The table sounded best on large orchestral pieces in which it was able to portray both the size and majesty of the performance while enabling the listener to follow particular instrumental lines and sort our musically complex details. The tonality of the table was very much affected by the record weight. Without weight, the sound tended towards the lightweight - inadequate meat on the bones. With the Anvil in place, the entire tonality of the presentation shifted down a half an octave but the top end seemed shelved down. Luckily, I was able to replace it with the Harmonix to restore tonal order to the performance.


Optimally set up with the Harmonix, the Redpoint Testa Rossa XS gives every indication of belonging in the upper echelon of mass-damped tables. While its tonality favors the lower octaves, its black background enables it to resolve sufficient inner detail. It favors authority and weight over speed and agility, majesty over minutia, size over ultimate subtlety, boldness over refinement.


This big'n'bold sound makes it slightly romantic. To its credit, one would never accuse the Redpoint of sounding hifi-ish. The scale and warmth of the presentation comes at the price of a slight reduction in incisiveness, finesse, ultimate dynamics and overall agility. My main concerns focused on a perceived relative slowness which was exacerbated by the Anvil but which remained present to a lesser degree even without it. This feature showed up in two ways - a slight reduction in incisiveness and agility or sprightliness. These are minor quibbles. Their effects can be mitigated but they will be present even without the Anvil and with the table running just a bit above speed.


With the SPU, the sound was natural and very relaxed. The overall combination paints with a broader stroke. To employ an analogy from the history of art, the feel is more 19th Century Impressionism than late 20th Century Photo Realism. Both are legitimate ways of portraying the same scene. Both can be persuasive in their own ways. In fact, the very same person can be drawn to either. My wife did her graduate work on the Impressionists yet some of her own paintings are photo-realist.


At the same time, the Redpoint did not paint with all the tonal colors of the Impressionists. Though far from two-toned, its tonal palette was ultimately a bit limited. To my ears, it lacked the lighter hues to seem restricted in conveying a sprightly or lively demeanor. The Testa Rossa XS does not aim for ultimate finesse or refinement and, like all components, constitutes a compromise of sorts that should be very appealing to many analogue lovers.


It is very difficult to attribute specific properties to a turntable per se since they could easily be a function of table, arm, cartridge or even the isolation platform, let alone a particular combination of them all. The SPU is a particularly relaxed and natural cartridge that is detailed but not at all incisive. Put a Helikon on the Triplanar and you might get a completely different presentation. Alternately, the table could become more incisive with a Graham arm rather than a Triplanar. If one drove lightning-quick electrostatic speakers, one might not even notice the innately slower presentation of the Redpoint.

This is just another way of saying something that is at once both insightful and banal – namely, that a system is a system and thus fundamentally a balancing act. It is a distinctive virtue of the Redpoint that its basic characteristic is generally pleasing to anyone who loves music, and that it has the versatility to be molded to suit different tastes. The Redpoint/Triplanar/SPU is one distinctive flavor. I am confident that the Redpoint/Graham/Helikon would be very different: More incisive, leaner, 'faster' and considerably less romantic and big. It might still be very bold. Yet another approach would be a Redpoint/ Ortofon arm/conical SPU cartridge. That said, the Redpoint Testa Rossa still is an evolving product in many ways. It is, however, evolving around a single-minded commitment to a particular, well thought-out approach which rests on the notion that a properly designed table begins with eliminating all resonances and unwanted energy which would otherwise be stored in the playback system. In a way, Peter Clark is an idealist out to execute this particular goal without compromise.


Needless to say, execution is expensive. Much of his table involves small-scale custom machining and labor-intensive detail work. Peter remains undaunted by cost and risk, however, and should be admired accordingly. Tables that pursue his approach have much to offer and the Redpoint delivers a goodly percentage of it. In my mind, mass damping runs the risk of taking a bit of the life out of the presentation. This is as true of equipment racks as it is of turntables or anything else for that matter.


Think of a turntable like a car riding along a road. The trick with heavy mass-damped tables is to cover the ground without the music being experienced in the vein of how an older Cadillac or Lincoln portrays the road. The big cars can give you a smooth and easy ride but they are not always responsive or agile; nor can a rider easily describe the details of the blacktop traveled.


Like other successful and noteworthy high-mass designs including the Brinkmann, the Walker and the Yorke, the Redpoint comes a long way from riding like a Cadillac. No one would assume that building a car that's put together like a tank yet drives like a Ferrari is easy. Nevertheless, I take it that by naming his table as he has, Peter's ambition is precisely that. I look forward to the ongoing evolution of his tables as he pursues that challenging 'dream'.
Peter Clark of Redpoint responds:
I express my gratitude to Srajan and the Learned Doctor for the opportunity to have the Redpoint XS critically examined. Only being heard in a show context with the inherent limitations of hotel venues is a big problem for specialty manufacturers and I'm pleased to have my turntable experienced in a more salubrious environment.

