INSIDER VIEWS ON EVERYTHING VINYL ANALOG BY MICHAEL FREMER THIS ISSUE: Auditions of OMA’s iron turntable plinth, Swedish Analog Technologies’ 12" CORNER tonearm, and Doshi’s V3.0 phono preamp.

An iron plinth for Technics SP10s new and old ast May I got a text message from my vinyl-loving electrician: “Hey needle drops of the same music, played Michael, I’m listening to WFMU and a young 12 year old analog genius using the same turntable, cartridge, is guest DJ-ing, Malachi Lui. He mentioned you, and talks about master- and phono preamplifier, but switching ing and pressings—he’s incredible. I imagine he’s been in touch with you. among Swedish Analog Technologies’ LHope all is well, Craig.” original tonearm (over $30,000) and Malachi hadn’t been in touch, but his comments were all over AnalogPlanet’s their more recent, lower-cost LM- YouTube channel,1 and you’d never know they were from a 12-year-old. I re- 09 ($25,400) and CF1-09 ($48,000) sponded to one, and shortly thereafter I heard from his mother, who said he really models.6 I invited readers to listen to wanted to meet me, and that they’d drive over when it was convenient for me. the files and state their preferences and why, and to try to guess which file was We set up a day and time just before tagram account (officialjackwhitelive) recorded with which arm. I also posted Independence Day. I readied my video reads, “Jack is telling Malachi that he is a file recorded using the same music, camera, in case the encounter proved the future of audiophile sacred music cartridge, and phono preamp, but with worthy of YouTube. If you haven’t appreciation.” That’s not quite accu- a “mystery” turntable and tonearm. watched the video, please do.2 I guar- rate. Malachi is the present of audiophile The next day, Malachi responded. antee it will make your day, no matter sacred music appreciation. He’d correctly matched every file with how good your day is already going. Because now Malachi is writing the tonearm I’d used to record it, and After that encounter, a generous for AnalogPlanet, reviewing records his descriptions of each arm’s sound reader sent me a Rega P3 to give to and equipment and being paid the eerily matched my own. (My review Malachi, which I surprised him with going rate. His review of ’s of the SAT CF1-097 had not yet been during a return visit.3 And Robert Ma- Boarding House Reach is perceptive,4 his published, and he hadn’t read my re- rino of Athena Productions, a pioneer writing clean and well punctuated. view of the LM-098 because his com- of vinyl reissues I’d not heard from in But when he asked if he could review plimentary subscription to Stereophile decades, was moved to send the kid a John Coltrane’s Both Directions at Once: hadn’t begun). I told him by return box of great records. The Lost , I balked. “Come on, e-mail that he was “the real deal!” He In the second video, Malachi refer- Malachi—you’re 12 years old.” responded that he’d made the correct ences Howlin’ Wolf and Captain Beef- Read the review.5 I suggested that he identifications in study hall, using his heart, along with Jack White, whose add a section outlining the Col- iPad speaker! label, , recently trane was releasing even as he left this Malachi’s family and their friends reissued Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica one in the vault, and Malachi turned it have told me how fortunate he is to (1969) on vinyl. Shortly after the sec- in the next day. But the words are all have me as a mentor, but really—to ond visit, Malachi and his family moved his, with scarcely an edit. It reads as if have this remarkable yet selfless young to Portland, Oregon. The man who’d written by an erudite 45-year-old—or, man appear at this juncture of my life sent the Rega ’table mentioned that as one well-known and career makes me think that I’m the Jack White was going to play Portland; pushing 70 texted, “Damn, that’s what lucky one. Joy has replaced the sadness I checked with Malachi’s mother, and I would have written!” He then added: experienced over the losses, in rapid found out that they planned to attend. “If I could have been guaranteed a kid succession, of Dave Wilson of Wilson So a surprise backstage visit with like that, I’d have had kids!” Audio Specialties, Wally Malewicz of Jack White was arranged. It wasn’t dif- Malachi’s parents, who are fully WAM Engineering, and loudspeaker ficult—White had seen the video, and involved in and supportive of all of maven Siegfried Linkwitz. he, too, had been bowled over by Mal- this, have provided me with a far more Back to those needle drops and achi’s references to Howlin’ Wolf and balanced picture of this precocious Beefheart. The turntable benefactor—a youngster, whom my wife describes as 1 See www.youtube.com/user/21stCenturyVinyl. Grammy-nominated music supervisor “an old soul.” When I told them that, 2 See https://youtu.be/HVzBWLGf9gc. based in L.A.—texted that White was on the phone and in the videos, he’s a 3 See https://youtu.be/dUscoreK0To. 4 See www.analogplanet.com/content/jack-whites- “psyched” to meet Malachi, adding sweet, bubbly kid, but in e-mail com- latests-album-excellent-case-you-missed-it. that his kids were “already a bit jealous munications he sometimes sounds like 5 See www.analogplanet.com/content/does-”lost”- because Jack talks about him so much.” a busy, middle-aged business executive, coltrane-album-live-hype. Probably a bit of hyperbole, but not his mom said, “That’s him!” 6 See www.analogplanet.com/content/listen-sats- original-pickup-arm-and-compare-it-new-lm- much more than a bit, I’m sure. How good is this kid? In Septem- 09-and-cf1-09. The caption for the photo of the ber, I wrote and published a story 7 See “Analog Corner” in the November 2018 issue. backstage encounter on White’s Ins- that included links to 24-bit/96kHz 8 See “Analog Corner” in the October 2018 issue.

