Handsome in its silver matte-finish-aluminum S-shaped arm tube and black accents on the counterweights and knurled ring for the universal (i.e., SME-type) headshell, the 212R is in the best sense of the term “Old School” or, if you prefer, “classic” in style, appearance, and function. You get the impression Ortofon wanted to strip the design of anything extraneous or merely feature-mongering in favor of just the essentials necessary to allow the pickup to do its job with as few impediments as possible. Price also factored into this, I assume and also applaud, as the designers have clearly put the money into engineering and build rather than features as such.

The bearing is captive gimbal, and care has been taken with damping and materials to minimize or eliminate vibrations and resonances. The arm is supplied with two counterweights, one for very heavy pickups such as Ortofon’s SPU vintage models, which come already captive in a big headshell, a lighter one for most other pickups. Balance is static, which means you set the counterweight so the arm is level, align the “0” on the calibrated ring to the indicator line on the shaft, then dial the counterweight and the ring together to the desired tracking force. This is pretty accurate, but I still prefer to use an external stylus-weight gauge. 

Anti-skating is available via a horizontal dial on the platform, each division corresponding to half a gram of tracking weight. Though Ortofon recommends using its own test record to set it, I prefer using the Wally Tools WallySkater, then trimming it in further by ear if necessary. I do this with music records from my collection because, according to Wally Tools’ J. R. Boisclair, the anti-skating tracks on test records “are cut at way too high an amplitude to be useful, and in fact can be harmful to playback quality and to the long-term condition of your cantilever pivot wire and cartridge damper.” Several pickup designers I’ve queried on the subject seem to concur.

Ortofon supplies an accurate template that makes drilling the armboard as easy as it could possibly be. Granting that I know how to use a drill, I had no trouble drilling one of the spare armboards for my restored Garrard 301 turntable. Using the supplied gauge took me fewer than 15 minutes to mark drill points, drill holes, and install the arm base. By the way, if you have your dealer do it or use one provided by your turntable manufacturer, I’d check their work with Ortofon’s template because Ortofon’s is the only way you can guarantee that any of the company’s classic SPUs will have the correct overhang and Baerwald alignment. 

Arm height is adjustable via a pair of Allen grub screws in the arm base. A very impressive, audiophile-grade, 1.5-meter, standard 5-pin DIN-to-RCA cable is supplied (an L-shaped connection for low-profile bases and a balanced alternative are available as options for additional money). One thing more: Three cheers to Ortofon for providing a divot on the bearing housing to eliminate guesswork for those of us who use protractors like the Dennesen, Pro-Ject, or others that require locating the exact pivot point. Would that all arm designers were so considerate.

The only thing that may strike you as odd from the publicity photographs is the absence of a headshell. This is because Oroton doesn’t supply one! Its reason is that this new arm is designed to accommodate as wide a range of phono pickups as possible, from low-mass, high-compliance moving-magnets to high-mass, low-compliance moving-coils like Ortofon’s own SPU series or Denon’s 103. According to Dorio, “including a headshell would only have a 50% chance of being the correct mass relative to the cartridge that would be chosen.” 

With an effective mass of just seven grams, the AS-212R is one of the relatively rare contemporary arms capable of optimally handling high-compliance pickups like my vintage Shure V15-V xMR (more later on this) and both vintage and contemporary moving coils. But care must be taken in the selection of a headshell. For my Shure, I use one that weighs around 6–8 grams (SME’s, Rek-O-Kut, certain Technics, and even one of Ortofon’s). For the others, I use suitable ones by Ortofon, Luxman, DS Audio, and a few from esoteric sources. As there is no azimuth adjustment on the 212R, it must come from the headshell, which some have but most don’t. Aware that many audiophiles now use moving coils, Dorio tells me that Ortofon of America is offering the company’s own excellent LH-4000 headshell, priced at $109. Weighing in at 14 grams, and featuring azimuth adjustment, this is very well-made and suitable for use with the majority of moderate-to-low-compliance moving coils at every price point in today’s market. LP Gear also seems to have a good supply of one made for them by Jelco ($84), with which I’ve had excellent results (it too has azimuth adjustment).

Sound

The AS-212R is so straightforward in concept, design, and execution that I went through practically my whole collection of moving-magnet and moving-coil pickups, including DS Audio, vintage and contemporary Denons, Ortofons, Hanas, Shure, Clearaudio, Grado, and Nagaoka. All pickups were installed and set up according to their manufacturers’ recommended overhang, offset, and tracking weight (I typically begin at the middle of the recommended range and move up from there if necessary). All were checked to ensure the arm/pickup resonances fall within the desired 8–12Hz range using the HI-FI News & Record Review HFN 001 and the Shure Audio Obstacle Course test records. If you are after the best bass response of which your vinyl setup is capable, it is imperative the arm/pickup resonance falls in this range, the only way to ensure which is with a test record such as these two. The Shure and its earlier iterations are out of print but readily available at second-hand sources such as Discogs, while a newer version of the HI-FI News record is available from Elusive Disc.

It would be tedious to go into granular detail about how the 212R handled each and every one of these pickups. I have used most of them for a good while, and I know how they perform in a variety of arm/table setups. In the AS-212R, there were no surprises, which did not, in turn, surprise me. Without minimizing the importance of arms and tables, once they reach a certain level of excellence, the phono cartridge itself is in my experience the principal determinant of the overall sound, particularly in the sphere of tonal balance, assuming there are no obvious mismatches as regards mass, compliance, damping, rigidity, and so forth. 

I’m writing up this review having just finished putting DS Audio’s superb E3 optical pickup and equalizer through their paces for my colleague Michael Fremer’s Tracking Angle. For much of my listening, I used SME’s updating of its classic 3012 arm, now designated the M2-R12, with gimbal bearings replacing the previous versions’ knife-edged ones. This combination, also mounted on my restored Garrard 301, yielded outstanding transparency, not to mention equally outstanding clarity, imaging, soundstaging, and dynamic range, with anything I threw at and against anything to which I compared it. 

Transferring the E3 to the AS-212, I played Leonard Bernstein’s now classic DG recording of Stravinsky’s Les Noces (The Wedding), which has been in pretty serious rotation chez moi ever since I picked up a mint copy from Discogs a while ago. Dating from the beginning of the composer’s neo-classical period, this is a cantata about a Russian folk wedding with a score that calls for four virtuoso pianists (Bernstein’s stellar quartet is headlined by Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimmerman), a panoply of percussion, and four soloists and chorus. The piece, which begins as if in medias res and never relents over its 20–24-minute length, has to be one of the most difficult of all music to record: four pianos are spread across the soundstage, the soloists in front of them, the chorus behind, the percussion distributed at various points throughout. The result could so easily be confused and cacophonous, but the combination of the E3 and the 212R gave up nothing to the SME. I was especially impressed that whenever the non-pitched percussion, like ancient cymbals, chimes, and snares, are struck, which in this score is almost always very loud, they don’t momentarily obliterate the rest of the orchestra. In other words, the AS212 allowed the E3 to strut its stuff without impairing its remarkable imperturbability.

I next substituted my trusty Shure V15-VxMR with Jico SAS boron-stylus combination (Google “Seydor Shure TAS” for my review), a very different-sounding component, and was rewarded with reproduction of quite uncommon smoothness and neutrality. The sound isn’t quite so transparent as the E3’s—few in my experience are—but it is more natural, while giving up little in terms of dynamic range, detail, imaging, and soundstaging, areas in which the DS scores very high indeed. As regards soundstaging, the Shure remains one of the finest pickups in my experience, throwing a wide and continuous space across the front of my room, with outstanding resolution of the singers and instruments within the space, easily the equal to the DS or any number of moving coils. Another area in which the Shure has always excelled is outstanding bass response, where it trumps the E3 (and many other pickups), not least because it lacks the DS’s built-in boost at the extreme bottom. The Shure is equally as vital and involving as the D3 but in a different way. A pithy comparison might be that the D3 forces you to listen while the Shure persuades you to listen. If long intensive listening sessions stretching to several hours are part of your regular entertainment, the AS-212/Shure combination is pretty much unbeatable.

Next, I hooked up a Grado Statement Series Reference 2. This model is no longer in the Grado line, but it exhibits the distinctive tonal character for which Grados are known and loved by their fans: a rich, weighty, even dark chocolaty overall tonal balance that favors the midrange on down and that results in an impression of body, dimensionality, and solidity that very few other pickups in my experience can quite match. There’s not a hint of top-end brightness; yet, as with the Shure, you feel you’re missing nothing (not least because so many pickups, notably moving coils, have rising top ends). As noted, Les Noces abounds in percussion, but with the Grado there is no hint of the transient enhancement you sometimes hear with rising top ends: the entire complement of percussion sounds completely un-hyped and true.

I always play the great Sinatra/Billy May collaboration Come Swing with Me (Capitol) when I review record-playing components because this early stereo recording is extremely hot and very bright on most equipment. Try the muted trumpets on “Sentimental Journey,” which are sharp and piercing with many mc’s and also the DS Audio; with the Grado and the Shure, the edge is removed in favor of what sounds to me like a more truthful reproduction of the instruments. Keep in mind, however, that given how the album is recorded, that might not be strictly speaking accurate, but in this case give me beauty over truth any day. Yes, the Grado is less neutral than the Shure on voices, e.g., cue down Impex’s fantastic new 1-Step of Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra, and you will hear Sinatra’s voice darken just a tad more than it actually sounded when this album was recorded in 1950. But I happily confess that the sheer deliciousness of the Grado’s box of chocolates is a temptation difficult to resist. I should add that Come Swing with Me has sensationally thrilling sonics, fabulous dynamic range, and irresistible rhythmic impetus and drive. Every one of these pickups in the AS-212 reveals it that way, consistent with its own tonal character.

Of course, I mounted Ortofon’s Synergy G SPU, an elliptical stylus version of this vintage mc in its captive headshell, and the results I got tally to a T what I reported in my review of this pickup a few issues back: like the Grado, a very rich and weighty midrange, lower midrange, and bottom end, a little Gundry-like dip throughout the presence region, and a bit of a rise way up high. It would be nice to say that it formed a special synergy with the AS-212, but none that I could tell, at least as referenced to my SME M2-12R or the arms integral to Luxman’s PD-151A (Jelco gimbal version) and PD-191A (SAEC knife-edged). This, by the way, I consider in the AS-212’s favor. As I noted when I reviewed it, the Synergy G has a sound all its own that accounts for the cult status of all Ortofon SPUs mounted in their proprietary headshells. I happen to like this sound a lot: lively, involving, dimensional, a little pushed back in the presence region (not a bad thing given how closely miked many recordings are), and some silver way up high that nips the ear pleasingly in jazz and a lot of modern classical music that avails itself of percussion (Stravinsky, Bartók, Varèse, Boulez, Bernstein). 

Throughout the entire evaluation period, I heard nothing that suggests the AS-212 imparts any tonal characteristic of its own to the sounds of these phono pickups. Yet at the same time, in no way does it impede, hamstring, or otherwise prevent each of them from performing and sounding as they were designed to. Finally, with all the pickups I used throughout the entire evaluation period, I was continually struck by how clean the reproduction is with the AS-212, how truly quiet as regards groove and tracing noise and all the other detritus that stresses lesser arms and pickups, and how confident and controlled the presentation. 

Headshells: “You opened the door, counsellor”

One of my favorite television shows is Law & Order, where every now and then an attorney will ask a question that leads in a direction which gives the opposing attorney an advantage. When an objection is raised, the judge invariably says, “You opened the door, counsellor.” Well, as much I’ve come these last few years to enjoying listening to a wide variety of pickups, my idea of a good time does not extend to comparing headshells. But, dammit, you opened the door, Ortofon. Here’s the thing: When you’re dealing with vinyl, everything makes a difference, if only subtly. And this is as true for headshells as for wiring, cables, materials, not to mention cantilevers, styli, cartridge bodies, and so forth. 

At one point in my listening, I transferred my Denon 103, one of my favorite cartridges, from the SME to the Ortofon, and I heard what sounded to me like less detail and definition in the bass. In the SME, the Denon’s bass is well delineated, in the Ortofon a bit less so, albeit still very strong but a little generalized. On a hunch, I wondered if the headshell was responsible for some of this. The Denon was installed in a Yamamoto Acoustic Craft HS-1AS Africa Ebony wood headshell (price varies depending on source—on eBay, I’ve found it as low as $78 and as high as $141). So, I transferred the Denon to DS Audio’s HS-001 solid-steel headshell ($450). Sure enough, bass tightened up, became better defined, yet with virtually no sacrifice in strength and power. This is the kind of thing that delights some audiophiles and maddens others. But it’s a fact of life, and a really stubborn, obstreperous fact of life for the vinyl enthusiast. (Such is the world of high-end audio these days that the HS-001 retails for a hundred dollars more than the pickup itself!) 

A non-audiophile friend of mine asks me all the time, “How do you know what’s correct?” Well, the truth is, a lot of the time you don’t, you just go with what sounds nice to you. With enough experience you can generally tell if this pickup or that turntable is imparting a sound of its own to everything you play. And since all recordings are different, which pickup you prefer, or headshell/pickup/arm combination, is likely to change with source material and associated components. One of the reasons in the first place that I put the SME 2M-12R on the Garrard 301 I purchased two years ago is precisely because it’s a product of known characteristics and performance, and it has a universal headshell that lets me swap pickups with ease. Of course, you can do this with non-detachable headshells, but it takes longer, is much less convenient, and is a whole helluva lot less fun, turning a pleasurable activity into painstaking work. 

When it comes to recommending headshells, I haven’t gone through enough of them to be of much help; and even if I had, generalization would be difficult owing to the differences in arms and pickups. Suffice it to say that I’ve used with great success headshells that cost as little as $19 and as much as $450 (the most expensive one I know costs $800), and the success depends basically on the pickups and arms they’re matched with. I personally wouldn’t be inclined to put my Shure/Jico into a DS Audio headshell because the latter has too much mass for the former’s high compliance. By the same token, my Denon 103 is a wonderful match with the DS Audio or the beefier of the two headshells Thorens offers for its TD 124 DD turntable.

Unfortunately, even if you have all the technical data (like materials, mass of shell and arm, and mass and compliance of pickup ), I know of no way you can predict what a given headshell/pickup combination will sound like on the basis of the data alone. You must listen. If you’re tempted by some of the pricier alternatives, I’d try to make sure you can buy them on approval. 

Something else: For decades now, arm designers have been fixated upon the link itself, the connection, between the universal headshell and the arm tube. More recently, a number of manufacturers have discarded the thin rubber gasket that goes between the bayonet end of the headshell and the arm itself. The idea here is to make for a more rigid connection between the headshell and the arm tube. So far, so good. But again, this is something that proves difficult to generalize about. Sometimes removing this gasket makes the sound less good, because the damping/absorptive factor of the gasket helps reduce or eliminate certain kinds of resonances. At other times, the sound becomes more detailed and defined, no doubt owing in part to how the materials of the headshell and arm tube couple (remember that all connections of dissimilar materials act like a filter). By all means experiment, but don’t be surprised if your preferences go against the putative wisdom of some guru or other.

Conclusion

Before I began this review, I wasn’t aware there were so many separate tonearms still available. These last 30 years or so it’s seemed to me that the market had gone over to integrated setups, whereby you buy an arm and table from the same manufacturer. In many respects, this is a good idea, especially where drilling armboards or plinths and bases is required. A quick check online led me to more than 15 arms priced under $3400, all from reputable audio manufacturers, and this is doubtless a small fraction of the actual number. Some of them have fixed headshells, many of them have removable headshells, several among those with proprietary headshells, fittable only on the arm they are supplied with. Obviously, this puts me in no position to offer comparative shopping advice. One reason I wanted to review this Ortofon is precisely because the headshell is universal and the arm is low enough in mass to handle higher-compliance moving magnets like my Shure.

So, let me say this by way of summary: Ortofon’s AS-212 is a superbly designed, engineered, and built tonearm with performance easily comparable to arms costing several times its $3359 retail. It is easy to install; sets up straightforwardly and stays in adjustment until you change it; and it has all the features you need to extract the best from your phono cartridge, assuming you buy a headshell with azimuth adjustment. Its design is such that it will readily accommodate a wider variety of phono pickups than any other known to me except (or in addition to) those arms, like the Mørch or the Graham, that allow swappable arm tubes. It enabled all the pickups I own to perform at what in my experience is their best. 

I find no flaw in its conception or design. By this I don’t mean to suggest it’s perfect—as we all know, nothing is. But it does what it was designed to do at an exceptionally high level of performance and at a very reasonable price. If I were in the market for an arm capable of all these things and more, it is the one I would buy. I recommend it without serious reservation.  

Specs & Pricing

Cartridge weight: 18 to 26g./26 to 38g. (standard weight, including headshell/heavy weight, including headshell)
Length: 9.14 inches or 232mm
Effective mass: 7 grams
Price: $3359

ORTOFON INC. U.S. SUBSIDIARY
500 Executive Blvd
Suite 102
Ossining, NY 10562P
(914) 762-8646

(EAT also offers customers the opportunity to part with an additional £1,349 for the optional linear power supply, which can be had for a mere £1,079 if it’s specified at the same time as the turntable is rung through the till. It’s certainly a more purposeful-looking item than the rather humdrum power cable the turntable is otherwise supplied with – but EAT insists the C-Dur Concrete’s AC generator, which uses the DC current from the power supply, generates an almost entirely clean AC signal for the motor. It’s this ‘almost’ that’s addressed by the cost-option linear power supply.) 

As a package, the C-Dur Concrete with Jo No.8 cartridge is undeniably glamorous – just the sort of thing that set-dressers around the world like to use a shorthand for ‘wealthy and sophisticated’. The concrete plinth is chic in an industrial kind of way (although it’s well worth bearing in mind that its weight is supported on three high-adjustable damped aluminium feet that are quite aggressively conical in shape. They wasted no time in driving themselves into the wooden shelving of my Blok Stax 2G), and the combination of aluminium and carbon fibre from which the C-Tone arm is constructed catches both the light and the eye. The cartridge may be a bit of a biffer (and that’s putting it mildly – at 19.2 x 25.1 x 28.3mm (HxWxD) it looks almost comically large) but its chestnut body looks the part too.      

Not just design

The C-Dur Concrete (plus its peripherals) is no mere design exercise, though. As the asking price demands, it’s got the technical chops to back up the looks – which is just as well, given that your price-comparable alternatives are, without exception, profoundly capable machines.

So the C-Dur Concrete is supplied with a hefty (5.2kg) platter that’s internally damped with TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) to provide both density and stability. An 900g aluminium sub-platter further isolates this platter from the motor and improves overall tolerances – it rides on an inverted ceramic ball main bearing that pairs with a Teflon plate for even greater rotational stability. The bearing block itself adds another 1.8kg to the kerb weight and uses a polished stainless steel spindle to support the ceramic ball. 

The drive system isolates the motor in a steel ring positioned in the chassis itself, which further contributes to the stability and uniformity of the platter’s rotation. It also reduces resonance transfer (which is already vanishingly low, thanks to, well, all that concrete). The C-Dur Concrete is supplied with a couple of anti-static polished rubber belts to connect the motor to the sub-platter – the broader of the two fits on the upper part of the motor, and facilitates 33.3 and 45rpm (two of the three buttons on the top of the plinth are for speed selection, the other is to put the turntable into ‘standby’.) The second belt fits over the lower portion of the motor, and with this fitted the ‘45rpm’ button actually delivers 78rpm.

C-Note

At 254mm, the C-Note tonearm is notably long, and the materials from which it’s made offer optimum rigidity – just as well, when you consider the relative heft of the cartridge it’s designed to support. The unipivot design ensures the Cardan bearing is never overloaded, and the bearing itself is designed for maximum stability and minimum friction – the tonearm, meanwhile, is internally damped with silicon grease in a drive for even greater resonance rejection.

The high-output moving coil cartridge uses a nude Shibata stylus on a boron cantilever. EAT supplies a semi-balanced five-pin DIN-to-RCA cable to deliver the cartridge’s output to a preamplifier. It’s galling – but not, by this point, surprising – to discover a fully balanced alternative is a cost option. 

Connected to a Chord Huei phono stage and amplified by a Cambridge Audio W Edge stereo power amplifier driving a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 Signature loudspeakers bolted to their matching FS-700 S3 stands (with a Naim Uniti Star acting as gain control between phono stage and power amp), the EAT C-Dur Concrete doesn’t waste very much time setting its stall out. This is not one of those sources of music that takes a while to reveal itself – what the C-Dur has, it’s willing to hand over in the most immediate and unequivocal fashion. 

Which means that it doesn’t matter if there’s a heavyweight 2025 reissue of Kevin Ayers’ Bananamour [Cherry Red] spinning or a much-loved (for which read ‘mildly distressed’) original pressing of Pere Ubu’s The Modern Dance [Blank Records] playing – the C-Dur Concrete plays no favorites and is entirely even-handed no matter the circumstances. 

Staggering

It’s a staggeringly clean and uncolored listen, and seems able to keep the spaces and silences in a recording as dark as any record player I’ve ever heard. Its powers of detail retrieval are remarkable – there’s not a huge amount of light and shade in the Pere Ubu recording, but the EAT nevertheless finds and contextualises harmonic variations with something very close to fanaticism. The dynamics of tone and timbre are given proper weighting, just as the broad dynamics of ‘quiet’ and ‘loud’ are (or, in the case of Pere Ubu, ‘loud’ and ‘louder still’). Low-frequency control is unswerving, and the rhythmic positivity that results is as natural as can be. Its overall tonality is very carefully neutral, and its frequency response is brilliantly even from the top end to the bottom – the sound it creates is vividly true to life, and it seems able to peer deep into a recording and locate information that even some very capable alternatives can overlook.

