Slippers On
01-25-2008, 02:16 AM
Hi Guys, As you know I have been trying to upload a review onto the main site since the beginning of December 2007 without any success. There seems to be no Administrator or Webmaster attached to the "audioreview.com" website as none of my many emails or forum-based cries for help get answered; so I´ll use this thread to let you know what I think of a new Turntable I've recently purchased: [ I have no affiliation whatsoever with the sale or manufacture of this item nor am I in any way connected to the audio industry except as a lover of music and music reproduction. ]
Manufacturer: - SRM TECH - Stuart Michell
Type of Product: - Turntable
Product Name: - AREZZO
Brief Description: Transcription Turntable
Price: - around $1200
Web address: - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/SRM-TECH-Audio-Products
My review of AREZZO turntable
Think “Inky Black” and you may well think octopus or pen & inkwell schooldays. I prefer to think of the deep sonically void gaps immediately before and directly after the music plays.
Every audiophile has his / her own quirks, tweaks, methods, preferences, obsessions and aspirations. One of mine is to seek total silence before, between and after music is played. Not only from an audio perspective but also visually. My obsession has taken me to room soundproofing, sombre colours and subdued light. From this point I can now expect no visible or audible intrusion during a listening session. I am in my zone.
So why am I infatuated with this “Inky Black” hole of silence? Well I like to put a smile on my face when I can. There’s nothing that can do that easier than listening to the first few bars of any piece of music coming straight out of pure silence. I suppose it can be likened to an electrician switching on a rewired light and seeing it work, or a mechanic starting up a defunct engine that he has been working on. The silence before a track of music invokes anticipation, suspense, at what is likely to follow. Anything which otherwise invades this silence, such as mechanical running noises, crackles, pops, buzzes or hums serves only to spoil my enjoyment and wastes my time seeking out the offensive sound.
As I make changes or add pieces of equipment to my system it is put through its paces to meet and conform to my ‘silent treatment’. If it fails it will be removed or re-located outside the room. (eg computer).
And so I refer here to the addition of a new vinyl record player, the AREZZO turntable from Stuart Michell’s company SRM /TECH in England, UK.
When I took delivery of the turntable I spent the first couple of days just looking at it – for the deck is a piece of art in its own right. I could describe it as a four tier, four dimensional, well balanced piece of atheistically pleasing sculpture. (The fourth dimension being what it is capable of doing). I moved it from place to place over these days until I was satisfied with its final destination, (who would have thought a piece of Hi-Fi invited the room’s best play on light?). From here I would begin setting it up.
The AREZZO is a breeze to construct. Its sturdy yet pinpoint design allows it to be handled easily and putting it together is a simple matter of balance and line-up. Attaching the arm is not so much difficult as fiddly. My first experience with a RB250 so I spent a little longer than I suppose is necessary to fix, align and balance it.
A note here about the accompanying instructions; they are produced in basic form on A4 sheets with basic written outlines of procedures. No diagrams or photos. I feel, perhaps, that more could be added to bolster up any fear or misunderstandings a novice might have. An example would be an explanation that both drive belts should be used at the same time on the preferred choice of either 33 or 45 rpm. I believe also that some user instructions with the choice of tonearm purchased and perhaps a page or two with drawings on the setting up of a cartridge. After all this deck will be attractive to a new generation not yet conversant with vinyl.
My cartridge of choice is the Shure V15vxMR and I am running the turntable through a Graham Slee V Era Gold phono unit. For this set up I used the Elite Townshend (1984) dual mono amps and power. The pre-amp is a new Audio Experience Balanced A1 valve unit from YS Audio, Hong Kong, China. The speakers are a pair of JR149s and a JR sub unit powered with its own JR MkIII amp. All cables (speakers and interconnectors) are QED Silver Spiral.
My first test of the AREZZO was that all important silence factor. With my first cup of tea in my hand and all the electronics turned off, (except the Era Gold which had been warming for the previous two days), I satisfied myself that all was quiet on the home front. Not a peep. I spent the afternoon going through a routine of switching on one item at a time, then leaving the room for maybe 30mins and returning to ensure the same silence. The final piece to be switched on was the AREZZO, which I dutifully did before exiting. (Leaving the confines of a silent room and entering ambient noise also puts a smile on your face – it confirms your achievement.)
When I returned 20mins later I felt vastly disappointed. As I walked across the room it was evident that something was wrong, I hadn’t wired up the turntable correctly or it had blown or something. There was no evidence that the turntable was operating, no movement, no noise. Wait a minute … as I got closer to the AREZZO it caught my eye that the black platter was in fact spinning. What skulduggery was this? There was no tell tale mechanical motor or platter-spinning noise! I fully expected to hear something but there was no discernable audible intrusion. My ‘Inky Black’ right from the word go! I have to say that in my experience this is a first for me. Normally I would have heard some form of noise from my decks, and I have a few, but not this one. Full marks to the AREZZO for getting past me on the silence front.
Over the next few days I played a variety of LPs to test the AREZZO’s capabilities. I began with some of the usual suspects; Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Beethoven, Gerry Mulligan, then moved on to some more obscure albums such as Moscow Gypsy Ensemble, Kitaro Live in America, Father Father. In fact I covered many different types of music and some spoken word disks too over the week. I was so satisfied with the deck’s capabilities that I even opened some hitherto sealed LPs of old, including Moog music, Blues & Jazz and Rock and Roll.
I am not saying that every record came out singing beautifully, because the AREZZO can show up a pretty foul recording very quickly, (Spain’s pressing of Pink Floyd’s “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” is dreadful!), but I am saying that what it puts out between ‘Inky Black’ moments is as true a rendition as I’ve heard from any turntable at any price. Rather than stopping a record playing I would leave the room and return a few minutes later just to hear that magic being produced. I even caught myself walking around invisible artists on the stage, such was the truism of some recordings.
I highly recommend this as a turntable well beyond its asking price. It is guaranteed to make you smile during the silent parts and grin when the music begins to play.
My experience with the AREZZO has shown it to be a fantastic all rounder, particularly well matched to the Shure V15vxMR cartridge. Whatever your tastes in music are this deck will reward you with ‘Inky Black’ silence before, between and after music tracks, a great deep soundstage and striking bass capabilities. Any piece of Hi-Fi which causes you to lavish gifts upon it, 30yr old sealed LPs and brand new V15vxmr cartridge must be doing something right to deserve it.
3258
Slippers On
Manufacturer: - SRM TECH - Stuart Michell
Type of Product: - Turntable
Product Name: - AREZZO
Brief Description: Transcription Turntable
Price: - around $1200
Web address: - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/SRM-TECH-Audio-Products
My review of AREZZO turntable
Think “Inky Black” and you may well think octopus or pen & inkwell schooldays. I prefer to think of the deep sonically void gaps immediately before and directly after the music plays.
Every audiophile has his / her own quirks, tweaks, methods, preferences, obsessions and aspirations. One of mine is to seek total silence before, between and after music is played. Not only from an audio perspective but also visually. My obsession has taken me to room soundproofing, sombre colours and subdued light. From this point I can now expect no visible or audible intrusion during a listening session. I am in my zone.
So why am I infatuated with this “Inky Black” hole of silence? Well I like to put a smile on my face when I can. There’s nothing that can do that easier than listening to the first few bars of any piece of music coming straight out of pure silence. I suppose it can be likened to an electrician switching on a rewired light and seeing it work, or a mechanic starting up a defunct engine that he has been working on. The silence before a track of music invokes anticipation, suspense, at what is likely to follow. Anything which otherwise invades this silence, such as mechanical running noises, crackles, pops, buzzes or hums serves only to spoil my enjoyment and wastes my time seeking out the offensive sound.
As I make changes or add pieces of equipment to my system it is put through its paces to meet and conform to my ‘silent treatment’. If it fails it will be removed or re-located outside the room. (eg computer).
And so I refer here to the addition of a new vinyl record player, the AREZZO turntable from Stuart Michell’s company SRM /TECH in England, UK.