stereophile.com n February 2019 1 ANALOG CORNER

those unidentified tonearms: Most with a Technics SL-1000R turntable— perfectionist-quality SP-10R motor responders, including Malachi, noted the one I reviewed in the November unit with plinth and tonearm—was that the “mystery” file didn’t sound as 2018 Stereophile and that’s pictured probably the SP-10R itself, though good as the rest, particularly in terms on that issue’s cover. I wrote in that at the time that was just conjecture, of background “blackness” and its review that the star of the SL-1000R— as there was no way to judge each overall soft sound. I produced that file an assemblage of the company’s new individually.

OMA SP10 PLINTH SYSTEM precisely fit the SP10’s chassis as well footer fantasy can easily be fulfilled. Specialty audio manufacturer Oswalds as an opening for removable arm- The plinth, available in clear lacquer or Mill Audio, aka OMA, makes tubed boards, which OMA CNC-machines black powder, weighs 110 lb not includ- 1 electronics, horn loudspeakers, and, from torrefied ie( , thermally modified) ing the turntable, and it’s big: 26 ⁄8" 1 3 for well over a decade now, high- Pennsylvania ash wood. (Torrefac- wide by 4 ⁄8" high by 20 ⁄8" deep. The mass turntable plinths.9 Most of these tion involves heating the wood in the price has yet to be determined but plinths are made of slate, but recently absence of oxygen, which removes will be under $10,000, which means OMA has produced an iron plinth spe- from it residual water and volatiles, to that the combined price with SP-10R cifically designed for Technics’ SP-10R produce a material with no biological turntable will be under $20,000. and earlier SP10MK2 and SP10MK3 activity—ie, it will never rot or soften.) OMA’s Jonathan Weiss hoisted direct-drive turntables. OMA claims that torrefying ash the plinth, fitted with an armboard The SP10 Plinth System is a single wood produces a material that is both for a Schröder CB tonearm, atop my sand casting of hypoeutectic or “gray” extremely dimensionally stable—it Harmonic Resolution Systems M3 iron.10 This is not your grandmother’s won’t warp or swell or shrink with isolation base. I set up the CB (the cast-iron skillet melted down and changes in temperature and/or hu- initials stand for captive bearing) arm, poured into a plinth mold, but a midity—and has “superior acoustical with which I’m well familiar—it’s the more recent development. Gray iron properties.” The armboards can accept same Thrax-built arm supplied with combines high mass with exceptional tonearms with pivot-to-spindle dis- the Döhmann Helix 1 turntable—and rigidity and vibration-damping proper- tances of 9" to 12" or longer, and can installed an Ortofon MC Century ties. On the SP10 plinth’s underside be precisely swapped out in minutes. 9 See www.stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/ is a web of cast chambers, each filled Holes in the plinth’s feet are tapped listening_93/index.html. with a vibration-damping polymer. for M6 hardware. OMA supplies “basic 10 See www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ The casting is CNC-machined to leveling feet,” but of course your every S0924013612000337.

2 February 2019 n stereophile.com ANALOG CORNER

and perform a “tap test” with this combo and you’ll know the meaning of dead. The OMA plinth was one super energy sink. Tapping the HRS base or the plinth itself only occasionally produced the faintest impulse through my speakers.

The Sound of Deep, Dark, and Luxurious Having spun in the preceding weeks many dozens of LPs on the SP-10R– equipped SL-1000R, I had certain sonic expectations, few of which were met. The one that was met was that the SP-10R’s solid grip on pitch and speed stability was limited only by each record’s concentricity or eccentricity. Beyond that, all else was different and far superior to the sound of the SL-1000R, especially the certainty and clarity of instrumental attacks and cartridge. This particular Schröder OMA’s SP10 Plinth image three-dimensionality and stabil- CB was 9" long, with an armtube of ity, behind which were velvet-“black” carbon fiber instead of the more typical System is a single sand backgrounds that I can describe only ebony, grenadilla, or cocobolo wood. casting of hypoeutectic as serene—they rivaled, if not equaled, The Schröder CB arm costs $6500. or “gray” iron. those of the Continuum Audio Labs Add the costs of the SP-10R and OMA Caliburn, which the SL-1000R had plinth and you’re listening to a package been incapable of producing. The costing about $26,000. Add $465 for not the more usual amorphous carbon overall sound was very similar to what OMA’s graphite mat, machined from (graphite dust in resin). I remember from my first, memorable high-grade, polycrystalline graphite, Lower the stylus into the groove listening session with the Caliburn 13

