had to check in our archive to see if the manufacturer - the KBL Sound - was wrong in their calculations. It turned out they did not - indeed we've been using their Red Eye series cables for five years already. We reviewed their power cord together with the Reference Power Distributor in the HF January issue in 2014 (more HERE). The cable proved to be really good and deserved our RED Fingerprint award, and then the Best Sound 2018 from our magazine. Five years in the audio industry is a very long time. Naturally, the Red Eye cables have been improved as released as the Red Eye Ultimate series. But, let me repeat, five years is a lot and sooner or later it had to happen - in November last year, during the Audio Video Show 2018 a completely new series was presented, which replaced the previous two. It is called the Red Corona. | RED CORONA Because of their excellent make and finish the new cables look very attractive. They look as if they were prepared by one of the world's leading cabling manufacturers and belonged to their top-shelf products. The technical solutions I will discuss in a moment are equally interesting. Interconnect | The Red Corona interconnect is very flexible. This is the first thing you will probably notice about it. Immediately, however, you will confront this feature with a large cross-section of this cable, which for most of its length is really thick. This is a protective coat with thinner leads on both ends. You thinking now, so why is it so thick, since the wires themselves are much thinner? You're not the only ones. I remember that even many experienced audio journalists and audiophiles reported this type of doubts several years ago. And the answer is quite simple, today it's actually quite natural: the cable must be protected from vibrations. The vibrations introduce distortion into the signal, which are known as triboelectric noise. Appropriate dielectrics assist in its reduction - Wireworld uses a material called Composilex, one can also use extensive vibration dampening systems, like those used by Vertex AQ. The KBL Sound interconnect resembles another solution, at least from the outside – one featured by Purist Audio Design products, that feature a ferromagnetic fluid for this purpose, which on the one hand shields conductors, and on the other, dampens vibrations. The KBL Sound interconnect is more of a classic design, but with an emphasis on vibration damping - hence its large diameter. It is also significant because these cables' main dielectric is air - conductors run in Teflon tubes. The conductors are OCC copper, i.e. monocrystalline, cast in the Ohno Continous Casting process. Positive and negative runs are separated, and so is the screen, so it looks like the cable has a pseudo-balanced structure. The screen in such a cable is connected only from the source side, so it is particularly important to connect it properly - the proper direction indicated by the arrows on heat-shrinkable sleeves next to the plugs. The connectors are excellent WBT-0152 Cu nextgen plugs with copper, rhodium plated contacts. Both, my preamplifier and player feature the nextgen sockets, so everything is as it should be :) But a different metal element really draws an attention - the coupler connecting the thicker and thinner parts of the cable. It is about its color - rusty, dark-copper-ish and it looks great, also thanks to very well chosen typography. Lets add that this model is also available in a balanced version, with Neutrik NC3MX / FX plugs, as well as in a phono version, with RCA or DIN plugs. The latter, however, is in fact a completely different cable, because while its design is similar, the conductors are made of silver, not copper. The loudspeaker cable has no special jacket around it, because it would cost a lot more than the interconnect. And it costs only little more. The cables are made of monocrystalline copper protected against oxidation and have the form of two separate runs for the positive and negative wires (that is, there are actually two cables per channel). Dielectrics are again air and Teflon. It is terminated with excellent CMC Swiss Cu plugs plated with a thick layer of silver. Also in these cables feature anodized couplers, but here they are used only to damp vibrations and are used close to the amplifier end - Crystal Cable use a similar solution in their cables. The cables are directional. Kable KBL Sound pracowały w systemie referencyjnym „High Fidelity”. Interkonekt łączył odtwarzacz SACD Ayon Audio CD-35 High Fidelity Edition i przedwzmacniacz liniowy Ayon Audio Spheris III, z kolei kable głośnikowe łączyły wzmacniacz mocy Soulution 710 oraz kolumny Harbeth M40.1. Interkonekty porównywane były do trzech innych kabli: srebrnych Siltech Triple Crown, srebrno-złotych Crystal Cable Absolute Dream oraz srebrno-miedzianych Acoustic Revive RCA-1.0 Absolute. Red Corona miał długość 1 m i zakończony był wtykami RCA – w moim systemie takie połączenia sprawdzają się najlepiej. Kabel głośnikowy – o długości 3 m – porównywałem do Siltecha Triple Crown. KBL SOUND in „High Fidelity” AWARD | BEST PRODUCT 2018: KBL Sound REFERENCE POWER DISTRIBUTOR RPD-6 Mk3 NCF | power distributor TEST: KBL Sound SOLARIS | power cable TEST: KBL Sound REFERENCE POWER DISTRIBUTOR RPD-6 Mk3 NCF | power distributor AWARD | BEST PRODUCT 2016: KBL Sound ZODIAC | analogue interconnect + speaker cable + power cable TEST: KBL Sound ZODIAC | analogue interconnect + speaker cable + power cable TEST: KBL Sound SIGNATURE SERIES HIMALAYA | power cable TEST: KBL Sound HIMALAYA Pro DIGITAL CABLE | digital cable S/PDIF RCA AWARD | BEST PRODUCT 2015: KBL Sound SIGNATURE SERIES HIMALAYA | analogue interconnect + speaker cable TEST: KBL Sound SIGNATURE SERIES HIMALAYA | analogue interconnect + speaker cable AWARD | BEST PRODUCT 2014: KBL Sound REFERENCE POWER DISTRIBUTOR + RED EYE | power distributor + power cables (system) TEST: KBL Sound RED EYE | digital cable RCA S/PDIF TEST: KBL Sound REFERENCE POWER DISTRIBUTOR + RED EYE | power distributor + power cables (system) Recordings used for the test (a selec- tion) Aeon Trio, Elegy, TRPTK TTK0010, CD (2017) Alan Parsons Project, I Robot, Arista/Sony Music Japan SICP 30168, 2 x BSCD2 CD (1977/2013) Bill Evans, Bill Evans At The Montreaux Jazz Festival, Verve /PolyGram Records 539 758-2, „Verve Master Edition”, CD (1968/1998) Jimmy Smith, The Cat…The Incredible Jimmy Smith, Verve /PolyGram Records 539 756-2, „Verve Master Edition”, CD (1964/1998) Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Live, ECM Records ECM 2592, CD (2018) [REKLAMA5] The interconnect sounds as if it wrapped listeners with the sound, soothing their nerves and calming them down. I remember years ago, for the first time, I bought my flannel sheets with my wife and the first night – fortunately it was Saturday – we slept until eleven a.m. The bedding was so soft and so pleasant to the touch that we felt asleep immediately and then we could not wake up. Before that, something similar happened to us once, when I brought home curtains sewn in the studio of the Maszkaron Theater, where I worked at that time, curtains made from a thick theater curtain. Then also everyone overslept and we all late to work, and to kindergarten. But this is a story for a different occasion. Anyway, the Red Corona interconnect makes the listening experience extremely enjoyable. It's performance has the right feeling, I have no doubts about it, in no way is it slowed down, but still calm, nice. Thanks to that any music sounds amazingly with it. It's a cable that does not discriminate any recordings, it does not reject inferior ones. The differences between them are clear, but they are not what really matters. Which is interesting because the treble is not rolled off. It is strong, resonant and only the silky attack, instead of the iron one, repeats what I heard in the midrange and bass ranges. It's really a great listening experience. The resolution is not a key element of this presentation, although it is really good. It can be heard rather in the form of lowering presentation's center of gravity, in its velvetness and density. And again - the lowering in question is