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 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)

But because my Vector 4 was mounted on what was then the most affordable Basis turntable, the 2200 Signature, a model priced at less than half of what the SuperArm goes for, I wondered if the sonic improvements Robert described would be as impactful on this relatively simpler Basis table?

Robert’s concluding words further captured my attention (as well as that sinking feeling): “If you own a Basis turntable with a Vector arm, I can’t imagine a greater sonic upgrade than switching to the Superarm. If you are thinking about buying a Basis and a Vector arm, you should seriously consider stepping down a level in the Basis’ turntable line so that your budget can accommodate the SuperArm.”

Uh-oh.

Once the path before me was undeniable, and I’d made the monetary commitment, it was time to ask my wife not for approval but for forgiveness.

While the SuperArm may be based on the Vector 4, it’s a very different beast. Just look at them. The Vector is a svelte beauty, a swan-like Odette compared to the SuperArm’s Siegfried-like masculinity.

After much experimentation, modification, and testing of how far he could push the Vector, Conti found himself with an arm with much greater mass than he’d expected but also with far greater rigidity and significantly lower resonance and hence distortion.

As they should be for roughly the 3x price uptick, materials and fit and finish are a major step up from the Vector, which I must emphasize is no slouch itself, but befitting its name, the SuperArm is a balls-to-the-wall effort in every way. (Please see the Basis website and link to Harley’s review for greater details.)

Sonically, the anticipated improvements were immediately not just apparent but rather mind-bogglingly so. From the first LP I played—Kissin’s heaven-sent recital of Beethoven’s Opus 111—to anything else I might note here, it was akin to hearing these platters for the first time. The grooves were quieter than I’d ever (not) heard them; and the staggeringly improved resolution, though eye-popping, tells only part of the tale. In every sense, both from an audiophile POV but more importantly from a musical perspective, the SuperArm delivers what we ask for from all great components: to bring us that much closer to the mastertapes, to the musicians performing on those tapes, and maybe, just maybe, to a sort of transcendental state where, with eyes closed, we are fully immersed in the magic of the music, and for that time that’s all that matters, the woes of our chaotic world blissfully forgotten.

Nowhere is this more the case than with the company’s flagship, the J.Sikora Reference turntable that Jeff Fox, the proprietor of Notable Audio (which imports the Sikora line), delivered and set up at my home. This bruiser weighs in at 238 pounds—the platter alone is just shy of 40 pounds—and sports four separate Pabst DC motors, each whirring away in tandem with multi-grooved Delrin pulleys to produce what sounds like rock-solid speed stability. The rap on multiple motors is that they produce more noise, but the Reference was ultra-quiet in operation. Part of that silence is due to its well-engineered separate power supply. Another part can be safely ascribed to the intricate composition of the platter, which is fabricated from cast iron, aluminum and Delrin and a top mat consisting of glass surrounding an aluminum disk. The whole shebang rests on an inverted ceramic ball bearing, an approach which more than a few turntable manufacturers favor, and the bearing rests on a platter base made up of aluminum, stainless steel, and bronze. Sikora has also further improved its proprietary tonearm by, among other things, reducing its weight and devising a new bearing composed of zirconium oxide. The result is the KV12 Max Zirconium Series tonearm.

To assess the new table, I ran it through the supremely quiet phono section of the battery-powered Dartzeel NHB-18NS preamplifier, which I coupled to either the new Octave Jubilee 300B-based monoblock amplifiers or the Dartzeel NHB-468 monoblock amplifiers. The cartridge that I deployed on the KV12 Max tonearm was the new and impressive Phasemation PP-5000. I plugged the Sikora power supply into a Stromtank 2500 Quantum Mk-II, which improved its performance even further.

Having previously reviewed the Sikora Standard Max table, I was curious to hear how much of a jump there would be in going to the company’s premier. I was impressed by the low noise floor and speed stability of the Standard version but voiced some reservations about the table’s Sikora tonearm. It sounded nimble but a bit lighter tonally, particularly in the bass, than I preferred. To my ears, the Kuzma 4Point that I also employed on the Standard was audibly superior. It quickly became clear to me that Sikora’s new KV12 MAX tonearm is far superior to the  standard KV12. It also was easy to discern that the reference turntable, while it didn’t make the Standard sound “broken,” as you often hear reviewers say, built on its strengths to offer a much more formidable sonic presentation—one that often surprised me with its accuracy and drive and sheer wallop.

