by J.D. » 18 Feb 2012 01:40
Hi Blueangel,
My take on the super-re-engineering of audio classics is that, well, they tend to over-egg the pudding.
Gear like Western 300b amps, Marantz 10b tuners, Quad Esl spkrs, Tannoy dual-concentrics, the Garrard 301 and the Thorens 124 -- somehow managed to stand at the head of a massive crowd of contenders, and still, against all odds, come out on top.
We can certainly discuss probable causes and likely attributes, but few would really debate the standings.
Once people get into the appreciation and/or collecting of the iconic audio gear, the pitfalls are enormous. The two extremes tend to be :
the radical rethinker who tends toward thinking that if "perfect" is good enough, then extra-double-optimized must be more perfect, who can't stop himself from imagining 'improvements', and does things like replacing original hand-wound transformers when the originals were the part of the reason for the perfection ...
the untouchable sanctifier who tends toward blind belief in the overpowering influence of a lengendary nameplate, who won't have any repair or restoration no matter how reverent, and who will maintain that even oxidized cabling must never be replaced due to product time-line, source inauthenticity or similar ...
The second guy here is wrong because if it's demonstrably broken, it's nobody's Icon, until it is fixed. The first guy is wrong because when he super-duperizes a classic recipe, he makes it into something else. And his odds of being more inspired than the original ... are pretty much non-existent.
The precarious balance that is Legendary Audio is not to be ignored; yes a broken one will never qualify until repaired, but the combination of engineering, testing, talent and plain good luck that establishes a legend--- is just not something that can be revised, re-engineered. It's got to be carefully implemented, finessed where necessary, but not re-invented or it will never deliver anything like the signature result. The result that has been hauling in the raves for fifty or sixty years.
The guy who does the solid brass top-plates (and other aftermarketry) for the 301 may or may not be producing a good turntable. But for certain he is transforming known classics into his own, unvetted, un-legendary hybrids.
Which is okay, but not really any competition to the real thing. To be fair, if he keeps it up for another thirty years or so and all the reviews are good, ala Ken Shindo, then he'll have that track record to display as his credentials. We'll have to wait and see on that.
My Audio Eight-Ball of Fortune says : good luck, see you in 2042 for another look.
For me there's a line, over which you are reinventing-- that shouldn't be crossed if you still want a 301, or an Esl, or a WE300b.
((And even an old rethinker like Shindo-san incorporates the garrard top-plate, and voices it with the plinth. Just saying.))
J.D.
