Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Well Tempered Well Tempered Record Player Turntables by Marc Bratton

Well Tempered has now pared their line to 3 turntables: The Well Tempered Record Player, the Well Tempered Classic, and the Well Tempered Super Classic. Their entry level WTRP is what I am reviewing.
The WTRP is a heavy, well made, suspensionless design. The plinth, comprised of 3 layers of black lacquered MDF with some kind of dampening compound between layers, has a circular cut out for the motor. This allows the motor to be completely decoupled from the plinth, with obvious sonic benefits. The motor is a heavy, AC synchronous affair, sans dedicated power supply. My platter is one of the early acrylic ones. The current models come with the Black Damped platter as standard. The Black Damped platter has some kind of proprietary miracle vibration dampening compound (used 1st in nuclear subs, supposedly) which further isolates the tonearm/cartridge from any noise transmission. The tonearm is what is unique to the Well Tempered line. Bill Firebaugh, its designer, could definitely be called a lateral thinker. There are no bearings as such with this tonearm. The tonearm is attached to an inverted paddle (think of an inverted screw head to grok it's shape) at its rear, which is in turn immersed in a bath of very thick silicone, The tonearm is suspended above this silicone bath by a suspension of two monofilament lines, which run from the paddle to a horizontal framework. Think of a hangman, you'll get the basic idea. You can vary the azimuth by turning a knob which shortens/lengthens one of the two monofilament lines, thus varying the angle that the paddle sits in the silicone. VTA is adjusted in the usual manner with a single set screw to the vertical post, by which you can raise or lower the vertical post. There is no dial or reading available, so it's a bit crude, but workable. The silicone then, IS the bearing surface. The tonearm essentially then functions as a unipivot, although it doesn't "feel" like your usual unipivot. The antiskate is "built in" to the design, as the torsion caused by the way the two monofilament lines are slightly angled as they emerge from the horizontal beam supposedly provides a force which is always just right. On the Well Tempered Classic Arm, this is adjustable by means of a thumbwheel, but it is fixed in the WTRP arm. More on that below...
So why did Bill Firebaugh design this oddball arm this way? Four reasons:1.)There is a phenomenon with conventional arms known as bearing chatter. Even with pretty tightly toleranced bearings, the force of the stylus dragging in the groove causes the arm to oscillate back and forth microscopically, in the 20-40Hz range. This bearing chatter is supposed to be a source of distortion.(2) Obviously, no mechanical bearings, no bearing wear. Silicone doesn't wear out. If it gets too dusty, you can replace it easily. If the monofilament breaks,you can restring it. This arm should last virtually forever. There's simply nothing to wear out. (3.)You can vary the amount of mechanical dampening of the arm by changing the depth the paddle sits in the silicone. You are in a sense varying its effective mass. Got a high energy MC cartridge that puts a lot of vibration back into the arm? Lower it. Got a high compliance MM cartridge, that doesn't need a lot of dampening? Raise it. VERY flexible and useful.
4.)The silicone bath tends to decouple further the tonearm from vibrations that may get to it from the plinth.
All in all, this is a very well thought out design, which I think is what is responsible for this 'table's excellent sonic qualities. I would sum these up as follows: 1.)Excellent pitch stability. Unless you've got an LP with an off center hole, you'll never hear the slightest hint of wow/flutter with this table. In this regard, it's up there with the superdecks. Quite an accomplishment considering it doesn't have a dedicated power supply. (2.)Probably because of the silicone dampening, this is about the cleanest, quietest sounding 'table near its price range. By this I mean there is very little surface noise, or needle talk, or pre echo, or vinyl rumble that plagues lesser tables. With clean records, it's so damn quiet I sometimes can forget whether I'm listening to vinyl or CD's. I don't mean it sounds like a CD player, but at times subjectively the signal to noise ratio can be similar. This allows little nuances and details to emerge in a natural, not forced way which can be quite beguiling. (3.)Qualities ennumerated above combine to give this turntable a (for lack of a better word) nonmechanical quality. You're less aware of the mechanism, more aware of just music. No part of the frequency range jumps out at you, everything sounds clean, clear and well balanced...well tempered. The soundstage can (depending on the recording) extend well beyond the speakers, and waaay back. It's sins (which are few) are ones of omission more than commission.
So let's talk about those. Dynamics are quite good, but not the best I've heard. On a related note, PRAT is good, but not the best out there. And finally, there's the antiskate thing. As I mentioned above, you can't adjust the antiskate with the WTRP 'arm. It's fixed-built in. With most of my LP's, this is not a prob. Imaging is very stable. But I've got a very few in which the soundstage starts out bunched up to the right speaker, then it wanders to the center, then to the left, and finally settles in properly. I'm sure this is a function of the antiskate not being quite dialed in right. Why it does it with only these few, and not the 99%+ of my collection, I haven't a clue. I've been told by those in the know that this signifies I've got the paddle too deep into the arm (overdamped). Maybe, but with my ClearAudio Aurum Beta, if I raise the paddle, then the VTA is no longer optimized, as I've already got the arm lowered all the way. So I can live with this.
In conclusion, this turntable passes the test of time. I've had it going on 12 years now. It's given me long term musical satisfaction. Every other component in my system has been replaced-some several times. I rewired the tonearm once. It's been ultra reliable, and Well Tempered is known for excellent customer service. All of these factors makes me think that the WTRP is still competitive, and worthy of your consideration. Unfortunately, dealers are now few and far between. You can buy direct from welltemperedlabs.com. Or, you can buy used. Truth is, you pretty rarely see these for sale. If my experience is any indicator, I can understand why.

REVIEW: Well Tempered Well Tempered Record Player Turntables Review by Marc Bratton at Audio Asylum