stereophile.com n February 2019 3 ANALOG CORNER

years ago, which immediately set it and exclaimed about the improvement of work! While the Lyra Atlas SL and apart from every other turntable I’d simultaneously. Ortofon MC Century sound differ- ever owned or listened to. Later, swapping cartridges between ent, and the Schröder ($6500) isn’t Cradled in the highly damped the two ’tables demonstrated that what the sonic equal of the SAT CF1-09 energy sink that is OMA’s SP10 plinth, we’d really been hearing was the MC ($48,000), the playing field was now the SP-10R produced speed-stability– Century’s superior transparency, image more level. based sonic serenity and intense excite- specificity, precision of transient attacks, I concluded that, were my refer- ment as music poured forth from the dynamic expression, and most other ence front end to disappear, I could “blackest” backdrops. aspects of sound. The sounds of the happily live with the Schröder CB on How good was it? I don’t mean to ’tables themselves, with their respec- the Technics SP-10R on the OMA pick on the Ikeda 9Gss cartridge but tive tonearms, though not identical, SP10 plinth. Though its sound was with it installed in the SAT CF1-09 were more similar than different. This somewhat harder and more austere, it arm mounted on the Continuum let both cartridges fully reveal their was also rhythmically taut and, overall, Caliburn ’table, and the Ortofon MC strengths—and, in the case of the Ikeda “together” from top to bottom. Its Century in the Schröder CB arm 9Gss, its deficiencies relative to its com- bass wasn’t as texturally supple or as on the Technics SP-10R with OMA petitors at the $10,000+ price point. muscular, attacks were slightly sharp, plinth, the latter combo’s sound was Next, I reinstalled the MC Century and sustains and decays were stingy. I clearly superior—something both I and in the Schröder CB and the Lyra Atlas thought back to Weiss’s remark that Jonathan Weiss heard, as became clear SL in the SAT, compared them, then he preferred Schröder’s wooden-tubed as soon as we switched between them swapped them back again. Yes, a lot CB arms . . .

SWEDISH ANALOG TECHNOLOGIES’ resulted with smoother, more natural the SL-1000R. The CB got attacks CF1-12 TONEARM ARRIVES attacks, more generous sustain, longer just about right, but a bit sharp, and With SAT’s 12"-long CF1-12 arm decay, and the bottom-end wallop and skimped on the sustains and decays. installed in place of the Schröder CB, control I’d noted in my review of the Overall, the SAT CF1-12 produced a there was one fewer variable in the CF1-09 last November. sound that was similar to that of the comparison, though SAT designer I immediately heard better resolu- 9” CF1-09, but somewhat fuller in the Marc Gomez says his 9" and 12" arms tion of fine detail, especially at the lower midbass. don’t sound identical, and that he, like rear of the soundstage, with Cousins: The power supply of my Con- some other tonearm designers, prefers Polkas, Waltzes & Other Entertainments tinuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable his 9" arm for its superior in-the- for Cornet & Trombone, with cornetist is starting to fail, and its oil pump has groove dynamic behavior. Like other Gerard Schwarz, trombonist Ronald a very slow leak. Should that $150,000 designers, Gomez makes the longer Barron, and pianist Kenneth Cooper system (the price includes Con- arm to meet the needs of his custom- (LP, Nonesuch H-71341)—and also tinuum’s Cobra tonearm, no longer in ers—such as those who own Air Force from the Ataulfo Argenta Edition (6 LPs, use) give up the ghost after 13 years of turntables, on which the installation Alto Analogue AA006). (It’s interest- dependable, trouble-free use and abuse of a second tonearm requires one 12" ing how records can sit unplayed on a from me, I could definitely live happily long. shelf for a decade or more—and then I with the ca-$20,000 combo of Technics I hesitate to call adding the 12" can’t stop playing them!) In Rodrigo’s SP-10R and OMA SP10 plinth with SAT arm to this mix “the icing on the Concierto de Aranjuez, with Argenta OMA graphite mat (though I’d sorely cake”—at $53,000, that’s some pricey conducting the National Orchestra of miss the Caliburn’s vacuum hold- frosting, and frosty hardly describes the Spain, the CF1-12 put soloist Narciso down)—and, of course, that replace- change in sound. Yepes’s finely focused guitar well in ment system would have to include Compared to the Schröder CB’s front of the orchestra, with believable a SAT CF1 arm. I don’t think I’ve super-tight, well-organized, but some- string attacks and guitar-body sustain, written that about any other turntable what mechanical sound, the CF1-12 but with none of the milky overlay that’s been here since the summer of produced a more explosive, a warmer, produced by lesser tonearms, includ- 2005. and definitely a fuller sound that ing the one Technics supplies with

