Walk the halls, corridors and sound rooms of High End Munich 2023 with Tracking Angle editor Michael Fremer, with particular emphasis on turntables, phono preamplifiers and cartridges on the present.
The submit Michael Fremer’s Day 2! | High End Munich 2023 appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
From Fremer: Day one began with a 7 AM breakfast assembly with Mark Döhmann and his workforce to catch up and talk about turntable information—his and what had been introduced we’d see on the present. Was value getting up early for. The solely present appointments/occasions I had on my schedule was a panel dialogue with engineering nice Jim Anderson and his spouse and “Tonemeister” companion Ulrike Schwarz, this time not about his work with Patricia Barber. Instead the dialogue was about analog versus digital and I used to be there as a participant not as a moderator.
At High End, these panels are sometimes not properly attended as a result of everyone seems to be busy doing enterprise, particularly on press days one and two, however we had just about a full home and the dialogue was full of life, informative and an excessive amount of enjoyable. i feel it might need been recorded.
Though analog protection is the primary focus, among the many most superb objects I noticed and heard was the Alieno 250D LTD MK2—a push pull 300B tube amp (not a hybrid) with a claimed output of tons of of watts per channel! You’ll see that within the video. Enjoy!
The submit Michael Fremer’s Day 1 Analog Show Coverage | Munich 2023 appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
Tom Martin interviews VP of Sales John Pravel on Luxman’s debut of the PD-191A turntable. We study in regards to the PD-191A intending to switch the long-running Luxman PD-171 collection, its heavy aluminum platter, its complementary tonearm, cartridge, and extra…
The put up The NEW PD-191A Luxman Turntable | AXPONA 2023 Preview appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
The following is a press launch issued by Reel Sound Distribution.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – April 14, 2023 – Florida-based Reel Sound Distribution Inc. is now the unique distributor of the world-renowned and award-winning hi-fi audio line from Metaxas & Sins, following a partnership settlement with designer Kostas Metaxas. The Metaxas & Sins tools contains “product of the yr” Tourbillion T-RX and Papillion reel to reel gamers out there completely by Reel Sound Distribution Inc. within the U.S. and Canada by choose retail gallery companions.
Veteran Journalist Jonathan Valin of The Absolute Sound Magazine mentioned of the Tourbillion reel to reel participant – “This is absolutely the sound within the definition of these phrases that makes the very best sense to me: the sound that was recorded within the studio or the live performance venue.”
This is the primary time the brand new line of Metaxas & Sins reel to reel gamers has been out there in North America.
Reel Sound Distribution can even be making out there the tools!s supporting household of amplification, audio system and equipment utilized of their design and efficiency.
Renowned designer Kostas Metaxas has spent greater than 40 years of labor within the subject of high- finish audio, from the design and manufacturing of complete playback methods to the recording of greater than 300 acoustic live shows on analog tape utilizing Swiss Stellavox decks, earlier than designing his new line of reel to reel gamers/recorders and new audio tools assortment. His dream was to carry essentially the most spectacular structure, design and sculpture he had skilled and their emotional depth, daring and seductive magnificence to a brand new sequence of audio elements.
As a recording engineer, Metaxas additionally wished to “voice them” for terribly real looking recording playback and to have the ability to simply reproduce all of the nuance and emotion of a musical efficiency.
The new assortment is the outcome. Machined from stable blocks of both plane aluminum, copper or titanium, the completely bespoke and modular electronics make them future proof. In true “Bugatti trend,” every product is assembled by Metaxas or his sons.
Every Metaxas & Sins case is individually constructed from a stable block of stable metallic. This presents a really stable, inert, non-resonant construction to protect and shield the fragile digital alerts. This low noise shielding assists in attaining breathtaking musical 3D depth, transparency and realism.
Each Metaxas & Sins audio assortment piece is taken into account an object of artwork – lovely to take a look at and breathtaking to listen to. The limited-production heirloom elements are handcrafted from the best supplies and electronics and engineered by a visionary artisan.
These audio sculptures of purist design supply uncompromising efficiency that brings individuals nearer to the musical occasion than ever earlier than. Listeners will be there with their favourite artists, misplaced within the emotion of their efficiency and may hear what they heard within the studio or on the stage.