It hits with well-mannered determination at the bottom end, and grants the highest frequencies a decent amount of substance to go along with their undoubted bite and sparkle. It has tremendous powers of midrange resolution – so no matter if it’s the animal-in-a-trap stylings of David Thomas or the dazed Canterbury approximations of Kevin Ayers, a vocalist’s motivations, character and attitude are made every bit as obvious as their basic technique.  

The C-Dur Concrete collates every scrap of information in a recording and presents it as a coherent, and consequently convincing, whole. Four-piece garage band or extended ensemble with numerous elements, it’s all the same to this turntable – it unifies a recording in the most unfussy manner, and hands over the results as a singular occurrence that sounds very much indeed like a performance.

Size matters?

If there’s a shortcoming, it concerns the size of the sound the EAT generates. It has no problem describing a soundstage with real confidence, and making its layout as explicit as possible – but it just doesn’t sound very big. Everything that happens, happens strictly between the outer edges of the two speakers at the end of the chain – so while the soundstage itself is organised carefully, there’s a slight sense of confinement to the overall presentation that just isn’t an issue with the vast majority of the deck’s price-comparable alternatives. 

It’s a shortcoming, there’s no two ways about it – but everything the C-Dur Concrete does so well goes a fair way towards minimising it as an issue. And it doesn’t seem impossible that the expansive visual appeal of the C-Dur Concrete might further help you overlook the slightly hemmed-in nature of its sound. 

Specs & Pricing

C-Dur Concrete turntable

Type: Full size
Rotational Speeds (RPM): 33.3, 45, 78
Supported Tonearm Length(s): 254mm
Drive Mechanism: Belt
Speed Control: Automatic
Platter Type: Aluminium
Platter Weight: 5.2kg
Bearing Type: Inverted ceramic ball
Dimensions (h x w x d) (mm): 170 x 496 x 396
Weight (kg): 32
Price: £6,499, $7,490, €7,490

C-Tone tonearm

Type: Unipivot
Tonearm Length (mm): 254
Effective Tonearm Mass (g): 16.5
Offset Angle (deg): 21.4
Weight (g): 16.5
Price: N/A

Jo No.8 cartridge

Type: High-output moving coil
Stylus: Nude Shibata
Tracking Force (g): 2
Load (ohms): >15
Compliance: 15 μm/mN
Output (at 1 kHz @ 3.45cm/s): 0.3mV
Weight (g): 12.5
Price: £1,999 (£1,599 if purchased with the C-Dur Concrete turntable), $2,699, €2,349.

Manufacturer EAT
www.europeanaudioteam.com

The Hana SL MK II was installed on the Graham Phantom III tonearm on a TW Acoustic Raven Two ’table and fed four different phonostages (my custom Raptor, Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+, the Soulution 350, and the Soulution 757 Deemphasis Preamplifier). In addition to the ’table/’arm combo listed above, I also listened to the SL MK II in the Theile TT01 turntable with the TA01 pivoted linear-tracking tonearm (reviewed in Issue 358). Each tonearm installation was treated to my complete set-up process (a previously documented version of this procedure can be viewed in the pages of TAS online by searching for “setting up a phono cartridge” on the site’s search engine). Mechanical cartridge alignment was straight forward. Adjusted for optimal crosstalk in the Graham Phantom III, the measurement results for each channel of the SL MK II were –32.2dB (left), –32.5dB (right) with a 0.1dB difference in channel balance. These are excellent numbers for any cartridge at any price. The SL MK II mounted on the Thiele TA01 ’arm had similar measured results. (The remaining downstream components are listed in the reference system sidebar accompanying this evaluation.)

My first listen to the Hana SL MK II, after setup, revealed a cartridge with admirable harmonic richness, very good transparency to the recorded music, and excellent soundstage depth (when the music contained such information). Further listening over the evaluation period solidified those initial impressions and, at least with this in-house sample, the cartridge gained refinement without the usual sonic ups and downs that often attend new-cartridge break-in. 

Compared to the original Hana, the new Hana SL MK II not only excelled in all the areas mentioned above; it also offered increased musical clarity, reproducing the speed, pacing, and tempo of initial transients and the richness of decays with great realism. The MK II’s bass was more lithe (agile and nimble) than that of the Hana SL, and it also appeared to extend deeper in frequency. Lastly, perhaps most evident on direct comparison, the Hana SL MK II moved a few steps closer to neutral when contrasted with the Hana SL’s warmer musical pallet.

Frankie Beverly and Maze’s “While I’m Alone” is a good example of a dense-sounding R&B/Soul track from their 1977 eponymous debut album. The band, then called Raw Soul, was founded by Howard Stanley “Frankie” Beverly in Philadelphia in 1970. Beverly caught a break when Marvin Gaye took the band on the road with him as an opening act. They were so good that Gaye suggested, in 1976, they change their name from Raw Soul to a more attractive name. Beverly chose Maze, and the band signed a contract in 1976 with Capitol Records. The next year, they released the debut album mentioned, Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly. The SL MK II kept the pacing of “While I’m Alone” intact via incisive rhythmic timing of the percussion instruments. Throughout the track, Beverly’s vocals were unmistakably present, harmonically accurate, and as smooth as ever. The spread of instruments across the soundfield displayed excellent transparency with solid imagery and precise location. Each instrument’s unique tonal characteristics were easy to hear. 

For a long time, Maze has been one of my favorite bands for enjoying good fun and, most importantly, happy music. On September 10^th of 2024, during this Hana cartridge evaluation, the group’s founder, Frankie Beverly, passed away. Those that knew him and his music will forever continue to have those “Happy Feelin’s” of joy he gave the world through his music. The Hana SL MK II did nothing but enhance the delightful compositions of Frankie Beverly and Maze.

On DG’s recording of J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, the sound of Nathan Milstein’s violin is well captured. The space in which the recording was made imparts a liveliness to the sound, thanks to the SL MK II’s ability to capture the ambient reflections of the upper harmonics generated by bow and violin. The cartridge remained locked to the grooves and allowed the wonderful tone and dynamics (both soft and loud) to come through in a way that made these solo violin performances a delight to listen to. The Hana SL MK II captured the complex harmonics from multiple strings with such ease and flow that I ended up listening to the entire 3-LP set.

For further evaluating the tracing ability of the SL MKII, I played the Henry Purcell Sonata for Trumpet, Strings, and Continuo from The Virtuoso Trumpet (Vanguard, The Bach Guild, BG-617). This sonata is on the last track of the first side of the album, which serves as a reasonable check on the tracking ability of the cartridge. The opening has the trumpet singing with energetic fortes. The SL MK II managed to capture the trumpet’s call and the stringed instruments’ response with relative ease. There were no concerns or tracking errors from perceived inner-groove distortion, only delightfully enjoyable music delivered from the SL MK II in concert with the Graham Phantom III.

One afternoon/evening during the completion of this evaluation, with the Hana SL MK II mounted to the Thiele TA01 linear-tracking pivoted tonearm on the Thiele TT01 turntable, I managed to listen to music in this order as the mood evolved from John Williams, Eric Bibb, Pink Floyd, Harry Belafonte, Nat King Cole, Lady Blackbird, Luigi Boccherini, Vivaldi, Kent Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass, Duke Ellington, Art Pepper, and Regine Crespin performing Ravel’s Scheherazade. Each piece was a delight to hear, and the genre selected at random didn’t matter. As the mood shifted among the different pieces and different performers, the cartridge adapted to the moment and output what the grooves of the LP presented with all the ease, liveliness, vigor, elegance, and emotional moods captured in the recording session.

I could continue discussing the artists and genres of music the SL MK II plays well, but in the end, I would’ve come to the same conclusion. This cartridge does justice to the music in every instance, never adding any off-putting characteristics to detract from the meaning of the compositions. The Hana SL MK II is a worthy successor to the wonderful original Hana SL and becomes the new low-cost overachiever, outdoing nearly everything the cartridge it replaces did so well. It’s a keeper. 

Specs & Pricing

Type: Moving-coil cartridge
Output level at 1kHz: 0.4mV
Channel balance at 1kHz: <1.5dB
Channel separation at 1kHz: 28dB
Frequency response: 15Hz–32kHz
Tracking ability at 2 grams: 70µm
Dynamic compliance: 10 x 10-6cm/dyne (100Hz)
Stylus type: Shibata nude diamond
Cantilever material: Tapered aluminum
Magnet material: Alnico
Yoke & polepiece: Pure iron/cryogenic treatment
Coil wire: High-purity copper
Armature: Permalloy/cross-coil
Recommended tracking force: 2.0 grams
Internal impedance: 8 ohms
Recommended load impedance: >80 ohms
Cartridge body material: Elastomeric-coated ABS w/threaded brass top
Cartridge body color: Black
Cartridge weight: 8.6 grams
Price: $850

MUSICAL SURROUNDINGS (U.S. Distributor)
5662 Shattuck Ave.
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 547-5006
musicalsurroundings.com
hanacartridges.com

Reference System

Analog tape: Otari MTR-10 Studio Mastering (¼” 2-track) tape deck with custom Flux Magnetic Mastering Series repro head and secondary custom tube output stage, Studer A820 Studio Mastering (¼” 2-track) tape deck (x2), Studer A80VU MKII Studio Mastering (¼” 2-track) tape deck, ReVox A700 (¼” 2-track and ¼” 4-track heads) tape deck (x2), Stellavox SP7 (¼” 2-track) tape deck with ABR large reel adapter, Nagra IV-S tape deck with custom large reel adapter, ReVox G-36 (¼” 4-track) tape deck, 1950 Ampex 400A tape repro electronics, Soulution 757 Deemphasis unit
Analog vinyl: Basis Audio Debut Vacuum with Synchro-Wave Power Supply, Basis Audio 2800 Vacuum, Thiele TT-01 w/Active Isolation Platform, TW Acustic Raven Two turntables; Basis Audio SuperArm 9, Basis Audio Vector IV (x2), Graham Phantom III, Graham 2.2, Thiele TA-01 tonearms; Lyra Atlas Lambda, Lyra Atlas Lambda SL, Lyra Etna Lambda SL, Lyra Titan-i, van den Hul Colibri XGP, Hana SL, Hana SL MK II, Hana Umami Red, Hana Umami Blue
Analog phonostage: The Raptor (Custom), Ayre P-5xe, Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ w/Linear Power Supply, Soulution 350
Digital source: Intel i7 10th generation processor-based music server hosting JRiver Media Center, Roon, and Qobuz
Preamplification: Dual Placette Audio Active Linestage, Soulution 326
Amplification: Custom/Modified solid-state Monoblocks, Soulution 312
Loudspeakers: Vandersteen Model 3a Signature with dual 2Wq subwoofers and dual SUB THREE subwoofers using M5-HPB high-pass filter
Cables: Assortment of AudioQuest, Shunyata, Tara Labs, Acoustic Research, Cardas, and custom cables
Support: Minus-K BM-1, Neuance shelf, Maple wood shelf, Symposium Ultra
Acoustics: Walker Audio
Accessories: Aurios Pro, Pneuance Audio, Walker Audio, Klaudio KD-CLN-LP200, Kirmuss Audio KA-RC-1, VPI 16.5, Clearaudio Double Matrix Professional Sonic
Room: 18′ (W), 43′ (L), 8′ (H)

Cartridges

Let’s start with the affordables: “Boron is back with a vengeance,” exclaimed Ed Forth, Global Brand Projects and Partnerships Manager at Audio-Technica Europe, as he ran me through what’s new this year. The new VMx moving-magnet cartridge line upgrades the long- established dual-magnet VM design that features dual “stacked” coils per channel. The top of the line 700 VMx series features die-cast aluminum bodies and all but one model includes boron cantilevers. The costliest in the series the AT-VM760xSL goes for $599.