What constitutes an accurate sound? One thing that my recent exposure to the direct-drive Oswalds Mill Audio K3 turntable brought home is that there can often be a subliminal blurring of transients with belt-drive tables. I’m not talking about anything as gross as notes running into one another; it’s a more subtle phenomenon. But there definitely was a clarity with the K3 that sounded, to my ears, unforced and natural.

One album in which this was forcibly obvious was a spectacularly good Deutsche Grammophon recording of Mozart’s chamber works performed by the Tokyo String Quartet. In the “Dissonance” quartet, the Sikora table nailed the sharp attacks of the violin and viola. This quartet opens with a 22-bar adagio that foreshadows the astringent character of the succeeding movements. At various points, the sensation of an abrupt end to a passage, a split second of silence, then the resumption of the music was utterly compelling. A slightly more prosaic but no less revealing LP was an old Cheech and Chong performance that features a number called “Sargent Stadenko,” which parodies a tenacious drug officer named Sgt. Abe Snidanko in Vancouver, who was apparently renowned as the “hippie nemesis.” While I realize that I may be violating the austere canons of this magazine in referencing a non-musical performance, I cannot help noting that the J.Sikora Reference did a superb job in capturing the sibilants enunciated by those two rogues, Cheech and Chong, including a whimsical line (which in my experience is not always easy for a turntable to decipher): “As Saint Dominic always said, `O Fili Mi Boni Beli Dominus Fobiscum Beni Sell It All His Dominos!’”

To carry the torture test forward, I next played one of the most treacherous brass albums, a recording on the Angel label that was released in 1980 and that features the legendary Maurice André and his former pupil Guy Touvron playing a variety of concertos for two trumpets by the baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni. This album has a tendency to fracture in the treble region, which is the lofty sphere where André and Touvron spend most of their time playing in these demanding concertos. (There is something to be said for digital recordings when it comes to brass instruments.) Indeed, I’ve often found it to be particularly difficult for analog recordings to capture more than one brass instrument playing in unison, and this album is no exception.

While the Sikora could not efface all the shrill characteristics of this LP, it did render it more than listenable, particularly in the adagio passages. In addition, the subtle but vital accompaniment of the harpsichord with the orchestra was rendered with enviable clarity, no small feat since it is a delicate instrument that can often get lost in the mix. What also came to the fore on this recording was an immediacy, a surging quality on both the strings and trumpets that endowed the music with a greater sense of realism and excitement. The J.Sikora is anything but a bland or soporific table; it delivers thrills and chills.

What more appropriate album to spin than Michael Jackson’s Thriller? On “Beat It,” I was struck by the precision with which the Reference table laid out the performers. Even more impressive was “Billie Jean.” Each instrumental section was firmly in its own pocket, including the bass line which was as taut as I’ve heard it. The Cabasa shaker that’s omnipresent on this album was also perfectly audible, never wavering. In fact, at some points, I swear you could count the beads on the shaker.

What this amounted to was an uncanny ability to disaggregate the music on an LP—in the best sense. I don’t mean that it offered up a confused hash, but the very reverse. A case in point is a Tone Poet reissue of a Pacific Jazz LP by the guitarist Joe Pass called For Django. It almost goes without saying that Pass, who later cut numerous albums on the Pablo label, offers riveting interpretations of such classics as “Rosetta” and “Limehouse Blues” on this album. But I was also riveted by the way in which the Sikora Reference presented Colin Bailey on the drums—the sound was so clean and forceful that it almost sounded as though you were in the studio listening along. Then there was an original Riverside pressing from 1975 (double deep groove for those of you who are counting), The Sound of Sonny: Sonny Rollins, that I recently snagged from local record dealer, Chris Armbruster, at the Capital Audio Fest and that sounded extremely vivid and crisp. It was simplicity itself to follow the fleet interplay on these bebop numbers, which featured musicians such as Roy Haynes on drums, Paul Chambers on bass, and Sonny Clark on piano. (What an all-star cast!) The Sikora never got confused or tripped up. Instead, it laid it all out with superb self-assurance.

