Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Teres 200 series Turntables by Marc Bratton

Model:	200 series
Category:	Turntables
Suggested Retail Price:	$1950-$2350 depending
Description:	Mass loaded suspensionless turntable
Manufacturer URL:	Teres
Model Picture:	View

Review by Marc Bratton ( A ) on January 02, 2003 at 13:47:45
IP Address: 208.136.90.125

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for the 200 series

Steve and I both bought our Teres about the same time. The model line at that time was not as well developed as it is today. You could either get the acrylic base (like Steve did) or a shot filled hardwood base, and those were about your only options. Mine has a rosewood base, with an acrylic armboard and platter. Steve has already covered the basics, so I'll just relate my experience with this fine table.
Phase 1:Set up is a breeze. Suffice it to say if you can change your car's oil, and you have at least a dining room table to work on, you're probably over qualified. I'd ordered mine with the Expressimo RB250, and that went on without any problems. As soon as I dropped the needle on the 1st record, my wife commented "That's at least one, if not two orders of magnitude better than the old turntable..." She never says anything like that either! "The old turntable" was my faithful Well Tempered Record Player, which I've already favorably reviewed in these pages. Truth be told, this table's sound reminded me of a WTRP on steroids. By which I mean, it just gave more. More detail without sounding hi fi, more relaxed without sounding slow or dull, blacker background, bigger deeper, soundstage, more fleshed out images, deeper and fuller bass. Synths in particular had a much fuller, throatier growl to them than with the WTRP. But all was not quite right. For one thing, with massed strings, it gave a nasty, peaky sound that was quite absent with the WTRP. I finally determined that it was probably a cartridge/tonearm mismatch. I love my ClearAudio Virtuso and the Rega I was NOT so taken with, since the azimuth was clearly off, and I had no way to correct it...a truly ridiculous situation to be in with a table of this caliber! So I called Chris Brady and complained. I think he was a little taken aback...nobody had ever complained about this arm before. So he made me up a new armboard for very little money, drilled out for a Morch UP4. Soon as I dropped the needle with this arm in place, I knew I'd made the right choice. GONE was that nasty midtreble peak, to be exchanged for the sweetest, airiest treble I'd yet heard in my system. This tonearm (which I've also already reviewed in these pages) is an excellent match with this table. This brings us to...
Phase II. The sound is excellent...drop dead neutral, suave, relaxed, detailed without being analytical, very musical without being colored. But something is still not quite right. For one thing, the motor seems twitchy.Most of the time, it's fine, but once in awhile it'll lose lock for no apparent reason, than have to correct, with very audible consequences. Plus it seems I have to fiddle with the belt tension more than should be the case. Not good. Then I read about a Signature Upgrade Chris was offering for very little money, for motors of this vintage. Seems the early motor's firmware had some bugs. This upgrade fixed that, plus Chris would install some excellent little steel cones on the motors base (replacing some truly wretched little rubber thingies). Count me in! Got the motor back in less than a week, which brings us to...
Phase III-It's mildly mind boggling how a firmware fix to the DC motor could improve the sound THIS much! Music flows from the table more freely, notes hang in the air longer, and that subliminal feeling of a little something being held back is GONE. As an added treat, the cone feet now allow the motor to sit in a truly level and stable fashion, and all fiddling with the belt tension is history.
Phase IV...I finally get around to properly mass loading this table. When I asked Chris what was the best way to site this table, he replied "High mass, without any attempts at dampening" (ie no Vibrapods, innertubes, springs or the like). I ordered an 18"x18"x3" granite surface plate from Grizzly Industrial. This beast weighs 120lbs, and is level to plus or minus .0001"...its level of precision a fitting match for the Teres.I just sat it on top of my Target TT5T rack, and was very pleased with the improvement, to put it mildly! Dynamics and bass improved immediately; kickdrums sounded a lot more alive, and the table just came another step closer overall to the sound of live music. The stethescope test confirmed this. With my old Symposium platform, motor noise (already much lower than the WTRP)could clearly be heard at the plinth and armboard...DEAD quiet with the granite base. This lowered noise threshold allowed even more detail to emerge naturally, with an even blacker background than before.
OK...now I'm convinced I'm getting the best possible sound I can get out of this table, for my system. The question on everyone's mind is "How does it compare to the other 2K tables out there?" I'm afraid I'm not of much help there. I can only say it has thoroughly, decisively bettered my old Well Tempered Record Player in EVERY way. This table LOOKS and SOUNDS like it ought to cost at LEAST 5K! Even the pictures on the website don't do this thing justice. This table is GORGEOUS,MASSIVE,and PRECISE. The bearing in particular is truly world class, toleranced to plus or minus .0001". It is SO tightly specced that it takes overnight for it to seat,with the platter sitting atop it. How many other 2k tables can say that? My Teres has to weigh somewhere between 50 and 60lbs, and it LOVES sitting on all that granite! It has an elegant, "high tech meets Fred Flintstone" feel about it. Unless you're a complete bleed thru the nose audiophiliac, this will be the LAST table you'll ever buy. It certainly is mine. I might add that this table is worthy of the finest tonearm and cartridge you can give it. A lot of Terestrials are using real high end arms like the Graham 2.2 or the ET linear tracking arms with excellent results. "Heirloom quality" would not be hyperbole, used to describe these turntables. And Chris Brady is excellent to work with. I have a feeling his company and creations are going to be around for a long time.

Product Weakness: Like any nonsuspended table, pretty demanding as to how you site it. Don't attempt to sit this on a lightweight, wobbly rack. One hopes your floor is concrete slab...it likes stability, and a LOT of mass. Another feature I was dubious of at first was the string for a belt. I felt that we'd be better off all around if Chris had just used a rubber belt like most everyone else. Now that I've made up a few myself, and with the motor upgrade, it's not an issue. I am curious as to why he chose this route, though.
Product Strengths: Excellent design, gorgeously implemented, with impeccable quality. Sound quality far in excess of its price. Fiddle free, set and forget quality, which is one reason I've always gone with suspensionless tables.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Music Reference RM10
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	FT Audio LW-1/EAR 834P (modded)
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Teres/Morch UP4/ClearAudio Virtuoso
Speakers:	Magnepan MMG's (modded)
Cables/Interconnects:	DH Labs BL-1/T14 &Kimber Select 1011
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	All kinds
Room Size (LxWxH):	24 x 14 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	As I've commented under
Time Period/Length of Audition:	7 months or more by now
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	DIY Zero Autotransformers/Brickwall
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner