[marchunter]

Hello there folks
My name is Marc. I am a fairly recent convert to Well Tempered (about three years). I have a Classic that I love. It is my main table for critical listening. I use a Marantz 6300 for daily driving. My Classic passes through a McIntosh C22 Commemorative Edition and is monoblocked with 2 Schiit Vidars and out through Klipsch Forte IIs or RSL Elans (they’re switchable). I have a couple Marantz systems and other tables that we can talk about if you’re interested.
The reason I’m here is that I was steered this way by Well Tempered Labs because I had asked them about a new table I purchased yesterday. They suggested asking here.
So....
Yesterday morning I purchased a little piece of gold. It is a prototype Amadeus with dual tone arms. I bought it from an acquaintance of Mr. Firebaugh who had received the table directly from him. Evidently they were members of a listening group and Mr. Firebaugh would spring prototypes on the group. I heard back from Frank Denson at WTL and he said it looks like one of his prototypes and confirmed that some would end up in the possession of friends.
I’m just hoping for some more information as I’m fascinated with this thing. I’m going to set it up with mm’s, one mono one stereo.
Anyway here are the pics and I hope to get to know y’all.
The toggle switch is power. It is a three speed with adjustment pots for each speed next to the power switch. The black knob is the speed selection switch. The golf balls are actually golf balls that have been drilled for the arm and suspension. The tone arms are press fit into the golf balls and can be moved fairly easily to adjust arm length and angle. The platter is mdf spun by a monofilament belt.

[mick wolfe]

Looks like a great score. However, if you adjust arm length, you'll have to adjust the angle of the headshell/cartridge to correspond. I suppose you could the set the lengths to match either Amadeus or Simplex arms and use their fixed headshell angles as a "template". You've probably already covered this though.

[marchunter]

Yes Mick, it’s going to be interesting. The fiddley part of it is getting everything set correctly as nothing locks down with any certainty, especially the tone arm through the ball. It’s going to be fun. In fact it already is.
Thanks for dropping in.

[marchunter]

I have been wondering. The bearing and spindle are dry. I know we are all used to a wet bearing however this spindle and platter are very, very light. Could he have been experimenting with a dry bearing?
I don’t know. It could just be neglect but thought I’d throw that thought out there.

[mick wolfe]

I remember hearing about all those Firebaugh prototypes over the years. From my experience and if you haven't already, I'd pop an A23 mat ( or the mat of your choice) on that prototype. Mainly because I've found those shelf mats like the one shown to leave an imprint on the record surface.

[marchunter]

Thanks Mick. I had planned on putting a real mat on. I’ve still got the shelf mat on there ‘cause it’s kind of quaint and fits in with the McGiver aspect of this table. I may keep it on for display as it’s original, then just use a real mat for playing discs.

[mick wolfe]

Something to try in the way of a mat is the Teac Washi Reversible Turntable Sheet. An expensive ( $30) but nicely made paper mat. Designed to be  placed over your existing mat if you desire. Thin enough that it shouldn't require any VTA adjustments. ( None I could hear anyway)  Music Direct or Amazon have it among others.

[ponger]

I was also fortunate in obtaining a Well Tempered prototype.  I happened to get mine directly from Bill Firebaugh when I was having problems with a previous generation Signature.  At the time, he was in the midst of finalizing the design for the Royale 400, and had a previous version to sell that was very close to the final prototype in design.  Bill's own table was very much like yours when I first saw it, but with only one 400mm arm.  I made a couple of changes for the better, and Bill made a couple of changes as well.  I changed the plinth to 30mm panzerholz, and changed the platter to 3/4" super high molecular weight nylon.  Bill changed the golf ball - arm interface to something like the current arm with the arm no longer going through the ball, but on top, as well as changing the connecting string to points at 90 deg. to the arm rather than 45 deg on yours.  He always suggested using a drop of light synthetic oil in the bearing well.  He is also using a cotton mat that he bought at the Walmart cloth department.

I have always found his turntable to be very musical above all else.  Don't be afraid of trying new things.  He always encouraged me to try.

Mas

[marchunter]

Thank you guys. I’ve been deep into it today. It’s playing wonderfully right now. I checked the Amadeus manual and synthetic was required so I installed some and put the platter back on and gave it a spin. It didn’t want to stop so yeah lube is good.
I’m going to play with a bunch of mats but my heart will always love this crazy shelf stuff so I’ll keep it around for historical accuracy.
I’m jealous that you met Mr. Firebaugh. Besides the turntable connection I’m a Ford guy so he’s up there in my world.
Really enjoying playing with this thing.

[ponger]

You might want to look for this fuzzy cotton material.  Bill was using the shelf stuff for quite a while, until he found the cotton stuff.  It does sound a good bit better, and its cheap. 

Talking with Bill is a lot of fun.  He's a very practical engineer.