Ditto for a recording that I also recently acquired, one showcasing the late jazz pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis playing a variety of standards on an album called Heart of Gold, which was released on the Columbia label in 1991. On the Avantgarde Trios it sounded lush and inviting and atmospheric, much as you would hear in a jazz club. The Sikora nailed the piano transients, and the brushwork of the drums was once more altogether superior. Dynamics were off the charts—the piano built up to crescendos that were continuous and thunderous. It was a pleasure to hear such straightforward and unpretentious playing so clearly delineated.

On blockbuster classical recordings, the results were also quite satisfying. On the fabled Decca recording of Gustav Holst’s The Planets suite, I heard no diminution in the prowess of the Reference. On “Mars, the Bringer of War,” the bass drum shots were delivered with impressive oomph, the brass section sounded suitably threatening, and the string section held its own, particularly when it came to its sonic sheen on massed passages. Once more, the surging, propulsive characteristic of the music came through beautifully. And the tintinnabulatory effects on “Mercury, the Winged Messenger”? They were nothing short of divine.

The limitations of Lublin’s finest audio creation become clear when it’s contrasted with far more expensive turntables—I’m talking well into the six figures. Put bluntly, the Sikora reference doesn’t have the same grandeur, the sheer sweep that an OMA K3 or a TechDAS Air Force Zero will deliver. There’s something addictive about the power of those megabuck tables. But the Sikora has its own kind of lithe agility and speed, sonic purity, and dynamism that is very winning. Reference, indeed.  

Specs & Pricing

Rotation speeds: 33, 45 rpm
Number of tonearms: 1 (second tonearm optional)
Arm tower: 1
Dimensions: 22″ x 15″ x 22″
Weight: 238 lbs.
Price: $48,000 in gloss black, KV9 MAX tonearm $11,750, KV12 MAX tonearm $14,500

NOTABLE AUDIO PRODUCTS (U.S. Distributor)
115 Park Avenue, STE 2
Falls Church, VA. 22046
notableaudio.com

Much time with the Montana, and now with the Burmester 175, convinced me that if properly designed and manufactured with great care and machining excellence and with careful motor testing and matching and belt manufacturing, combined with a precision motor controller (here a Burmester originated and manufactured, high-precision oscillator-regulated circuit, resulting in “perfect sine and cosine voltages completely immune to mains voltage frequency fluctuations”), such a design can produce outstanding sonic and measured performance as well as transmitting little or no vibrational energy into the plinth and platter—at least as confirmed by a stethoscope inspection. It can also produce sufficiently high torque for the platter to quickly achieve speed, and more importantly in my opinion, to not be affected by “stylus drag,” which is a bigger problem and more audible than some people think! It’s one of the reasons I ended up buying the direct-drive OMA K3 prototype.

The hidden drive system enhances the 175’s “plug ’n’ play”-ness in that the installer never has to see, much less touch or install, a belt. The multiple belts are pre-installed on the motor pulleys and around the subplatter, all of which are buried under an aluminum plate—not so in the Montana where the belts must be installed in a somewhat complicated arrangement either by the dealer or buyer. Burmester avoids that here by doing a factory-install, made possible by a re-design of the subplatter assembly.

The 9-inch tonearm (222mm pivot-to-spindle distance, 232.2mm effective length), made by Acoustic Signature to Burmester specs, features a massive bearing housing and a multi-layer carbon arm tube that looks like what Acoustic Signature uses on its TA-5000 NEO arm. The effective mass spec of 2.8g is surely a typo. It’s more likely 12.8g since the TA-5000 NEO’s is 12.4g and 2.8g is more appropriate for an arm of balsa wood! (Burmester had corrected that typo in the manual; it is indeed 12.8g.) The bearing type isn’t specified, and it’s not necessarily critical for a product of this type, but it’s most likely the Neo 5000’s SKF-sourced, pre-tensioned hybrid ceramic/stainless-steel one. The arm allows for the full range of adjustments including VTA/SRA and azimuth, all of which have been factory pre-adjusted. Since end users will not be checking, I chose to not “second guess” these settings by inspecting SRA with a digital microscope or azimuth with a digital oscilloscope.

