with the platter that we planned to use for your table on
Monday. Fortunately we have a platter in progress for the new Teres
Certus that we were able to use. It was just a blank that had not been
turned yet. Fortunately our machinist was willing to do a quick
turnaround to machine the platter.

For some reason this has been by far the most difficult Certus turntable
we have built. There were problems at every turn... We were joking
wondering if it's your bad karma or ours that was causing all the
trouble.

In the end the result ended up being very good. I think that this has
ended up being the nicest looking 450 we have built. I am sure that it
will give you years of great music.

Chris

I just wanted to keep everyone up to date. Apparently this has been trying for all of us. Chris will also be bringing some special feet as an alternative to be used under the control box along with the 1st Beta Test Teres Reference Tonearm.

Rich

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Attached is a picture of the complete table.

One word.....SWEET

John

[naturephoto1]

Fedex shows that the 2 packages containing the turntable parts will arrive tentatively on April 1. However, there is potential bad weather and flooding in the mid part of the country that may interfere with the delivery date.

From what Chris Brady of Teres Audio has told me, the turntable is in a Pelican shipping case. But since there are 2 packages, maybe there are 2 Pelican cases. The weight of the 2 packages are listed as having a total weight of 202 pounds with 1 package weighing 54.5 pounds and the other package weighing 148 pounds. So, I am not sure of the distribution of the turntable parts. The turntable platter is supposed to weigh 65 pounds and whole turntable is supposed to weigh 145 pounds including the base and the platter. I am not sure of the weight of the motor controller box. I can see that the driver and I may have a bit of a time getting the 148 pound package up the steps and into the house.

I will try to take some digital photos as the pieces sit in the boxes when the turntable arrives. But, I will probably wait for Chris to get here to remove the turntable to install everything.

As to the photos, be aware I have been a film based photographer for all of these years. I know that I should be able to take a good digital photo of the turntable, but I may have some problems getting everything adjusted properly for brightness, contrast and color in Photoshop. I really have to learn this better, but I have had my own master printer (one of the best and best known in the US) for my Fine Art Photos for last 14 1/2 years.

Rich

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Fedex shows that the 2 packages containing the turntable parts will arrive tentatively on April 1. However, there is potential bad weather and flooding in the mid part of the country that may interfere with the delivery date.

From what Chris Brady of Teres Audio has told me, the turntable is in a Pelican shipping case. But since there are 2 packages, maybe there are 2 Pelican cases. The weight of the 2 packages are listed as having a total weight of 202 pounds with 1 package weighing 54.5 pounds and the other package weighing 148 pounds. So, I am not sure of the distribution of the turntable parts. The turntable platter is supposed to weigh 65 pounds and whole turntable is supposed to weigh 145 pounds including the base and the platter. I am not sure of the weight of the motor controller box. I can see that the driver and I may have a bit of a time getting the 148 pound package up the steps and into the house.

I will try to take some digital photos as the pieces sit in the boxes when the turntable arrives. But, I will probably wait for Chris to get here to remove the turntable to install everything.

As to the photos, be aware I have been a film based photographer for all of these years. I know that I should be able to take a good digital photo of the turntable, but I may have some problems getting everything adjusted properly for brightness, contrast and color in Photoshop. I really have to learn this better, but I have had my own master printer (one of the best and best known in the US) for my Fine Art Photos for last 14 1/2 years.

Rich

Hi Rich,

If I had waited as long as you and with the investment you have made, I would also wait for Chris to handle the setup - with your assistance no doubt and as it should be.

Regarding the photos, if you have any issues let me know and I'll let you borrow my super-duper Canon 710is! !

Film or digital...pictures are a must...excuses are NOT acceptable!

John

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by John72953

Hi Rich,

If I had waited as long as you and with the investment you have made, I would also wait for Chris to handle the setup - with your assistance no doubt and as it should be.

Regarding the photos, if you have any issues let me know and I'll let you borrow my super-duper Canon 710is! !

Film or digital...pictures are a must...excuses are NOT acceptable!

John

Oh I have 3 digital cameras (Canon G9 and G10 point and shoots, and the Panasonic Lumix G1 camera that I received a short time ago and must learn), but its the digital darkroom question. I have fiddled to a limited extent in Photoshop earlier versions from 4.0 to CS 3; but now I have CS4 and I haven't been in a darkroom and that was a Black and White Darkroom since about 1986 or 1987 as the Chief Photographer for the Rutgers University, Newark, NJ campus Newspaper. I'll do the best that I can to clean things up and to make the adjustments.

Rich

[naturephoto1]

When I spoke with Chris Brady of Teres Audio not too long ago he had indicated that because his material costs had gone up so much, that he was going to have to raise his pricing on the Certus turntables soon. I was just looking at the Teres website and all of the pricing information has been removed for the Certus turntables and it now says to contact them for pricing and availability. I am afraid to ask what the pricing is now for the Certus 450, and the Certus 460 both with and without the Gibraltar stand; hopefully the problems with my turntable are not a big contributor to the price increase.

Rich

[Big Daddy]

Good to hear that you will finally get your equipment. They should give a discount of 10% for every month they made you wait.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Good to hear that you will finally get your equipment. They should give a discount of 10% for every month they made you wait.

Gee, that would be a hefty savings, but I don't think that Chris could afford that especially since I think that the turntable price may have increased in price a couple of thousand dollars since I ordered it. Maybe I can persuade him to take a little off for the special replacement feet that he has suggested to put under the control unit box though.

Rich

[naturephoto1]

The arrival date is here!!! The turntable components are in 2 boxes. One is a cardboard box inside of a large rolling Pelican Case (which I presume is the turntable base and platter). The other is in a cardboard box (the 54.4 pound box) which I presume holds the motor control box. Later, I will at least open up the the smaller cardboard box and see what is inside. I will open the cardboard box inside the Pelican Case an see what can be seen. But, I will leave all of this for Chris' arrival. Depending upon what I can see and access, I may take some photos and upload them, but that will have to wait till later.

Rich

[richteer]

Hurrah! You must feel and of course,

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by richteer

Hurrah! You must feel and of course,

Rich,

Thanks very much. But, it looks like now it is a waiting game. Chris will not be available till April 25 to install the turntable.

I did speak with Chris though, and he informs me that the Turntable platter is in the separate Cardboard box. It turns out that they have changed the brass thickness I blieve 1" to 3/4" on the Platter and it is no longer a 65 pound platter but something closer to 50? pounds. I will take a look at this and peak in the other box a little later.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Rich,

Thanks very much. But, it looks like now it is a waiting game. Chris will not be available till April 25 to install the turntable.

Bummer!

I did speak with Chris though, and he informs me that the Turntable platter is in the separate Cardboard box. It turns out that they have changed the brass thickness I blieve 1" to 3/4" on the Platter and it is no longer a 65 pound platter but something closer to 50? pounds. I will take a look at this and peak in the other box a little later.

That reminds me: what on Earth is a Pelican Case?