not caused by the manipulation of tonality, since it is excellent. It's about resolution - when it's high, the sound is dark, that's the rule. In turn, when the sound is bright, it is a sign that it is detailed but the resolution is rather poor. With Red Corona we get a dark, low set sound with a silky, strong top end. I mentioned at the beginning that this cable "wraps listener with the sound" - and I did it on purpose. The KBL Sound interconnect emphasizes the foreground, that is, it brings the sound closer to us and slightly beefs it up. Whatever is in the axis with this cable becomes quite large and tangible. The deeper layers keep their size, that is, they are not enlarged, and we get the impression that they are closer to us due to the fact that there are less reflected sounds and more direct ones. Speaker cable | The Red Corona speaker cable repeats everything that the interconnect presented earlier, but does it in its own way. The common qualities are: smoothness, density, the tendency to arrange everything in front of us in an organized way, to eliminate chaos. Like the interconnect, also the loudspeaker cable presents a strong foreground, and although it moves it slightly back towards the line connecting the speakers; its role is emphasized by a large volume. It's a really high quality, rich performance. What it does in its own way is primarily stronger commitment to keeping the stage highly organized and to discipline the presentation. I do not think that interconnects lacks in this respect, but both the speaker cable itself and combined with the interconnect delivers a less emphatic presentation, more neutral. Perhaps it is due to a bit more accurate leading edge, which is especially evident in the bass range. It is still, however, a deep, warm sound. Although it is far from the stereotypical "warm" and "dark" one, because on the one hand, both the cable and the whole system deliver an open, vibrant treble, while on the other the lower bass does not have as much energy as with the reference cables. It is dense, nice, but at one point it gently gives up. It does not have any special consequences, I am just saying, how I heard it and how it compared to my reference cables. System | The Red Crown system will give you an opportunity to play around with music. This is a particularly desirable attribute whenever while we do care about truly high-quality sound, we care about best possible performance, but yet, we also want something more from our audio system - we want it to makes us encourage to listen to the music, to make us always to come back for even more albums. The Red Crown cabling system works like that, like a lure. It is not completely neutral, it modifies the presentation in a characteristic way, but it is obvious that it is deliberate, because we get a coherent vision of a musical event, not some accidental changes. You will appreciate how great these cables sound while listening to different albums, such as a true jazz gem, Jimmy Smith's album The Cat and another gem, but from a different genre, the I Robot by The Alan Parsons Project. Jimmy Smith (1925-2005) played Hammonds. The album I am talking was released in many versions, I listened to it from a remaster prepared in 1998 for the "Verve Master Edition" series. This is an old remaster, still 20-bit one, and it sounds unbelievably natural. And it was this amazing naturalness that the KBL Sound captured perfectly. Neutrality of the presentation was also good, although I could hear a slight emphasis on the lower midrange/upper bass area, and that the whole presentation was brought closer to me than usually. Same goes for the second of the aforementioned albums, The I Robot. Released in 1977, it is a classic conceptual album by Parsons with multi-layered production, with lots of subtleties, details and incredible momentum. I listened to it from the remaster made in 2013 for the needs of the "Legacy Edition". I have a BSCD2 version. And again – the Red Corona cables sounded smooth and organic on this album. Everything here nicely co-existed, resonated. The music had momentum, and the speaker cable added extensive space into the system, which in this case translated into something that can only be described as a "cool trip". Summary These are not, of course, perfect cables. There is no such thing, and in this price range, it is not about being perfect, but about the best compromise. The KBL Sound designer, by making his choices of materials and topologies, chose a compromise in which the most important elements are density and velvetness of the sound. Selectivity, energy of the lowest end, depth of the soundstage and not the most important features here compared to its qualities and if you are looking for such particular set of features, you should look for it elsewhere. In turn, if you are looking for qualities that together create a high quality, satisfying listening experience, then Red Corona might be your choice. What these cables offer is: softness, naturalness, calmness, smoothness, momentum, they allow you to truly enjoy the music. These are the cables that connect and do not divide – using the language or current politics - and they do it for real, without pretending. You can listen to any album with them without gnashing your teeth and nervous biting of your nails, and use in any system they will present only its good sides. I like this type of performance, hence the RED Fingerprint award to me seems to be the natural result of this test. [hfgallery] [img mini="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/th/05.jpg" big="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/05.jpg" src="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/05.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/th/06.jpg" big="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/06.jpg" src="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/06.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/th/07.jpg" big="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/07.jpg" src="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/07.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/th/08.jpg" big="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/08.jpg" src="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/08.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/th/09.jpg" big="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/09.jpg" src="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/09.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/th/10.jpg" big="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/10.jpg" src="foto_testy/1901/kbl_sound/10.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [/hfgallery]

⌈ VERICTUM is a Polish company specializing in filtration of power supply voltage and passive EMI/RFI filters. Starting from their first product, the X Bulk ground filter, which we tested in 2015, it introduces refined, different than any other, products. Its name consists of two Latin words VERI + ICTUM, meaning 'real influence'. ⌋ he flagship VERICTUM power distributor, Cogitari, is one of the most expensive products of this type available on the market, not only Polish one, that this manufacturer comes from, but also anywhere in the world. While testing it in December 2016, I was fully aware of this fact. Despite such a high "threshold" it turned out that it is a refined product offering excellent performance. It delivered beautiful, golden colors, deep sound, and a nice bass. Together with top Demiurg power cables, it can be used to build a true reference power system – a very expensive one, with specific sonic signature, but delivering a reference performance. Recently, the company proposed a new power distributor, called Aria. It is significantly less expensive than Cogitari, but also somewhat different. It utilizes some solutions sourced from the top model, but it includes also some newer ones. PAWEŁ CZUBRYT Owner After the success of the Cogitari power distributor, we decided to design and introduce a new power strip. We address this product to customers who are looking for a product with exceptional sound qualities but available