THE WELL TEMPERED REFERENCE RECORD PLAYING SYSTEM

By Jonathan Valin

(From Fi, the Magazine of Music and Sound, Volume 1, Issue 3, April 1996. Reprinted with permission.)

About nine years ago, a friend of mine, Gordon Fischer, brought a Well Tempered turntable/tonearm to town. It was the first time I'd seen or heard the WT. (You may recall that my home base of Cincinnati was where Mark Twain wanted to be when the world came to an end, since, in his words, Cincinnatians "wouldn't hear about it until twenty years later.") At that point I was using a SOTA and an SME V. I can still remember how much cleaner, brighter, purer, and more "tuneful" Gordon's rig sounded than mine did. (I can also recall how much thinner in color it sounded. Indeed, its slightly lightweight tonal balance and lack of dynamic authority were my only complaints.)

It was in large part because of hearing the virtues of Gordon's Well Tempered record player that I went hunting for a better mousetrap of my own, and ended up with the Versa Dynamics 1.0 that I've lived with more or less contentedly for the past eight years. The Versa had -- still has -- all of the transparency that I heard in Gordon's turntable, with an added measure of lifelike color and dynamic clout that I didn't hear in the original Well Tempered. It seemed to me that Versa designer John Bicht had -- via his air bearing tonearm, vacuum hold-down function, and his own zero-clearance 'table bearing -- solved many of the same problems William Firebaugh had addressed in the WT, while working through a few problems that Firebaugh hadn't tackled, chiefly in the areas of arm, platter, motor mount, and plinth resonances. [ In all fairness I should also point out that the Versa Dynamics 1.0 -- and, from what I can garner, most air-bearing arms and 'tables -- is an absolute pain-in-the-ass to keep running. For instance, in hot, humid weather, the thing transforms itself into an art deco water fountain, spritzing moisture that condenses from the superheated air being piped to the arm's air bearing onto the cold metal arm tube, well and truly fucking up tracking. One puts up with this little inconvenience because, when it isn't hot and humid, the Versa sounds marvelous. Nevertheless, the Versa is a high maintenance item -- in stark contrast to the simple-as-CD to maintain Well-Tempered Reference.]

Almost a decade has now passed since I last heard the Well Tempered, and a good deal has changed, including the name of the top-of-the line WT player -- rechristened the Well Tempered Reference. The Well Tempered Reference's platter is now a massive, heavily damped, concave structure -- not the lightweight, clear plastic job that came with the original. The WTR's base is no longer made of wood or hard plastic or Bakelite but is a sophisticated "constrained layer design" -- a kind of parfait formed of two pieces of "Fountainhead" marble that are themselves layered with elastomeric materials and separated one from the other and from whatever the entire structure sits on by two hardnesses of resonance-damping elastomeric feet. (Karen Sumner of Transparent Audio, the company that for the past ten years has manufactured the Well Tempered under license from Firebaugh, claims that the base is acoustically inert -- to the extent that one can hold a stethoscope to it, tap on its surface, and not hear the tapping. As I don't carry a stethoscope -- and if I did I wouldn't be writing for this rag -- I didn't rise to the bait.)

In addition to these major improvements, Andy Payor (now of Rockport) redesigned the WTR arm tube in a non-resonant carbon fiber material. And Carl Smith, who has overseen the production of the 'table since Transparent began manufacturing it, has engineered a more rigid paddle system (see Technical Sidebar, Figure 1), a damped cup to hold the silicon bath for the bearing, and an adjustable damping system that allows you to change the effective mass of the tonearm -- to match it to the compliance of your cartridge -- with a simple twist of the damping cup's collar. It's obvious that all of the changes that Transparent has made have been aimed at damping out residual sources of resonance in what was already an inspired design.

Ah, resonance! It is the very thing that makes an analog system work -- the stylus vibrating in perfect sympathy with those finely etched modulations in the vinyl, turning an engraver's art into music, into Heifetz or Rubinstein. What a wondrous invention! And yet, in the immortal words of composer Steve Bailey, the very thing that makes analog rich makes us poor. For extraneous vibrations, not the ones pressed in the wax but the ones introduced into playback via chatter, friction, torsion, material or electrical resonances, airborne or floorborne feedback from loudspeakers or transformers or footfalls, can thoroughly upset the delicate fit of stylus in groove. Anything that disturbs that fit, anything that impedes a stylus's faithful progress throughout its twenty-or-so minute journey down the vinyl highway, is going to end up being sounded along with the music.

