Amadeus Wins 2010 Blue Moon Award

The Well Tempered Amadeus has won a 2010 Blue Moon Award from online publication 6moons.com for “innovation, ease of use and superb musicality”

The full review is available here:

First Simplex Review Now Online

The Simplex has just received a very favourable world first review on witchdoctor.co.nz

“the Simplex is ultimately an extremely focussed, coherent and superb sounding piece of audio gear at a compelling price.”

Full review available here.

Well Tempered Lab Introduces the Simplex

The epitome of William Firebaugh’s creative genius. A stripped-down version of the renowned Amadeus, this new turntable/tonearm combination will set new standards of analog playback in the value-for-money sector.

New Features:

– Tonearm tube is directly coupled to the Golf ball.

– On/Off switch is placed at the rear of the plinth.

– Audio and Motor control electronics are completely separated.

– Our beloved squash ball isolation feet are also directly coupled to the plinth

– In the words of our chief designer – William Firebaugh, “This is my all-time favorite turntable”.

Well Tempered Lab on AudioCircle

The Well Tempered Lab now has a circle on AudioCircle, follow this link to join the community of Well Tempered fans and owners.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=175.0

Amadeus Videos

WTL US Distributor, Mike Pranka has posted a couple of videos showing operation of the Amadeus turntable.

Flipping an LP on the Amadeus while it’s spinning.

Cueing the Amadeus tone arm without a finger lift

Well Tempered Amadeus GT in Hi-Fi+ Magazine

The Well Tempered Amadeus GT has received another rave review, this time from Hi-Fi+ Magazine in the UK. Reviewer Malcolm Steward writes:

“Amadeus GT truly is a wonderful machine to behold: a record player whose design elegantly combines genuine innovation and extreme pragmatism… and a complete absence of BS.”

Download full review here Hi-Fi+ Issue 66 Amadeus GT

Amadeus Wins The Absolute Sound Golden Ear Award

The Well Tempered Amadeus has received “The Absolute Sound, 2009 Golden Ear Award” as a follow up to the excellent review it received in The Absolute Sound earlier in the year.

“Amadeus reaches stratospheric heights of performance at a moderate price”

Please see a link to the original Absolute Sound review on an earlier post in this blog.

How to Make a Replacement WTL Amadeus Drive Belt

Please follow this link for information on how to make a replacement drive belt for the Well Tempered Amadeus.

How to make an Amadeus drive belt

WTL Amadeus in The Absolute Sound

The Well Tempered Lab Amadeus received a stellar review in the March 2009 issue of The Absolute Sound. The full review is now available online here

Reviewer Robert E Green writes:  “At anywhere near the price point, it is hard to fault the Amadeus. The combination of superbly quiet, stable, solid, low-distortion playback with unusually good bass performance…   One could spend a lot more money, but I would listen carefully to the Amadeus first. It is something exceeding fine, far beyond its modest price.”

Tracking Angle Error

There are three parameters involved in the geometry of tracking angle error that can be considered when designing a tonearm.

1. Arm Length

2. Overhang

3. Tracking Angle

These three factors can be examined very effectively using our Tracking Angle Analyzer (featured in this post) and a sensible judgment made by the designer that best suits his ideals concerning tonearms and tracking angle error. There are numerous excellent mathematical approaches to resolve this issue but none, I believe, give the understanding and insight that will be had by using our Tracking Angle Analyzer.

There is another non-geometrical factor that must be considered in an over-all understanding of tracking angle error. That other factor is the linear velocity of the groove. The linear velocity of the outermost grooves can be more that 3 times the linear velocity of the innermost grooves and this increased velocity reduces the generation of tracking angle error proportionately, by as much as 3 times. This reduction can be readily understood by examining the graphical presentation of the 2nd harmonic generation presented earlier in this blog (Fig. 1, Tone Arm Geometry, 18 Feb 09). Basically, the grooves going by the stylus faster reduce the difference between line OA and line OB and this, of course, reduces the 2nd harmonic. For a radical example, suppose we chose an overhang of zero and have a 10.5 inch tonearm. Using the Tracking Angle Analyzer, we will see a tracking angle of about 5 degrees will give zero error at the innermost grooves. However, at the outermost grooves, the tracking angle is about 17 degrees. This gives a tracking angle error of 17-5= 12 degrees. This is reduced by a factor of 3 times because of increased groove velocity at the outermost grooves for an effective error of 12/3 = 4 degrees. Now, if we wish, we can split the difference and set the tracking angle to 7 degrees for a tracking angle error of 2 degrees on the inner grooves and a tracking angle error of (12-7)/3 = 1.7 degrees effective on the outermost grooves.

If we wish, we can adjust the tracking angle for a small tracking error that is essentially constant over the span of the grooves. There are other factors that are beyond the control of the designer. These factors include the frequencies recorded in the groove, the amplitude of the recorded groove and thus the transverse velocity of the stylus in the groove.

William Firebaugh

Instructions on how to make your own Tracking Angle Analyzer

Tracking Analyzer Parts