A pre-mounted moving-coil cartridge (sourced from Ortofon to Burmester specs), featuring a nude Shibata stylus fitted to a sapphire cantilever, has a commendably low 5-ohm internal impedance, which usually means fewer coil turns, and lower moving mass. VTF (vertical tracking force) and output are not among the manual’s cartridge specs, and that’s a pair of glaring and somewhat mysterious omissions— even if the cartridge comes pre-installed with all tonearm parameters set. (A revised Burmester manual includes the recommended tracking force of 2.1–2.3g.)

Burmester includes a setup-parameter-simplified version of its highly regarded $27,500 Model 100 phono preamplifier. The one built-in does not include certain features, including dual inputs, a choice of mm or mc cartridge (and both resistive and capacitive loading), a “mono” switch, a defeatable subsonic filter, and a voltmeter, but it does include on the unit’s back panel a choice of six well-chosen resistive loads (4.7k, 1.0k, 470, 330, 220 and 100 ohms), and the spec notes a built-in 16Hz subsonic filter as well as 70dB gain—a clue to the cartridge’s output, which must be around 0.2mV. In addition to the resistive load switch, the open and easily accessed back panel features a set of balanced XLR outputs, a polarity invert switch (labeled “phase”), a power supply connection socket, and an “auto power down” switch that, if activated, puts the unit into standby mode after 20 minutes of inactivity.

While the Shaknspin device is not “lab grade,” it’s reasonably accurate for what it measures and repeatably reliable (so useful to compare speed accuracy among turntables). The 175 averaged 33.664 rpm, which is sufficiently close to 33.33 to not show strobe disc movement. Audiophiles who insist upon 33.33 should consider that virtually all the tape machines used during the “golden age” of analog (and to this day) “drift” and rarely maintain perfect 15 and 30ips speed.

Wow and flutter measurements were commendably low, though the designers of the OMA K3 (see Jacob Heil-brunn’s review, Issue 346) claim minute speed changes down to “arc seconds” of rotation (there are 1,296,000 arc seconds in one rotation) are audible, and I can’t measure any turntable’s speed performance to that resolution. So, let’s just say the 175’s speed performance was very good.

Setup and Use

Starting with a stable level platform, it takes but a few minutes to place the magnetically damped isolation base plate, top it with the heavy main chassis (best done by two people), add the large tapered subplatter and then, using the supplied suction-cupped handle, carefully top it with the platter and the supplied anti-static mat (if necessary, the plinth’s feet are adjustable). Connect the Lemo-plug-terminated cable between power supply and main unit, and once connected to A.C. you’re ready to take the platter for a spin, though to play records you must set anti-skating. However, the instruction—to use the blank section of the supplied record and adjust until the arm doesn’t drift in either direction—is incorrect.

Friction is among the components that produces “skating,” and therefore a blank record delivers unrealistically low friction and cannot produce accurate results (the other cause of skating relates to the “overhang”—that is, the number of millimeters the stylus “overhangs” beyond the pivot to spindle distance (see wallyanalog.com/post/skating-and-anti-skating-force-myths). The Burmester instructions include a note saying setting anti-skating so the arm drifts outwards slightly may help improve the sound. Not may! Will! Another way to set anti-skating that works well according to more than a few trusted sources is to let the stylus ride into the lead-out groove area and set anti-skating so it slowly begins to head back to the grooves. Using the 175 is one-knob simplicity: “off”, “33 1/3,” and “45.” It’s as easy to use as you’d hope a “near plug ’n’ play” turntable would be.

Precise, Well-Focused, Detailed Sound

This will sound like a shameless plug, but the first record I played was the one I recently released and co-produced, Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello (Liam Records ARF-1)—recorded live at New York City’s Klavierhaus. I’ve played it on many turntables at home and at shows, so I know it well. “Thick” and slow-sounding front ends mess up the rhythmic thrust of both Cardello’s light keyboard touch and Reid’s nimble bass lines. The 175’s presentation did not produce that kind of problem. Instead, the piano/double bass recording sounded undeniably clean, fast, and “well-organized,” with both instruments having precise, cleanly articulated transient attack; however, both sounded leaner and a bit sharper than expected, or than either should sound. All string, little wood. Emphasis on attack that shortchanged sustain.

