Turntables

AMG Giro G9: $10,000 with tonearm - Class A 

The Giro G9 is an AMG Giro turntable bundled with the same company's 9W2 tonearm (see elsewhere in Recommended Components). The turntable comprises a 1.75"-thick Delrin platter whose bearing is mounted on a circular aluminum plinth, itself 1.5" thick. The Swiss-made AC motor is electronically controlled, with switch-selectable speeds of 33.3 and 45rpm. That motor isn't outwardly visible—at first glance, the Giro might be mistaken for a direct-drive turntable—but is hidden underneath, driving the platter from a point inside its rim by means of a thin rubber belt. According to HR, the "Apollonian" Giro G9 was "completely adept at recovering and sorting out complex music"; he praised in particular its "detailed" and "well articulated" bass. Herb recommends avoiding lean, analytical-sounding cartridges, including AMG's own Teatro—his best results with the Giro G9 were with the notably colorful EMT TSD 75—and advises the user to consider upgrading the AMG player with a third-party isolation base. (Vol.40 No.10 WWW)

AMG Viella Forte Engraved: $32,000 with 12JT tonearm - Class A

This massive turntable features an outboard, crystal-controlled power supply and a black-anodized aluminum two-piece platter that weighs almost 31lb and has a weighted rim (producing a flywheel effect), a gently convex, inlaid-PVC top surface, and a decoupled spindle. The plinth weighs 50.7lb! According to MF, who auditioned the Forte Engraved with AMG's 12JT tonearm (see "Tonearms") and an Ortofon Anna Diamond cartridge, what makes this turntable so appealing is its midrange presentation, "which, though ever so slightly thick, is highly resolved and includes complete freedom from overhang." He added that "the very bottom, too, while not the most fully extended, is completely free of muddy hangover." He concluded that the Viella Forte "is among the best values in ‘top tier' turntables. Its build quality and engineering make it worthy of placement in that category even if the sonic performance is a notch below the absolute best." "Engraved" because of the elegant scrollwork on the plinth's surface; the nonengraved version costs $2000 less. (Vol.43 No.9 WWW)

Tonearms

 AMG 12JT:$8500 - Class A

This tonearm features a unique, dual-pivot horizontal bearing system (for vertical movement) and a vertical bearing (for horizontal movement) that uses a hardened tool-steel axle with top and bottom micro ball bearings. The antiskating mechanism uses a pair of adjustable magnets that can be moved closer to or farther away from an opposing ring magnet, and azimuth is adjusted with a knurled knob. See MF's review of the AMG Viella Forte Engraved turntable ("Turntables"). (Vol.43 No.9 WWW)

Phono Cartridges

 DS Audio Master 1: $22,500 with equalizer - Class A

This massive turntable features an outboard, crystal-controlled power supply and a black-anodized aluminum two-piece platter that weighs almost 31lb and has a weighted rim (producing a flywheel effect), a gently convex, inlaid-PVC top surface, and a decoupled spindle. The plinth weighs 50.7lb! According to MF, who auditioned the Forte Engraved with AMG's 12JT tonearm (see "Tonearms") and an Ortofon Anna Diamond cartridge, what makes this turntable so appealing is its midrange presentation, "which, though ever so slightly thick, is highly resolved and includes complete freedom from overhang." He added that "the very bottom, too, while not the most fully extended, is completely free of muddy hangover." He concluded that the Viella Forte "is among the best values in ‘top tier' turntables. Its build quality and engineering make it worthy of placement in that category even if the sonic performance is a notch below the absolute best." "Engraved" because of the elegant scrollwork on the plinth's surface; the nonengraved version costs $2000 less. (Vol.43 No.9 WWW)

Hana Umami: $3950 - Class A

See HR's review in Gramophone Dreams elsewhere in this issue.

AMG Teatro: $2750 - Class B 
Although AMG is headquartered in Germany, their Teatro moving-coil cartridge is a true international effort. Its two-piece titanium body is made in the US, where it's machined and treated with a Tiodize Type III coating that gives the Teatro its distinctive green finish. The Teatro's generator, which has separate coil assemblies for each channel—as opposed to having both channels' coils wound on a common former—is made in Japan. Its magnets are neodymium, its cantilever is boron, and its soft-alloy yoke contains cobalt and iron, just like your favorite multivitamins. Also notable are the Teatro's 0.4mV output, 12-ohm internal resistance, line-contact stylus, and machined-aluminum stylus guard—"the best, easiest-to-use stylus guard ever to protect a needle," said HR, who found that the somewhat "analytical" Teatro was the perfect mate for the relatively lush-sounding pairing of Palmer 2.5 turntable and Audio Origami PU7 tonearm: that combination "was sounding as if its yin and yang were balanced just right." (Vol.40 No.10 WWW)

DS Audio DS-E1 optical cartridge and equalizer: $2750 - Class B
MF was not a fan of the original DS Audio optical cartridge, but he was impressed by this version version. An elliptical stylus is attached to an aluminum cantilever and the DS-E1 tracks between 1.6gm and 1.8gm. MF wrote that the earlier version's "plasticky sound" was completely gone, and the low-frequency balance was "in the pocket"—not at all overemphasized. He added that even with its elliptical stylus, this optical cartridge was fast and remarkably transparent. The price includes the necessary equalizer module. (Vol.44 No.2 WWW)

