Tri-Planar Mk VII Precision Tonearm, Clearaudio Solution and Master Solution Turntables, and Redpoint Audio Design Model B Turntable

Great analog is like a drug—a handful of goodies to tempt the habit.

The Master is certainly worth the extra money; it’s nice that it can be done in stages if you want to lessen the initial financial sting. In tandem with the Tri-Planar (which is not a likely real-world pairing with the Solution), the Master “allowed” the arm to get more from the grooves, seemingly digging deeper for major improvements in all areas. Now, Starker’s cello danced, but with the characteristic sinew and glowing wood tones for which the recording is justly famous. The Royal Ballet blossomed in all dimensions, growing wider and deeper, with a greater sense of air and space around and between individual instruments, and greater micro- and macro-dynamic contrasts, while the Wilco and Monk records also displayed greater presence, punch, and were more musically commanding.

If you get to the Master level, I would strongly recommend checking out the two accessories. The Speed Controller may or may not make a big difference, depending on your AC quality (plus, the Master has a six-level pulley that allows for fine-tuning of the speeds), and though the Outer Limit can be awkward to use, it has a rather surprising effect, lowering the perceived noise level while improving the sense of air, detail, and dynamics.

Redpoint Audio Design Model B

If you go to Redpoint Audio’s Web site, you’ll see a retro-looking black-and-white photograph of a cigarette-smoking, fedora-wearing gent—tie loosened, sleeves rolled up— who appears to be a deejay. In addition to an ashtray of butts and a crumpled cigarette pack, his desk holds a microphone and a massive three-piece turntable. The man is Peter Clark, chief designer and, well, chief everything at Redpoint Audio, a fledgling company out of Scottsdale, Arizona. [1]

I spotted Redpoint at its first CES in 2004, and then again at this year’s show. You can’t mistake these designs for any other. Depending on the model and finish, they’re at once massive and elegant looking. Unlike the Clearaudio approach, the platter and bearing rest on an immense base, and this base/platter assembly sits in isolation from likewise imposing separate motor and arm pods. Oh, and rather than the standard rubber or poly drive belt, Redpoint uses Mylar tape—either the clear leader or the actual tape itself. (This is something of a mixed blessing, as I will soon describe.) Tri-Planar’s Tri Mai is high on these designs, and put me in touch with Clark to arrange an audition; to say that my experience with his Model B turntable has been exhilarating would be an understatement.

Redpoint makes three models: the $8800 Model A, the $11,000 Model B, and the $16,000 Model D. (A Model C was designed but deemed too costly to manufacture.) With each progression, the name of the game is mass, mass, and more mass— or put another way, damping, damping, and more damping. “It’s massive and suspensionless,” Clark remarked in his rich North Carolina drawl, “with lots of damping, and lots of Teflon.”

Each Redpoint turntable starts out as a set of solid aluminum billet chunks that undergo a beastly-expensive machining process to achieve the final result. The base begins as a 3" piece and is cut to 2.7". The platter is machined to resemble an unusually thick-walled pie pan. The sloping walls vary from a half-inch to one-inch thick from top to bottom, with a twoinch- thick white Teflon platter [2] resting inside. On the 110- pound Model A, the platter assembly is filled with #6 skeet shot and the same Marvel Air Tool oil used to lubricate the main bearing. On the 120-pound Model B, the platter and base, which sports 18 machined damping holes, are filled with the same shot and silicone oil. And on the 130-pound Model D the same shot and silicone damping materials are used in the platter and base, as well as the arm and motor pods. In addition, the Model D uses a rare and expensive black Teflon platter, which Clark tells me—and I have no reason to doubt him—is sonically superior to the white. The platter is driven by a 12V DC motor with precious metal brushes and sleeve bearings, and is powered by a sealed lead-acid battery. According to Clark, the 12V charger (not a wall-wart) keeps things spinning for a full 168 hours (one week), and the battery power keeps AC line ripples out of the system. (I could detect no sonic difference with the charger plugged in or not, so I kept it plugged in all the time, which actually prolongs the battery’s life.) Literally topping off Clark’s mass/damping theory, the Redpoint comes with a five-andhalf- pound machined record weight that will—I kid you not because I found out the hard way—seriously hurt anything it might accidentally fall on.

I’m not going to get into any mass versus low-mass debates, or discuss sprung suspensions versus fixed bases, vacuum record hold down, or the potential benefits of air-bearings. What I will say is that the Redpoint Model B is the best-sounding turntable I’ve ever used in my system—and by a long shot. And though there are worthy contenders I’ve not evaluated, the only design that has affected me—musically—like the Redpoint is Lloyd Walker’s even more massive (350 lbs.) and more costly ($30,000) Proscenium Gold turntable and arm.