Ortofon introduced a completely new, moderately priced MC X moving-coil cartridge line replacing the more than a decade old Quintet series. There are 4 models: the MC X10, MC X20, MC X30 and MC X40. All feature stainless-steel honeycombed frames incorporating MIM (Metal Injection Molding) technology, new rubber damping systems, and high purity silver coil wire, plus a newly developed magnet system best. Cantilevers and styli vary from model to model, starting with the MC X10’s aluminum/elliptical combo and culminating in the MC X40’s boron/Shibata. Prices range from $369 to $1199. Also new this year from Ortofon is the attractively priced (and sounding) $5499 MC 90x, a kind of replacement for the classic MC A90 and the later MC A95.

Now onto the “if you must ask, you can’t afford it “needles”: Kuzma, HSE Swiss and Reed introduced new “top end” cartridges, two coiled and one optical. Kuzma’s two-piece sapphire-bodied CAR70 features the Orbray one-piece lab grown diamond cantilever/stylus set into a tubular sapphire holder, thus avoiding any metal in the mechanics. The CAR70 costs $35,000, or the cost of many a car (Kuzma also introduce the 12** version the Safir arm, also $35,000, as well as a sapphire record mat and heavy sapphire record weight). HSE Swiss, manufacturer of the Masterline 7 phono preamp I reviewed in these pages, showed prototypes of two new cartridges, one featuring a boron cantilever and the other an Orbray one-piece diamond cantilever/stylus that HSE Swiss‘s Robert Huber insists is not the one other companies use or have used. Huber showed me the impossibly tiny barely visible coil former used in the cartridges, wound using equally fine gauge wire.

Reed in conjunction with DS Audio introduced a new approximately $50,000 optical cartridge and optical cartridge equalizer/headphone amp combo. Mutech premiered the RM-HAYATE cartridge—a yokeless ring magnet design with a super-low 1.75 ohm internal impedance that manages 0.45mV output.

Though Decca/London didn’t exhibit at the show, I managed an on camera interview with Andy Whittle, who is responsible for the return of the legendary cartridge line. It will appear in an upcoming YouTube video.

Soundsmith introduced an “unbreakable” (or nearly so) Kudos ceramic-cantilevered moving-iron cartridge that Peter Ledermann says took two years to develop. The $19,999 cost is steep but consider that a “re-tip” is only $900. Also new is the $9999 Hyperion MKII-MR, featuring a micro-ridge stylus through-mounted into a cactus needle cantilever offering ultra-low tip mass—12% lower internal moving mass than the standard Hyperion MKII. Re-tip is $950.

DS Audio replicated its entire line of five optical cartridges in mono editions. Phil Spector would be happy. Prices are the same as the stereo versions.

Shure cartridge aficionados JICO, the company that resurrected stylus assemblies for Shure’s V15vXMR cartridge, announced it would soon release a back-engineered edition of the Shure V15 III. Other than lacking the Shure name, it will look identical to the original.

Skyanalog a China-based company that does OEM work for a number of unnamed manufacturers, showed a full line of interesting-looking cartridges made in China but using some Japan-sourced components. The P-1, for instance, with boron cantilever and elliptical stylus costs €600. The REF, a sapphire cantilevered, microridge stylus model goes for €2949. The Diamond 25^th with diamond cantilever sells for €6500. Will we be seeing these in America? Who knows?

Finally European Audio Team (EAT) introduced the curvaceous new $9000 Jo No 10 moving-coil cartridge featuring a diamond cantilever and hand-shellacked body, and Nagaoka was showing its new MP-700 cartridge also shown at AXPONA and still looking for well-deserved American distribution.

Phono Preamplifiers

Chord Electronics delivered on a pre-show promise to show a new “ultimate” phono preamplifier, debuting the ULTIMA phonostage featuring a pair of front panel VU meters. But it’s not quite available. Price will be around $20,000.

Thrax introduced its first solid-state mm/mc phono preamplifier, a handsome fully balanced, three XLR input design, featuring a large display showing all settings and a host of convenience features including polarity inversion and mono.

Musical Fidelity introduced a new, designed and built in the E.U. Nuvistor tube-based “state of the art,” fully balanced, multi-input Nu-Vista 2 phono preamplifier ($12,000) based on the M-F Titan amplifier circuitry, with an optional, massive outboard PSU (also $12,000). Also new is the less costly (around $5000) Vinyl S phono preamp.

Netherlands-based Grimm Audio introduced its compact “cubular” PW1 mm/mc FET-based phono preamp ($4900), featuring RCA and XLR outputs. PW are the initials of the company’s co-founder and chief designer Peter van Willenswaard.

EAT introduced the fully balanced (dual-differential), three-input (2 mc, 1 mm), two-box multi-tubed $18,000 E-GLO FB (fully balanced) and one-box E-GLO S, as well as the E-GLO Petit phonostages. German manufacturer SPL debuted Phonos Duo, a fully balanced version of its attractive Phonos mm/mc phono preamplifier. Front panel control of capacitance, resistance, gain, RCA/XLR inputs, mono and “rumble” filter. Available in red and devilishly priced at $3666.

It was not new this year, but the fully balanced Staltmanis Lab WS8 phono preamplifier—a brand with which I was unfamiliar—in the Zellaton room took the $12,000 Grado Epoch3 moving-iron cartridge to unaccustomed, dazzling dynamic heights!

Turntables and Tonearms

Airon Audio a new Pennsylvania-based company introduced the TH1 a $36,000 unipivot air-bearing tonearm riding on a thin air film and featuring a tensionable carbon-fiber arm wand and a host of innovative set-up and performance features. It looks simple on the outside, but a look “under the hood” reveals complex machining by a long-established machine shop new to the audio market.

TechDAS premiered the new Air Force IV air-bearing platter turntable featuring an attached but outboard motor pod and one-piece 20 pound platter, priced between the Air Force V (built in motor) and Air Force III Premium S, probably around $35,000. It was shown in a few rooms with the $45,000 (10” version) AirForce 10 lateral air-bearing tonearm and in one with The Arm.

Funk Firm had on static display its newest creation, the Kepler turntable that embodies “four decades of physics driven audio engineering. Would love to hear it.

J.Sikora’s Aspire turntable + KV9 tonearm, made its European debut here, but it’s world premier was at AXPONA. Korf Audio showed its new TA-AF9 and 10 full ceramic headshell and arm tube arm (also featuring ceramic vertical bearings)—priced from 3200 Euros and available factory-direct. SME introduced the 3-tower Model 35, a smart step-down from the top-of-the-line 4-tower Model 60, featuring the same (or very similar) bearing, suspension, and power supply and fitted with the new machined polymer Series Vi tonearm (a big sonic step up from the Magnesium arm once the company’s “flagship”). U.S. price TBD.

Pro-Ject’s Heinz Lichtenegger showed me an enhanced version of the company’s E1 entry-level turntable, telling me it’s his “#1 product”. Why? If new vinyl customers have a bad experience with their first turntable, he can’t later sell them the upper models. The E1 now has a 1.5-pound, machined, damped platter instead of a stamped one and the same drive as the more costly Debut (that has also been upgraded). The E1’s tonearm features dealer-adjustable Swiss bearings and a solid plinth. The E1 comes with a new Pro-Ject designed and built MME cartridge. Price is (“hopefully”) $300! More significantly in the affordable department are the new Pro-Ject X9B, X10B, and X12B turntables—stripped-down editions of the Pro-Ject Xtension turntables. No magnetic feet, Delrin instead of aluminum platters, but that brings the price down, from $4000 for the Xtension9 to $2500 for the X9B. Mr. Lichtenegger is a big fan of the out-of-production La Platine Verdier, so he bought the company, and now the legendary turntable is back in production and was on display at the show. Costs $13,995.

Burmester updated Reference line includes the new 257 belt-drive turntable featuring an outboard power supply and an inverted magnetic main bearing with a polished ceramic shaft riding in a sintered bronze bushing. A pair of high-torque 12V motors drive the stainless-steel/polymer sandwich platter, with speed monitored and regulated by an optical sensor. A built-in phono preamp is an available option.

Technics showed its SL-1000R ($24,699) direct-drive turntable with its arm in the main position, plus a Clearaudio tangential tracker and an SME in the two other position. SAT has switched isolation platforms from Minus-K to the Seismion, which SAT’s Marc Gomez says improves sonic performance.

Transrotor added a pair of new turntables to its extensive lineup, but while the older turntables were identified by name, the new ones just said “NEU!” so maybe they’ve so new they’ve not been given names?

Wilson-Benesch demoed it’s one below the GMT Prime Meridian turntable (approximately $270,000), and working with W-B, Döhmann Audio showed its adaptation of the W-B Gravitron Ti tonearm ($40,000) (with TESSELLATE Ti cartridge mounted on the Helix One turntable, complete with an adaptation of the STAGE One interface. The new Supatrac Nighthawk (12** edition appx. $16,000) made an appearance on the Helix One’s rear position.

European Audio Team demoed a new dual motor 97-pound F-DUR turntable (approximately ($5600 without arm, $7500 with C-Note arm and $10,000 with F-Note arm).

KLAUDIO debuted in Europe its Magnezar direct-drive turntable featuring a fully magnetically levitated “liquid-stabilized” platter available in non-clamping ($38,000) and clamping ($50,000) versions. The clamping version flattens both the record’s periphery and center. KLAUDIO’s $18,000 tangential-tracking pivoted arm is extra.

Thorens (which incredibly no longer has United States distribution but hopefully will again soon) showed a new version of the well-received TD124 DD, this one called the “Exclusive,” with a 12** arm, balanced outputs, a thick copper-topped platter (€11,999), and a specially made for Thorens EMT “Tondose” ruby cantilevered cartridge (€4999). Thorens also introduced a completely new lower-cost direct-drive series including the TD 404 DD (€4499) using the same motor as the 124 DD. Includes XLR and RCA outputs and an optional outboard power supply upgrade.

R2R Tape Recorders

Revox demoed the new Revox B77 MKIII ($19,950) and the special edition Alice Cooper edition ($27,950). Revox also has an impressive catalog of 15IPS ½** reel-to-reel tapes for sale. The B77 on the outside looks just like the original. Hopefully what’s inside does too!

Accessories

DS Audio introduced a new, lower-cost version of its groundbreaking record-centering device—a must have for classical music loving vinyl fans. The only difference between the original ES 001 and the new ES 002 is the bottom plate material. The original ES 001 uses tungsten, the ES 002 brass. When used as a record weight, this will make a difference but if you use an electromagnetic cartridge, you may not be able to use this device as a record weight because its magnetism might attract the cartridge and slam it home! Trust me. I found out the hard way. So, this is particularly good news because the ES 002’s price is targeted at $3600 versus the ES 001’s $6000.

