Gold Crown V or Diamond???

B

bicki

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
hi there

we are a private pool club in switzerland and own six 9 foot pool tables and two snooker tables. we feel our pool tables need to be replaced either this or next year.

since years now we had 1 lehmacher, 4 gold crown III and 1 gold crown IV. we actually like the IIIs, but since the pockets sit on top of the rail and the gold crown 4 was introduced with flush pocket rubber and no rack counter, we prefer the 4. but we bought the 4 brandnew and faced problems with slates we never had with our 3s. apparently the sagging of slates was adressed with brunswick latest model the gold crown V. as we always had gold crowns, it would be the obvious choice to buy 6 new gold crown Vs...

in the past years the diamond tables have come up and r being praised by many. is this just marketing or are they really that good? here in switzerland i've never seen one of these.... is it correct that the pro am is the same as the professional but having the ball return?

is the diamond really an option for us replacing our gold crowns or shud we stick to the brunswicks? one might say it is a question of preference.... but since i cannot test a diamond table, i would love to get your experience on that subject.

Thanks for any insight and tips you may have for us.
bicki

PS: is there a diamond representative in Europe? could not find....
 
I think that both tables are great tables for players. I really like playing on either table, but if I were to buy them brand new, I would go with the diamond. Some mechanics may have a different opinion, but thats just mine. They really do play as good as people say and they seem very durable.
 
"back in the day", more world championships were played on Gold Crowns, but not anymore... ;)

IMO Diamond Pro Am's are better than GC V because they have...

1. Lower price
2. 1 piece slate
3. Better leveling system
4. Artemis cushions standard
5. Deeper slate shelf
6. Better pocket cuts (less rattled balls)
7. Scratch, Dent, & Burn resistant rail tops (aka Dymondwood)
8. Simonis cloth standard
9. No metal castings to get dented/scratched
10. Made in Indiana, USA :thumbup:
 
Last edited:
bicki said:
hi there

we are a private pool club in switzerland and own six 9 foot pool tables and two snooker tables. we feel our pool tables need to be replaced either this or next year.

since years now we had 1 lehmacher, 4 gold crown III and 1 gold crown IV. we actually like the IIIs, but since the pockets sit on top of the rail and the gold crown 4 was introduced with flush pocket rubber and no rack counter, we prefer the 4. but we bought the 4 brandnew and faced problems with slates we never had with our 3s. apparently the sagging of slates was adressed with brunswick latest model the gold crown V. as we always had gold crowns, it would be the obvious choice to buy 6 new gold crown Vs...

in the past years the diamond tables have come up and r being praised by many. is this just marketing or are they really that good? here in switzerland i've never seen one of these.... is it correct that the pro am is the same as the professional but having the ball return?

is the diamond really an option for us replacing our gold crowns or shud we stick to the brunswicks? one might say it is a question of preference.... but since i cannot test a diamond table, i would love to get your experience on that subject.

Thanks for any insight and tips you may have for us.
bicki

PS: is there a diamond representative in Europe? could not find....
Click to expand...

Diamond has an importer in Finland, call Brian @ Diamond, 1-812-288-7665 and you can ask him the number of our importer there. In fact we're getting ready to send another cantainer of tables over there shortly.

Glen
 
JZMechanix said:
"back in the day", more world championships were played on Gold Crowns, but not anymore... ;)

IMO Diamond Pro Am's are better than GC V because they have...

1. Lower price
2. 1 piece slate
3. Better leveling system
4. Artemis cushions standard
5. Deeper slate shelf
6. Better pocket cuts (less rattled balls)
7. Scratch, Dent, & Burn resistant rail tops (aka Dymondwood)
8. Simonis cloth standard
9. No metal castings to get dented/scratched
10. Made in Indiana, USA :thumbup:
Click to expand...

yeahthat-1.gif


.
 
GC's look nicer IMO and I love them but, these new pro-ams will improve your game. The ideal hall would have BOTH..

It's rare to find though.
 
thx for the feedback so far. there seem to be good reasons to buy a diamond apparently. according to JZMechanics the pockets are cut differently, resulting in less rattling of the balls. does that mean balls drop more easily than on a GC? coz i find the pockets on GCs are anyway pretty big....

question again..... is the pro am and the pro the same tables but the pro am has a ball return? can u get both tables with 1 piece slate?

@Glen
thx for the phone number of brian at diamonds. have u any clue what the shipping costs for six pro ams to switzerland would be?

for what it's worth.... i find the GC 5 the much better looking table but if the playability is worse then i dont think the price premium is worth it.

btw: how loud is the ball return? hope it is not annoying when playing and u hear constant rolling of balls... although i guess u get used to it pretty quickly.

thx for your help!
bicki
 
Is there a contact in south korea that recieves diamonds? these tables on base freaking blow, on top of that i dont think any of the local Soldiers have any idea what a good table plays like.
 
center pocket said:
Is there a contact in south korea that recieves diamonds? these tables on base freaking blow, on top of that i dont think any of the local Soldiers have any idea what a good table plays like.
Click to expand...

