Review by Noam Bronstein William Firebaugh’s original Well-Tempered Tonearm turned many heads – and ears – upon its’ debut in the mid-1980’s. The tonearm’s design was, and remains, quite radical by any way of reckoning. The followup Well-Tempered Turntable allowed WF to integrate his ideas on damping and resonance even further. Some may have been inclined to dismiss Firebaugh’s tonearm ideas as having “no bearing whatsoever” (pun intended), but enough audiophiles latched on, and gradually, a sort of cult following developed around these products. Today, some thirty years later, Well-Tempered Lab, while still very much a boutique effort, has evolved into one of the more well-respected analogue brands. Mr.Firebaugh, it seems, may have been ahead of his time. I had the pleasure of reviewing the Amadeus GTA MkII turntable, with the exceptional LTD tonearm, over a couple of months in 2015. What a brilliant piece of gear this is. At the time of this review, the Amadeus GTA MkII occupied the top of Well-Tempered’s lineup – above the rest of the Amadeus, Simplex and Versalex models. Late in 2015, they introduced the Royale 400, a statement product with a 16″ arm, that retails at about twice what this model sells for. I [...]
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