Plastic crap

[ack]

I HOPE AND PRAY that the thread will not derail, and my intention is to share some real frustrations with this hobby. No, I am not going rogue and I do not intend to trash every piece of equipment that comes through my hands, only share what real engineers have to say about some really stupid implementations, for which we pay a pretty penny.

I ONLY INVITE LINKS TO SIMILAR COMMENTS FROM REAL ENGINEERS or REVIEWERS - basically anything that's already published.

Oftentimes, I will open up equipment to see what the heck am I getting for the asking price. Others, like recently, I am researching parts, and I landed on a mine... and it's about to explode. I modify anything I can, and in this case, I was researching the Sony KSS-151A laser diode (and others more advanced since then), in hopes of using it in my transport - it is a very well engineered and expensive laser, and as it turns out, it's already sitting pretty in my Spectral transport. So in my research, I land again on the Lampizator site, and to make a long story short, see http://www.lampizator.eu/lampizator/REFERENCES/TEAC-T1/VRDS-T1.html

Some excerpts from tearing the TEAC T1 transport apart:

Wow - the VRDS looks positively high tech, and considering all these ribs on a massive support bridge , which look like a cheetah in full speed , I am really impressed.

But lets drill deeper.

After removing - the bridge turns out to be a FAKE ONE. It is made of recycled car bumpers and has NO MECHANICAL ROLE. It is a mask, a decor. It is a push-up bra equivalent - to optically fool naive men who tend to "buy by eyes".

Under the rocket science bridge we reveal the steel piece of plate - not VERY RIGID for sure.
The motor is a standard Sony motor - a 3 dollar brushed Mabuchi from China.

Teac used simply the standard Sony mechanism KSS240 and what they did - they turned it upside down - the motor went up, and the spindle centre went down.
NOTHING was added except the green plastic flywheel. It is just a standard sony mechanism and laser - the cheapest which existed at that time - circa 1999.

There is no magnetic rails like in the more costly KSS151A which is a base of MUCH more costly VRDS mechanism from middle and top range.

In this cheap application, the huge clamp is ONLY a decor, a psychological selling point. Maybe in VRDS CMK-3,2 it works better.

This motor really is an inadequate piece of s**t.

If you think that Teac was alone using this plastic crap - look at Wadia - the king of VRDS !!!!!!

Modell	Mechanism	Comment
WADIA 21	VRDS CMK-4 – KSS-240A	Plastic crap
WADIA 23	Pioneer Stable Platter PEA1030	Plastic crap
WADIA 301	Pioneer Stable Platter PEA1343	Plastic crap
WADIA 302	Philips VAE 1250	Plastic crap
WADIA 830	Pioneer Stable Platter PEA1343	Plastic crap
WADIA 831	Pioneer Stable Platter	Plastic crap
WADIA 850	VRDS CMK-4-a – KSS-240A	Plastic crap

But wait a minute: here is what "Soundstage" magazine wrote in april 2000 about the 830 Modell and its mechanism versus VRDS CMK-4:
Wadia believes that a high-performance transport mechanism is a fundamental building block to superior sound and chose the highly regarded Pioneer PD-S505 Stable Platter mechanism to orchestrate CD playback. Wadia acknowledges that the PD-S505 is not quite the equal of the behemoth TEAC VRDS mechanism used in the more expensive 850...

BEHEMOTH !!??!! Bwaaahahahaha.

The original clock, despite the fact it is a transport - was the cheapest and standard one. The player benefits from clock upgrade.