THE EMT 930 Studio Turntable

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THE EMT 930 Studio Turntable

Postby jadis » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:28 pm

The EMT 930 Turntable

Image

My first hand look, and feel, at the so called 'King of Vintage Turntable' - The EMT, from Germany.

I have seen and heard a few vintage tables, Garrard 301s and, briefly, the Thorens 124, and this is my first time to actually touch a vintage table, the EMT 930, on hand in the ARC room of Sensible Audio. Not counting the slight metal corrosion of the body, I should say that this thing is magnificent. Never in my mind, by just looking at it, would I have said that - till I actually put on a cartridge on the supplied tonearm, the 10 inch Ortofon arm with a makeshift AT uni headshell. Aside from adjusting for the VTF, there is basically nothing to adjust, because there is literally no gadget to adjust for azimuth, anti-skate or overhang. Man, so those are "latter day inventions" to drive the user crazy? :lol: Because after all is said and done, when playing record after record, there was no distortion exhibited even in the most complex cuts playing at the highest levels, including the JVC D2D of Flamenco Ole and Mercury's much vaunted Hi Fi ala Espanola. It just played perfectly. This thing gave me a shock as to what modern turtables and arms have done, and what they have NOT done. In my consultation with Setup2, he told me there is no need for a protractor to measure overhang, bec the arm is 10" and naturally the 'null point' will necessarily be a bit forward of the normal position. I couldn't believe that it works! Look ma, no more protractor. :D What the designers then did was to save the user from all sorts of alignment procedures, basically. And what they had that modern tables don't is a built in FLASH LIGHT that beams like a foglight straight to the cartridge for proper landing and needle disaster prevention. :lol: Man, I am as amused as I am impressed. A studio table built like a tank, with built in strobe with light, flicker switch speed switch, a built-in cuing lever (not in the tonearm), a staggering array of capacitors and what have you not underneath the chassis (oh, I was told there is a pitch/speed controller under the chassis too), and a tubed pre-amp for headphones :shock: THOSE, are what this thing HAVE. :) I may miss some things here and there about this table, but surely, I am greatly impressed with this 'old' thing. Lemme check these things out on ebay..... :lol:
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Postby Jon Agner » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:34 pm

Phil,

I'll post another picture of the EMT later. But first, here's a picture of you, Senor Sensible and the EMT:

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Postby jadis » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:35 pm

Woho......... an Studio 950 spotted in England...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=014

The problem is the freight....puro bakal ito. Bigat. :lol:
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Postby jadis » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:37 pm

Jon Agner wrote:Phil,

I'll post another picture of the EMT later. But first, here's a picture of you, Senor Sensible and the EMT:

Image


Jon,

You suprised me there. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Shall I say 'nice pic'? :lol:

Thanks for posting the pic, my camera did not do
a good job on the pics I took.
Last edited by jadis on Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby KD » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:39 pm

It did sound good, Philip. I was impressed.
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Postby jadis » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:39 pm

KD wrote:It did sound good, Philip. I was impressed.


Thanks, KD. Glad you liked it.
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Postby Jon Agner » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:47 pm

Phil,

Sayang, I wasn't able to listen attentively to the EMT+ black :( ... But that brief moment that I was able to do so, I knew the EMT was able to bring out the Black's emotional sound... :) 8)
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Postby jadis » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:53 pm

Jon Agner wrote:Phil,

Sayang, I wasn't able to listen attentively to the EMT+ black :( ... But that brief moment that I was able to do so, I knew the EMT was able to bring out the Black's emotional sound... :) 8)



Jon,

And we were playing then the good ol' "When I Dream" of Carol K., with your wife and kids present. I asked your wife if they had memorized the lyrics of the song... :lol: Hindi pa naman daw. :lol:
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Postby mullard88 » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:16 am

Hi Senor Sensible and Jadis,

It was a pleasure seeing you at the show and how can I forget the highlight of my evening when just before packing up, you graciously allowed pigdog, Mr. Coralstone Diamond and myself a listen to Jennifer Warnes, The Hunter and the Mercury Hi Fi Espanola lps. Needless to say, that was one of my most enjoyable hi-fi moment. Thank you such a pleasurable memory.
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Postby mullard88 » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:19 am

Hi pigdog,

It was a pleasure to meet you at the show. My other Denon cartridge is the 103-SA. I hope to touch base with you when I visit Hong Kong and likewise, I hope to catch up with you whenever you are in town here.
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Postby jadis » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:32 am

mullard88 wrote:Hi Senor Sensible and Jadis,

It was a pleasure seeing you at the show and how can I forget the highlight of my evening when just before packing up, you graciously allowed pigdog, Mr. Coralstone Diamond and myself a listen to Jennifer Warnes, The Hunter and the Mercury Hi Fi Espanola lps. Needless to say, that was one of my most enjoyable hi-fi moment. Thank you such a pleasurable memory.


hi mullard88,

my pleasure and i'm sure our good friend lito enjoyed your presence too. and we're glad that you enjoyed the 2 albums, which we used to demonstrate that certain recordings of the 'ordinary' kind, when properly recorded and mastered, will be as good or better than its 'audiophile' counterparts. btw, i was told by atty jun that the reason why he is looking for the lp of 'the hunter' is because in the last HK audio show, MBL was playing it to showcase its products and it sounded really great.
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Re: THE EMT 930 Studio Turntable

Postby rs241 » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:39 pm

jadis wrote: I have seen and heard a few vintage tables, Garrard 301s and, briefly, the Thorens 124, and this is my first time to actually touch a vintage table, the EMT 930, on hand in the ARC room of Sensible Audio. Not counting the slight metal corrosion of the body, I should say that this thing is magnificent.


