My Teres Audio Certus 450 Turntable

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by richteer

Bummer!



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

Hi Rich,

Yes, it is a bit disappointing having to hurry up and wait. But, I do not have the tools or experience in setting up a turntable, much less one this expensive and heavy. This monster with all of the parts, etc. must weigh in at least 175 pounds or so. I do not think that there have ever been more than several hundred? Teres turntables ever made, and I think only about 10 Certus Turntables- somewhere around 7 Certus 460 and now 3 Certus 450 (mine is the 3rd and Chris' will be the 4th- these were flip flopped in sequence).

As to what is a Pelican Case, they are a hard sided case used for carrying and shipping camera equipment, electronic equipment, computers, guns, bicycles, etc. I have 3- 3 for my Camera Gear and 1 for my tripods. Here is their website link:

http://www.casesbypelican.com/pelica...FeRM5QodbQMqKg

Rich

[naturephoto1]

I just opened a Photobucket account and wanted to post the original photo of my Teres Audio Turntable prior to shipping. Other photos of the Turntable, Tonearm, Cartridge, and Phono Preamp will be coming later. The Turntable and Tonearm, and Cartridge Photos to follow after installation on April 25.



Rich

[naturephoto1]

I spoke with Chris Brady of Teres Audio and went over the upcoming installation of the Teres Turntable/Soundsmith system for tomorrows installation.

The latest upgraded Onkyo PR-SC885 arrived late this afternoon without any issues. It is back in my audio rack and ready for the installation of the Turntable System.

I will start to report on the Turntable system tomorrow or Sunday.

Rich

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

I spoke with Chris Brady of Teres Audio and went over the upcoming installation of the Teres Turntable/Soundsmith system for tomorrows installation.

The latest upgraded Onkyo PR-SC885 arrived late this afternoon without any issues. It is back in my audio rack and ready for the installation of the Turntable System.

I will start to report on the Turntable system tomorrow or Sunday.

Rich

Planning on sleeping tonight?

[richteer]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

I will start to report on the Turntable system tomorrow or Sunday.

Rich

If you can drag yourself away from it long enough! Have fun setting up and playing with your new toys--you've earned it!

[naturephoto1]

Here are some photos of the new gear:

Top Photo shows my entire Analog system consisting of the Teres Audio Certus 450 Turntable, Teres Audio Reference Tonearm, Soundsmith Strain Gauge Cartridge, Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp, VPI 16.5 Record Clearning Machine, and Adona AV45G 3 tier Rack



2nd Photo shows Teres Audio Certus 450 Turntable, Teres Audio Certus Control Unit, Teres Audio Reference Tonearm, Soundsmith Strain Gauge Cartridge, Soundsmith Strain Gauge Phono Preamp Power Box





The 4th Photo shows the Teres Audio Certus 450 Turntable Platter spinning as playing a record











Rich

[naturephoto1]

Now I will try to give you some preliminary listening experience that Chris Brady and I had in regards to my system, speakers, Turntable set-up, and my upgraded Denon 5910 DVD player and upgraded Lavry DA10 DAC.

Chris and I had to get the Teres Audio Certus 450 turntable set-up yesterday and to get The Teres Audio Reference Tonearm, and the Soundsmith Strain Gauge Cartridge aligned. My Certus 450 is the 3rd of these large turntables to be prepared; the new selling price of these turntables will be around $17,000 (plus $400 upgrade to the "Mystery Feet") without an arm and cartridge. I have the first Teres Audio Reference Tonearm that has been made with all of the latest changes and innovations and wiring; the new price of these tonearms will be around $4850. The Soundsmith Strain Gauge Cartridge, Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp with Rosewood outer wood in my configuration, and the extra top of the line stylus costs approximately $9,300.

The Teres Audio Certus Control box will be changed to a less expensive box in the future and according to Chris, I have the last of this design. These boxes have standardly used Still points under the box for the best performance.

Once we finally got everything set up, we started to fine tune the tonearm adjustments to match the best performance of the Strain Gauge Cartridge. We then went back and confirmed our listening observations.