Hana EL MC: $475 $$$ ★
Commissioned by Sibatech Inc. and manufactured by Excel Sound, both of Japan, the Hana EL is a low-output (0.5mV) moving-coil cartridge built with alnico magnets and fitted with an aluminum cantilever and elliptical stylus. (A higher-output version, the Hana EH, is available for the same price but has not yet been tested.) Compliance is medium to medium-low—and thus well suited to the SME M2-9 tonearm used by HR, who declared that "the EL's basic sonic character was highly musical and exceptionally nonmechanical." (Vol.39 No.8 WWW)

Hana ML Moving Coil: $1200 $$$
Forget that the new Hana ML is the costliest Hana so far: This low-output (0.4mV) moving-coil cartridge is nevertheless priced lower than the perfectionist-audio average. The Hana ML boasts a Delrin body topped with a brass cap, the latter with threaded inserts for the mounting bolts; an aluminum pipe cantilever; an alnico magnet; and a nude Microline stylus. Specs include a lowish compliance, a weight of 9.5gm, and an impedance of 8 ohms. HR heard from the ML a tendency to smooth out those natural textures that more expensive cartridges are paid to excavate, but it was also capable of letting music sound "brilliant and conspicuously in the room." HR loved the Hana's "beguiling, tubelike sound," but he noted that it "could not out-rock or out-reggae the Zu/Denon [DL-103]." His conclusion: "a stunning-sounding, artfully engineered phono invention that loves all music, and a fantastic bargain." (Vol.42 No.8 WWW)

Hana SL Mono: $750 $$$
Like the standard Hana SL, the Hana SL Mono is a low-output (0.5mV), highish-impedance (30 ohms) moving-coil cartridge with an alnico magnet, an aluminum cantilever, and a nude Shibata stylus. That last spec surprised HR, most of whose favorite mono pickups have spherical styli—yet during an afternoon of playing 45s, he was won over by the SL Mono's "unprecedented ability to hear everything that had never before been exposed by my spherical-tipped cartridges. Single after single, the Hana SL Mono made sound that was decidedly present, punchy, finely detailed, and liquid." Unlike those cartridges regarded by purists as true mono pickups—such as EMT's discontinued OFD models—the Hana SL Mono does exhibit vertical compliance, and the output signal appears on both its pairs of output pins. (Vol.41 No.10 WWW)

Hana SL: $750 ###
Herb Reichert wrote about the Hana SL almost immediately after reviewing a slew of $5000+ cartridges, and observed that switching to the $750 Hana "did not feel like a depressing step down." At the business end of the Hana's aluminum cantilever is a Shibata stylus—cause, HR says, for the user to give "more-than-usual care" to cartridge alignment and downforce and antiskating settings—and deep in the Hana SL's plastic-bodied heart is an alnico magnet, to which Herb attributes the cartridge's timbral realism and ability to make "singers and instruments sound denser and more real." Pertinent specs include a low (0.5mV) output, a recommended downforce of 2gm, and a recommended load impedance of over 200 ohms. Like its stablemate, the Hana SL Mono, this moving-coil cartridge impressed Herb with its "naturally supple viscosity and glowing vivid tone." (Vol.41 No.10 WWW)

Phono Preamplifiers

Musical Surroundings Nova III: $1500 - Class B
See HR's review in Gramophone Dreams elsewhere in this issue.

Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+: $750 - Class B
Made in California, this most recent version of Musical Surroundings' Phonomena is a solid-state stage that uses discrete transistors in place of lowly op-amps; among other things, this gave designer Michael Yee the ability to base his RIAA stage on active, as opposed to passive, filtering. Creature comforts include settings for 14 different gains and 17 load impedances, all selectable with DIP switches. With its standard wall-wart power supply, the Phonomena II+ Provided HR with sound that was "sweet, natural, rhythmic, and dead quiet." Herb noted "unusually deep" soundstages, "good [but] not exceptional" force and momentum, and bass that was "strong and detailed." Use of Musical Surroundings' optional Linear Charging Power Supply ($650) brought more consistently good sound to the treble range and allowed "voices, violins, and electric guitars [to sound] more vibrant and lifelike," and more corporeal overall. Herb's conclusion: "my new reference phono stage." (Vol.41 No.10 WWW)

Phono Accessories

Clearaudio Outer Limit Turntable Ring: $1500 ★

Heavy, stainless-steel ring acts as a speed-stabilizing flywheel, damps the record, and flattens outer-groove warps. However, MF cautioned, its weight means that you can use it only with turntables with massive platters and/or very powerful motors. MF also noted that a centering template would be a happy addition to the package. The Outer Limit was "a pain to center." Nonetheless, it "blackened backgrounds, solidified images, and made them 'pop' in three dimensions." (Vol.24 No.10)

DS Audio Vinyl Ionizer-001: $1795

Put this wall-wart–powered "watchdog" near your turntable—within 2"—and it will reduce static electricity in the area, wrote MF. Expensive, but the unit's half-life is approximately 10,000 hours, or almost 3 hours per day for 10 years. (Vol.43 No.7 WWW)