Listened extensively for 2 hours today. Conclusion is simple: Tonearm is a very successful deployment of a scientific approach to solve the tracking problem. It is absolutely neutral and colorless making the choice of cartridge and phono very challenging.
Jlam, your requested VonStade LPs are with PT...please fetch them next time when you visit him.
First time I heard a tonearm that's so free from tracking error, usually I hear dirty gritty things attached to every musical note coming from traditional arms which are not part of the music but mis-tracking distortions transforming from the friction of the arm-pivot. With the Thales arm, the music is so clean that makes me think of CD or master tape reproduction. The session I heard it carries a newly designed EMT cartridge, the sound is a bit weak in the lower-mid to mid-bass(possibly due to the EMT), overall the sound of the combo is promising, great on everything. I love it, hope to hear it again mating with other cartridges.
I also heard the Alpha 1 the first time, it's damnnnnn good, good enough to make me thinking of buying it. Surprisingly, its less power demanding than its little brother, I guess 30-50 quality watts can do the job in a smaller room. However, buying the Alpha 1 could possibly put me in a very difficult position, the other gears in my home are certainly not good enough to orchestrate......., mind you all, going to PT's place is certainly a trap......
It is so easy for user to do cartridge alignment. With the Thales tonearm, there is no need to deal with the two null points with conventional pivot tonearm. All you need to do is to align the needle of the cartridge on any of the 3 points on the provided protractor is fine.
Comments
Jlam, your requested VonStade LPs are with PT...please fetch them next time when you visit him.
Marvel
I also heard the Alpha 1 the first time, it's damnnnnn good, good enough to make me thinking of buying it. Surprisingly, its less power demanding than its little brother, I guess 30-50 quality watts can do the job in a smaller room. However, buying the Alpha 1 could possibly put me in a very difficult position, the other gears in my home are certainly not good enough to orchestrate......., mind you all, going to PT's place is certainly a trap......