Well, it’s time for a new turntable. I’ve distilled the potential candidates down to these two. There are certainly others, but for the purposes of this thread I’m interested in focusing on these, at least for now…. Both are well reviewed, processionally, both come from long established well pedigreed manufacturers, both are high mass belt drives. And, both are priced similarly.
There is one distinct design philosophy difference. The Balance is the Porsche 911 of the turntable world. The basic platform has remained, essentially, unchanged since its introduction in 1985. That original design has been incrementally improved upon for the last, almost, 40 years. I’ve owned many 911 iterations over the years including, coincidentally, a 1978 911 SC and ‘87 911 3.2, both great cars on the same platform and, germane to this discussion, the 3.2 was a considerably better car than the SC. I do believe in and embrace this evolutionary approach to automotive manufacturing. The question is- does this approach directly translate in the high end turntable world or is one better off buying a more “modern” design like the J. Sikora?
I listen primarily to classical and ‘50s-‘70s jazz. I do have my days with Hendrix, Floyd and Zeppelin, but with less frequency than the former genres. I plan to mount my Durand Tosca and Etsuro Gold on whichever TT makes the final cut. I look forward to everyone’s thoughts. Franz
There is one distinct design philosophy difference. The Balance is the Porsche 911 of the turntable world. The basic platform has remained, essentially, unchanged since its introduction in 1985. That original design has been incrementally improved upon for the last, almost, 40 years. I’ve owned many 911 iterations over the years including, coincidentally, a 1978 911 SC and ‘87 911 3.2, both great cars on the same platform and, germane to this discussion, the 3.2 was a considerably better car than the SC. I do believe in and embrace this evolutionary approach to automotive manufacturing. The question is- does this approach directly translate in the high end turntable world or is one better off buying a more “modern” design like the J. Sikora?
I listen primarily to classical and ‘50s-‘70s jazz. I do have my days with Hendrix, Floyd and Zeppelin, but with less frequency than the former genres. I plan to mount my Durand Tosca and Etsuro Gold on whichever TT makes the final cut. I look forward to everyone’s thoughts. Franz