Hi Philip, Wished I was there at the show. I have seen EMT 930, 950 and 948 turntables but have never heard them in action before. The metal corrossion you are referring to is not really corrossion but paint chips. The whole top plate including the basket support for the platter is actually made of bakelite not metal. I definitely agree with you that it's a magnificent piece of German engineering.
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Re: THE EMT 930 Studio Turntable

Postby jadis » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:53 pm

rs241 wrote:
jadis wrote: I have seen and heard a few vintage tables, Garrard 301s and, briefly, the Thorens 124, and this is my first time to actually touch a vintage table, the EMT 930, on hand in the ARC room of Sensible Audio. Not counting the slight metal corrosion of the body, I should say that this thing is magnificent.


Hi Philip, Wished I was there at the show. I have seen EMT 930, 950 and 948 turntables but have never heard them in action before. The metal corrossion you are referring to is not really corrossion but paint chips. The whole top plate including the basket support for the platter is actually made of bakelite not metal. I definitely agree with you that it's a magnificent piece of German engineering.



thanks for the info re the body, andre. hope you can program your visit here next year with the show sked. are yo coming over this season?
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Postby pigdog » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:03 pm

i came out of the audio daze as i was not expecting to see the emt as i have been dreaming about these tables for years only to see 2-3 of these babies under one roof! agree with jadis that moment before they packed up and we were listening to hi fi ala espanola and jennifer warnes was priceless!
those gallo speakers can surely sing!
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Postby jadis » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:10 pm

pigdog wrote:i came out of the audio daze as i was not expecting to see the emt as i have been dreaming about these tables for years only to see 2-3 of these babies under one roof! agree with jadis that moment before they packed up and we were listening to hi fi ala espanola and jennifer warnes was priceless!
those gallo speakers can surely sing!


hi ches,

i was not prepared for that kind of a sound either. with virtually minimal adjustment too. i might have to look into this table more closly...btw the hunter closed just now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=021

220 BRITISH POUNDS STERLING :shock:
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Re: THE EMT 930 Studio Turntable

Postby rs241 » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:30 pm

jadis wrote:
rs241 wrote:
jadis wrote: I have seen and heard a few vintage tables, Garrard 301s and, briefly, the Thorens 124, and this is my first time to actually touch a vintage table, the EMT 930, on hand in the ARC room of Sensible Audio. Not counting the slight metal corrosion of the body, I should say that this thing is magnificent.


Hi Philip, Wished I was there at the show. I have seen EMT 930, 950 and 948 turntables but have never heard them in action before. The metal corrossion you are referring to is not really corrossion but paint chips. The whole top plate including the basket support for the platter is actually made of bakelite not metal. I definitely agree with you that it's a magnificent piece of German engineering.



thanks for the info re the body, andre. hope you can program your visit here next year with the show sked. are yo coming over this season?


I've always wanted to come home and see the show there but it's almost impossible for me to schedule a trip that time of the year- which is the busiest at work. Yes, I'll be home right after Christmas. Would be nice to visit with you again.
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Re: THE EMT 930 Studio Turntable

Postby jadis » Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:15 am

rs241 wrote:
jadis wrote:
rs241 wrote:
jadis wrote: I have seen and heard a few vintage tables, Garrard 301s and, briefly, the Thorens 124, and this is my first time to actually touch a vintage table, the EMT 930, on hand in the ARC room of Sensible Audio. Not counting the slight metal corrosion of the body, I should say that this thing is magnificent.


Hi Philip, Wished I was there at the show. I have seen EMT 930, 950 and 948 turntables but have never heard them in action before. The metal corrossion you are referring to is not really corrossion but paint chips. The whole top plate including the basket support for the platter is actually made of bakelite not metal. I definitely agree with you that it's a magnificent piece of German engineering.



thanks for the info re the body, andre. hope you can program your visit here next year with the show sked. are yo coming over this season?


I've always wanted to come home and see the show there but it's almost impossible for me to schedule a trip that time of the year- which is the busiest at work. Yes, I'll be home right after Christmas. Would be nice to visit with you again.


Great. Always a pleasure to have you here. Just pm me when you're coming over.
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Postby hypertriode » Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:15 pm

here's another, jadis... :)

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Image
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Postby Jon Agner » Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:19 pm

Jadis:

Here 'ya go:

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Postby jadis » Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:03 pm

hypertriode wrote:here's another, jadis... :)

Image

Image



Rene,

Thanks a lot for posting the pictures of another EMT table, I assume, of MVA. He invited me over to his room early on Saturday and impressed me with his wide array of vintage collection. His EMT table really looks MINT, one can tell even from the underchassis. Congrats to MVA.
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