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Continuum Turntable looking for info


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I am trying to find some info on a Turntable I acquired a few years ago.

 

It really is a stunning piece with a solid marble platter. I don’t know much about it other than it’s got a Rega Lid, I think a Rega tonearm and then a brass plaque that says:

Continuum

Dohmann (I’d say Mark Dohmann maybe?) and Gusew?

 

Reason for asking is I’m thinking of selling but have no idea what $$ value it would be.

 

The person I bought from thought it was from the mid 90’s?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. IMG_9284.jpgIMG_9285.jpgIMG_9288.jpg

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yep, Mark Dohmann

 

http://www.telosaudiodistributors.com/about-our-team/

< Mark Döhmann

Mark started his audio journey in 1974 with a broken mechanical wind-up 78 RPM Gramophone with the instruction from his engineer father, “son, see if you can fix this”.

 

Vinyl replay in this home at that time was a state-of-the-art Pioneer Quadrophonic stereo and player.

Little did he know at the time that his father’s words would be the spark for an amazing career in audio.

With a solid background in aeronautical engineering gained during a tenure with a major Australian airline during the 1980's, Mark designed and built his own record players from 1982 to 1993 (by Dohmann & Gusew).

These beautiful hand-crafted players quickly developed a reputation as the best sounding turntables of their generation and are still held in high regard today by their owners. >

 

a pic!

< Aussie Hi-Fi history. A young Mark Dohmann (right) and Mark Gusew (left) with the first Continuum turntable (1982). >

http://ow.ly/i/8L1YP

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Hi Marty

Very early gen "CONTINUUM by Dohmann & Gusew" made by Audio Synectics circa 1984 by Mark Dohmann and Mark Gusew (and we're still best mates!).

Rega 3 donor parts for platter and bearing. Hurst motor synchronous. RB300 Arm with mods.

The key was the constrained layer plinth using a very soft marble (low quartz content). This was cut with diamond tooling to fit bearing adaptor using a Boeing Alloy and adhesive.

Timber frame to allow lid to work.

Sonically they had exceptional imaging stability which was due to motor mounting being different to Rega compliant o-ring suspension for motor. We used to run these up against the big rigs like Ariston RD11s/Sota Star/Goldmund Studietto which was an easy decision.

The added mass in the plinth created a much quieter noise floor.

I would be happy to run this "old faithful" against 10K rigs today. It was a giant slayer back then in a biblical sense.

As for the designer aging as well as the table - I can assure you I'm much worse for the wear ? but still playing vinyl and designing better solutions to the same problems we had back then.

Come to think of it some classic music from that era is still spinning on my table tonight. I wouldn't get out of vinyl as I often hear big regrets from those who did.

Buyers of the rig can reach out to me and I will offer to upgrade the design to the last of the series in 1993 which included a very unique armboard design which principle was fiendishly clever at the time. At the time it was too expensive to use due donor material very hard to get but "ol RMH" was a bit more fuel efficient after a D Check nonetheless ?

Good luck on your quest.

MD

image.png.8d652b38ffaeeb005304574d454dfc68.pngimage.png.fdd03bd55c7b16943a8913fbad6732df.png

Edited by dohmannaudio
added pics before and after
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Wow thanks @dohmannaudio, never expected that. Thanks so much for the contact. It really is a stunning deck. Great to hear you guys are still best mate. Love the pic Marc put up on this post. Did you make many of these? I've never seen another.

 

Really appreciate your filling in the gaps.

Edited by martysworld
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Hi Marty

About 35 of that series. By 1995 I had resigned myself to the fact that "most people were deaf" and that CD had won. After deciding that arguing the point was only delaying the sale of vinyl by those embracing the "revolution" I decided instead to look for preloved vinyl and enjoy the music with friends who also decided the perfect CD format lacked that special magic pop and crackle ;-). Only now in last few years has the "magic" been rediscovered by more and more listeners.

I'm enjoying rediscovering old vinyl on new rigs. Never gets old!

Pretty nice to see the rig still works all those years later. Reliability Engineering obviously wasn't wasted.

Edited by dohmannaudio
speller
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Hey Marty,

I'm Mark Gusew, the other half of Doehmann and Gusew. 

 

I'm very pleased that your early Continuum is still working well and sounding great. They were absolutely great tables and as Mark Doehmann said they are certainly giant killers as far as performance goes.

 

Much of the research and work done on these early tables had a direct bearing in later state of the art production tables, including the current Helix range, some of the best sounding tables on the planet!

 

Marty, what you have there is a piece of audio history. Of course, I believe that it's priceless but unless you intend to buy something rather more costly, or heaven forbid get out of vinyl altogether, why not keep it and put a nice cartridge on it and fall in love with it again?

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1 hour ago, eltech said:

@BMC HiFi

 

Is there somewhere in Victoria Australia we can listen to your Helix turntable? 

See if you can get to here the latest or latter Continuum as well. Easily the most engaging front end I've ever heard. Although I did here Marks Helix 2 at LWA, but the speakers were small bookshelves. I heard the Continuum on Focal Grand Utopias many times.

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