I miss my Teres turntable

Posted on January 15th, 2008 by admin

This all began about 7 years ago as a ‘group buy’ DIY project, led more or less by Chris Brady and Thom Mackris. The concept was to design and build a high-end turntable based on the following components: a large, finely machined stainless steel main spindle bearing in a brass well, using a steel ball bearing and Delrin thrust plate; an outboard, belt drive motor assembly with an optical strobe speed control; and a massive, two-inch thick acrylic platter. Additional components were eventually offered that made up the Teres “kit”, these included an acrylic armboard and a Delrin record clamp.

Eventually Chris decided to take this work commercial, and the result is Teres Audio, whose turntables now span numerous models, and no kit offerings. In early 2002 I purchased a motor/controller assembly from a Teres user, and a platter and bearing (and clamp) from Teres. I mounted them on a homemade Cocobolo (rosewood) base, along with my Fidelity Research FR-64S tonearm. The sound of this analog front end was pure magic - it had weight, resolution and musicality…in spades. I eventually settled on using a Denon DL103D cartridge and RS Labs RS-A1 tonearm with my Teres.

Unfortunately the time came when I needed to rationalize my system, and I sold the Teres components to a friend, who has been enjoying them ever since. I still miss “my creation”, which is listed as Teres #34 in the ‘hall of fame’.