Moving on to some other favorites produced similar results, so it didn’t take long to pronounce the 175 possessed of the same “Teutonic cool” often found on 70s era German rock pressings that always sounded brighter and cooler than their American counterparts. But I also noted that there’s been zero cartridge or bearing break-in and that at first, I was running the 175’s output “single-ended” using XLR to RCA adapters. And, of course, this was a system not a component, so who knows the cause of the cool? Cartridge? Phono preamp? Turntable? All three?

So, I switched to XLR balanced “out,” and set about breaking in the cartridge and bearing by playing an expendable record repeatedly without listening. Following that, I listened again to Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello, and the presentation had improved but was still on the noticeably cool (“chilly”) side, as were the other “usual suspect war horses” played. Then I realized I’d not checked load setting, which is on the back of the chassis. It had been set by the installers as directed in the instructions to “the optimal value” of 4.7k ohms.

The instructions say load, “greater than 40 ohms,” which makes complete sense as the “rule of thumb,” for mc loading is 10 times the cartridge’s internal impedance, and the cartridge’s internal impedance is 5 ohms; however, it also says “recommended: 4.7k ohms,” which makes little sense unless the cartridge has unusually high inductance, which a cartridge with 5-ohm internal impedance will almost certainly not have, because that would require many coil turns.

“Loading” a moving-coil cartridge is intended to damp an mc’s inherent high-frequency peak, but loading a 5-ohm internal impedance cartridge at 4.7k ohms will not damp the peak, which explains why all the music sounded “chilly!”

Set to 470 ohms, the sonic picture warmed up considerably, and familiar well-recorded records began to sound as they should. The overall frequency response now sounded linear and well-extended, with pleasing warmth on recordings intended to deliver that, which included the Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello. Caelan plays a Fazioli Grand and Rufus is on his big double bass—both instruments produce far more than the transient shells first heard and with the loading correctly set, the warm sustain accurately filled in the picture.

While in Haarlem, The Netherlands, for the Making Vinyl event, I lucked into a near-mint copy of Ahmad Jamal’s Alhambra (Cadet LP 685) engineered by the great Ron Malo at Jamal’s nightclub, June 1961. I got it for $10! The master was lost in the Universal fire, and all that’s available are hard-to-find clean originals and a 1997 Bernie Grundman-cut reissue for the German Alto Analogue label that also sounds “you are there” superb, with dynamic slam when Jamal attacks the keyboard. It goes for more than $200 when a copy shows up on Discogs.

The 175 delivered the goods on this record—hard piano transients and bass line attack, sustain and decay reproduced with great clarity and precision, along with a pleasing sense of the club space behind the instruments. The stylus profile’s thin contact-patch also results in “snappy” rhythmic pacing. Why? Think of a spherical stylus, which is the worst-case vertical modulation scenario if your goal is snappy pacing. The stylus rides up the vertical modulation on the back side of the sphere and at the top contact must transfer to the front side of the sphere after which it can slide down the modulation. The narrower the contact patch, the faster is the “hand off.” In this “micronscopic” world that delay might as well be measured in miles.

With its tall and exceptionally narrow contact patch, the Shibata stylus is among the most revealing, and in this setting—on this unsuspended turntable and low-resonance tonearm, through the Model 100 phono preamp variant—the results on every record played produced exciting “PRaT” (Pace, Rhythm, and Timing), as Brit audiophiles say. If your sonic preferences tend toward the soft, warm, and fat—and there are many who prefer that “romantic” sound, thinking that’s what live music sounds like (which it doesn’t)—the Burmester 175 will most likely not be for you.

But if you want to listen to Miles Davis’s muted trumpet sear your ears as it should on Relaxin’ (especially on the recent Craft “Small Batch” “One-Step” reissue) and if you want to hear lifelike, ear-shattering cymbal hits on closely mic’d recordings, the 175 delivers.

On distantly mic’d recordings, or when musicians back off their instruments to allow the soloist breathing room, the 175 holds it together, where less precise, softer-sounding turntable/arm/cartridge combos lose their grip and allow the presentation to fall apart. Loudspeakers also make or break these kinds of recordings or interludes. I noticed that at the recent Warsaw audio/video show where I debuted the Rufus/Caelan record. When both musicians back way off to allow one or the other to solo, on some speakers with some turntables the performance fell apart and “smeared,” but on the better systems those soft passages produced added magic, forcing the listener to lean in rather than tune out. I never tuned out listening to the Burmester 175.