Chris Brady of Teres Audio was quite impressed with the system. We replaced the Still points on the Teres Certus Control box with the "Mystery Feet" which he had had experience with improving his less expensive Verus control box and motor. Chris was absolutely amazed by what we were hearing and what I had speculated came true. When working with the "Mystery Feet instead of the still points on my Adona Rack (Granite/MDF platform system), both Chris and my mouths did this: We confirmed our listening experiences several times as we switched back and forth between the feet and fine tuned the settings. We were listening to some really well pressed and recorded LPs including the expensive Better Records Hot Stamper of Peter Gabriel's Security. After hearing the difference between the feet, Chris said that my $17,000 Certus 450 with the "Mystery Feet" now sounded better than the big brother, the Certus 460 with the soon to be asked selling price of $22,000 just for the turntable and that was without basically any break in for the Certus Control Box electronics or the Soundsmith Strain Gauge Cartridge and Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp. Chris also indicated that from these results, he would start offering these feet with the Certus Turntables with the approximately $400 difference in the price between the "Mystery Feet" and the Still Points.

Chris has a preference for the sound of Horn speaker designs. He has heard Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers before and knows how they normally sound. However, my speakers are a one of a kind, mirror imaged, totally rebuilt and upgraded pair with 2 soft dome Dynaudio Drivers (tweeter and upper midrange) along with an open backed Peerles lower midrange driver, and a proprietary woofer for each speaker cabinet. The system has been set up as a biwire system with 2 sets of binding posts, totally rewired with 12 Gauge Van den Hull Teflon Silver over Copper wire, an entirely new crossover system, re-stuffed and resealed woofer chamber, etc. Chris made the observation that my Dahlquist DQ-10 cabinets had the general flavor or sound of the DQ-10s but these were the 1st dome and cone driver speaker design that he had heard that had the characters and general sound of an extremely good horn speaker system. The speakers were delicate, but powerful, very dynamic (the DQ-10s were not known for this), extremely detailed, sweat sounding, extremely fast, extremely percussive, very good bass, excellent imaging and soundstage, depth, etc.

What we were hearing for the sound of the system was just extraordinary and all of the components (amps, Pre/Pro, Power conditioning) and upgrades, speakers, cables, power cords, tweaks, etc. were working together for what we were experiencing. For those reading this, the latest upgraded version of the Onkyo 885 Pre/Pro only arrived late on Friday and those parts need additional burn-in. As an example, the Peter Gabriel Security LP sounded wonderful, with tremendous air, presence, life, depth, "blackness", bell like qualities, detail, information, remarkably well controlled bass, percussive sound, emotion, etc.

For those that do not think that vinyl can put out much bass, you need to hear a properly set-up analog system with the right speakers, wires, power cords, etc. If you do not think that footers and tweaks can make a difference, you would be extremely mistaken as Chris and I heard the difference with the "Mystery Feet" believe it or not under the Control Box for the Turntable and we both recognized it at the same time within about three notes.

We did find that the special Herbie's Grungebuster dots under the Teres 450 feet had a very positive affect for audio performance of the turntable. However, the Herbie's Record Mat sucked the life out of the sound and that was removed from the system. This morning, I also listened to the set-up with the Herbie's Cone/Spike Grounding Base under the "Mystery Feet". They may have added a little body to the sound, but I think that I preferred the "Mystery Feet" alone under the Teres Certus Control Box. I will have to listen to this comparison some more to make the final assessment.

As to the sound of my upgraded Denon 5910 DVD player and the upgraded Lavry DA10 DAC, Chris was again very positively impressed. With the upgrades on these components, well recorded redbook CDs approach the sound of an SACD or a DVD-A disk. Chris felt that my digital system was most definitely a cut above, but we both thought that overall the turntable system sounded better.

Rich

[btf1980]

That is an utterly gorgeous turntable.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Hi Rich,

I honestly didn't think you'd be on this weekend at all. Those are some great pictures and you must be absolutely beside yourself to now have it actually setup and running. I can only imagine the anticipation you must have felt queing up that first LP and waiting for that first note to reach your ears.

A lot of us have a tendency to get very clinical and analytical when trying to describe our systems in whole or in part, so let me ask you straight...what do you really think so far? (you are not allowed to use audio lingo in your answer...LOL)

John

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by John72953

Hi Rich,

I honestly didn't think you'd be on this weekend at all. Those are some great pictures and you must be absolutely beside yourself to now have it actually setup and running. I can only imagine the anticipation you must have felt queing up that first LP and waiting for that first note to reach your ears.