at a lower price. The Aria is not, however, a "worse performing" copy of Cogitari, because it offers a number of features that fundamentally differ from those of Cogitari. Initially, the new power strip was to be a product simply from a lower price range. However, this assumption would force us to make too many compromises in sound quality, and in Verictum we consistently want to offer our customers products with the best influence on sound quality in every price range. Aria's housing, just like Cogitari's, was made of selected merbau wood. It is made entirely using CNC machines. This time we used Furutech sockets from the NCF series. During the development of the product, and later during the multi-stage "tuning" and listening sessions, we selected the optimal components and solutions to achieve certain sound concept. As a conductor we used our new, cryogenized, monocrystal 24-carat gold-plated silver. We also used a passive EMI/RFI filtration custom developed for Aria. The base of the strip is filled with a special substance for resonance stabilization to eliminate vibrations that degrade sound. | ARIA Aria, the latest Verictum product, is much smaller than Cogitari. Its housing is, however, similar because it is made of wood, same as its feet. This is the hallmark of this brand. Unlike most other manufacturers - apart from the Swedish Entreq - who try to shield the interior in the best possible way either with aluminum, steel, or copper - Verictum chose another solution. Housing | This is a well-thought-through choice. On the one hand, it was about mechanical properties of wood, which translate into specific influence on the sound. As it reads in company materials, the housing is made of merbau wood using CNC machines. And then: "Varnish and glue used for our latest distributor play an important role in achieving great performance, as they cause adequate stress to the housing itself and influence its own resonance which is so significant for the sound. Each bolt has to be properly tightened too, because it also plays a significant role. We use non-magnetic screws.” Long story short - Aria's housing was made the same way as musical instruments are made. On the other hand, however, a technical side of the design was equally important - it was about the best possible use of a passive EMI / RFI filter, integrated with the strip. The filter was placed in a resin brine in the distributor's base. A very similar solution can be found in the Acoustic Revive RTP-4EU Absolute power distributor, the design of the anti-vibration platform featuring an EMI/RFI filter, the Asura Quality Recovery System Level 1 is also similar. The performance achieved this way was fine-tuned using selected feet. They are made of wood and the front ones are made of a different wood than the rear ones. The dark ones should be installed on the side with the Verictum logo and the IEC socket, and brighter ones on the opposite side. A matter of nomenclature | A filter plus sockets usually equals a conditioner. And that's how we call products of - for example - GigaWatt, that feature passive filtering components, but also products of the American Shunyata Research, that feature only piezoelectric, ferroelectric and other materials that minimize noise by being placed around the conductors. That is also how Verictum describes Aria on their website, although we can see the product a "power strip" is the first thing that comes to mind. From the technical point of view, it is identical with Shunyata's products, so there is no reason not to call it in this way. It's just that the name "conditioner" or "AC power supply conditioner" does not indicated whether a given product only distributes the voltage between several sockets, or whether it additionally filters it. Usually, we use this term when referring to products that in their form resemble other audio components. In turn, longitudinal "conditioners", such as the aforementioned Acoustic Revive RTP-4EU Absolute, that I use in my audio system, or as the Verictum Aria, are called "AC power strips". And that's the term I will be using in this text. A matter of sockets | The Cogitari that I reviewed, featured a gold-plated version of Furutech sockets. This version significantly differs from the NFC rhodium-plated version. It is probably not a secret that Mr. Paweł Czubryt, the main Verictum's owner and designer, prefers the sound of the "golden" version. I prefer the NFC rhodium one. But there is no such thing as the "right" and "wrong" version of these sockets, it's all about our individual preferences. You can find out more about it from the column titled *System Magic**. In order to take full advantage of the qualities of cryogenized Furutech sockets, Aria features conductors custom made for Verictum using a specially developed metallurgy process - it is a gold-plated silver. Also the whole cryo process was developed exclusively for this project. The strip is "directional". The power cable connecting it to the wall socket must be correctly plugged in with the hot pin on the correct side of the IEC plug - see the drawing below: The Verictum Aria power strip was not the first one made by this company, which I reviewed in my system. As already mentioned I had a chance to test the Cogitari, and then, together with brand's owners, we listened to the full Verictum power system that Cogitari was a part of. Back then Cogitari was compared to the power distributor that I used at the time, which was the Acoustic Revive RPT-4eu Ultimate. Since then, a few things have changed in my system, including the power strip – currently I use the Acoustic Revive RTP-4EU Absolute in combination with the RPC-1 filter. However, for the time of this test I disconnected the additional filter. /p> The sockets installed in my reference strip come from the Furutech; all are rhodium-plated and belong to the NFC series (Nanocrystalline Formula) - so they are identical to the ones used in Aria. During the test I compared one strip with the other, plugging my whole system first to one of them and then to the other and repeating this sequence a few times. Both strips were connected to Furutech's wall outlet. And the system is powered using three different power cables: distributors were connected with wall outlet using a 2.5-meter long Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9500. The same model, although only 2m long, powered the Ayon Audio Spheris III preamplifier. The Soulution 710 power amplifier utilized the Acoustic Revive Power Reference cable and the Ayon Audio CD-35 High Fidelity Edition SACD player a two-meter long Siltech Triple Crown Power. The preamplifier and power amplifier also utilize passive Acoustic Revive RAS-14 Triple-C filters. During the test both power strips were placed on top of the Acoustic Revive RST-38H anti-vibration platform. VERICTUM in „High Fidelity” REVIEW: Verictum ARBITER | power cable AC AWARD: STATEMENT AWARD 2017 | Verictum COGITARI + DEMIURG + X BLOCK + X BULK (system) REVIEW: Verictum X BULK GOLD | passive ground/power supply filter AC COLUMN: Magic of a system: Verictum COGITARI + DEMIURG + X BLOCK + X BULK REVIEW: Verictum COGITARI | power distributor AC REVIEW: Verictum DEMIURG | power cable AC REVIEW: Verictum X FUSE | fuse AC AWARD: BEST PRODUCT 2015 | Verictum X BLOCK | passive EMI/RFI filter REVIEW: Verictum X BLOCK | passive EMI/RFI filter TEST: Verictum X BULK | passive EMI/RFI ground filter Recordings used for the test (a selec- tion) Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Dragonfly, Telarc CD-83377, CD (1995) Bill Evans Trio, Portrait in Jazz, Riverside/Fantasy RISA-1162-6, SACD/CD (1959/2003) Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin (I), Atlantic/Warner Music 8122796439, “Super Deluxe Box Set”, 2 x CD + 2 x LP (1961/2014) Rudź & Pauszek, Panta Rhei, Audio Anatomy AA-004-18-CD, CD (2018) Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Live, ECM Records ECM 2592, CD (2018) Aquavoice, Silence, Zoharum ZOHAR 168-2, Master CD-R (2018); Peter Gabriel, So, Realworld/Virgin SAPGCD5, SACD/CD (1987/2003) [REKLAMA5] From the very first moment of listening to the system plugged into Aria it was clear