How are resonances sounded -- I mean beyond actual skipping or mistracking? The simplest answer is to say that they add a layer of noise to the music. Indeed, one of the surest signs of good turntable design is a dramatic reduction in background noise, including the sound of tape hiss. (This reduction was obvious with my first listen to Gordon's Well Tempered and stunning with my first listen to the Versa 1.0, which, at the time, seemed almost as quiet -- though never as "dead" quiet -- as CD.)

All sorts of advantages accrue with damping out resonances and lowering the noise floor. Musical rests will be much quieter -- and rhythms and tempos notably clearer and more involving. Dynamic range and articulation will audibly increase: the goosebump factor goes up and with it our perception of the nuances of score and performance. Tonal balances, typically darker or brighter, thicker or thinner than life in resonance-prone designs, will move closer to a realistic neutrality, and the signature sounds of instruments will thereby gain in individual color, texture, and presence.

The sonic benefits of superior playback are so obvious that you don't have to think about them to register their effects; you feel them as rhythms, tempos, colors, and dynamics that lift your spirit and energize your body to move "in tune" with the music. Of course, this heightened sense of engagement may lead you to reflect on the small details and larger structures of what is being played, and on how it is being played. And in a certain frame of mind they may also lead you to say, with a little leap of joy, "I never heard that before!" What a fundamentally Fi moment that is, blending so perfectly the hobbyist and music-loving sides of this enterprise, for what is thrilling you is both the improvement wrought by better technology and the revelation of a musical detail. Which side thrills you more is a matter for you to decide, although I'll warn you that listening primarily for things you've never heard before gets old fast.

Nevertheless, the Well Tempered Reference will give you a fair measure of that kind of thrill, no question. Although you must take care, as with any turntable, to set your cartridge up properly -- overhang, VTA, VTF, azimuth, anti-skate, and (with the Transparent) damping -- the thoughtfully designed controls of the WTR allow you to accomplish these matters with remarkable ease. Moreover, the 'table is sensitive enough to tell you at once precisely what effect each adjustment has had. Indeed, in terms of listener feedback, this is a very sensitive rig.

So, you're going to hear small details for the first time, especially if you're stepping up from a lesser machine. But, honestly, the WTR's real virtue isn't its sheer, head-numbering detail but its sweet, addictive musicality.

This definitely ain't your grandpa's Well Tempered record player. It isn't Gordon's Well Tempered, either. The changes that Transparent has wrought are, as far as I can tell, entirely for the better. Gone are the thinness and brightness that had bothered me in the (much) earlier (and less sophisticated) WT. With the Reference, overall balance is no longer washed out in color but rich, full-bodied, and convincingly natural. Indeed, most of the commentary on individual recordings that you'll find in my Melos and VAIC reviews in Issue 2 of Fi were in equal part the responsibility of this tuneful little record player. For instance, the unusually lifelike reproduction of pedal harmonics that I found so impressive in Blanca Uribe's "Evocación" from Albéniz' Iberia [ORS 75202/203] says just as much about the Well Tempered as it does about the superb Melos Reference preamp. And although I haven't yet reported on the Balanced Audio Technologies' VK-5 line stage preamp (coupled with the Melos Reference Series MA-333 phono stage), I can tell you in advance that the BAT's gorgeous reproduction of the midband -- and it is simply nonpareil from the middle of the mids to the lower treble, painting hard-to-paint colors such as the porcelain bell registers of piano with head-snapping realism -- is enriched further when it is fed signal from the WTR.

