he $1m turntable cannot be far away....

and it'll still have an awful signal to noise ratio

And yet more pleasing than most digital

I'll wait until there's a Groupon deal.

All to play a mass pressed piece of vinyl. Too bad the mastering setup is not anywhere near that ridiculous. Anyone buying this silliness really needs a daily dose of Thorazine and padded upholstery.

I think you have it wrong....anyone who cares if somebody buys this needs meds and a padded rom. I dont get why so many get worked about how another spends their own money. When will nerds calm down and let nerds with more money just enjoy it however they wish?

It is just an obscene waste of money. by the same token, why should I care if someone gets bilked by the likes of Madoff? It is not my money but I am compelled to try to save someone from making a complete financial fool of themselves if at all possible. This is why we have bunko squads etc.

What a person does with their money is their business. Anyway someone purchasing an item like this isn't worried about next months Ford Fiesta car payment. What is obscene is $5 a gallon gas and a $14 Trillion dollar debt.

IME, if you see enough people blow the big bucks on big boats, big houses, plastic surgery and trophy wives, there isn't much that will really work you up.

But lets talk like we are wise men. Its all vanity, isn't it? I seriously doubt the economics of ultra-expensive high end gear. There are no public audited stats about sales and profits. We do see a lot of high end manufacturers come and go pretty quickly. There are a number of shell games in town where cheap guts get a bath and a shave and are encapsulated into very pric-cey audio jewelry.

Was there ever another copy of that six-figures amp, speaker, cable, or turntable besides the one that was photographed for the press releases and high end ragazines? Were there two?

Inquiring minds want to know, but most of us will lose no sleep if we never know for sure.

So of course, you also don't get "worked" and all defensive, when those same rational people in good mental health, laugh derisively, at those who spend their own money that way.
Cool, we're all on the same page then .


Brings back fond memories. Have you ever read this?
Hopefully we can all share a laugh...and not get all worked up, about folks sharing a laugh....at how others spend their money .

cheers,

AJ

I get worked up at people with so little to do they have to fill the time bashing those with the funds and passion to spend their own money however they wish. Some seriously need a life or maybe a better job so they arent so jealous. Many (not all) mock those who can do things they cant...its always been and will always be the case. But I know all will insist thats not true........smart people know better. If somebody is lucky enough to afford fancy AV gear, boats, wine, cars or whatever hurts nobody, infact they keep people working and pay hefty sales tax so what exactly is the problem? Grow up.

I'm all for companies than can separate morons from their cash. Have at it boys.

Tangential drive? Oh that belt thing.....
The rest of it just looks like a Goldbergesque wank and still misses fundamental design ideas that Andy Payor incorporated a decade ago for 1/10th the cost.

Not having a mega buck Rube Goldberg toy system because I don't have the funds to waste to buy it is a far cry from having the technical expertise to KNOW that there is zero benefit from wasting so much money when I could and DO use my funds for productive, rational and proven purposes.

That TT makes about as much sense as the 10,000.00 solid gold toilet seat.

BTW I own my own biz and have for many years. My clients are rather large and well known corporations in the entertainment field as well as professional audio visual production and presentation companies.

BTW#2, belt drives are more than 50 years old.

You are lecturing the wrong person.

IF I had a ton of spare cash laying about and wanted an expensive toy for myself, I would buy a Rockport Sirius. Payor is a terrific engineer and I love the elegance and completeness of his engineering and design work, and that along with the fact that it is still a practical object would give me a great deal of pleasure from it's ownership and use. As for it being a better performer than something more plebeian, it likely is, but it's also likely not enough of a difference to justify the difference in price for that alone. Bit like owning a Veyron and only driving it in traffic. It would get me point to point no faster than my 20 year old Ford, but damn if it's not a lovely piece of design and engineering and I could sit it in my house and just admire it. FWIW, Colin Chapman and John Britten are the two automotive engineers I have the most respect for.

In the mean time I will continue to enjoy my superbly engineered and modestly priced analogue replay device.


Sure that one does and is my point. It looks like an OCD nerds science project.


Big deal. I'm not impressed, I worked as an engineer in broadcast for many years.


Well, duh.

Why are so many people complaining about how one spends there money? Hint of jealousy would be the only true reason. If they can afford it. Why wouldn't they buy it? Heck. If I was wealthy enough to have a platinum toilet sitting on top of a room full of gold and jewels I'd do it. What works for some doesn't mean it works for others. Take electronics for example. Mac vs PC. Some people state they'd never buy a Mac because of it's price. You get less but pay more. How many people still end up with a Mac? They can afford it. It's what they like. Same with cameras, TVs ETC. If someone feels it's value is fair. They will buy it. That's just life.

Well your making too much sense for some here. I cant help but wonder why some rant and complain about something so harmless as buying expensive audio gear...but I like yourself noted jealousy is likely the main cause. But be prepared for fierce denial of that obvious fact cause admitting that would show how truely pathetic some are. I applaud wealth, success and the toys that come with it if desired.....some cant stand anothers luck, and it is sorta sad.