Reel Sound Distribution!s Jeff Garshon is a musician, producer and lifelong music collector with greater than 20 years in audio/video system design and gross sales. He can also be an entrepreneur and pioneer in life sciences communications. Having spent a whole lot of hours within the studio, touring and performing, Garshon understands what actual music and musicians sound like.
Garshon’s ardour is curating audio methods that ship musical content material truthfully and precisely however, above all, with emotion and wonder. Understanding that analog reel to reel tape is the purest music supply format extant and the origin of all fashionable recordings previous to digital, Garshon started looking for the very best reel to reel sources and audio elements able to delivering that content material with out corruption, which led to his partnership with Metaxas & Sins.
For extra data, contact Garshon at [email protected] or 954-648-3550.
The submit Reel Sound Distribution Now the Exclusive Distributor of Renowned Metaxas & Sins Hi-Fi Audio Equipment appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
The put up 2023 Editors’ Choice: Best Tape Decks appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
“If you haven’t heard it, then you definitely don’t have a bleepin’ opinion!”
Or far saltier phrases to that impact had been among the many first I heard from Ivor Tiefenbrun, the take-no-prisoners-or-BS founding father of Scotland’s Linn Products, Ltd.
This was roughly 1977 or ’78. I used to be a mere pup, barely 20, who’d landed a job at one of many Bay Area’s finest high-end audio retailers, and Ivor was touring the States conducting seller coaching and proselytizing all issues Linn.
Tiefenbrun’s gauntlet throw-down was directed at folks—and again within the Seventies there have been loads of them—who insisted that, so long as a turntable had no discernable wow, flutter, or different measurably operational flaws, document gamers made no actual contribution to the sound of an audio system. In different phrases, so long as they spun records kind of precisely, all of them sounded the identical; cartridge alternative however.
Today this simplistic notion appears ludicrous, as ever since that point the turntable’s paramount function in an analog-based audio system has been thought-about apparent. And although Ivor wasn’t the one one combating the combat, his was arguably the loudest and most passionate voice, and for that and the revolution in LP playback that continues to this present day we owe him our gratitude. (Tiefenbrun is an inductee to this journal’s High-End Hall of Fame.)
My then job’s best enjoyable got here from demonstrating Ivor’s level to prospects. Our store had a number of turntable setups, permitting prospects to match varied manufacturers outfitted with the identical cartridges. It could be a Denon direct-drive or one in every of Rega’s early Planar belt-drives, however after just a few backs-and forths with the identical musical choice, the Linn invariably gained the competition attributable to its well-known capacity to speak the emotion of the music—or put merely, that well-known “toe-tap-ability.” I even recall some after-hours listening classes spinning a vulgar English comedy LP; and certain sufficient, what may need appeared merely crude and offensive on different gamers was rendered a lot funnier (if nonetheless filthy) on the LP12.
But getting an LP12 to carry out to its fullest potential wasn’t a straightforward activity. Tuning its comparatively primitive, three-point sprung suspension in order that the platter would bounce easily and uniformly straight up and down with no lateral wiggle required each a magician’s contact and the endurance of a saint; one thing the shop’s proprietor possessed however that I, and a lot of the workers, by no means fairly mastered.
Of course, this solely anointed the Linn with a good larger air of secrecy and desirability.
Soon the LP12’s supremacy can be challenged by the likes of SOTA, Oracle, Pink Triangle, and others, with the unique Goldmund Studio taking the crown for some time—and at $5k the direct-drive Goldmund additionally shattered the period’s value ceiling. (It’s attention-grabbing to notice that that’s roughly $18,000 in right this moment’s cash, which might make that Goldmund a relative bottom-feeder in right this moment’s ultra-high-end world.) But by means of all of it, Linn has stored urgent ahead, ever refining its unique idea, in addition to morphing into the soup-to-nuts audio producer we all know right this moment.
It had been years since I’d heard a brand new Linn, and so I eagerly accepted this evaluate project to meet up with the newest from this traditionally vital firm’s signature product.
As such, it was one thing of a flashback when Jeremy Bicknell of Basil Audio—who graciously drove to my San Francisco dwelling from his store in Saratoga to ship the unit—unboxed Linn’s newest and most inexpensive Sondek, the Majik LP12 ($5130 for the bundle as reviewed).
If I hadn’t identified higher, I may simply have mistaken this LP12 to be a classic Linn, so uncanny a resemblance to the unique the Majik seems to be.