But the WTR hasn't just improved in its reproduction of instrumental color and harmonic textures, it has developed a dynamic range and articulation that is every bit as impressive as its highly musical balance. On a complexly scored orchestral recording, such as the Classic Records reissue of the Shostakovich First Symphony [LSC-2322] -- and how the hell come nobody's raved this little number up, since it positively stomps the S'd Dog in every way and is a great performance, to boot? -- the WTR can send chills up your spine with the weight and authority of those big, gallumping string ostinatos in the Allegretto, and yet it reproduces the sardonic interplay of winds at the beginning of the same movement or the delightfully tipsy dance of the solo piano in the Allegro with nuanced perfection. Or consider the smaller scale ensemble in the Juilliard performance of the Bartók Third String Quartet [Columbia]. What distinguishes this, to my mind, most distinguished of all performances of the great Bartók piece, is its unrivaled momentum. The Juilliardistes plane no angles from this supremely angular music, and if they lose, as they undoubtedly do, a certain folksy rapturousness and spiky good humor (that you hear more prominently, for example, on the Ramor or Emerson recordings), they gain a graphic immediacy and nocturnal eerieness that is positively haunting. I can't listen to this performance without thinking of the armies of the night that were gathering in Europe when the piece was written -- there behind the electric, probing attacks and ruminative decays of the strings. It is the very velocity of these attacks and the durations of the decays that make this performance the inimitable thing that it is (coupled with the apt and characteristic chilliness of the Juilliard's ensemble tone). This is not gorgeous sounding chamber recording. And yet, when it is properly reproduced, this performance of this piece is a thing of dazzling fire and relentless excitement. And so it sounds through the Well Tempered Reference, with a (welcome) bit of added body and sweetness to the ensemble tone and a bit less of a cutting edge to the violin attacks, but no loss of momentum.

If I was to be critical -- and I don't feel particularly critical about this essentially excellent and highly musical product -- I suppose I might say that, in rectifying the Well Tempered's tonal thinness, Transparent may have fattened the 'table up (or damped it down) a bit too much. To put this another way, the outlines of instrumental images aren't quite as razor cut with the WTR as they are with the Versa. The WTR's focus is softer, and as a result inner detail is a hair -- but only a hair -- less well resolved. In addition, the "paces" at which the two 'tables deliver musical detail are slightly different and reminiscent of the different paces of tube and transistor gear. The (damped) WTR may be just a tad more leisurely than the (undamped) Versa. This more leisurely pace has unmistakable benefits when it comes to the reproduction of the harmonic series (at which the WTR is superb), but it can make the attacks of certain instruments seem a bit softer than life. As transient attack is a key to presence, the WTR's more leisurely pace of presentation can make hard-hitting percussion instruments (or instruments played percussively, as in the case of the Juilliard ensemble's Bartók) sound a bit less bitingly immediate than the Versa does. (On the other hand, because of its lightning speed the Versa can, on occasion, sound a bit less fleshed-out, a bit more hi-fi than the WTR, particularly with instruments that are naturally rich in harmonics.)

At $4,495, the Well Tempered Reference is an excellent choice for those of you looking to step up -- but not all the way up -- to a Supertable. Unlike many high end record players, it is a snap to set-up, a snap to adjust, and a snap to maintain. Its sound is basically rich, quiet, tuneful, and formidably musical. Moreover, its ingenious damping system makes it compatible with virtually every cartridge on the market (and I tried a few -- including the Decca London Jubilee, the Koetsu Pro IV, and the Clearaudio Signature). Although it may not be the last word in transcription -- how could it be at its price point? -- it is plenty good enough for my taste. I plan to keep the Reference as my other reference (alongside the Versa). What more can I say?

Well, perhaps I can say one thing more -- not about the Reference but on behalf of analog in general. While I'm not one of those listeners who find 44.1K digital unlistenable -- or close to it -- I do find the technological signature of vinyl somewhat less obtrusive, less damaging to the illusion of a musical performance, than digital's more analytical technological signature. (You may recall that I think that all electro-mechanical media, and componentry, carry around their technological birthrights like ID badges.) To my ear, and I know this goes against the grain, it isn't low-level details of staging and ambience that digital doesn't get right or as right as vinyl does. The problem isn't fine detail per se, but the way that detail is synthesized into larger musical structures -- into the three-dimensional bodies of instruments or the continuous-sounding swells and subsidences of dynamics. For all its genuine convenience digital is, ultimately, less convenient to listen to -- not to use, but to listen to -- than vinyl is, precisely because there is inherently more of a technological overlay to overlook with CD, because access to the music is somewhat harder to gain.

Of course, access to music "software" is much easier to gain with digital; and analog has its own problems with pitches, harmonics, dynamics, noise. Still, there is a large market for inexpensive used vinyl; new vinyl is better and more plentiful than ever; and the state-of-the-art in analog playback keeps advancing (as does the state-of-the-digital-art), at every price point. While I wouldn't urge anyone to give up CD for an all-analog set-up, I would urge those of you with the time and the cash to give a well-engineered record playing system, like the Well Tempered Reference, a listen. I think you'll find the added expense is easily outweighed by the dividends it will pay in sheer musical pleasure.