Finally, batting “clean up” is the L’Art du Son stylus cleaning fluid and brush created by Martina Schöner. This fluid, she assured me, was safe for bonded styli like those from Ortofon and based on microscopic examination, does a particularly good job removing “baked on” film.

• User-Friendly Operation: An electronic speed control enables effortless switching between 33.3 and 45 RPM at the touch of a button. An illuminated switch powers the unit on and off, eliminating the need for manual belt adjustments.
• Signature Design: The solid alder chassis not only echoes the Stratocaster in form and finish but delivers excellent resonance control for audio performance. The smooth, tactile surface and handcrafted feel speak to both its musical and visual heritage.
• Award-Winning Components: The turntable features a 6.8 lb. Delrin platter, 10” aluminum tonearm with Cardas Audio wiring, and hardened steel inverted bearing with sapphire thrust pad akin to the Award-Winning UltraDeck Turntable.

Key Features:

• 10″ straight aluminum tonearm with gimbaled bearing and Cardas Audio wiring
• Built-in electronic 33/45 speed control with illuminated on/off switch
• Height-adjustable HRS isolation feet
• 6.8 lb. Delrin platter
• Solid alder body with classic tobacco sunburst finish
• Removable dust cover
• Available in three package configurations, including pre-mounted and aligned MoFi MM or MC cartridges

The Fender American Vintage Turntable is the latest chapter in MoFi’s ongoing story- a story that began with master tapes and now continues with world-class turntables. It’s a celebration of sound, history, and craftsmanship-designed for those who know that music is more than just something you hear. MoFi continues to uphold its mission: Getting you closer to the source.

For more information, visit www.mofielectronics.com.

The TT01 uses a flat belt to connect the motor to the inner section of the 3-piece platter. The platter is made up of an aluminum inner subplatter, an acrylic disc, and an aluminum outer ring. Thiele says this material combination contributes to damping and smoothing platter vibrations. The platter bearing uses a ceramic ball that runs on a circular ring, using grease instead of oil for lubrication. This combination is said to create an evenly controlled braking force that smooths mechanical motor operation.

On the rear of the TT01 is the motor controller’s power connector to the external linear power supply. In that general location, there are two fine-adjustment potentiometers for 33⅓ and 45rpm speed settings. On the opposite side of the rear panel, near the tonearm mount are a set of XLR output connectors and a grounding post. The TT01 only has XLR tonearm cable output connectors. If single-ended RCA outputs are desired, XLR-to-RCA adaptors can be used.

Viewing the TT01 from the top, you can see the three adjustment feet (one in each front corner and one in the center rear). The backlit power/speed control buttons are in the front left corner. The turntable platter takes up much of the top’s real estate on the left, while the tonearm base is on the right rear. The TT01’s 4-screw circular armboard accepts the TA01 arm base, which is connected via a center steel ball and four outer screws in a parallelogram configuration. This contact is said to produce a higher level of isolation between the tonearm and chassis.

Thiele’s TA01 is a pivoted linear-tracking tonearm that keeps tangency to the record groove via a two-point horizontal-movement design that is kept to within 0.036 degrees of angle error throughout its entire travel distance along the vinyl record. Vertical movement is like that of standard tonearms. The mechanical arm assembly material of the TA01 is mostly aluminum with wood damping added in certain areas like the headshell, one of the two-point control arms, and the counterweight. The armtube is made of double-walled carbon fiber with a special dual-component damping gel inserted between the walls.

When I quizzed Helmut Thiele about the lowest tracking force cartridge to use with the TA01, his response was to use cartridges that require a tracking force of 2.0 grams or higher. I agree with his statement. Therefore, I limited my evaluation to cartridges that operated within the TA01’s recommended lowest tracking force range of 2.0 grams or higher.

The RM01 is a grey-colored record mat that dampens stylus-induced vibrations so that they don’t smear the natural sound retrieved by the cartridge.

The DW01 Damping Weight operates on a similar principle of dampening and removing stylus-induced vibrations that travel along the tops of vinyl records so that they don’t smear the natural sound retrieved by the cartridge. The 400-gram DW01 does this by combining aluminum, ebony wood (rods and inserts), and the same two-part damping gel used in the TA01 tonearm. I observed that the DW01 has a percentage of the sonic calming effect that is generally the raison d’être of properly implemented vacuum-hold-down record-spinners.

The ADB01 was born out of a collaboration with Thiele and the Seismion vibration isolation company. This active damping platform was specifically designed for the TT01 with aesthetically matched exterior (color and footprint) and imbedded spike cups perfectly located for the turntable. The ADB01 contains special wood materials and load-bearing isolation plates. The Active Damping Base uses all analog electronics to eliminate frequency-limiting digital feedback’s latency-induced sampling delays. After power up, the ADB01 internally stabilizes for about 20 seconds. Then the LED turns amber/green to indicate the unit is functioning. Internal sensors monitor external vibrations from the floor, rack, air, and turntable itself (motor, etc.). Thiele says: “The signals of these sensors are used to steer 4 electronic analog amplifiers, where the signal is inverted. These 4 amplifiers drive 4 actuators, which compensate for the vibrations and prevent the vibration from affecting the turntable. This is the same principle as a noise-cancelling earphone.” In use the ADB01 is very effective in limiting the external influence of floor vibrations, in addition to providing a level of isolation from low-level vibration-induced noise.

Setup

The ADB01 Active Damping Base is placed in the location (stand or shelf) chosen for the Thiele record player. The ADB01’s power supply is attached to the unit and plugged into the AC outlet with the ADB01 power switch in the off position. Next, the base of the TT01 is placed on top of the ADB01, with the turntable’s three leveling feet fitted into the dedicated locations on top of the ADB01. The turntable belt and subplatter assembly are installed according to instructions. The RM01 record mat is placed on the platter, and the turntable is checked/adjusted for level. The TT01’s external linear power supply is then connected and plugged into the AC outlet.

Next the TA01 is installed on the TT01 according to instructions. At this point, there are sections in the instructions that mention making sure the platter is level before making the leveling adjustments of the TA01 arm base. This step is particularly important to the proper operation of the TA01 arm. When using the ADB01, one levels the turntable platter on the ADB01 and then rechecks/readjusts level after turning on the ADB01 to ensure the TT01 platter is still level. At this point, the TA01 arm base can be adjusted. The compatible cartridge is then installed according to the instructions for proper alignment. One follows the 27-step manual (with photos) for standard cartridge adjustments of VTA/SRA, azimuth, VTF, and proper effective length for the stylus of the cartridge mounted in the pivoted linear-tracking tonearm.

With the TA01 Zero Tracking Error Tonearm, there is a bubble level that must be set once assembled and prior to cartridge installation. This level adjustment is then checked again after the cartridge installation is completed. (The TA01 manual covers this adjustment.) In addition, Helmut Thiele provided more information about the final manufacturing assembly setting and how the TT01’s higher-mass horizontal movement works with the cartridge: “When I assemble my tonearms, I mount each tonearm with pickup cartridge installed on my turntable and adjust the four base screws which fix the base of the tonearm onto the steel center ball below it. Thereby, I make sure that one direction of the base is perfectly vertical and the other direction slightly slanted. This creates a tiny force which lets the tonearm move without affecting the position of the cantilever. I adjust the slant by checking the behavior of the cantilever when it touches the groove. If it moves to the center of the platter, the slant is too small, and the base must be tilted a bit more—and vice versa. When I find the perfect position of the base, I glue the spirit level in the center/neutral position into the base. This is the correct position for the pickup that I use (Ortofon Verismo); for other cartridges with different tracking forces or stylus shapes, it may be necessary to fine-tune this position. I explain the procedure in my manual.” That explanation in the manual covers watching the cartridge’s stylus action when lowered on a record and observing the behavior. Based on the results, adjustments to the arm base may be necessary.

Listening

Once properly set up, the Thiele record-player system provided trouble-free operation. The first cartridge I mounted on the Thiele was the new overachieving Hana SL MKII. If you read my Hana SL MKII review, the following words will give you a déjà vu moment: “One afternoon/evening during the completion of this evaluation period with the Hana SL MK II mounted to the Thiele TA01 linear-tracking pivoted tonearm on the Thiele TT01 turntable, I managed to listen to music in this order, as the mood evolved from John Williams’ Violin Concerto, Eric Bibb, Pink Floyd, Harry Belafonte, Nat King Cole, Lady Blackbird, Luigi Boccherini, Vivaldi, Kent Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass, Duke Ellington, Art Pepper, and Regine Crespin performing Ravel’s Scheherazade. Each piece of music was a delight to hear, and the genre didn’t matter. As the mood shifted to selecting different pieces of music and different performers during the listening session, the cartridge adapted to the moment and output what the grooves of the LP presented with all the ease, liveliness, vigor, elegance, and emotional moods captured during the recording session.” This pretty much sums up the feeling of musical enjoyment the Thiele record player system is capable of conveying when a compatible cartridge yielding superb performance is installed. The Thiele invites the listener to experience and appreciate the performances of all types of compositions and feast on those presentations until satisfied.

More specifically, the TT01, TA01, RM01, ADB01, and DW01 allow the recording and cartridge to strut their stuff and provide a platform ready for whatever comes out of the grooves. The virtues of the Hana SL MK II were triplicated with the Umami Red and Umami Blue. The delta of contrasts with the Red and Blue were readily apparent. In short, Umami Red’s slightly warmer tone and smoother play versus Umami Blue’s more incisive and slightly speedier dynamic pacing were evident.

With music, the Thiele system allowed dynamic contrasts, truthful instrument timbre, staging and spatial cues, rhythmic pacing, and musical energy to shine. Circling back to a subset of the artists I listened to during my night of random listening, let’s take a few of the pieces and unpack the traits I just mentioned. I played a few of the LPs again with the Hana SL MKII to focus on dynamics, timbre, staging/space, pacing, and musical energy. Musical togetherness was uniformly outstanding throughout the listening evaluation period.

With less complex duo or trio performances, the Thiele record-player system maintained the qualities mentioned above. Kent Jordan’s rendition of “Stella by Starlight” on his Essence album has Kevin Eubanks on acoustic guitar, Darrell Lavigne on piano, and Jordan playing flute. This makes for a simple arrangement that is still packed with the soft dynamics of Eubank’s delicate guitar playing, which add tone color, timing, and precise string energy to the music. Lavigne’s piano playing provides a spread that spans a good bit of the stage between the speakers, with precisely identifiable key strikes that linger just long enough to delight. Jordan’s flute is front and center, mostly soft and airy, as one would expect from the instrument. The whole of the performance is mixed and mastered to create a spacious presentation that is both inviting and enjoyable when played back on the Thiele.