Not that I'm aware of, but I'll check with Brian today while I'm at the factory.
 
bicki said:
thx for the feedback so far. there seem to be good reasons to buy a diamond apparently. according to JZMechanics the pockets are cut differently, resulting in less rattling of the balls. does that mean balls drop more easily than on a GC? coz i find the pockets on GCs are anyway pretty big....

question again..... is the pro am and the pro the same tables but the pro am has a ball return? can u get both tables with 1 piece slate?

@Glen
thx for the phone number of brian at diamonds. have u any clue what the shipping costs for six pro ams to switzerland would be?

for what it's worth.... i find the GC 5 the much better looking table but if the playability is worse then i dont think the price premium is worth it.

btw: how loud is the ball return? hope it is not annoying when playing and u hear constant rolling of balls... although i guess u get used to it pretty quickly.

thx for your help!
bicki
Click to expand...

All good questions, but Brian is the one to talk to about shipping costs. Yes, the Professional can be fitted with the one piece slate, but for real commercial use, the ProAm is much better fitted. The ball return is very quiet, and fast. I don't care to much for drop pockets that have to be attached other than the Brunswick style of drop pockets, so the ProAm is my favorite table to play on, as well as to work on in a pool room environment, in 20 years the ProAm is still going to be looking great, as well as playing lights out!!!

Glen
 
bicki said:
thx for the feedback so far. there seem to be good reasons to buy a diamond apparently. according to JZMechanics the pockets are cut differently, resulting in less rattling of the balls. does that mean balls drop more easily than on a GC? coz i find the pockets on GCs are anyway pretty big....

question again..... is the pro am and the pro the same tables but the pro am has a ball return? can u get both tables with 1 piece slate?

@Glen
thx for the phone number of brian at diamonds. have u any clue what the shipping costs for six pro ams to switzerland would be?

for what it's worth.... i find the GC 5 the much better looking table but if the playability is worse then i dont think the price premium is worth it.

btw: how loud is the ball return? hope it is not annoying when playing and u hear constant rolling of balls... although i guess u get used to it pretty quickly.

thx for your help!
bicki
Click to expand...

You can contact Brian direct at bmiller@diamondbilliardproducts.com and ask him for some quotes on pricing.

Glen
 
bicki said:
thx for the feedback so far. there seem to be good reasons to buy a diamond apparently. according to JZMechanics the pockets are cut differently, resulting in less rattling of the balls. does that mean balls drop more easily than on a GC? coz i find the pockets on GCs are anyway pretty big....
Click to expand...

The Gold Crowns come standard with 5" corner pockets with 143* angle cuts.

The Diamond Pro comes with 4.5" pockets with a 141* cut. This angle opens up the back of the pocket just slightly enough that when a ball hits the back of the pocket it is more likely to drop then to rattle and hang up.

Measure your pockets and see if they aren't close to 5" in the corners.

The Diamonds will play a lot harder, but also fair ;)
 
bicki said:
thx for the feedback so far. there seem to be good reasons to buy a diamond apparently. according to JZMechanics the pockets are cut differently, resulting in less rattling of the balls. does that mean balls drop more easily than on a GC? coz i find the pockets on GCs are anyway pretty big....

question again..... is the pro am and the pro the same tables but the pro am has a ball return? can u get both tables with 1 piece slate?

@Glen
thx for the phone number of brian at diamonds. have u any clue what the shipping costs for six pro ams to switzerland would be?

for what it's worth.... i find the GC 5 the much better looking table but if the playability is worse then i dont think the price premium is worth it.

btw: how loud is the ball return? hope it is not annoying when playing and u hear constant rolling of balls... although i guess u get used to it pretty quickly.

thx for your help!
bicki
Click to expand...

I spoke with Brian, Diamond has 21 9ft ProAms heading to Finland on the next container leaving very soon. These tables are for sale through Diamond's European distributor. Brian also mentioned that they'll be delivering 2 of them down to Austria, which is NOT very far from your location;)

Glen
Glen
 
Ideally you would have 2 of each, with each of those 2 having regular and Pro cut pockets.

The GC will cost you more, especially with the pro pockets (done correctly).

There is an easy fix for your sagging slates on the GC4....
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg296/1999_Hayabusa/gc4_story/gc4_011.jpg

I wouldn't say that one or the other plays "better" than the other, mostly just different. If I had to pick one word that differentiates betweeen the 2 tables, I would say the Diamond has a more "modern" feel.

From what I've heard, the Diamond is much easier to set up properly.
No matter what you get, set up will make all of the difference.

Considering you have had and liked the GC tables, I would think that your pool club members would like to have the choice of playing on the "old" GC. Sometimes you're in not in the mood for the brutal honesty of the Diamond. :-)

Aesthetically, I too prefer the GC. Somewhere down the road the classical styling of the GC will be more of a factor, in favor of the GC, than any nuances of play.

Whatever you decide make sure you put a bit of time in on the Diamond to make sure you like its style of play. I've played on some older Diamonds in humid climates that I couldn't make a ball on to save my life. So, IMHO it would be worth it to find a good one and play some on it first.

Hope this helps.

F
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top