Teac VRDS

[Jonneville]

I have noticed that these VRDS players/transports have quite a cult following and seem to command strong prices. When I first went hunting for a CD player many years ago it was a Wadia that really impressed me but it was way out of budget, so these Teac units have always appealed to me.

After finally sorting out my TD 124, towards the end of last year I started looking for a CDP and was lucky to find a VRDS 25 in excellent condition, complete with remote. I don’t have that many CDs compared with records and where possible, I intend to buy anything new on vinyl so there was no way I was going to spend a couple of grand on a s/h Wadia but hopefully – maybe with a few tweaks – I can end up fairly close sound-wise.

Whilst researching these VRDS machines I found a lot of info’ which I thought would be useful to anyone else looking for one. In particular, it might help them understand the differences, especially the distinction between the 10 and the 10 Special Edition (SE).

This is not meant to be a definitive guide, just a few observations and this concentrates on the VRDS 1, 7, 10 and 25, as those are the models which seem to be mentioned most frequently.

The machines can be divided into two different types, the early ones with the CMK-4 mechanism and the Sony KSS-240A laser (as found in the VRDS 1, 7 and [possibly] the 10SE), compared with the later ones with the better CMK-3.2 mech’ and Sony KSS-151A laser (as used in the 10 and the 25). Depending on your sources, the 10 and the 10SE are different – some say that the SE version has the lower spec', perhaps because it was introduced to use up a surplus of the lower spec’ spare mech’s and lasers left over from the T1s and T7s - others say that it has the higher spec' shared with the 25 - maybe someone who actually owns one can clarify this?

My understanding is that the T1 and T7 are essentially the same, the T1 being a transport only which could have been paired with a matching Teac DT1 DAC.

I only have experience of the VRDS 25 but the person I acquired mine from had previously owned a T7 and a T10. He reckoned that there was a significant improvement in sound quality as he moved up the chain, as well as in weight – the copper casing in the T25 means that it weighs in at 16.5kg, compared to the relatively lightweight T7 at 9kg. He also tried it with various external DACs and concluded none sounded better, just different.

The “Lampizator” wasn’t too impressed with the T7 but raved about the 25, particularly its DAC. I gather that the 25 was sold at $2,700 but the 25X was a little cheaper, presumably due to the value of the Yen and possibly Teac repositioning its price – maybe they wanted a greater price differential with their Esoteric range? The only real difference between the 25 and the 25X seems to be that the 25X had added digital inputs so you could use its DAC for other components. The “Lampizator” also reckoned that the 25 and 25X were identical apart from an additional PCB in the 25X, which he couldn’t figure out what was for but was presumably for the digital input. Personally, I have no need for the digital input and as far as I’m concerned, the less electrickery the better!

The VRDS system was also used by a number of expensive manufacturers such as Wadia, Krell, McIntosh and Copland, which should help long-term with spares but will also probably mean that parts will be priced accordingly – still, better that they cost a few quid more rather than being unobtanium. Some of those expensive machines used the earlier VRDS system, such as the Krell 300 and Copland 288, whereas others used the better, later system, for example the Wadia 861 and McIntosh 751.

Rather like the Thorens TD 124, there are quite a lot of companies offering upgrades for these VRDS machines and there is a lot of info’ about modifying them available, particularly on the DIY HiFi forums – not that I can understand a word of that! German specialists ASE Audiotuning and SAC Concept claim to be able to turn your VRDS 25 into a “Wadia killer” but they aren’t cheap – ASE want £1,150 for their full-house “Signature” upgrade and that’s just for the parts – it’s £1,465 fitted, not that you would want to risk shipping your CDP to Germany. More affordable is Chevron’s upgrade package which I think is around £400 fitted?

Others offering clock and PSU mod’s are Audiocom (recommended by the engineer who looks after my equipment), Trichord, Audio Nautes, Valab, Fidelity Audio, Tentlabs, Lampizator etc.

I won’t comment on the cosmetic differences between the various models as they are fairly obvious. As for prices, they are easily found on the forums and on eBay. The 25 models sell for strong money on German eBay in particular – I did wonder if ASE and SAC were buying them up? Try to buy any VRDS with the remote if you want it, as the handsets usually fetch around £50.

I’m very pleased with my stock VRDS 25 at the moment but being a hot rodder at heart, it’s only a matter of time before I have to start modifying it. If anyone can recommend any worthwhile upgrades I would be very interested to learn more.

Lastly, as any thread is useless without pictures, here's a few photos...

T1



T10



T25



Regards

Jon’.