A lot of us have a tendency to get very clinical and analytical when trying to describe our systems in whole or in part, so let me ask you straight...what do you really think so far? (you are not allowed to use audio lingo in your answer...LOL)

John

Let me put it this way, I think that once we finally got everything adjusted and with the "Mystery Feet" under the Teres Certus Control unit and we listened to Peter Gabriel's Security LP, Chris and I probably thought "Holy s**t".

Rich

Rich

[Big Daddy]

Finally, after one year of waiting. You are a patient man.

Me want your turntable.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Let me put it this way, I think that once we finally got everything adjusted and with the "Mystery Feet" under the Teres Certus Control unit and we listened to Peter Gabriel's Security LP, Chris and I probably thought "Holy s**t".

Rich

Rich

That's uber-fantastic to hear!

John

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by John72953

That's uber-fantastic to hear!

John

John,

You can't use a German word that became popular in English by a Punk Band. You should know that Punk and Turntables do not mix.

Term with literal meaning of "above" in German. Brought to the mainstream in the early 80's by hardcore American punk band, the Dead Kennedys when using the term in the anti-Californian government song "California Uber Alles", which is a take off the German motto of "Deustchland Uber Alles", which translates to "Germany above all." The term was picked up in their native California stomping grounds by the typical surfers and "punks" and extended from there to many teenagers, the majority of which use the term online.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Now I will try to give you some preliminary listening experience that Chris Brady and I had in regards to my system, speakers, Turntable set-up, and my upgraded Denon 5910 DVD player and upgraded Lavry DA10 DAC.

Congrats for finally having your new analogue front end set up, and for sharing your initial impressions with us! Enjoy!

[naturephoto1]

For those interested, the photos of my analog Turntable system are now posted in my gallery.

After listening a bit more to the whole turntable system, I am starting to learn more and more about its capabilities. First of all, I want to make a point that the Direct Drive Motor of this particular turntable design enables the noise floor to drop lower than just about any turntable that I am aware of even the best belt driven turntables. Because of the noise being so low for this turntable, when an extremely well cleaned, well recorded, excellent pressing of a disk (with outstanding top to bottom sound with all of the proper qualities) this turntable set-up can really extract the detail, sound, and information. As a result the turntable has the ability to extract a lot of low level detail and information along with minute micro and even macro dynamics.

The turntable can not make a dirty, or poorly recorded, or poor quality pressing sound good, but it can make those with all of the best qualities really "sing".

I have a lot of vinyl that most definitely needs cleaning so that I can find out just how good the LP is in terms of sound reproduction. This really puts a strain on the quality of the LP being played. I have noted just how good some of those really expensive Hot Stampers from Better Records can sound as well as those that are from Better Records that have been extremely well cleaned.

For those of you that are enjoying or beginning to enjoy vinyl, make sure that you use an effective cleaning system to really hear what is recorded. You will be happy (happier) with the results particularly if the vinyl is well recorded and well pressed.

This turntable set-up really has the qualities of PRAT in spades which many in the audiophile community like to use to describe the qualities and performance of a turntable. PRAT is an acronym for P= Pace, R= Rhythm, A= And, T= Timing.

I have to agree with Chris Brady's assessment that my Certus 450, with the Mystery Feet, the Teres Reference Tonearm, Soundsmith Strain Gauge Cartride, and Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp sounds better than the Teres Certus 460 (larger and much more expensive model) that was demonstrated 10 months ago. When we listened to the Certus 460 we were using the Still Points under the Control Box, different cartridges (some with a $7,000 list price), an early Teres Reference Prototype Tonearm, and the Schroeder Reference Tonearm.

I can not wait until the Strain Gauge Cartridge continues to break in; at around the 50 hour mark we anticipate a real performance improvement. I also look forward to getting a real listening room where I will have real acoustic treatments and even better main speakers.