I have no quarrels, a few quibbles and several comments about Jules' remarks. I'll try to put some of those remarks into a broader context and amplify on others. In no particular order: The motor/controller function is separated from the rest of the 'table for a number of reasons. Among them are isolation of the only active source of vibration and to provide adjustability of drive tension and ease of replacement of the drive medium. Comment was made about the platter being slow-starting. This is completely a function of drive belt tension and not a reflection of the quality or power of the motor. The motor is an established, hand-built model from Maxon of Switzerland and has been recommended for more than a decade for the application. More 'modern' designs are available from Maxon and some other manufacturers use them. I have found them to be simply too noisy for such a critical application and after evaluation of other models, have decided to stay with the present motor. Proper belt tension adjustment has been achieved when the platter starts smartly - all Redpoints do. Testimony to this is the number of special controllers Redpoint has constructed for Platines Verdier over the past few years, good company to be seen in.

Additionally, (quibble here) the fluttering sound Jules notices from the passage of the mag tape drive over the platter vertices is confined to the XS model. The facets are a strictly cosmetic feature, originally intended to set the 'table visually apart from its mechanically lesser brethren. If I have my figures right, the frequency of this susurrus is 18Hz, below the resolving capability of most phono systems and inaudible in the Redpoint because of the platter damping. As Jules said, if it's annoying, buy a different model.

Tone arm fitment was mentioned in the context of a completeness of vision for the Redpoint 'tables. Several estimable turntables were mentioned that are provided with proprietary arms. I infer from this that Jules prefers the Walker or Brinkman vision as distinguished from permitting (encouraging) the analogue nut to voice his own turntable as with Redpoint. One of the principal design criteria for Redpoint is tunability. The methods, amounts and nature of resonance control are integral to the design concept of Redpoint 'tables. Similarly, the same way one might voice a 'table to his own preference by cartridge choice, I afford the widest possible choice for arms as well, along with free advice as to how to achieve Sonic Nirvana within that context. Lloyd Walker sells a system of his vision, I sell a solution.

Similarly, the choice of the Ortofon SPU Royal N was a mutually arrived-at result of several conversations about voicing the 'table Jules would review. Apart from being a favorite of mine ( I own two Ortofon SPU GMs as well) we decided that since Ken Shindo specialized in electronics which Jules favors and which accommodate the Ortofon arms and carts, we would use the universal 1/2" mount Royal N version (which Shindo doesn't offer.) Shindo preamp and amps optimized for the Ortofon should have guaranteed a full-range bliss that somehow eluded Jules when the stylus met the vinyl. I would note that among the "usual suspects" present at the retuning of the 'table were two high end dealers, one for Shindo. The other, Doctor Steve, is a practicing ENT man with hearing specialization who owns a Walker (and is an ex-SME 30 owner.) The consensus of the six celebrants was that the Triplanar/SPU combination on the Redpoint possessed great dynamics, inner detail and top end, along with depthless bass. There was extensive conversation (between tracks) about the necessity of high quality recordings (both engineering and condition-wise) before real evaluations can be made. Shindo dealer Jonathan Halpern had brought some his finest software for just the occasion and proceeded to prove the necessity of this point. The Redpoint never failed this test that afternoon.

If the Triplanar, known for its reference (if somewhat dark) neutrality, and the bone-stock Royal N lacked a full "tonal palette," several contributing factors may have mitigated an exemplary performance. Shindo's electronics are optimized for his own Ortofon arm and cartridge modifications, not the stock Triplanar and the top-of-the-line but otherwise untouched Royal N. Jules and I share an age where the upper register perception might be challenged (I do about 15kHz.) The sound field was somewhat compromised by a piano-sized artifact that could only affect top end resolution. The Roksan Shiraz (an EMT variant) performed superbly in the short A /B we were afforded with that cart, but couldn't muster the bass the Triplanar/Ortofon combo could. Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice. Redpoints offer those choices across the spectrum.

As for the lamented Anvil, it is the result of a lot of testing. As Tri Mai of Triplanar has said, "if you get the bass right, the rest will follow." I found a record weight is necessary for the best bass performance. The 6 lb. 4 oz Anvil is the best solution I've come up with, but I'm still working on it (how about the 8 lb. 4 oz. Joe weight pictured in the CES pictures on these pages?) I'd point out that we also tried the HRS record weight in the same review context (I've never heard the Harmonix weight on the Redpoint) and it was inadequate for the task, a point Mike Latvis of HRS concedes. It seems there is no universal solution to this, as yet.

Again, I thank Srajan and Jules for the opportunity to showcase my vision of how this analogue thing ought to be done and for all the kind words. I assure them I'm not done yet and would happily revisit the subject again.

Peter Clark
Manufacturer's website