When I took delivery of the turntable I spent the first couple of days just looking at it – for the deck is a piece of art in its own right. I could describe it as a four tier, four dimensional, well balanced piece of atheistically pleasing sculpture. (The fourth dimension being what it is capable of doing). I moved it from place to place over these days until I was satisfied with its final destination, (who would have thought a piece of Hi-Fi invited the room’s best play on light?). From here I would begin setting it up.
The AREZZO is a breeze to construct. Its sturdy yet pinpoint design allows it to be handled easily and putting it together is a simple matter of balance and line-up. Attaching the arm is not so much difficult as fiddly. My first experience with a RB250 so I spent a little longer than I suppose is necessary to fix, align and balance it.
A note here about the accompanying instructions; they are produced in basic form on A4 sheets with basic written outlines of procedures. No diagrams or photos. I feel, perhaps, that more could be added to bolster up any fear or misunderstandings a novice might have. An example would be an explanation that both drive belts should be used at the same time on the preferred choice of either 33 or 45 rpm. I believe also that some user instructions with the choice of tonearm purchased and perhaps a page or two with drawings on the setting up of a cartridge. After all this deck will be attractive to a new generation not yet conversant with vinyl.
My cartridge of choice is the Shure V15vxMR and I am running the turntable through a Graham Slee V Era Gold phono unit. For this set up I used the Elite Townshend (1984) dual mono amps and power. The pre-amp is a new Audio Experience Balanced A1 valve unit from YS Audio, Hong Kong, China. The speakers are a pair of JR149s and a JR sub unit powered with its own JR MkIII amp. All cables (speakers and interconnectors) are QED Silver Spiral.
My first test of the AREZZO was that all important silence factor. With my first cup of tea in my hand and all the electronics turned off, (except the Era Gold which had been warming for the previous two days), I satisfied myself that all was quiet on the home front. Not a peep. I spent the afternoon going through a routine of switching on one item at a time, then leaving the room for maybe 30mins and returning to ensure the same silence. The final piece to be switched on was the AREZZO, which I dutifully did before exiting. (Leaving the confines of a silent room and entering ambient noise also puts a smile on your face – it confirms your achievement.)
When I returned 20mins later I felt vastly disappointed. As I walked across the room it was evident that something was wrong, I hadn’t wired up the turntable correctly or it had blown or something. There was no evidence that the turntable was operating, no movement, no noise. Wait a minute … as I got closer to the AREZZO it caught my eye that the black platter was in fact spinning. What skulduggery was this? There was no tell tale mechanical motor or platter-spinning noise! I fully expected to hear something but there was no discernable audible intrusion. My ‘Inky Black’ right from the word go! I have to say that in my experience this is a first for me. Normally I would have heard some form of noise from my decks, and I have a few, but not this one. Full marks to the AREZZO for getting past me on the silence front.
Over the next few days I played a variety of LPs to test the AREZZO’s capabilities. I began with some of the usual suspects; Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Beethoven, Gerry Mulligan, then moved on to some more obscure albums such as Moscow Gypsy Ensemble, Kitaro Live in America, Father Father. In fact I covered many different types of music and some spoken word disks too over the week. I was so satisfied with the deck’s capabilities that I even opened some hitherto sealed LPs of old, including Moog music, Blues & Jazz and Rock and Roll.
I am not saying that every record came out singing beautifully, because the AREZZO can show up a pretty foul recording very quickly, (Spain’s pressing of Pink Floyd’s “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” is dreadful!), but I am saying that what it puts out between ‘Inky Black’ moments is as true a rendition as I’ve heard from any turntable at any price. Rather than stopping a record playing I would leave the room and return a few minutes later just to hear that magic being produced. I even caught myself walking around invisible artists on the stage, such was the truism of some recordings.
I highly recommend this as a turntable well beyond its asking price. It is guaranteed to make you smile during the silent parts and grin when the music begins to play.
My experience with the AREZZO has shown it to be a fantastic all rounder, particularly well matched to the Shure V15vxMR cartridge. Whatever your tastes in music are this deck will reward you with ‘Inky Black’ silence before, between and after music tracks, a great deep soundstage and striking bass capabilities. Any piece of Hi-Fi which causes you to lavish gifts upon it, 30yr old sealed LPs and brand new V15vxmr cartridge must be doing something right to deserve it.
3258
Slippers On