Rich

[Intamin]

I'd just like to say that when you get the new speakers, I may be finding an excuse to head to PA, not that you don't already have a compelling enough reason to make a stop and listen. I just can't imagine what it sounds like now, much less with the new speakers... Actually, my excuse will be to visit Dorney Park, and I'll just happen to stumble by your house to have a listen.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Hi Rich,

You've had almost a week now to listen to your new Teres 450 and I was wondering what other observations about the sound and/or performance you've noticed. Also, what about the physical interaction between you, your vinyl and the TT from a user perspective. Is it a comfortable interaction?

John

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by John72953

Hi Rich,

You've had almost a week now to listen to your new Teres 450 and I was wondering what other observations about the sound and/or performance you've noticed. Also, what about the physical interaction between you, your vinyl and the TT from a user perspective. Is it a comfortable interaction?

John

Hi John,

Though it may seem like almost a week, it is really a bit like 4+ days. The other half was here and she doesn't really like the "noise" too much when she is working.

I am getting more accustomed to the operations of both the Certus 450 and the Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp. There was a dimmer switch that was put on the back of the Phono Preamp (ordered that way), but in their infinite wisdom, Soundsmith omitted to indicate how it operated in the owners manual or when I had spoken with them in the past. I only found out how the dimmer worked I believe on Tuesday.

Additionally, I have been spending some of my time (besides here on this forum) in contact with Peter Lederman, President, chief engineer and chief designer of Soundsmith. I had sent photos of my set-up to him. At his request, I have made much larger fairly high resolution images that Soundsmith will be able to post on their website of my set-up: the Certus 450 Turntable, Certus Reference Tonearm along with the Soundsmith Strain Gauge Cartridge, Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp, and the Adona Rack System.

I am getting accustomed to the fact that the Teres Reference Tonearm has no finger lift. So, I am getting used to the lack of this feature. At Chris Brady's suggestion, I just use the tonearm lift when the tonearm is not on a record. That way I just have to swing the arm over to place the stylus on the LP and to move it back to its resting place. Additionally, I am becoming more familiar with the usage of the Certus Control Box and watching for the "Green" indicator showing that the platter is maintaining proper speed as well as the Teres Audio Record Clamp.

If you check my previous post, made last night, I commented about listening observations that I have been making in the last several days.

I do have to start working with the record cleaning products so that I can better use my vinyl collection and find out just how good many of the records are. I plan on using a system that will rely on steam and the Walker liquid and brush cleaning system along with my VPI 16.5 record machine. But, I have to read the forums more carefully over at Audiogon to figure out how to apply the proper steps.

Rich

[J6P]

Hello Rich,

Moving a question over here from your gallery, to wit:

...Teres Audio is the only turntable maker to make their platters out of wood and the wood actually contributes to the audio performance of the turntable. There is a lead shot loaded phenolic core that is inside of the wood covering. I believe that the tonearm may also be made of the same wood; it is certainly stained the same. But I would have to confirm this with Chris.

Are wooden tonearms as rare as Teres Audio's wooden platter? Did they innovate this as well? I confess to knowing next to nothing about the high-end turntable market, but I certainly know excellence when I see it.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by J6P

Hello Rich,

Moving a question over here from your gallery, to wit:



Are wooden tonearms as rare as Teres Audio's wooden platter? Did they innovate this as well? I confess to knowing next to nothing about the high-end turntable market, but I certainly know excellence when I see it.

There are a few makers of wooden tonearms. I have the only Teres Reference Tonearm at present though there are some Prototypes that led to my arm. Chris Brady is of the opinion that my tonearm sounds better than the Schroeder Reference Tonearm (possibly better than the SQ version). Chris has added his own take and slant on the design of the Teres Reference Tonearm.

I believe that Chris Brady has decided that my arm is the top of the line though he may make a longer arm version. He also intends to offer less expensive versions of my arm in the future.

The best known maker of wooden tonearms are those made by Schroeder though there are also some others. The Schroeder Tonearms are quite expensive with the Reference SQ the most expensive with the Reference just below that. All the Schroeder tonearms are made by hand by Frank Schroeder in Germany. The Schroeder tonearms have mated very well with the Teres Turntables and Teres Audio is or was a Schroeder dealer. However, at present I believe that there is a 2 year waiting period on these arms which is part of the reason that Chris Brady of Teres Audio decided to design and manufacture his own tonearms.

Below are some photos of the Schroeder wooden tonearms:







Rich