The Well Tempered Reference Turntable is manufactured by Transparent Audio Inc. under license from William Firebaugh. If you are interested in this product, see your local Transparent dealer or write Transparent Audio.

Analog Front End: Versa Dynamics 1.0 turntable/tonearm, Well Tempered Reference Record Player, Clearaudio Signature cartridge, Koetsu Pro IV cartridge, Decca London Jubilee cartridge

Preamplifiers: Melos Reference Series MA-333, Balanced Audio Technologies VK-5

Amplifiers: Wavelength Cardinals, Audio Note Neiro, Audio Note Kegon, Lamm Audio Labs M1.1, Pass Labs Aleph 3

Speakers: Avantgarde Acoustic Prole Trio Compact, Martin-Logan CLS II-z, Kinergetics SW-800 subwoofer system, Reference 3-A Suprema

Interconnect & Cable: Transparent Reference MusicWave and MusicLink, Siltech FTM-4 Gold, Siltech FTM-4Sg, Siltech 4-240 speaker cable, Nirvana interconnect and speaker cable, Discovery Plus-4 interconnect and speaker cable, Audio Note speaker cable

Accessories: Shakti Stones, Bright Star isolation stands and pods, Townsend Seismic Sinks, Harmonix Room Tuning dots

Sidebar

When it comes to turntables and tonearms, William Firebaugh, the designer of the original Well Tempered Turntable is, along with Versalabs' John Bicht, one of the indisputable originals. Both men renovated analog playback by rethinking the problems of vibration and resonance and rethinking them in systematic fashion. With Firebaugh this rethinking took the form of novel ways of reducing free play at those two key spots in a playback system where absolute rigidity is essential: the pivot points of tonearm and platter.

Although Firebaugh's viscous-damped, string-suspended, fluid bearing tonearm looks like a Rube Goldberg contraption, it is, in fact, an ingenious solution to a perennial problem: bearing chatter. As you undoubtedly know, all non-radial tonearms have to pivot in an arc across the record surface while simultaneously holding the stylus in perfect alignment with the record grooves; to accomplish this pivoting, some kind of bearing is necessary at the fixed end of the arm -- typically close-tolerance ball bearings.

Alas, it is impossible to make ball bearings that they do not allow for some small amount of free play at their contact points. Which means that, when they are subjected to the real-life torsion and tugging of the stylus at the other end of the arm, the bearings will rattle a bit in their races, or, in 'phile speak, "chatter" -- sending those vibrations back through the arm tube to disturb the delicate alignment of stylus and groove. Now, with very close tolerance bearings, we may be talking about "chatter" on the order of a few millionths of an inch. Unfortunately those millionths of an inch of free play can fudge low level musical information, such as the decays of instruments.

Knowing that it isn't possible to manufacture ball bearings that don't allow for some measure of free play, William Firebaugh decided to tackle bearing chatter at its source by designing an arm that didn't require ball bearings at its pivot point. How did he manage this?

FIGURE 1
Simplified cross-sectional view of Firebaugh's "fluid bearing" arm.

Picture a park swing -- the kind that's suspended from chains. Such a swing will pivot, left and right, without ball bearings; and because of the torsion in the chains, it will have a natural tendency to pivot back toward its neutral "starting" point (i.e. it will have a natural "anti-skating" force built into it). Using the physics of a swing as his starting point, Firebaugh constructed a trapeze-like bearing supported by taut nylon string "chains." Unlike a park swing, however, which moves freely forward and back, as well as side to side, Firebaugh's ball-bearingless bearing had to somehow be secured rigidly in place -- to allow the arm that was attached to it to pivot about a fixed center point. To prevent forward and backward motion, Firebaugh attached a disc-like foot at the bottom of the bearing assembly, then damped it heavily with a viscous silicon bath. (Imagine that the seat of the park swing is submerged in a container of thick oil.) The result of Firebaugh's ingenious design was an absolutely rigid, free-playless "bearing" assembly, held firmly in place by the viscosity of the damping fluid and the torsion in the nylon support strings: