Specs & Pricing

Letters
Of Magnets and Turntables
HP:
I read [your article] on magnets and turntables. I also have intimate experience with the Teac
TN-400 Magnefloat turntable, having owned one since 1976 or ’77…. First, your statement about
not knowing about the unit is the immediate qualifier. You make a point of saying because the
unit was not reviewed by a golden ear; it must not have been practical or it would have been
extensively used (my paraphrase). Well, it does work and it sounds quite good. It is only one of
two pieces of equipment I have kept in continuous use for most of my adult life; the other is my
ReVox A77 (which hasn’t even been close in reliability). The unit floats the platter on a magnetic
field. I have compared it to many turntables. It sits next to my Linn LP-12.The two units don’t
sound identical but the Linn doesn’t best it; it does sound different….
My unit was the one shown at the l976 CES. People in the know told me that Teac was sued
over the design and immediately dumped the units that had been brought into the market for
initial sale. Hence, the reason for no one ever getting one for review.
I used to work for the distributor and that is how I got mine…
Dan L. Williams
Avery Dennison Printer Systems Americas
I have now learned that there was a turntable using magnets preceding the Teac (see Letters, Issue
165). It was from Stanton, the Stereotable Model 800B. Long-time reader Carlos Bauzá (of Puerto
Rico) sent along copies of reviews, one from High Fidelity, the other from the January 1964 (!)
issue of Audio. Just guessing, but I’d bet it was Stanton that push the kibosh on the Teac design,
since both used magnets, not to drive the platter, as in the EAR unit or the new Clearaudio, but in
place of the tables’ bearings, much as the expensive Blue Pearl from Britain does.
At first, I was surprised I hadn’t heard of these early uses of magnetic suspensions, but given
the Teac’s abrupt disappearance from the market and the fact that the Stanton came out almost a
decade before the first issue of The Absolute Sound did, I now understand why. I can tell you this:
We haven’t heard the last of both magnetic-suspension and magnetic-drive systems
The Negatives Have It... So Far
HP:
There are two big questions facing us right now:
(1) Is digital finally on the verge of surpassing reference LP
(2) Can any combination of electronics beat the awesome ASR Emitter
John Harnick
(1) No.
(2) That remains to be seen.
Errata: In Issue 165’s Editors’ Choice Awards, we neglected to make the following price
changes to the gear from Edge Electronics: G4, $4038; G8+, $12,248; NL10.1, $15,188;
NL12.1, $20,800; G3, $6180; G2, $5148; Signature 1.1, $12,268. The Cary CD 306 was
inadvertently left off the Editors’ Choice List.
In the same Issue’s HP’s Workshop, the Burmester 001 preamp was mistakenly referred
to as the 001 Mk 3. No such model exists; it is simply the 001.
December 2006 The Absolute Sound 13