As much as I can't keep my hands off the WTL Royale 400, and the repositioned Brinkmann Bardo, I am constantly drawn back to the Wax Engine from Consonance. This table has shaken me down to the core at how good it is. It just doesn't exhibit the flaws that all those mass marketed tables have. Take a look at all the tables under $2k, in every online catalog, and I'm here to tell you that this table, at $995, will outperform those tables musically. I keep looking at it, around it, underneath it, to see what makes it so special. I've been using it with the WTL TLC moving magnet cartridge, at $550, and what comes naturally for the Haven, the trusty Auditorium A23 interconnects. So thinking that the A23's are $795/m, almost as much as the table/arm, I decided to go back to my hobbyist roots, and use the lowest priced interconnects I have here, the Red River from Audioquest, at $119/m. Hey, I'll take one for the team. And still, still it was stellar. If I were British I'd be gobsmacked. In my youth I heard and had so many lesser tables, the Technics, the Yamahas, the Harman Kardons, the Pioneers, etc, and then as a retailer I compared the Regas (which I used to sell and still promote to a point), Pro-jects, Music Halls, VPI's, ad nauseam - the landmine of mediocrity, a friend likes to call it. After being rescued by the WTL's, and now with the Brinkmanns, the Helius, a few others, I suppose I could say I am a bit spoiled, being around these great tables. Sometimes I forget I'm a retailer. I often feel like a hobbyist with a nice collection, since it's mostly me listening or with a few blokes. See? I am British. Like sleeping on a great mattress, I was pampered. I knew my records were sounding better than most of yours. Yet my friends, my closest friends, the ones who keep me grounded, are fond of saying, but Charlie, most people wouldn't pay that kind of money for that kind of sound that you crave. And I hear that from a lot of customers.
Well then, I'll weep no more for you tonight. Because now anyone can afford superior music making out of a table/arm that is under $1k. And it's here. Right here at the Haven. And in stock even. Just think if we had all started out with a table like this, instead of all the claptraps we had. Give those damn beat up Duals a rest. That is not the holy grail no more. Stop trying to tweak those Technics 1200's. Pass all that along to someone you know who's interested in getting into vinyl, yet wouldn't spend more than $50 for a table. Be generous to them, and then to your ears. As I might have said before, bring your tables in for comparison if you like. I'm not a quick A-B compare it type, yet good is good and we can get to the bottom of it in fair fashion.
Well then, I'll weep no more for you tonight. Because now anyone can afford superior music making out of a table/arm that is under $1k. And it's here. Right here at the Haven. And in stock even. Just think if we had all started out with a table like this, instead of all the claptraps we had. Give those damn beat up Duals a rest. That is not the holy grail no more. Stop trying to tweak those Technics 1200's. Pass all that along to someone you know who's interested in getting into vinyl, yet wouldn't spend more than $50 for a table. Be generous to them, and then to your ears. As I might have said before, bring your tables in for comparison if you like. I'm not a quick A-B compare it type, yet good is good and we can get to the bottom of it in fair fashion.
My new affordable offering, the Wax Engine table/arm, sporting a TLC mm cartridge. Also shown with the indispensable Flux Sonic ultrasonic stylus cleaner. Do you have yours yet?
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