DOSHI AUDIO V3.0 PHONO STAGE provides 26dB of gain, followed by a increasing bandwidth. Nick Doshi’s handsome and compact pair of monaural step-down transform- The V3.0’s tube complement is: two V3.0 phono stage ($16,995) is one ers that lower the gain by 6dB. dual-triode ECC83/12AX7s for the of a series of tubed products from Nick Doshi says that using the first gain stage, two ECC81/12AT7s Doshi Audio that include line and tape transformers to step down rather than for EQ/buffering, and two 12DW7s preamps as well as power amps. It’s up produces three major benefits: it for the final gain stage and line-out always sounded smooth and refined in provides pre-preamp galvanic isolation buffering. Doshi provides either NOS difficult audio-show conditions. from the rest of the circuit; it converts or OS tubes, and encourages buyers The V3.0 update of the hybrid the cartridge’s inherently balanced to swap out tubes as desired. I listened Phono Stage includes convenient mi- input (no reference to ground) to using the supplied tubes. croprocessor remote-control function- single-ended, which allows the use of The V3.0 Phono Stage’s gain is 50dB ality. Its moving-coil circuit includes a his “Zero-Feedback” tube circuit; and into either MM input, and 72dB into J-FET transistor differential input that it steps down the impedance 4:1, thus the single MC input. Hum and noise

stereophile.com n February 2019 4 ANALOG CORNER

are specified as “at least 80dB below The Doshi’s star quality was its abili- 0dBV.” ty to unravel upper-octave information A total of 512 cartridge loadings, and reproduce it with finely dialed-in from 10 ohms to 10k ohms, are select- transient clarity and speed, all com- able via the front panel or the hefty re- pletely free of edginess, etch, or grain. mote control’s unlabeled pushbuttons. It was these qualities that so reminded Both front panel and remote include a me of what the Hovland did so well. switch for reversing absolute phase. The Doshi hasn’t got the midrange Other features include a large, mas- creaminess of the Ypsilon VPS-100, sive, outboard power supply connected or the Audio Research REF Phono 3’s via an umbilical to the main enclosure, almost sinful overall richness, or the which is made of 14-gauge stainless slam and low-frequency drive of the steel damped with a top plate of solid CH Precision P1/X1 (two of which Corian. Inside are vibration-isolation are far more costly)—but plug in a grommets for the circuit board and rich-sounding cartridge with super-low Teflon tube sockets fitted with gold- output, like the Ortofon MC Century plated copper contacts, transformers I mostly used with the Doshi, and custom-made in the US by the Toroid $16,995 will buy you a taut, fast, excit- Corporation, and custom IW Clarity- ing, well-detailed ride on every kind Cap coupling capacitors. of music. I’m out of room, but if your phono-preamp budget stretches that analogical. Super-quiet, ultra-transparent far, do consider the Doshi. It was clear I’m not sure why some phono preamps to me that it was designed by an elec- are free of hum as soon as I plug trical engineer who loves music, and them in, while others just never stop who listened as he smartly designed. n humming. Doshi’s V3.0 Phono Stage Michael Fremer (fremer@analogplan- was one of the quiet ones. I think the et.com) is the editor of AnalogPlanet.com, J-FET/tube combo makes complete a Stereophile website devoted to all things sense. 11 See www.stereophile.com/tubepreamps/291/ Aural memories are supposed to index.html. be short, but the first time I heard the Doshi V3.0 at home, I was reminded CONTACTS of what had attracted me to the built- in phono stage of Hovland’s HP-100 OMA/Oswalds Mill Audio preamplifier, which I reviewed in the Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY November 2000 issue.11 I’ve just reread Tel: (917) 743-3789 that review for the first time in almost Web: www.oswaldsmillaudio.com 20 years, and it perfectly describes the Swedish Analog Technologies Doshi’s sound, especially on top: Like Gothenburg, Sweden the Hovland HP-100, the Doshi V3.0 Tel: (46) 736-846-452 “served the ebb and flow of music . . . It breathed music with a rare effortless- Web: www.swedishat.com ness, perfectly balancing tube warmth Doshi Audio and solid-state clarity while moving Manassas, VA dynamically up and down the scale in Tel: (917) 952-2758 both large and small steps with excep- Web: www.doshiaudio.com tional continuity and cohesiveness.”

stereophile.com n February 2019 5