Contrast the Kent Jordan with the more direct recording of Eric Bibb performing the title cut from his album Painting Signs, where Bibb sings and plays guitar with Janne Pettersson playing stage strings. Bibbs guitar is closely miked and picks up his complete note, from the initial finger rub of the string to the guitar’s body to the note’s decay in a way that gives a direct, less room-acoustical sound to the instrument. Knowing it is Bibb playing this essentially single spotlit instrument with his unmistakable vocals gently telling a tale of literally painting signs, the instrumental and vocal immediacy make timbre palpable. Petterson creates a deep, spacious, multi-string tonality that moves within the rear soundstage in a slow methodical fashion. The Thiele system expressed the emotional connection delivered by the song with ease.

An example of complexity comes from John Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by the man himself and Anne-Sophie Mutter performing the violin part. Given that Williams said that the concerto’s inspiration and energy came from thinking about Mutter as an artist, it seemed fitting that her playing in this concerto is one of her most captivatingly dynamic and energetic performances. The concerto starts with a very soft introduction of strings including pianissimo pizzicatos followed by low-level arco bass and cello. The violins and violas add to the mix in sweeping energetic runs from pianissimo to mezzoforte before Mutter enters with similar energetic runs on her violin. After which, the entire orchestra launches into dynamic passages from delicate to bombastic, with the focus repeatedly transitioning from Mutter to the full orchestra. This new-age orchestral piece has it all—and that’s just the opening “Prologue.” With the Thiele system, the entire concerto sounds fabulous. The music takes the listener on a journey through a range of playing from Mutter that captivates.

Conclusion

When properly configured with a compatible cartridge, Helmut Thiele’s record-player system is a pleasure to use and operate. The system draws sonic pictures of delight with well-recorded albums. Give the Thiele a listen and decide if it is the record player for you.

Specs & Pricing

TT01

Type: Belt-driven turntable
Motor: AC synchronous
Drive system: Belt drive
Speed stability +/- 0.07%
Fine speed adjustment: +/- 5%
Dimensions: 20″ x 7.87″ x 15.75″
Weight: 37.5 lbs.
Price: $31,500 ($36,000 w/gold-plated bronze TA01)

TA01

Type: Pivoted tangential-tracking tonearm
Max lateral tracking error: 0.036 degrees
Effective mass: 14 grams
Recommended dynamic compliance: ~20 (um/mN)
Cartridge weight balance range: 4 to 20 grams
Price: Included with TT01 purchase ($14,500–$19,200 purchased separately)

ADB01

Type: Active damping base
Damping system: All-analog electronic-sensor feedback & control
Price: $20,000

RM01

Type: Record mat
Price: Included with TT01 purchase ($250 purchased separately)

DW01

Type: Record weight
Price: $1200

WYNN AUDIO (USA & Canada Distributor)
Unit 31
20 Wertheim Ct.
Richmond Hill
Ontario L4B 3A8 Canada
(647) 995-2995 (Canada)
(212) 826-1111 (USA)
info@wynnaudio.com
wynnaudio.com

Reference System

Analog tape: Otari MTR-10 Studio Mastering (¼” 2-track) tape deck with custom Flux Magnetic Mastering Series repro head and secondary custom tube output stage, Studer A820 Studio Mastering (¼” 2-track) tape deck (x2), Studer A80VU MKII Studio Mastering (¼” 2-track) tape deck, ReVox A700 (¼” 2-track and ¼” 4-track heads) tape deck (x2), Stellavox SP7 (¼” 2-track) tape deck with ABR large reel adapter, Nagra IV-S tape deck with custom large reel adapter, ReVox G-36 (¼” 4-track) tape deck, 1950 Ampex 400A tape repro electronics, Soulution 757 De-emphasis unit
Analog vinyl: Basis Audio Debut Vacuum with Synchro-Wave Power Supply, Basis Audio 2800 Vacuum, Thiele TT-01 w/Active Damping Base, TW Acustic Raven Two turntables; Basis Audio SuperArm 9, Basis Audio Vector IV (x2), Graham Phantom III, Graham 2.2, Thiele TA-01 tonearms; Lyra Atlas Lambda, Lyra Atlas Lambda SL, Lyra Etna Lambda SL, Lyra Titan-i, van den Hul Colibri XGP, Hana SL, Hana SL MK II, Hana Umami Red, Hana Umami Blue
Analog phonostage: The Raptor (Custom), Ayre P-5xe, Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ w/Linear Power Supply, Soulution 350
Digital source: Intel i7 10th generation processor-based music server hosting JRiver Media Center, Roon, and Qobuz
Preamplification: Dual Placette Audio Active Linestage, Soulution 326
Amplification: Custom/modified solid-state monoblocks, Soulution 312
Loudspeakers: Vandersteen Model 3a Signature with dual 2Wq subs and dual SUB THREE subwoofers with M5-HPB high-pass filter
Cables: Assortment of AudioQuest, Shunyata, Tara Labs, Acoustic Research, Cardas, and custom cables
Support: Minus-K BM-1, Neuance shelf, Maple wood shelf, Symposium Ultra
Acoustics: Walker Audio
Accessories: Aurios Pro, Pneuance Audio, Walker Audio, Klaudio KD-CLN-LP200, VPI 16.5, Clearaudio Double Matrix Professional Sonic
Room: 18′ (W), 43′ (L), 8′ (H)

The negative stiffness platform is functionally the subchassis in a suspended turntable. Like the One, the Helix Two Mk3 also includes a “mechanical crossover” that creates a ‘least harm’ mechanical pathway to dissipate very high frequency vibrations. However, in the Helix Two Mk3, this uses tuned constrained layer damping and pre-stressed tuned mass dampers within the chassis itself. This arrangement is used to attenuate any vibration in the chassis caused by the Swiss-made three-phase AC motor or the inverted bearing. As these are engineered down to a fine degree, that’s not doing much in the way of attenuation, but this turntable shares the same uncompromising stance as its bigger brother so the phrase ‘not much’ does not exist on the Döhmann play-book.

It’s difficult not to start almost every sentence with “Like the Helix One Mk3…” because the two share so much in common. For example, like the upgradability from the original Helix Two to Mk3 status in a ‘no man left behind’ way. Or like the belt arrangement, which uses two clear polymer bands and is entirely hidden from view. While the installation is largely performed by someone else at this level, the belt is sited through the high-tech arrangement of ‘using a bit of string’.

The Helix Two also uses a lightweight and rigid ‘Advanced Composite’ fibre/polymer laminate floating armboard in place of the alloy one used on the previous edition. And, yet again, the One Mk3 has the same Advanced Composite armboard for both the main and secondary armboards.

The Helix Two Mk3 also uses a special record clamp with ‘RSA’ resonance control, which is found in the Helix One Mk3. This oversimplifies a record clamp that has been the subject of years of R&D, but everything that carries the Döhmann name comes with years of R&D.

Then, the HF and RFI absorption and power filtration found on the Helix One Mk3 trickled down to the Helix Two Mk3 power supply. And even the vacuum hold down option and upgrade is on the cards for both turntables.

So, there must be some differences between the Helix One Mk3 and Helix Two Mk3. Well, yes. Where the Helix One Mk3 is a fully integrated unit, where the turntable resides within the ‘PowerBase’ power supply, on the Helix Two Mk3, that power supply is a separate unit that sits below the turntable. And… It’s smaller and can only sport one tonearm.

Sound quality

Like its bigger brother, I’ve never played so many records and made so few listening notes. Every album led to another album, and still no listening notes because I was enjoying the performance so much. Tracks I hadn’t played in years came out for a session, not to ascertain what the Döhmann Helix Two Mk3 was doing, but simply because I wanted to hear them again and hear them played so well.

I could fluff this and simply refer the listener back to the previous issue almost entirely for the Helix Two Mk3’s sound quality, but that’s as lazy as it is unfair. So, let’s start the listening at the lead-in groove. It’s quiet, so insanely quiet that you have an ‘is this thing on?’ moment. Self-noise from the phono stage is way more noticeable than the Helix Two Mk3’s impact on the groove. It’s like the entire system took a deep breath and calmed down before playing the music.

That absence of noise is matched by a total adherence to fidelity. That sounds trite as it’s the supposed goal of all things ‘hi-fi’ by definition, but the Helix Two Mk3 shows how rarely that adherence is observed to the ultimate degree. The sound has master-tape levels of control and accuracy. This is coupled to a bold and powerful sense of dynamic range and both a sense of staging and presence, and a wicked sense of rhythm. In short, the turntable is so damn good that its contribution to the sound is tiny, and makes you realise just how much most other turntables contribute… and not in a good way.

This is the sort of turntable that, pitched even slightly the wrong way, would be a hyper-analytical look into the rest of the system. It’s even-tempered enough to make you hear the difference between solder in cables, but not so musically bereft that it makes listening a soulless experience. It shows that arm and cartridge are the prime movers in ‘musicality’ but does so by removing any impediment to hearing those parts of the system.

If that sounds like faint praise, guess again. The absence of character means an absence of bass attenuation, an absence of slurring and blurring of bass notes, and a precision to the attack of those bass notes that borders on the preternatural. This means bass precision, range, depth and authority that shines through on every piece of music, from the majesty of the tympani, through the swing and precision of a jazz bassist right through to the sheer ‘oomph’ of synths and dub reggae.

One record sums this up perhaps better than any other is the 12” ‘Annihilation’ mix of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Two Tribes’ [ZTT]. It’s never going to be anything less than exciting; it’s Trevor Horn at his overproduced best, throwing early samples, impersonators and the voice of the UK’s accidentally horrific ‘Protect and Survive’ nuclear civil defence videos into the mix. It’s a dynamic and powerful maelstrom of a record, underpinned by a savage bass line and a deep, synth bass drum synced to the click-track at a disco-beat pace. It’s easy to overawe many record players and while some of that comes down to tracking, a surprising amount of that performance stands or falls on the ability of the turntable to get out of the way of the music, providing a neutral backdrop for the music to play. And that’s what the Döhmann ‘brothers’ do so well.

I haven’t been this impressed with a turntable since the Döhmann Helix One Mk3! This gets within a whisker of that top performance in all the right ways. Yes, ‘Two’ is smaller and only takes one arm, but it costs about two thirds the price of ‘One’. ‘One’ is slightly better than ‘Two’ but unless you are listening side-by-side, you’ll probably never notice. Yes, there is always that ultimate performance from the ‘One’ that the ‘Two’ might miss under extremely careful listening sessions, but for me at least, the Helix Two Mk3 is the no-fuss sweet-spot.

More extraction

So, the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree. The Döhmann Helix Two Mk3 comes so close to the Helix One Mk3 that they perform like identical twins. The Döhmann Audio Helix Two Mk3 is all the turntable you’ll ever need.

Specs & Pricing

Type: Belt-driven turntable
Operation: Two push buttons on the table top plate for speed selection/on/off
Speed Control: Speed is constantly calibrated over 130,000 times per second to deliver precise 33.33 or 45.15 rpm (factory default). Default factory set speeds are 33 RPM and 45 RPM. Please note that 78 RPM and other custom speeds are available by request. Simple user-adjustable speed control is accessible via two intuitive push buttons on the rear of the main chassis
Drive System: Fully integrated Swiss-manufactured high torque motor (de-coupled). Dual-belt platter drive designed to reduce static electricity and vibrations
Tonearm facilities: One armboard to facilitate the mounting two tonearms up to 12” (305mm) simultaneously. All Helix Two Mk3 turntables come with two Mk3 Advanced Composite Armboards. The armboards are removable and allow simple interchange and calibration
Finish: Titanium, silver or black. All Helix Two Mk3 turntables can be fitted a carbon fibre top plate
Dimensions: (without clamp or tonearm, W×D×H) 48 × 40 × 20cm
Base/PSU: 48x39x5.5cm
Weight: 8kg (deck), 5kg base
Price: £46,000

Manufacturer 
DöhmannAudio 
dohmannaudio.com

UK distributor 
Absolute Sounds
absolutesounds.com
+44(0)208 971 3909

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100W Output Power

The SpinBase MAX 2’s Dual Direct-Drive class-D amplifier stage features separate amplifiers for the woofers and tweeters, to offer a room-filling audio experience that’s clear and impactful. Whether you’re playing soft melodies or full-bodied anthems, the SpinBase MAX 2 has the power and clarity to bring ALL of your music to life.

Inputs & Outputs for All Your Needs

The SpinBase MAX 2’s wide range of connectivity options is designed to make it easy to integrate and work effortlessly with turntables and other audio sources. Its I/O connectors include Phono and Line (Aux) inputs, an Optical Digital input, and USB flash-drive playback. The subwoofer output gives the option for more bass, while the headphone output provides a high-quality connection for private wired listening.

Bluetooth Compatibility

The SpinBase MAX 2 has separate chips for two-way Bluetooth connection. This design provides a more stable connection, so that BT headphones will remain paired regardless of input. Users can stream favorite playlists directly from a smartphone, tablet, or computer with built-in Bluetooth, and transmit wirelessly to Bluetooth-enabled speakers or headphones, offering a wide range of listening options.

Take Control

SpinBase MAX 2 comes with a user-friendly IR remote control for adjusting volume, switching inputs, and fine-tuning the bass and treble settings from anywhere in the room.

Classic Good Looks

Andover Audio’s SpinBase MAX 2 retains the clean, compact, classic appearance of the original SpinBase series with its heathered fabric wrap and Andover’s iconic main control knob. Both models offered with a choice of black or white to perfectly complement Andover’s entire Spin Collection (available separately): the SpinSub subwoofer, the SpinDeck 2 turntable, and the SpinStand, which conveniently holds up to 150 LPs.

How to Get It

The SpinBase MAX 2 is now available at an MSRP of $549, directly from www.andoveraudio.com or at participating retailers.

What’s in the Box:

SpinBase MAX2 Turntable Speaker, Power Adapter, RCA cable with ground and Quick Start Guide.

Revox B77 MKIII

Revox and Pro Sound Ltd. showed the Revox B77 MKIII tape deck in its standard configuration ($17,950) and in a visually tricked out Alice Cooper special limited-edition model. The B77 MKIII features an all-new internal electronics package featuring fully balanced circuits, XLR input and output terminations, electrolytic-free signal-path capacitors, new tape heads, NAB/IEC eq selection, 7.5ips/15ips speed selection, output level selection of -10dB consumer or +4dB pro settings, and a Class A headphone amplifier. I’ll be evaluating the B77 MKIII for TAS in an upcoming edition of the magazine, stay tuned.

Zesto Athena DAC

Zesto Audio showed its new and nearly finalized Athena DAC. The Athena has an all-tube output section with no additional filtering because the tube section has a natural high-frequency limit that Zesto feels is right without the addition of extra electronic components. The Athena will play up to 24-bit/384kHz PCM formats and 3 DSD formats (1x, 2x, and 4x). It has inputs that accept USB, coax, optical, AES/EBU, and I²S. The Athena is equipped with both XLR balanced and RCA single-ended outputs for system connections. Using 12DW input tubes and 12AU7 output tubes, the Athena, in an all Zesto-based system sitting on Stillpoints racks driving YG Hailey 3 speakers using all Cardas cabling, sounded smooth and inviting playing a Cannonball Adderly tune as well as producing Christian McBride’s double bass with finesse and authority on the opening of the Krall cut “Temptation.”

Air Tight ATE-5

Air Tight showed its new ATE-5 phonostage ($13,575) in a system with Air Tight’s reference components (ATC-7 preamp and ATM-3211 211-based push-pull tube monoblock amps). The ATE-5 is a stripped-down version of the flagship ATE-3011 phonostage but without any switching in the circuit path. The ATE-5 is as pure as it gets for an RIAA-based unit. Even the step-up transformer needed for mc cartridges requires an external unit. In this system, Air Tight used the ATH-3S step-up transformer to connect its Opus1 cartridge mounted to a special Panzerholtz edition Reed 3P arm on a Reed 3C Friction Drive table. The entire system was connected with TARA Labs cabling, flanked with Nihon Onkyo Engineering room treatments, with Franco Serblin Ktema loudspeakers producing the music. The sound with the ATE-5 was remarkably coherent, delicate, and had plenty of speedy get-up-and-go when called for. The ATE-5 was impressive in this system. A TAS review is highly likely.

Clearaudio Diamond Jubilee Cartridge

Clearaudio introduced the new Diamond Jubilee MC cartridge ($29,000). At that price it is clear this is a model in the lineup that is a step above the Goldfinger variants. The new cartridge sports a Zirconium Oxide body and uses Clearaudio’s knowledge of cartridge parts and assembly techniques to produce the Diamond Jubilee’s patented signal generator assembly. The cartridge sounded fast, dynamic, and steady while playing my music in one of the Quintessence Audio rooms during the show.

DS Audio TB-100 Tube Equalizer

DS Audio’s TB-100 Tube Equalizer ($20,000) was wedded to a DS Audio Grand Master EX cartridge mounted to a Clearaudio Universal 9” arm on the Master Jubilee turntable. The TB-100 uses only transformers and the four matched-quad set of 12AU7 tubes for equalizer functions in a pure single-ended circuit design. The TB-100 played back through a suite of ARC top-tier electronics driving Sonus Faber Stradivari speakers; the sound was fast with plenty of upper-midrange energy to open up the recordings and soundspace.

Auspicious Debuts:

Clearaudio Smart Double Matrix

The Smart Double Matrix ($3500) is a lower-cost version of the Double Matrix Professional Sonic with fewer features in a smaller footprint. The new unit still cleans (wash, rinse, and vacuum) both sides of the record at once using the same non-contact design. The functionality drops the one-button auto features of the Pro Sonic but retains the user button selections to control each cleaning step, while using a manual static brush rather than the auto static wand of the Pro. Overall, it seems like a fair tradeoff of auto features for the price break of the new model.

Aida Tru-Stone Violet Limited Edition Cartridge

Aida showed another limited-edition cartridge made from the same generator used in its Mammoth Gold cartridge but in a new body called the Tru-Stone Violet Limited Edition priced amd priced at a more affordable $6500. The Tru-Stone Violet was mounted to the KV 12 MAX tonearm on a J.Sikora Reference SE turntable ($49,250) feeding a Doshi Audio Evolution phonostage, preamp, and monoblocks powering Joseph Audio’s new Pearl Graphene Ultra loudspeakers in a system wired with Cardas cables. A wonderfully recorded 45rpm LP from AC Records called Art in Wroclaw, the sound was excellent. Save for a room-induced bass boom that refused to go away, one could hear the control over the speakers that system had, and the resolution produced by the cartridge through the system was impressive, as was the speed and dynamic contrasts heard on a tune like “My Shining Hour.”

Connected Fidelity TT-Hub Turntable

Sierra Sound showed the new Connected Fidelity TT-Hub turntable with a Sorane TA-1 arm ($6000 for TT & arm) and Benz SLR Gullwing cartridge. The TT-Hub’s base, plinth, and sub-chassis are made from sustainable bamboo plywood. The base is rigidly connected through spikes to the plinth but mechanically isolated to reduce vibrations. The thrust bearing is a PEAK Plus Sapphire sphere, with precision machined spindle in a sintered bronze bearing sleeve. The platter uses a flat belt and separate AC synchronous motor with a dedicated outboard quartz-controlled power supply that regenerates the AC voltages for precise speed. The platter is acrylic with a built-in foamed special material record surface said to absorb and limit LP-based vibrations during record playback. In a system with Aesthetix phonostage, preamp, and amplifier, Cardas-based cables, HRS racks/bases, and Vandersteen Quatro CT loudspeakers the TT-Hud produced very good sound on guitar and vocals and provided depth of stage during Janne Petersson’s background string instrumental additions on Eric Bibb’s “Painting Signs.”

Alieno Phono Extremo Phonostage

High Water Sound displayed the very new Alieno Phono Extremo ($60000) phonostage in an all-Alieno (preamp and amp) equipped system. The Phono Extremo is all tube, but we were unsure if it uses internal step-up transformers due to its newness (it was the first unit made). The Phono Extreme has three user-selectable inputs for arms and three selectable EQ curves (RIAA, Decca, Columbia) for those who dabble in curve rolling beyond the standard RIAA setting. A stereo and mono selector switch, five loading options, and a mute switch round out the controls. In system, driving Cessaro Mendelssohn loudspeakers connected with Stein cables and a TW-Acustic Raven LS-Copper table and DAVA Soul cartridge, Eric Bibb’s vocals were clean and full sounding with complete guitar follow-through and ample upper midrange energy to bring the recording to life.

In Other News:

Koetsu is back! Arturo Manzano has purchased the name and assets of the company. He started out repairing and retipping models already out in the audio world but has now started producing new models (with stone body cartridge production to start in the future). Manzano says he has assembled the Koetsu artisans and craftsmen who were building and repairing the cartridges. As a result, the sound of Koetsu and their quality will not change. In the USA, the Koetsu cartridge models will be distributed through AXISS Audio USA to dealers in North America. Listening to the new Koetsu Vermillion ($8300) played back in an all Accuphase-based system driving Gauder’s New Elargo 200 speakers using the Yukiseimitsu Audio AP-01EM table and a Glanz tonearm, the cartridge produced good, fast, dynamic, full-bodied sound.

On the DAC/streamer front Innuos debuted two new music streamer/server products: the Stream 1 ($2800) with LPS1 external power supply ($TBD) and Stream3 ($7215). Stream1 offers the ability to upgrade to the LPS1 external power supply, use the internal USB output, or upgrade to a dedicated output module (standard DAC, Performance DAC, PhoenixUSB, or SPDIF). The Stream3 contains an upgraded power supply designed in collaboration with Dr. Sean Jacobs and supports the addition of a higher performance dual-mono PhoenixDAC module with OCXO and Femto clocks. Other additional modules beyond those mentioned for Stream1/Stream3 also include PhoenixI²S option. Berkeley Audio Design showed a new Alpha DAC Reference Series 3P ($34,000)with the Alpha USB Reference ($6500). Rockna displayed its Wavedream Reference Signature DAC ($26,900). PS Audio introduced a new series of components, including the PMG Signature PureStream DAC, PMG Signature SACD transport, PMG Signature preamplifier, and PMG Signature phono preamplifier. All items have a monthly staggered shipping schedule for customers starting in June and going through September for the last product. I believe PS Audio mentioned the price target to be $8500 for each item. Using digital in service of analog, MIBS Distribution displayed the Seismion Reactio 2 (<$20k estimated) isolation platform under its SAT table, which yielded better instrument separation and a slightly expanded soundstage. We also spied a new DST CD transport for Metronome’s more affordable Digital Sharing line of products.

