TTWeights GEM Turntable Review

The feet bear additional comment, as LD feels they are a critical component of the ‘table. In fact, he feels that improperly designed feet are one of the main causes of poor turntable performance. He provided the following information:

Materials and Engineering:

· Each Foot is precision machined from 4 individual components

· Stainless Steel Spike with engineered radius on the point

· Base and locking collar 6061 Aluminum High Grade Aircraft Material

· Each point has a matching disc with a .005mm bigger radius, less than .005mm locating area

· Engineered to isolate

· Micro-leveling with 7/16 inch of height adjustment for each foot

· Hand Locking allows them to become one very rigid isolated spike

Specifications:

· Height: Min. 2 ½ inches max. 3.00 inches, nearly ½ inch of travel for adjustment

· Max. Diameter at base : 1 ¾ diameter

· Weight: 175 Grams each

· Finish: Aluminum Base, disc and Collar with Stainless Point

Last but not least, it should be noted that the feet are available in sets of three or four for use with a variety of plinths. TTWeights can provide them with just about any thread type needed.

Returning to the GEM installation, next up is the arm pod. One chooses the preferred corner, places the arm pod at an approximate distance corresponding to the length of the arm, then inserts the arm. Next, using a ruler (preferred is one with a hole for the spindle), one carefully moves the arm pod assembly until the precise distance is achieved. One then applies downward pressure on the pod, allowing the O-ring on the pod bottom to form a seal with the shelf, or wooden platform.

As mentioned above, the GEM can be used as either a rim-drive or belt-drive. For rim-drive operation the motor is placed such that the capstan’s ring just touches the acetal rim of the platter. The capstan is turned by hand, and the platter should turn. The motor is then powered up and one touches the underside of the platter to ensure that there is adequate torque. If there is not, the motor must be moved just a hair’s breadth closer. This sounds far more complicated than it is, as it is actually quite simple. Then one sets the speed using a strobe.

I did most of my listening with RIM drive, but briefly tried belt-drive as well. To use belt-drive one changes the capstan, flips the switch on the controller so as to reverse direction, with the power off, of course, and positions the motor such that the capstan edge is about 2” from the acetal rim of the platter. One then places the three belts around the capstan and acetal rim of the platter, ensuring that each belt is in its own groove on the capstan. Disclaimer: I have some trouble with my hands and as a result, struggled to get the belts on. However, I have watched others do so and they had little trouble. My hunch is that anyone who is used to turntables and adjusting cartridges, will not have any difficulties with the belts.

No Turntable is an Island

The GEM comes standard with the TT Weights 454 Gram (i.e., 1 lb) Classic center weight. The review sample was provided with the upgraded TTSuperWeight weight, as well as the 1 KG Mega Outer Ring Clamp (the latter is said to be a universal fit for 95% of all tables made today). I used my Schick tonearm and Myajima stereo cartridge which, as I’ll discuss shortly, were a wonderful match with the GEM. The phonostages were my reference OMA, a Monk Audio (kindly loaned by Darren Censullo of Avatar Acoustics) and a Dynamic Sounds Associates Phono ONE (kindly provided for evaluation by Doug Hurlburt). Amplifiers were the OMA Parallax and Tube Distinctions Soul Monoblocks, speakers the OMA New Yorkers, and cabling was from AudioPath. My room is 30 feet long, 22 feett wide, with ceilings about 11 feet. The room is well treated with a combination of absorption and diffusion. All equipment is on a heavy slate rack.

So How’s She Sound?

TTWeights GEM rim-drive turntable

I began this review by describing the critical properties of a turntable as being proper speed control and lack of vibration. While these parameters are of course what designers concern themselves with, we the end users with few exceptions lack the knowledge, equipment, and – for many – interest in such things. Instead, we care about how the ‘table plays music. Period. So the relevant question is, did TTWeights’ approach to speed- and vibration-control produce a turntable that excels in playing back records? I am happy to report that the answer is a most definitive yes, and to a greater degree than I imagined.

There are three areas in which the GEM excels. Rim drive ‘tables are known for their dynamics, and the GEM did not disappoint. In a word, they are explosive. Horn blares and rim shots were startling in their intensity, as were musical crescendos. Microdynamics were similarly superb, wherein the leading edge of notes had excellent energy. I believe that dynamics are perhaps the most important aspect of music reproduction yet sadly, this is the area in which many modern systems seem to fare the worst. Needless to say the GEM was right up my alley, bringing excitement to the music in a most wonderful way.

The next area is bass. Although I much prefer analogue to digital, like many people I have long acknowledged the superiority of digital in reproducing bass. However, through the GEM bass had the power, intensity, and articulation I hear from my digital source. On well-recorded albums, bass through the GEM had great snap and detail, as well as body, with bass instruments sounding like, well, instruments, rather than, as is too often the case, amorphous blobs of sound.

The property that most surprised me was the GEM’s reproduction of microdynamic shadings and low-level detail, a result I presume of the GEM’s extremely low noise floor. On record after record I heard things I hadn’t heard before. And no, not just audiophile obsessions like the singer taking a breath or a glass tinkling in the background, but musical detail such as the subtle vibratos of voice, or background harmonies, or the interplay of a bow with strings, as well as proper instrumental harmonics. In short, the GEM reproduced that which makes music, music, and which is too often missing on audio playback systems. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this property, as it, along with the GEM’s dynamics, make recordings sound wonderfully life-like. I should add that the GEM made the distinctions between recordings all the more apparent. Ditto for differences between cartridges and other components in the audio chain. I interpret this as a reflection of its accuracy. Last but not least, the images were rock-solid and well-defined.

Is there anything not to like about the GEM? In my opinion, not much. That said, because of its accuracy, the GEM may not be a good match for systems that verge on the edge of being analytical which, I hasten to add, is not the same as being accurate. As I mentioned above, the GEM worked wonderfully with the Myajima Shilabe cartridge which, though nicely detailed, does have a touch of midrange warmth to it. With other ‘tables the Shilabe has sounded a bit too lush, which I now realize was not the sound of the Shilabe itself but more likely, of less resolving turntables. (Read the August, 2010 Miyahima Shilabe cartridge Review by Phillip Holmes.) I should add that although I use horn speakers of very high sensitivity, and electronics that, though tube-based, are not “tubey,” at no time did the GEM make the system sound bright or fatiguing. In my opinion, the GEM has an even-keeled tonal balance.

Concluding Remarks

My time with the TTWeights GEM has been nothing short of delightful. It successfully brings together what was best about vintage turntables, with the precision of modern technology – specifically a motor which accurately maintains speed with minimal vibration, a constrained layer damped plinth and platter to dissipate vibration, and a high quality low-noise main bearing to allow smooth, vibration free spinning of the platter, all manufactured to aerospace-level tolerances supposedly. The GEM is easy to set-up, easy to use, sturdily crafted, and reproduces what is on the record with minimal editorializing; in short, it does precisely what a turntable should do. As such it is easy for me to recommend the GEM. Now if I can just convince LD to let me audition the MOMENTUS.