Conclusion

Not that this can be a 100% accurate comparison for many reasons, but when you consider that Burmester’s Model 100 phono preamp sells for $27,000 and Acoustic Signature’s 3-motor Montana NEO costs $35,000, its TA5000 arm around $8000, and its Shibata-stylus MCX4 cartridge costs $2995, that adds up to $73,000. The Burmester 175 costs $60,000, and its arm might be a pay grade above the TA5000. It also appears to have a far more robust and sophisticated power supply, though it probably serves both the phono preamp and the turntable, and the 175’s platter doesn’t include the Montana NEO’s 24k-gold-plated silencer modules (though even without them the 175 provides records with a very quiet ride).

A direct sonic comparison between the 175 and the $13,000 more costly separate componentry would be interesting, but what’s clear is that there are always savings to be had when you can avoid a chassis or two, and here, with the built-in phono preamp, you avoid one, as well as two sets of interconnects that alone could cost thousands.

Along with the theoretic cost savings, for someone interested in getting into vinyl playback minus the usual mix-and-match componentry and set-up difficulties, an almost-ready-to-play integrated package like the Burmester 175 presents an attractive alternative, and given what the package includes, you get a top-tier performer in a super-attractive, space-saving bundle. If you are ready to take the vinyl plunge and have the resources, with the right software you’ll immediately “get” what the vinyl resurgence has to offer. Just be prepared to clear some shelf space!

Specs & Pricing

Record Player
Drive: Belt drive
Motors: 4 synchronous motors
Turntable speeds: 33RPM, 45RPM
Dimensions: 450mm x 250mm x 395mm
Weight: 60.8kg

Tonearm
Type: Multi-layer carbon arm tube
Effective length: 238.2mm
Overhang: 16.2mm
Azimuth setting: Via clamp screws
Weight setting: Fine thread
Tonearm weight: 0.7kg
Effective mass: 2.8g

Phonostage
Outputs: XLR
Frequency response: 16Hz–102kHz (subsonic filter at 16Hz, +2dB, –3dB)
Intrinsic noise at output: –71dBV (unweighted, 22.4kHz)
Input impedance (mc): 4.7kΩ, 1.0kΩ, 470Ω, 330Ω, 220Ω, 100Ω
THD @1kHz/0.5mV: 0.0018%
Gain: 70dB
Channel offset: 0.1dB
System price: $60,000

BURMESTER HOME AUDIO GMBH
Wilhelm-Kabus-Straße 47 10829 Berlin, Germany
burmester.de

Burmester Home Audio USA
250 A Butler Industrial Drive
Dallas, GA 30132
(303) 845-0773
norm.steinke@burmester.de

Associated Equipment
Speakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Chronosonic XVX
Preamplifier: darTzeel NHB-18NS
Power amplifier: darTzeel NHB 468 monoblocks
Phono preamplifier: (None)
Tonearms: (None)
Phono cartridges: (None)
Cable and interconnects: AudioQuest Dragon & TARA Labs The Zero Evolution & Analysis Plus Silver Apex & Stealth Sakra and Indra (interconnects). Stealth Helios DIN to RCA phono cable, AudioQuest Dragon and Dynamic Design Neutron GS Digital (A.C. power cords)
Accessories: AudioQuest Niagara 7000 (line level), CAD Ground Controls; AudioQuest NRG Edison A.C. wall box and receptacles, ASC Tube traps, RPG BAD, Sklyline & Abffusor panels, Stillpoints Aperture II room panels, Stillpoints ESS and HRS Signature stands, HRS XVR turntable base, Thixar and Stillpoints amplifier stands, Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Furutech Record demagnetizer, Orb Disc Flattener, Audiodesksysteme Vinyl Cleaner Pro X, Kirmuss Audio KA-RC-1 and KLAUDIO KD-CLN-LP200T record cleaning machines, full suite WallyTools

To thank you for being with us, all tonearm purchases made before February 1st are getting:

• Free shipping worldwide! Not just TA-SF11R, but also TA-SF9R and TA-SF9
• Free Korf TC-125 tonearm cable. It’s MDIN to 2x RCA+ground, 1.2 meter long

To order our new transcription tonearm, click here, and enter NEWPAGE discount code at checkout.