In some ways the present incarnations of the LP12—there are three tiers: Majik ($5130 as reviewed), Selekt (beginning at $14,560), and Klimax (beginning at $30,970)—are certainly very like the Sondek of previous. But as with the Porsche 911, an identical look doesn’t imply that know-how hasn’t superior over the following half-century. (Linn additionally gives nifty improve paths for many who begin with the Majik and wish to step up over time. Like automakers, the web site even allows you to “construct your personal.”)
But as I steered, what stays of the legacy is important, most particularly with the entry-point Majik.
Like the unique, the Majik LP12 options Linn’s traditional picket plinth (at the moment out there in quite a lot of wooden and end choices), a sandwich-construction aluminum subchassis, a two-piece platter, a black felt mat, a laminated armboard, and a rocker energy change. As up to now, you even want to suit an adapter to the motor pulley to play 45rpm records. There’s additionally that strikingly acquainted three-point sprung suspension system, which nonetheless calls for the endurance of a saint to tweak, tweak, tweak, in order that it floats freely.
It ought to be famous, nevertheless, that the precision of those element components is considerably larger than these discovered on a Linn of previous, as the corporate has constantly upgraded its Glasgow manufacturing unit’s manufacturing and machining capabilities.
Along with the standard of components and building, probably the most vital enhancements to the Majik embrace Linn’s patented single-point Karousel bearing and the internally mounted low-noise energy provide. (Also good, the Karousel bearing will be fitted to any Sondek ever made.)
But for a few of us, what made dwelling with the unique Sondek a problem remains to be unchanged. That three-point suspension has at all times been extraordinarily delicate to footfall. This is doubly true if, like me, you occur to stay in a home with suspended wooden flooring. For instance, when Jeremy visited to put in the ’desk, make sure the suspension didn’t jiggle like a bowl filled with jelly, and fine-tune the VTA, he would possibly as effectively have been strolling on eggshells. So jumpy was the Majik on my Finite Elemente Spider rack that I feared a broken cartridge or worse.
Jeremy was a trooper, gingerly stepping to and from the Majik as he homed in on the specified VTA; however the subsequent day I rejiggered my system in order that the Linn was sitting on a a lot decrease and considerably extra inflexible platform. If this didn’t completely remedy the difficulty, it went a big manner towards minimizing footfalls as a difficulty. For Linn house owners, and people considering a purchase order, light-weight and inflexible help models are the important thing to happiness (in addition to avoiding blown woofers).
Those aware of the Clearaudio vary of ’arms will acknowledge the Krane ($1790 when bought individually), because it was developed by Clearaudio in partnership with Linn in order that its “efficient size and offset angle…guarantee full congruity with all Linn cartridges and different associated LP12 parts and equipment.”
A static-balanced design, the Krane “is hand assembled with high-quality, precision aluminum and stainless-steel parts. It encompasses a polished tungsten and sapphire vertical bearing with twin ceramic horizontal bearing meeting, each of that are long-lasting and supply very low friction/rotational mass.”
The Krane additionally features a laser-etched scale for correct and repeatable VTA adjustment and an azimuth adjustment mixed with a set offset angle to make sure “excellent alignment of the cartridge and stylus.”
I may glean comparatively little details about the Adikt. Linn calls it “an environment friendly and inexpensive moving-magnet (mm) configuration…a perfect start line for any high quality vinyl playback system, and its efficiency is greater than a match for a lot of costly moving-coil (mc) designs.”
This, as you’ll learn under, is for my part both wishful considering or promoting hyperbole.
My preliminary listening session with Jeremy the day of set up proved to be troubling. Perhaps sensing my lower than enthusiastic response, he knowledgeable me that Adikt cartridge was model new and can be a lot improved after 30 hours of break in. So, for the subsequent week I didn’t pay attention however merely stored replaying the edges of a clear LP I didn’t thoughts abusing a bit till I’d added up the hours.
Eager to leap again in, and having simply acquired Analogue Productions’ reissue of Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus, my listening notes learn: “Bass has some naturalness and zip. Brass some respectable separation. No depth although. The stage is flat and has little sense of air. The famed Linn toe-tap-ability is likewise little in proof. I’m baffled.”
Moving on to Cecile McLoran-Salvant’s otherworldly tackle Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” (from her newest, Ghost Song), I used to be happy by the Majik’s heat and tonal richness, however once more disillusioned by its veiling, lack of air and transparency, rolled off high and backside frequencies, and easy lack of the verve, drama, and pleasure I’m used to from this document.
Likewise, on the current Giles Martin-mastered version of The Beatles Let it Be, “Two of Us” was so veiled it sounded as if the ’desk had been enjoying behind a curtain, the underside finish lacked snap and definition, guitars had been a muddle, as had been vocals and dynamics.
Granted, my reference analog gear—Basis 2200 Turntable, Vector 4 ’arm, and My Sonic Lab Signature Gold moving-coil cartridge—retails for one thing like six-times the worth of the Majik. But returning to play these LPs on that rig confirmed that I wasn’t shedding my thoughts—or listening to. Moreover, I’ve in contrast different much less dear turntables on this identical system—such because the Rega P6, which I deemed worthy of a TAS Product of the Year Award—towards my identical reference LP setup, and I used to be each in a position to discern why they had been wonderful, in addition to respect why they might not have performed in the identical league as that Basis configuration.
Although it’s tough to jot down this, I used to be extremely disillusioned by the sound of the Majik LP12/Krane/Adikt mixture. My hunch is that the Adikt was holding issues again right here, and possibly it was not merely a hunch, as a result of after I’d completed my listening classes and the Majik was not in my dwelling, Linn introduced an improve to the Majik within the type of the Koil moving-coil cartridge ($1060, bought alone). Developed in collaboration with Audio Technica, I’m instructed it’s primarily based on that firm’s OC9 design, with a number of Linn-specified modifications made, particularly to the suspension. As Linn says, “This provides prospects a possibility to make their first Sondek LP12 improve straight off the bat.”
I remorse not having the chance to match the Adikt and the Koil, as a result of though it’s a reasonable few-hundred-dollar uptick in value, I believe it’s rather more than that on the efficiency entrance. Perhaps sooner or later both I or one other TAS author may have that probability.
Actually, what can be actually cool can be to sit down down at a Linn dealership to make not simply that comparability, however to listen to precisely what stepping up by means of the assorted Linn fashions yields in sonic enchancment.
Given my respect for this iconic firm, I urge anybody excited about a Majik to learn my phrases as a snapshot of that ’desk’s sound as I skilled it, and to hunt the type of listening session I discussed to listen to for himself what Linn’s newest is able to.
Type: Belt-drive, suspended turntable
Speeds: 33.3, 45rpm (adapter included)
Dimensions: 17.5″ x 5.5″ x 14″
Weight: Not out there
Price: $5130 (as reviewed) with Krane tonearm and Adikt mm cartridge
LINN PRODUCTS LTD.
Glasgow Rd.
Waterfoot, Glasgow
G76 0EQ
linn.co.uk
The submit Linn Products Majik LP12 Turntable appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
In the third installment of My Luncheon w/ Andre and Fremer, the 2 focus on making ready for AXPONA, navigating rooms, mono vs. stereo cartridges, and extra…
The put up How Do You Prepare for AXPONA 2023? | My Luncheon w/ Andre Episode 3 appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
You are cordially invited to attend an unique webinar!
Join vinyl icon Michael Fremer, Editor-at Large of The Absolute Sound and Editor of TrackingAngle.com as he moderates a distinguished panel of consultants who will discover the various points associated to correctly cleansing and preserving vinyl recordings.
Panelists embrace:
Jeff Coates, Marketing Director, Fine Sounds Americas
Dr. Charles Kirmuss, Founder, Kirmuss Audio
Mark Mawhinney, President, Spin‑Clean International
Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind occasion!
The publish The Fundamentals of Record Care appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
The following is a press launched issued by Luxman America.
BALLSTON SPA, New York | April 05, 2023 – Vinyl followers have new cause to rejoice as Luxman America introduces the eagerly-anticipated PD-191A analog participant. “So many music lovers have advised me how a lot pleasure they get from the PD-171A,” mentioned Jeff Sigmund, president. “This new participant is greater than a worthy successor. It breaks completely new floor in performance, circuitry, mechanics and sound high quality.” The PD-191A incorporates an all-new tonearm, drive system, file mat and PWM/PID rotation velocity controller. Other key options embody Luxman’s underslung chassis design with 15 mm aluminum prime plate and a large, 5.2 kg aluminum platter. The PD-191A obtained its Japan-market debut in September and is now obtainable for pre-order in North America at a prompt retail value of $12,495.