My response was based on the mistaken assertion that I sit here whining about not having sufficient funds to throw away on such abject silliness or am in some way feeling jealous. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The same applies to the 36,000.00 speaker cables or 12,000.00 power cables etc. I do spend a great deal on electronics in my home and business endeavors but each has a specific purpose, is engineered to practical and technically justified specifications as to function and performance and is priced in realistic terms.

I do enjoy reading about such foolish expenditures as the stories provide a great amount of laughter and conversational fodder.

After working in DC for many years and seeing the technical and financial waste every day on a massive scale, it became apparent that there are a number of audiophools in government. I have personally encountered several.

Yes, a good laugh is good for the soul so it isn't so much the fact that we care how people spend their money as much as we like to make fun of them for being silly (and have better health as well). Darn, it is going to be a great weekend.

From a novel I read years ago: "Who is John Galt?" from Ayn Rands novel Atlas Shrugged.

As for context, my first post in this thread was simply to laugh at the need to make up a funny new title for ye olde belt drive, and that whilst some of the developments the designer has incorporated, such as remote control to give the same functionality as a $20 CDP, actual solutions to the engineering issues of a TT seem to have been missed. And that a decade ago, for considerably less cost, you could have obtained them in a complete package. Or less if you applied some creative solutions, such as buying a secondhand vibraplane to reduce the potential mechanical vibrations from the floor and using a different TT and arm. Putting it in another room would be cheaper still.

I clearly outlined why I liked the other design and the two engineers I mentioned were included for a specific reason, to reinforce that point.


That's a strawman because I would never find a justifications for that malarkey, no matter how rich I was.
As do I and for the same reasons. If it can show that it's giving a worthwhile improvement in performance, it would be considered. But I don't buy jewellery, so I would never buy that Lexicon BRP over the standard OPPO so that I would have a 'name' product to show off or boast to audiophiles about, which is in reality what most of it's about. The audio equipment equivalent of a 'reach around'.

Welcome to the 2-Channel forum. Kind of takes you back to 4th grade, doesn't it?

I used to appreciate your input Randy, that is, before you decided to make fun of people. What changed you?

Isn't the Rockport Sirius 600 pounds, or so? It's certainly one striking piece of engineering and art. I suppose the Rockport is like the Veyron of turntables. I've got my eye on a Nottingham Analogue Anna Log turntable if I should ever stumble onto a few extra bucks. My sights are more in the BMW 650 range.

Dear friends of high end audio,

please let me explain something about this Phonomaschine and the price.
I'm designing, developing and manufacturing this Phonomaschine (TT) all by myself!!!

I started more than7 years ago with researching and studying the market. Since 3 years I'm
manufacturing and testing this TT.
I have taken the best parts, treat them and put together all the best components,
what high tech industry offers today.
(Sorry, but my English is not very good.)

I'm not a Company, like all the others. I have no employees, just two friends, who work with me.
They both work at a big electronic-company and they designed a totally new electronic-control-unit
with special microcontrollers.

This company designed and developed special microchip-technology to run this machine.
For example: the stepper-motor for the tangential unit does 800 steps/one turn.
The especially for me new developed microprocessors-chips now treat this motor with 256 micro steps.
So we are able now to move the tangential unit very smooth, with the smallest movement of 0,000024 mm !!!
The laser controlled tracking angel tolerance is less than 0,02 degrees.

The Platter has magnetic bearings and it has 20,5 kg of weight and underneath is a magnetic coded ring
with 24.000 impulses. This help us to get a speed tolerance of less than 0,01 %
And, yes it works very smooth with the two frequency controlled motors and the drive belts.

That may be enough highlights for now.

Something to the costs: I spent about 180.000 $ for all that material and electronic developing.
And it took me more than 3.000 hrs of work until today.
More than 500 hrs we will need to complete this high tech machine.
If you now count all this together, you will understand, why this TT will cost that much.

And this is also important to know: It is just a study, an experiment, and only this one exist,
and perhaps it will be manufactured, only by order, and only one per year.

But maybe, I will keep this Phonomachine VPM2010-1 only for myself. Because this project
is the only one and the greatest target of my life.

If you now call me a crazy fool, I agree with you.
But please be patient with me and my English, until this machine is completed.

Thank you for reading
With my best regards
Rainer

P.S The cartridge at the Picture is just for testing. I'm looking for a much better one later.

Relax, fellas. After all, bottled water is much more ingenious and insidious .

It just seems that you should understand that since the recording of the discs you are playing was quite likely made on a RTR multi track recorder and run through analog processors etc. Then, being fed to the mastering process equipment which does not have the same type of mag-lev suspension etc. as your creation, you would understand that you cannot improve on the resultant signal from the original.

In acronymical terminology, GIGO.

Perhaps a perpetual motion machine next? But all in all, we are glad you are enjoying your time in the lab and machine shop.

Old age, I guess I will try to be nicer.

I didn't believe in ghosts, voodoo, or magic cables when I was 8, either.

Randy suffers from a medical condition - Zackly syndrome.