Mr Spock
demokratischer - sektor
- Μηνύματα
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- Reaction score
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My main task is to describe an audio component's basic character. How was it made? How did it fit into my system? How effectively did it deliver musical performances? My goal is to create stories that generate sounds and images in your mind—stories that will allow you to imagine how the component might perform in your system.
I can hear the moans from all you objectivist guys: Please, Herb, spare us your purple prose.
But guys! Our full appreciation of music, art, and perfectionist audio depends entirely on our ability to imagine. The most practical measure of any hi-fi component's usefulness, hence its value, is to listen to diverse recordings and notice how they grip (or don't) our attention, how they stir our moods and provoke our imagination.
My purple prose, John Atkinson's measurements, the best recordings—all are completely useless if we can't imagine what they describe. And nowhere is this more true than in the realm of high-quality record players.
If accuracy of speed, wow and flutter, etc. were the only record-spinning realities, every audiophile would own a Japanese direct-drive and that would be it. But, fortunately, scores of sophisticated turntables are being manufactured all over the globe, each a representation of the unique engineering and aesthetic viewpoints of its designer, and each presenting recordings of music in its own distinctive manner.
Don't believe me? Then watch the extraordinary video by Michael Fremer in which he compares his Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable and Swedish Analog Technologies tonearm with Technics' new SL-1200G. It clearly demonstrates how differently two high-quality turntables, with different types of drive system but the same cartridge and phono stage, can play the same LP.
That said, I will now attempt the impossible: to keep my purple prose to a minimum while describing the unique sound character and essential value of a brand-new, moderately priced turntable: the AnalogueWorks Zero ($1595 with blank armboard).
Description: Belt-drive turntable. Motor: AC synchronous. Speeds: 331/3, 45rpm. Platter: aluminum, 4.9kg.
Dimensions (without tonearm): 18.4" (468mm) W by 4.25" (108mm) H by 14.5" (369mm) D. Weights: 24.25 lbs (11kg) net, 28.7 lbs (13kg) shipping.
Finish: Birch ply (plinth).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 000018.
Prices: $1595 with blank armboard; $1995 with Jelco SA-250 tonearm; $2095, as reviewed, with Jelco SA-750 tonearm. Approximate number of dealers: 8.
Manufacturer: AnalogueWorks, Divine Audio Ltd., Harborough Innovation Centre, Airfield Business Park, Leicester Road, Market Harborough LE16 7WB, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1536-762211. Web: www.analogueworks.co.uk. US distributor: High Fidelity Services, 2 Keith Way, Suite 4, Hingham, MA 02043. Tel: (781) 987-3434. Fax: (781) 949-2998. Web: www.hifiservices.com.
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/analogueworks-zero-turntable#1F7OMb6bPh6MI0CU.99