“We are proud to have collectively developed our utterly new LTA-710 tonearm with Japan’s analog audio specialists, SAEC,” Sigmund mentioned. To hint the best particulars of the file groove, the brand new tonearm contains a vertical knife-edge bearing that delivers wonderful preliminary sensitivity. An efficient size of 10 inches (256 mm) not solely minimizes monitoring error, but additionally improves damping towards floor vibration. Tracking error is held to +1.07° to -1.52°. In addition, this static stability arm options adjustable anti-skating and as much as 22 mm of peak adjustment permitting for a variety of phono cartridges to be utilized. The provided Luxman common headshell options D.U.C.C. (Dia Ultra Crystallized Copper) wiring, with lengthy copper grains for very good conductivity.
While the PD-191A presents the comfort of an all-in-one participant with built-in tonearm, Luxman anticipates that demanding music lovers might also wish to use the turntable with different tonearms. For this cause, the corporate will introduce accent bases for third-party 9 to 10-inch tonearms and an exterior second tonearm base for lengthy 12-inch arms, beginning with the basic SME-3012.
In vinyl playback, even refined platter velocity variations trigger musical pitch to waver, undermining readability. To combat this, the PD-191A goes to extraordinary lengths to keep up fixed platter velocity. Luxman’s distinctive sine wave/Pulse Width Modulation energy provide supplies ultra-stable direct present to the DC brushless motor. This turntable maintains right velocity by way of refined Proportional-Integral-Differential (PID) management and programming. A excessive efficiency reference clock for velocity correction, utilizing a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) oscillator, with wonderful temperature traits, is deployed. The motor drives the surface flange of the platter by means of a brand new belt that’s not solely uncommonly extensive, but additionally presents lengthy service life because of new EPDM belt materials.
The ultimate guarantor of rotational stability is the 5.2 kg (11.4 pound) platter itself. The platter acts as a flywheel with extraordinarily excessive second of inertia, 0.7 t·cm2, to suppress even minuscule velocity variations. A platter this heavy requires bearings able to sustaining extraordinarily excessive stress. Luxman engineers specified polyether ether ketone (PEEK) thrust bearings and brass radial bearings for effortlessly clean rotation and lengthy life. As a results of these exhaustive measures, wow & flutter is lower than 0.04%, weighted RMS. In this manner, the PD-191A delivers musical pitch with phenomenal accuracy.
Because phono cartridges function by changing movement into voltage, they’re notably weak to microphonics – voltages brought on by the affect of sound waves. The cartridge merely can not distinguish between the specified movement of tracing the file groove and undesirable microphonic movement. Luxman engineers applied a rigorous technique to guard the music from microphonics. It begins with massive, rubber isolator ft, rigorously chosen for very good damping and wonderful temperature traits. Each isolator presents impartial peak adjustment. Next, the PD-191A incorporates an underslung suspension construction, by which the principle electrical and bearing parts are hooked up to the 15 mm thick aluminum alloy prime plate, which succeeds in attaining each excessive rigidity and damping efficiency. Inside the participant, particular rubber damping mounts isolate the chassis from two inner sources of potential vibration: the motor and energy transformer, that are in flip mounted on a 3.2 mm steel backside panel. To present a ultimate degree of safety, the PD-191A presents a vibration-absorbing particular rubber file mat. While these chassis options are undoubtedly costly, they yield music replica of the very best order.
The PD-191A embodies Luxman’s signature craftsmanship with exemplary match and end. The aluminum platter is precision machined, which leads to a chic diamond-cut visible sample. The rosewood completed base contrasts with the hairline aluminum prime panel, which has a strobe window and separate velocity changes for 33-1/3, 45 and 78 rpm. Other options embody a 16-mm, large-diameter middle spindle; provided EP adaptor; plus removable output and IEC energy cables in order that homeowners can substitute or improve to aftermarket cables. The gold-plated AC energy enter is turned 180° to higher assist extra-heavy cables. An elective acrylic mud cowl is 4 mm thick and incorporates spring and cam assist hinges.
The publish Luxman Launches New Flagship Analog Player: PD-191A Turntable appeared first on The Absolute Sound.
The publish 2023 Editors’ Choice: Tape Decks appeared first on The Absolute Sound.