Before we begin:

• YMMV and everything is relative.
• The Doctor will offer his opinions separately.
• If you don't agree with me, my army of sycophants will beat you to death by parroting my words

I chose Talking Heads Little Creatures because the CD and vinyl masters were more comparable to each other than not. I'm also very familiar with it and it is one of the albums I most often listen to. I believe I have three copies of the vinyl. Finally, I didn't want to compare recordings which are totally different as this can skew the results too far one way or the other depending upon the recordings used.

Let's first discuss the tables. We used the best two preamps (to be discussed later) on hand to compare tables.

#3 Technics / AT 440:


This table sucks. I've heard this table a million times. Never liked it, never will. I have an old Technics table (not this DJ version) still at my parents house. The DJ table isn't much better. Totally overrated. By this I mean I'd rather listen to Yggy or Gumby. On an overall basis, might be on par with DS Gungnir, but this is really a difficult comparison since the formats' strengths and weaknesses are diametrically opposite. I don't know why people keep recommending this table, but I guess it's because it's cheap and really not much else better at the same price.

The table is heavy. That's a good thing. The lightweight platter and direct drive doesn't do it any favors. Greyish blackground, kind of has a chug chug chug feeling. Don't get that nice stable blackness of the VPI. Bass is horrendous. Gooey warmth and lushness. Soft squishy dynamics. By far the least resolving. Don't know whether to blame the AT440, the arm, or both for lack of resolution. IMO, this is bad turntable sound.

How did Adam's Technics compare with the one at the Brooks meet? That one was OJ's with the same cart and sounded better than the Yggy. The 440 on my garbage Dual is even more resolving. Makes me wonder about his setup among other things...

Hard to say since I don't have any Led Zeppelin records in the house. I only started to like them later because only stoners in high school listened to Zeppelin. Brooks meet had different variables like different amp, recordings, and carts.

You guys didn't roll any carts using the same table?

No. Would have taken too long to setup - it's not plug and play - and I lack precision VTF gauges which are needed for the JMW arm, and other stuff like azimuth is a pain with that arm. No idea what idea VTF would be with the AT440 or if it would even be a good match for the JMW arm. I don't know about the condition of the AT440.

For the gauge Marv, just buy the Shure tracking force gauge...no need for ANYTHING else really.

For Azimuth, a quick, dirty and actually very good way is this:

1) Make sure the turntable is perfectly level.
2) After aligning the cartridge and making sure the VTA is good,
3) Get a standard CD (not CD-R's but real silver discs) and place on the turntable platter with the label surface down.
4) Lower the needle onto the CD and take a look at the reflection.  You want the cantilever and it's reflection to make a straight line.  If there is any discrepancy, it will be really easy to tell from the reflection if the cartridge azimuth is too much one way or the other.

Enjoy!

Was alignment verified at all? Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to have two different 1200's sound different. Those things have been beat up over the years by god knows what.

We used the Talking Heads vinyl at the Brooks meet. Led Zeppelin was at your house awhile back.

Excellent question...I did NOT get a chance to verify the alignment on EITHER tables.  Doc needed to head out for his baseball game, so we just didn't get the time to do a full quality check like I always do for turntables.  Though I've become very efficient at setting up turntables, it takes some time and is a labor of love.  All the details really matter to make the table sing to its best abilities.