On the analog front we encountered the new MC 90X ($5500) cartridge from Ortofon, TechDAS’s AirForce 10 air-bearing arm ($45,000), the new Constellation Revelation 2 phonostage ($29,000), a Clearaudio Al Di Meola Celebrity turntable ($4900), the AFI FLAT.DUO LP Flattener & Relaxer ($2500), and the first show sighting of the Grand Prix Audio Monaco 3.0 table ($56,250) with Fuel Station battery power supply ($15,250) hosting a Lyra Etna cartridge feeding a full suite of VTL electronics connected with a gaggle of Nordost’s finest cables driving Stenheim Reference Ultime Two SX speakers.

AJ’s Best of Show:

Best Sound (cost no object): Gauder Akustik DARC 250 Mk II/Soulution 7 Series/Transrotor in the Axiss Audio room produced resolute, quick, and three-dimensional sound and Stenheim Ultime Two SX/VTL/Nordost in the Nordost room produced big dynamic sound in a large space.

Best Sound (for the money): Air Tight ATE-5 supported by AT’s statement pre/amp siblings and Franco Serblin speakers. Devore Gibbon Super Nine driven by a Leben integrated fed with my vinyl on a Well Tempered TT and Kauri MK II cartridge.

Most Significant Product Introduction: Koetsu is back! and the DS Audio TB-100 Tube Equalizer for the tube user who now has an all-tube equalizer option with the DS Audio Optical cartridges.

Most Significant Trend: The increased interest from non-traditional audiophiles attending and enjoying the show. As a result, we are expanding the hobby’s reach.

Most Coveted Product(s): Revox B77 MKIII, the Air Tight ATE-5 phonostage, and possibly a reference speaker from Devore Fidelity.

A month ago, Curt Palme posted about a Revox A-77 that he had just completed. I contemplated purchasing it for a few hours and then decided to see if he would take my unrestored Revox A-77 Mark IV in trade. After a quick back and forth, we agreed on $800 including shipping both ways and my Revox in trade for his restored A-77 Mark IV. I have a friend who’s lusted after one of my A-77s for a couple of years, so I sold him my other deck for the pretty standard price of $500 for an unrestored sample.

Before the new deck arrived, I fired up my old unrestored A-77 to see how well it was performing. I have over 50 pre-recorded commercial tapes to choose from. I pulled out the old fave, Belafonte at Carnegie Hall at 7½ips. Frankly, it sounded pretty bad. Although Belafonte’s voice was infused with a rich euphonic timbre, during louder passages there was noticeable hash and distortion on the left channel that occurred in direct relationship to his vocal’s volume level. Hiss was also present, but at a fairly low level. Spatial relationships in the mix were still clearly audible, with the band located well behind the solo vocals. The overall harmonic balance was good, with perhaps a bit more midbass relative to the low bass. How much of the distortion was caused by the tape as opposed to the tape machine? When the new unit arrived, I’d know the answer.

This is a good time to touch on the fact that while we audiophiles point to a “flat” response as the ideal, no tape deck is actually a flat-response device. All tape decks have an EQ curve like LPs, but it’s a different kind of EQ. Most contemporary professional and European tape decks use the IEC curve, while older units and consumer units made for U.S. sale use the NAB curve. At 3¾ips, all consumer decks record with the NAB curve. The IEC curve is used primarily on tapes recorded or played back at 7½ips or higher. If you ordered a new Revox PR99, you could designate either curve, but not both. The A-77 records using the NAB curve, but it has provisions via a front-panel knob to play back both IEC and NAB tapes.

Even after using the correct EQ curve for a particular recording, a tape deck’s output is not flat. Most decks have some non-linearity in the regions below 200Hz. Some also have rising top ends. Mastering engineer Jack Endino has measured the EQ curves for a number of decks on his site (endino.com). Some, such as the Studer A80 Mark II, have a serious bass bump around 40Hz and then roll off sharply.

All tape decks have something going on in the bass that is not flat. Plangent Processes, which I have written about in The Absolute Sound, uses a special multi-tone calibration file, which is then recorded onto a particular tape deck. When the tape is sent back to Plangent, they develop a filter set to correct the non-linearities of that particular deck. Plangent can then utilize this filter set when transferring a tape made on that deck. The results can be heard on most of the newest Grateful Dead re-releases such as Mars Hotel and on Erroll Garner’s The Complete Concert by the Sea.

Jonathan Valin has written extensively in these pages about new high-performance reel-to-reel decks, some of which are specifically designed for playback only. He has also produced an excellent reference about sources for new “mastertape” tape recordings. The prices for these new releases run from a low of $90 to over $1000 for an individual album. Old, pre-recorded tapes are much less expensive, but your artist choices will be limited to what was available back then. You’ll find far more Percy Faith and Romantic Moods than Beatles and Rolling Stones. Also, you run the risk of getting a bad sample that could have been damaged by a poorly maintained machine or stored in such a way that when you play it, it sheds bits of tape everywhere, squeals, or in extreme cases sticks to its backing, rendering it unplayable. You can bake some old tape formulations to reduce their stickiness, but that is best left to those whose lives depend on being able to restore old tapes. Most standard commercial tapes from the 70s and 80s will not need baking, but they will probably shed far more than newer tape formulations.

The New Deck Arrives

Buying any audio component that weighs above 50 pounds and requires shipping presents a dilemma: Will it arrive in the same condition as when it left the shipper? When it is something as heavy as a Revox A-77, the packing must be up to the task. With most new components in their original packing, this is not a major issue, but with an older component, where the original packaging is either long gone or sufficiently deteriorated to not withstand another trip, new packing must be employed. Since Curt Palme was packing my new A-77, I wasn’t too worried about how well it would be packed. He has several pages on his site devoted solely to how to properly pack a tape deck for shipping. He even employs a drop sensor on his packages! I plan to reuse his packaging to send my trade-in deck back to him.

Along with the tape deck Curt included a 10″ reel of his own tape brand, sourced from China, which I wanted to compare to the ATR Master Tape I purchased for the project. My plan was to record tracks from my live concert recordings on both tape formulations and compare them. But that would come, once I was familiar with all the deck’s quirks. Along with the reel of tape and the A-77, I found a bright red 10″ metal take-up reel and an authentic Reel-to-Reel-Tape-Recorders coffee mug, from which I’m drinking as I write this.

Although Curt Palme is located in Canada, he ships via USPS from the United States. The new A-77 came in a big box, even larger than I expected, due in large part to the fact that it was double boxed, with a layer of hard packing foam encircling the inner box. The A-77 itself was bubble-wrapped, with hard foam protecting the hubs and heads. Examining the deck after unpacking, it looked nearly perfect, except for a few minor rub marks on the front panel and a couple of scrapes on the wood side panels.

After connecting the new Revox to my Schiit Freya S, I was all set to begin listening. The first thing I put on was that Harry Belafonte tape that had sounded so groady on my old Revox A-77. When I pushed play, nothing happened. Bummer. I called Curt, whose first question was: “Was the drop tag on the outside of the box red, indicating it had been dropped?” The answer was, of course, yes. Curt instructed me to remove the A-77 from its case and find the three relays that had most likely been knocked out of their sockets by the drop. Once open, I discovered that, indeed, all the relays had been jolted from their sockets. I reseated them, reassembled the A-77, connected it up and pushed play, and it worked. Whew…

I put the Belafonte tape back on and listened. To say it sounded better would be an understatement. Now, the dynamic peaks weren’t distorted on “Darling Cory,” and the guitar and bongo accompaniment had a clarity that was missing from playback with my unrestored A-77. Was the sound “great”? No, it was listenable but lacked the resolution of the 96/24 version on Qobuz. Belafonte’s vocals had more sibilance on the tape than on the hi-res digital version, and the instrument’s locations in the soundstage weren’t as clearly defined as on the digital version. How many of the sonic issues were a result of the age of the tape? Probably a lot. Next, I played a recording of Mahler’s 1^st performed by Kiril Kondrashin and the Moscow Philharmonic on Melodyia 7½ips tape. It had an “antique” sound that was distant, murky, and thin. Again, I lay the faults to the tape, not the machine.

The most listenable old tape in my collection was a recording of Baroque music of two guitars on Mercury by Presti and Lagoya. It was also the least challenging, with just two guitars, moderate volume, and little else. While the timbres were accurate, I could hear a bit of flutter. It was subtle, but compared to a real guitar or a digital recording of a guitar the sound had an underlying micro-speed instability. Again, I suspect this was a result of high-speed copying, not the machine itself.

After working through my collection of old tapes and coming away largely unsatisfied, it was time to transfer one of my own recordings made in DSD 128 onto the A-77 to hear what it could sound like with new, well-recorded material and fresh tape. I used a seven-inch reel of ATR Master Grade tape for my first recording. I chose one tune from my recording of the Mr. Sun band at the Salina School House, as well as a tune from my Deadly Gentlemen recording from the same venue. I also recorded one movement of A Women’s Life performed by the Boulder Philharmonic in Mackie Auditorium. I recorded all the tracks at 7½ips directly from the single-ended RCA analog outputs of a Teac UD-507 DAC to the A-77. The recording level was adjusted by the Revox.

My tests were delayed one-half hour by another problem that involved taking the A-77 out of its case twice, following Curt’s instructions to make sure everything inside was connected correctly. After that, I was finally ready to make a recording. Mr. Sun’s tune “Danny Barnes” was the first file I copied. Wow, what a difference from the borderline quality of ancient pre-recorded tapes! This sounded almost identical to my original recording except for a slight bit of additional midbass energy. I also noticed that same slight midbass augmentation on my recording of The Deadly Gentlemen from Salina Schoolhouse. It was subtle, but the acoustic bass had a hair more fullness and weight. On My Boulder Philharmonic recording of “A Women’s Life,” only the hiss during the quiet passages gave away the fact that I was listening to tape rather than my original digital recording. The overall harmonic character of the Revox A-77 recordings was basically the same as the original tracks except for that wee bit of midbass hump.

So now that I’ve got it, what will I really use the Revox A-77 for? I suppose I could use it to “analogize” some of my digital recordings, but I probably will use it to primarily to play back tapes. Which tapes? Given its sound quality, I think I’ll pass on acquiring more old, pre-recorded tapes and concentrate on a few select new ones…I saw John Coltrane’s Blue Train on one of the tape sites priced under $200…now that I know my tape deck is up to snuff, I just might bite. In the meantime, I think I’ll put on that bright red 10″ take-up reel, admire how good it looks, and just smile.

Contact Curt Palme

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(604) 515-5500

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