that I was dealing with a high quality power strip. I did not need to listen carefully, to focus to catch details and subtleties, to know that it was a a full-fledged, refined audio product. At the same time Aria clearly presented its "own character" so it wouldn't be a problem for anyone to decide whether it was something they were looking for or not. Because it operates mainly using colors. Not "only" them, this is not the point, there is everything there that one expects from a high-end product. But it is also clear what the sonic signature is. It is served in a tastefully, non-aggressive way, which is why it is not a product that will cause your jaw to hit the floor, that will wow you from the very first moment. On the other hand, it won't hide anything from you and the sonic qualities observed from the start will stay with you permanently, although with every new album you will understand them better and you will see their impact on the performance more clearly. As I've mentioned, it is a strip that uses colors. It delivers a powerful, rich sound with smooth, rich colors. The instruments have clear shapes, there is a strong foreground, although it is not exaggerated. It's a rather a pastel-like presentation not one expressed with strong contours. One of the reasons is the smoothness that I am talking about, and the other is a soft leading edge. I could hear it with both jazz albums, such as Marcin Wasilewski Trio's *Live**, which is a modern PCM hi-res recording, as well as with some older analog ones, for example with the Bill Evans Trio's *Portrait in Jazz**. Aria's presents the foreground quite close to us and it seems to be the most important element of the presentation. However, this does not happen at the expense of the depth of the stage. This is an example of how to move the whole musical event towards listener, make listening about a kind of intimate meeting with the artist, and at the same time not suppress, not blur everything that happens behind the foreground. The following layers are greatly differentiated, both in space and in color, that is within one source. Listen to Peter Gabriel's *Mercy Street** from the *So** album, and you will hear a multitude of vocals put over the basic melodic line – the Aria facilitates that or even makes it easier. This is a strip that is capable of a really good spacial presentation. It will deliver not only events happening in front of us, but also around us, and even behind us - if only such information is encoded in the recording. Listen to the opening track from the Aquavoice's *Silence**, and with the Verictum strip you will find yourself in the center of the events, the sounds will come out from behind your head in a clear, unambiguous way, you will not have to guess anything. The tangibility that I am talking about creates, on the one hand, so shaped space, and on the other hand, it slightly directs listener's attention towards the midrange, especially to the lower midrange. There is something in this sound, which reminds me the sound of turntables, both from the upper shelf, like Kuzma Stabi R and Muarah Audio MT-2, but also from good budget designs, such as Rega models. It is a rich, saturated sound, maybe even a little too saturated, which makes this presentation extremely natural. So one can say that the Aria strip models the sound in a specific way and it's true. But one has to realize that it is intentional, that the designers wanted to achieve certain set of sonic qualities, different from what other products offer. I have already talked about one of them, the vividness of the presentation, also its richness is very important, and we can't forget about how natural this sound is. To achieve that, the lower midrange was slightly modeled and the both band's extremes were subtly rolled off. I would not go as far as to say that they are actually rolled off because it is not the case. Both low, massive bass on the *Silence**, as well as the resonant top on *So** are clear, clear and well-differentiated. However, it is clear that they are complementary to what is happening in the middle of the band,, same as in the aforementioned turntables. If, however, we will not compare Aria with other strips and conditioners that deliberately deliver emphasized band's extremes, we won't miss anything in these areas. Summary Aria continues the idea for the sound that Verictum presented already with their first products, EMI/RFI filters and ground filters. This is a sound that may be called "analog". It is saturated, rich, with a strong foreground. A powerful lower midrange makes the foreground seem placed quite close to us, which gives us a more direct access to the artist. There is nothing missing there, the band is nicely extended, but the above mentioned impression is simply there. The strip does not emphasize selectivity and is not particularly detailed, it's not the case. It does offer good resolution and musicality though. Differentiation is good, but – same as selectivity - it is not the most important element. What matters most are colors, vividness and smoothness. It's a real high-end level of performance. Technical specification (according to manufacturer) - An enclosure CNC machined of exotic merbau wood - All Furutech NCF Rhodium  sockets - Wiring: cry-treated Verictum wire - conductors of 4N silver, gold-plated - Build-in EMI/RFI passive filter - Loading: max 15 A - Dimensions (L x W x H):390 x 60 x 110 mm - Weight: around 2,5 kg [hfgallery] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/verictum/th/05.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/verictum/05.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/verictum/05.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/verictum/th/06.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/verictum/06.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/verictum/06.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/verictum/th/07.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/verictum/07.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/verictum/07.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/verictum/th/08.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/verictum/08.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/verictum/08.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/verictum/th/09.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/verictum/09.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/verictum/09.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/verictum/th/10.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/verictum/10.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/verictum/10.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/verictum/th/11.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/verictum/11.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/verictum/11.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/verictum/th/12.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/verictum/12.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/verictum/12.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [/hfgallery]

⌈ MOON by SIMAUDIO is a Canadian company founded in 1980 in Quebec. MOON 390 is its most complex device, combining a network player and a preamplifier. It also offers a set of digital and analog inputs, including phono ones for MM/MC cartridges. It costs, considering the abundance of features, not that much: PLN 24 990. ⌋ very country, organization, company, or simply - all forms of organized cooperation, have their founding myth. Founding myth is a kind of story about the beginnings, aimed at strengthening the sense of community, something common to all its members, something they can all relate to. For Simaudio, it goes like this: Victor Sima, sound and music engineer, founded in St. Hubert, Quebec, a company called Sima Electronique with one goal in mind: to ensure high-quality reproduction of music without unnecessary frills, bells and whistles. from: company materials As every myth of this kind, this one also evolved. I have to admit though, that it evolved in the right direction. The company was founded in 1980 by Victor Sima, sound engineer. His first product was the PW2000 integrated amplifier. The inconspicuous device was sold under the brand name Sima Electronics. It was deprived of most of the functions that were back then considered necessary. It was an amplifier with a simple housing and simplistic aesthetics. However, customers liked it a lot which allowed company to grow. History | In 1995, the company was sold to Mr Jean Poulin. Company changed its name to Simaudio Ltd. In time, the company prepared a line of „reference” devices - named MOON. This name soon became the name of all devices made by this company. Today, when referring to their product, we usually call them "Simaudio" or "Moon", although the manufacturer uses the name "Moon by Simaudio". In 2013, company was sold again and currently it's being run by its former employees – Costa Koulisakisa who is responsible for the sales and Thierry Dufour, an engineer; another engineer, Louis Lemire is the third person involved. CWhat makes it different | Characteristics features of Moon products? Exceptional reliability and durability. They are offered with a 25-year warranty, which is absolutely unique and proves how sure of their products this manufacturer is. Another distinguishing feature is constant research and development work. The point is that Moon is run by engineers and - just like McIntosh and Accuphase for example - it defines directions of its development and the way it is done. Each new generation of devices features specific, new system solutions, accumulated tweaks, sometimes a change of thinking. All solutions are developed in-house by Simaudio team, which allows company to have control over them and to know what to expect of them. The devices are made in company's factory in Canada, which gives them even more control over the final results. | 390 Everything I'm talking about accumulates in one of its latest products, and certainly the most technologically advanced one - the Moon 390. It's a audio files player integrated into a preamplifier. The manufacturer describes it, to be precise, as: "network player / preamplifier ". This is a new class of devices, initiated, if my memory serves, by the Naim's NAC-N 272 model, which was introduced in 2015. Today, such a combination of an audio files player and preamplifier is more common - see Cambridge Audio's NQ Edge - but it's still a market niche. And this is because designing a device of this type requires special knowledge - it is not enough to equip a file player ("streamer") with an adjustable output, these must be two equivalent products combined in one chassis. In this case, in one housing there are as many as three devices, or rather their latest versions: the MiND 2 streaming module developed by Simaudio, one of its line preamplifiers (with MM / MC phono input), the 350P, and the 380D digital-to-analog converter. Each of these components has its own independent value and each of them has to work well with others, but also independently. Manufacturer describes it like that: Generally, we can say that it (Moon 390 - ed.) combines the advantages of older 350P and 380D, adding further functions to the mix. Or in other words: you can think about it as an all-in-one system without a power amplifier section. Although this system is more expensive than the ACE, it offers higher sound quality and make&finish. The 390 will be our first product featuring the new MiND 2 streaming technology. Source: company materials | MiND 2 MiND 2 (MOON Intelligent Network Device) is a second generation of Simaudio's streaming module – the first one was used in the Moon 180. It has been developed in house This is a company's own development, which can be controlled from devices with either iOS or Android. MiND 2 allows you to play files, organize and search them, allows user to control other Moon devices, thus facilitating an easy operation of the entire system. The streamer is compatible with Roon („Roon Ready” function), gives user access to Tidal including Tidal Masters, Deezer including Deezer Hi-Fi and Qobuz including Qobuz Sublime+. It also allows streaming of audio files from external NAS using the UPnP protocol, as well as from pendrives and USB drives. It features a MQA decoder and supports playback of PCM files up to 32 bits and 384 kHz and DSD to DSD 256 (both via a cable connection). The streaming module is one of the most expensive audio components. Only large corporations and large companies can afford to develop ones. And that's because his firmware requires the work of several, sometimes even dozens or so talented programmers, and then it has to be constantly patched/improvement. There are only few medium-sized audio companies that have developed such modules, include such brands as: Moon with their MiND, Cambridge Audio with StreamMagic, Naim and Linn. Preamplifier | The whole device is built around the preamplifier section - this is the heart of every device, including the Moon 390. It features unbalanced RCA and a balanced XLR inputs and the same combination of outputs; additionally, there is a fixed RCA output (for recording or for an external headphone amplifier). There is also a phono input. But it's not just any input, and a full-fledged phonostage for MM and MC cartridges, with adjustable gain, load and capacity! One adjusts volume using a large knob on the front panel, using a remote control or through the MiND application installed on some smart device. Ale the information is displayed on a medium-sized, but of nice quality, monochrome OLED display. One can rather easily read all the information, although a bigger display wold be appreciated as the titles would not have to scroll through. No information concerning word length (bits) is displayed. DAC | An analog signal may also be obtained from digital inputs because the Moon 390 features also a D/A converter. It offers a multitude of digital inputs, including RCA, TOSLink, AES/EBU and USB. The most versatile is the USB input, because it supports PCM up to 32 bits and 384 kHz and DSD up to DSD256. The converter features a Bluetooth signal receiver with a support for the aptX codec, that accepts PCM signal with sampling frequency up to 48 kHz. A unique feature of the Moon 390 is the presence of digital HDMI inputs and an output. This is a true rarity in D/A converters because the HDMI license costs quite a lot of money. And it should be a standard feature for every device. It allows user to send signal to Moon from any Blu-ray player - including both, the video and audio signals. Oppo players allow you to send PCM (up to 24/192) and DSD signals - and Moon accepts and decodes them. The HDMI output (ARC) can be connected to the TV, so we can also convert the audio signal from movies watched on the TV. Streamer | The most important digital source, however, seems to be the streamer, or actually an audio files transport - the MiND 2 streaming module. It supports audio files, unpacks them and decodes to PCM or DSD; it also supports MQA format. The player communicates with a router using an Ethernet cable (two inputs) or wirelessly over Wi-Fi. It allows user to play files from NAS and streaming services. The Moon 390 was presented in Europe for the first time during Munich High End Show 2018. I like the presentation a lot, so it received the Best Sound award from us (more HERE). The Moon 390 was placed on the center shelf of the Finite Elemente Pagode Edition rack and was powered using the Harmonix X-DC350M2R Improved-Version cable. It was the heart of my system working with the Soulution 710 power amplifier (out of production, 135,000 PLN ) and Harbeth M40.1 speakers (also not produced anymore) that were placed on Acoustic Revive Custom Stand stands (a set - 80,000 PLN). It was connected with router using an Acoustic Revive Ethernet cable. I compared it with mu Ayon Audio Spheris III (140 000 PLN) preamplifier. The source of signal was the Ayon Audio CD-35 High Fidelity Edition (80 000 PLN) and the Kuzma Stabi R turntable with 4Point9 tonearm (45 000 PLN) and Etsuro Urushi Bordeaux (32 000 PLN) MC cartridge. For comparison I used the GrandiNote Celio Mk IV phonostage (6000 EUR). For the assessment of the headphone output I used the HiFiMAN HE-1000 V2 with Bakoon Products International HPA-21 as my reference. Recordings used for the test a selec- tion) | SACD Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms, Vertigo/Mobile Fidelity Labs UDSACD 2099, „Original Master Recording, Special Limited Edition | No. 1808”, SACD/CD (1985/2013) Genesis, Abacab, Virgin/EMI 851832, SACD/CD + DVD (1981/2007) | Tidal Mike Posner, A Real Good Kid, Island Records/Tidal MQA 24/44,1 (2019) Voces8 , Enchanted Isle, Decca Records/Tidal, MQA 24/96 (2019) | Pliki 2xHD. DSD, USB Flash, Master DSD64/DSD128 2xHD. PCM, USB Flash, Master WAV 24/192 FIM Super Sounds! I, First Impression Music FIM DXD 066 USB, Promo USB Flash, FLAC 24/176 Krzysztof Komeda Quintet,, Kattorna w: Krzysztof Komeda Quintet, Astigmatic, Polskie Nagrania „Muza”/Warner Music Poland 4648860, Master WAV 24/88,2 (1965/2016); | Long Play Joscho Stephan Trio, Paris-Berlin, Berliner Meister Schallplatten BMS 1817 V, „Direct-To-Disc | No. 53”, 180 g LP (2018) Wojtek Karolak & Adam Czerwiński, In A Sentimental Mood, AC Records ACR 009, „Limited Edition | No. 470/500”, 180 g LP (2018) [REKLAMA5] Once upon a time (a long, long time ago) I reviewed Simaudio's Moon i-5 integrated amplifier for "Audio" magazine. Its performance was really good and so was the engineering - something that I particularly value in companies, that are able to perfectly balance these two elements - music and technology. It was a device that I did not have any serious reservations about, but only observations; I could only have some reservations in absolute terms, but none taking its price into consideration. Listening to the 390, I felt as if I had come back to that time, for a moment I again heard the sound of that amplifier. It's about the sonic character, how different from what most „engineering” companies propose. This is a character chosen deliberately, refined, devised anew. It be quite easily described: it is about musicality, musicality and... musicality. One can encounter such approach every now and then, but what's unique about the Moon 390 is that we get it regardless of the source we choose. Audio files player | The most important question for me was how the 390 performs as a file player and preamplifier, because it is its primary function. It turned out right away, when I played the first recordings from pendrives with Master files, straight from mastering studies, that I heard something that made me sit down more comfortably and take a much closer „look”. The sound I heard was not much like the performance of most file players I know. It's fluid, dense and warm. This is how high-class turntables sound like (more on that in a moment). ⌈ One of the biggest surprises in first month of 2019, the Mike Posner's A Real Good Kid, available on Tidal in MQA 24/44.1. Highly recommend! ⌋ I compared this sound to turntable's for a reason. Moon plays music in an energetic way, but with saturation - it energizes this saturation, not the details. It is hard to call its performance detailed because - attention! - we go beyond this category with it, far beyond. We need sound to be rich in details when it lacks resolution. Moon offers a really good resolution. What we get with Moon is sort of a 'picture'. It's a rich sound, with lots of flavors, but immersed in saturation. Interestingly, there is a lot of top end, which was clear when I listened to Astigmatic from the Komeda's album, from the master 24/88.2 WAV file, with a really strong cymbals performance - stronger than in the CD version. Moon, however, retained restraint, gently sweetened, gilded them, so to speak. It gave a warm character to the recordings, but it also allowed me to listen to ones that I was sort of nervous about, because they often sound too bright played by file players. It was the case with the Anabasis by Dead Can Dance from 24/44.1 files, and with the excellent album A Real Good Kid by Mike Posner, available on Tidal in MQA files. It's just a classic, mainstream recording, which with Moon in some magical way, sounded more „serious”, had more musical sense, although the 390 was by fat the cheapest element of the system worth more than a small house. Preamplifier | Using the term "magical" I did not mean some supernatural forces, of course, but how surprising it was. That's how good, sophisticated SACD and CD and file players sound like. In general terms, the performance reminded me that of Lumïn. But we have to take into consideration that with Moon we are talking not only about a network player, but also about a preamplifier - and this is something even more surprising. This is because the preamplifier is a critical element of every system. ⌈ If you like Dead Can Dance, Enya and Clannad, this is an album for you. Perfectly produced, beautiful in harmony, with covers of popular and classic music: Voces8 and Enchanted Isle, available on Tidal in MQA 24/96. ⌋ It seems that it is this element that gives Moon this particular sonic character. The SACD player connected via analogue inputs had a similar character, also similar to the turntable that was connected to the phono input. All the elements I mentioned regarding files playback were repeated - warmth, density, saturation. The treble was slightly weaker, but not enough to claim the tonal balance changed. There was simply a bit more focus now on the midrange and bass. And the bass is well extended and dense. However, it also has Moon's intrinsic character. It is powerful, tuneful and dense. But there is also no clear attack definition, as it is rounded and smoothed. To a certain extent it is a reflection of what is happening in the top of the band. So one should not expect a perfect slam at the bottom, or clear contours. It's a different type of sound - more with whole layers then individual contours. And again - we get the same results, regardless of whether we listen to music through line inputs or through the phono input. It's a similar presentation of timbre, texture, dynamics and momentum - I haven't mentioned it yet, but the device plays with a huge momentum. The space is built by it without the exact indication of the edges and placement, but with great interaction between various instruments. You can hear them in their own acoustic "bubbles”, they are somewhat separated, and yet presented together. Phonostage | This is the case with files and external sources, including a turntable. The phonostage section, same as preamplifier one, is fully analog in Moon 390. And it is really great. It's clear that compared to external, sophisticated phonostages such as the GrandiNote Celio Mk IV, it's not the eighth wonder of the world. But without such a comparison, paired with a good turntable it will deliver an absolutely and completely satisfying performance. ⌈ The Joscho Stephan Trio's Paris-Berlin is a great example of a modern „direct-to-disc” recording. It was recorded in the Emil Berliner Studios and also there the lacquer was cut used to make a matrix; in this way usage of tape was eliminated from the process. ⌋ It is based on strong, dense, slightly emphasized bass, with the most important part of the range being the midrange. Treble is slightly rolled off. But the energy is transmitted really well, as if the speed was flawless. It is not quite so, the presentation is slightly calmed down, but a good resolution and momentum create the impression of speed. It won't really bother you, I just wanted you to have a full picture of Moon's performance. I does not bother listener, because when listening to the extremely fast and direct album by Joscho Stephan Trio Paris-Berlin, a "direct-to-disc" recording I did not need anything else - the Moon's integrated phonostage did a really good job. Headphones | Last but not least, there is also a headphone amplifier. I compared it to another amplifier that costs almost PLN 15,000 and I would say this: just like the phonostage, the headphone amplifier performed well enough so that most people would find an idea of buying an additional, external device unreasonable. It delivers a warm, dense, full sound, and every files format sounded really good. Differences between files of a CD quality and high resolution one were clear, but they were not big enough to bypass some recordings because of a less then high resolution. It just means that a differentiation is not particular, but timbre, saturation, layers - all these elements are presented in a very good way. Summary The Moon 390 is a unique device. Many all-in-one products have issues with proper balance between all their functions/elements. Almost always designers' efforts are focused on one of them, which automatically makes you ask about the reasoning behind all the others. Canadians did something else: around a great preamplifier they built a system with equally well performing components, sounding in a very similar way. It's offers a warm sound with a strong bass and with a momentum. Huge space and depth of sound are also its distinguishing features. Bass is not particularly well differentiated and selective, and the top is rather warm than detailed. But that's Simaudio's idea for a sound of their components. With Moon everything sounds good, dense, nice, it has a swing. A logical, stable application makes operation really smooth and friendly. Turntable, SACD player, file player, headphone amplifier, preamplifier - each of these elements I checked during this test was marked in my notes with same description: "very good". So I have no choice but to present the Moon 390 with our RED Fingerprint. The Moon by Simaudio has developed their own style that is based on combining two colors of the devices' housings - silver and black, on the separation of three elements of the front panel - round side "wings" and the middle, flat part that hosts all the buttons and knobs. This design style is not exclusive for Canadian company, as you may find a similar one in Mark Levinson's products. However, there is something is in this layout, shapes, colors, in the particular combination of these elements, that tell you right away, you're looking at a MOON's product. The company offers few possible finishes, with entire silver or black front, or with silver „wings” and black center part. Front and rear | The housing was made of two materials - steel and aluminum, with front and sides made of the latter. Its design resembles a "shell" – bolted together from several elements and with reinforced thick front and top, as well as side panels resembling heat sinks - these are not really radiators, and narrowings add more rigidity to this surface. Although it is an extremely complex device, its front wall's design is clean and easy to "master". Volume is controlled using a large knob, and the other setting can be changed using small buttons. The information is displayed on the OLED display - really nice one, well organized. When user changes an input or turns the knob, the proper indications are enlarged to the size of a whole screen. It's the rear panel that clearly indicates the abundance of functions and options. There are more connectors there than in classic preamplifiers and D/A converters. On the left side there is the analog section – the PCB behind it is fixed inside at the very bottom of the device. There are RCA sockets (gold-plated, soldered, nothing particular about them) and XLR ones - also gold plated. Going further, there are HDMI ports - four inputs and a single output (ARC). Above there is space occupied by digital inputs. The only missing kind is BNC input. Inside | The interior is divided into two parts. There is a power supply at the front and audio circuits in the back. The power supply was closed inside a metal screen. This is important feature because it is a switched-mode power supply, thus generating a lot of high-frequency noise. There are three PCBs with audio circuits. At the very top there is one with digital inputs, a MiND 2 module and a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth receiver module. Only the latter was sourced from an external manufacturer. A signal from the digital inputs goes to the AKM AK4115 receiver and the XMOS chip accepts the one from the USB input. The FPGA with an implemented file player is the Lattice LCMX. Decoded PCM and DSD signals are converted by the ESS Technology Saber ES9026PRO DAC chip. It is an eight-channel system in which four DACs operate in parallel in each stereo channel. Right next to it there is a headphone amplifier, based on multi-pin circuits with small heat sinks on top of them. The volume control is carried out by two NJR Muses 72320 stereo integrated circuits. The rest of the preamplifier stage was built around Burr-Brown integrated circuits and classic NE5532 chips. There are many WIMA polypropylene capacitors around. The outputs are switched using hermetic relays. Remote | The remote control is nice looking, sturdy and it also works with Simaudio's CD players. ■ Dane techniczne (wg producenta) | Preamplifier - Nominal input impedance: 22kΩ - Maximum input signal: 5V RMS - Maximum gain: 10dB - Nominal output impedance: 50Ω - Crosstalk (1 kHz): -116dB - Frequency range: 10Hz – 200kHz (-0.5dB / -3dB) - S/N: 125dB - THD+N: 0.0004 % - IMD: 0.0003 % | Headphone amplifier - Output (600Ω / 300Ω / 50Ω): 100mW | 200mW | 0.8W - THD: 0.005 % - IMD: 0.005 % | General - Power consumption idle: 25W - Power consumption standby: 20W - Power consumption in „low power” standby: 4W - Weight: 10kg - Dimensions (W x H x D): 429 x 89 x 333mm Distribution in Polsce AUDIO CENTER POLAND ul. Henryka Sucharskiego 49 30-898 Kraków | Polska audiocenter.pl [hfgallery] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/moon/th/05.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/moon/05.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/moon/05.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/moon/th/06.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/moon/06.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/moon/06.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/moon/th/07.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/moon/07.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/moon/07.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/moon/th/08.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/moon/08.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/moon/08.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/moon/th/09.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/moon/09.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/moon/09.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/moon/th/10.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/moon/10.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/moon/10.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/moon/th/11.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/moon/11.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/moon/11.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/moon/th/12.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/moon/12.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/moon/12.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [/hfgallery]

he leitmotif of all turntables from the Slovenian company KUZMA is "less is better". Have a look at its iconic, "tubular" Stabi S turntable, to understand what it means - it's just two brass tubes with a platter and an outboard motor. Also tonearms designed by this brand, no less famous than turntables, look like a study of simplicity. In fact, these are advanced, precise "measuring" systems, if I can say that. After all, in the turntables, a stylus constantly measures the geometry of the vinyl record's groove and converts this spatial structure to the corresponding voltage. Everything except a cartridge itself is used for its the most reliable operation/tracking. Frank Kuzma's, whose name is also the company's name, turntables and tonearms, are one of the best measuring instruments of this type. | STABI R The Stabi R is its latest product. It is a mass-loader with a belt drive. It was conceived as a smaller version of the only decoupled turntable of this company, Stabi M. Its base has an almost square outline, in which it resembles classical transcription turntables used in radio studios on the one hand and the TechDAS Air Force III Premium turntable on the other. There are several versions of the Kuzma R available. The Stabi R base, without any armboards, costs 26,300 PLN. When we add the so-called "arm wings", meaning a solid, heavy aluminum armboards, what we get is the Stabi R turntable for PLN 30,500. You can also add two outrigger aluminum armboards and this version called Stabi RD costs 33 600 PLN. And there is finally a wood version - Stabi R Wood for 30 500 PLN. It allows one to use only one tonearm, but the entire turntable is heavier by 6 kg. Its base has been made of a single block of aluminum and is really very heavy - the whole turntable, although quite small, weighs 36 kg. It is not decoupled in any way, and the vibrations are to be extinguished using its large mass. It seems a very simple design at least until we see the way a motor has been mounted inside, or until we add tonearm bases to it. Yes, tonearms multiple, not just one, because - again I will refer to TechDAS – one can use up to four tonearms on it. You can do it in two ways. One is using the classic tonearms bases, in this particular case they are called "balcony", screwed to the corners of the base - you can mount four such bases, designed for different length arms - 9, 10 and 12". And the second way is using bases I mentioned before, called - "wings". They allow you to use two tonearms. The DC motor in Stabi R is the same as used by Kuzma in their most expensive models. It is integrated with the base, and on aluminum disc mounted on its axis is hidden under the platter. The motor works with electronic power supply, which allows changing speed with a push of a button, same as starting and stopping the platter. A torque is transferred from motor's axis to the sub-platter using a flat belt. It is made of a special, as manufacturer claims, virtually indestructible material. It is a drive mechanism developed initially for the top turntable, the Stabi XL DC. Platter riches nominal speed within 2 seconds. One places a heavy, weighing 8 kg platter directly on a sub-platter It is a "sandwich" design constructed of three layers - aluminum, acrylic and aluminum – that already proved itself in the Ref 2 model. From the top it is covered with a specially impregnated, stiff fabric integrated with the plate. As an option, although a highly recommended one, you can use a screw-on record clamp. The platter spins on an inverted bearing featuring a 16mm in diameter steel shaft and a ruby ball. The ball and shaft operate in oil, which is applied during turntables assembly. The turntable rests on four small, adjustable feet. They feature round tips, but it is worth placing them on some high quality pads. This has been the second time I listened to the Kuzma 4Point 9'' arm (PLN 15 300). I must say that it is one of the best tonearms on the market. This arm with an effective length of 229 mm and an effective weight of 13 g and it is extremely robust and extremely "repeatable", that is, it allows cartridges to present their own sonic characters. This was the first tome though, that I listened to it combined with the Etsuro Urushi Bordeaux (32 000 PLN) MC cartridge. This is the most expensive pickup of this Japanese company with a super micro line 80 μm stylus. The stylus is mounted on a sapphire cantilever. The sapphire was also used for 2,5mm thick base, which screws are screwed to. The duralumin body has been beautifully finished using the Japanese technique called Urushi by a specialist Urushi Sakamoto Company. As always, the turntable was placed on the top shelf of the Finite Elemente Pagode Edition rack and delivered signal to one of two phono preamplifiers: RCM Audio Sensor Prelude IC and GrandiNote Celio Mk IV. KUZMA in „High Fidelity” TEST: Kuzma STABI S + PS + STOGI S 12 VTA | turntable + power supply + tonearm TEST: Kuzma STABI XL2 + 4POINT | turntable + tonearm TEST: Kuzma REFERENCE + STOGI REFERENCE 313 VTA | turntable + power supply + tonearm Records used for the test (a selection): Smoke Sessions – Vol.1, Smoke Sessions Records SSR-1401, „Limited Edition Collection | No. 193/500”, 200 g LP (2013); Stereo Sound Reference Record Vol. 1, Universal Music LLC | Stereo Sound SSAR-028~029, „Analog Record Collection”, 2 x 180 g LP (2018) The Jazz Greats Volume III Giant of Jazz Reeds-Part I, EmArcy MG 36050, LP (1955) Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker at Cafe Society 1950, Jazz Historical Recordings HR-138-EV, LP (1973) Johnny Hartman, I Just Dropped By To Say Hello, Impulse!/Original Recording Group ORG 027, 2 x 45 rpm, 180 g LP (1963/2013) Joscho Stephan Trio, Paris-Berlin, Berliner Meister Schallplatten BMS 1817 V, „Limited Edition | No. 53”, 180 g Direct-To-Disc, 180 g LP (2018) Katie Mahan, Katie Mahan plays Gershwin, Berliner Meister Schallplatten BMS 1706 V, „Limited Edition | No. 479”, 180 g Direct-To-Disc, 180 g LP (2018) Skalpel, Transit, PlugAudio PL02, 2 x 180 g LP (2014) Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba, Verve/Speakers Corner Records V6 8432, 180 g LP (1962/1998) U2, The Unforgettable Fire, Island 206 530-620, LP (1984) [REKLAMA5] Frank Kuzma's turntables have a common quality that you can recognize in almost every case, regardless of whether we are talking about the cheapest Stabi S, the most expensive Stabi XL DC or the reviewed Stabi R – it's how natural they are. They sound so organic, so smooth - but in the sense that there is no distortion that could distract listener - so fluidly that "natural sound" is the first phrase that comes to mind already when listening to the first record played on these turntables. One can say that the Stabi R model is the case, where one could add another term to describe its sound - "analog". Seemingly simple, but ... music lovers and audiophiles looking for an "analog sound" often do not know what they are really looking for. Based on stereotypes, exclamatory descriptions of audio products, and finally yielding to the ignorance of the so-called "experts" think that if something sounds warm, it means that it sounds analog. They include both sound sources and amplifiers to this group, and even cables. Reality is not so simple, it's much more nuanced. Kuzma R sounds "analogue" not because it sounds warm - although it does - not because it sounds smoothly - although that's also true – but because it is incredibly intrinsically rich, saturated sound, there is a brilliant tone differentiation, it beautifully shows the depth of instruments and their volume, it is very resolving, though not super-selective, and also extremely dynamic. This is something that can be called an "analog sound". The new Kuzma turntable presents this set of qualities with every record, a new and old ones, cut in direct-to-disc technique, from analogue tape and from a digital file. Importantly - it does not unify everything – it differentiates really well, which is also a feature of "analog sound". Each of the records I played had its own character, mood and aftertaste. But all of them had something in common, something that was "underneath", something like a motor upon which all the characteristic features of a particular record were overlayed. After a few days I was sure that users of this turntable would be looking specifically for analogue releases - both the first releases and sophisticated re-issues. And this is because it is with them that the depth is deepest, and the smoothness is the smoothest, so to speak. This was the case with, for example, the excellent re-edition of Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd's Jazz Samba, which was released by the Speakers Corner, which had a velvety, beautiful tone, as well as with the original pressing of the The Jazz Greats Volume III • Giant of Jazz Reeds-Part I released by the EmArcy, that includes tracks with performances of such musicians as: Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and others. I don't want to say that digital recordings released on vinyl sounded poorly. Let me put it this way - with Kuzma R they sounded nicer and more "analog", in the common sense of the word, than with other turntables. So I could hear very well what is the "company" sound of the Smoke Sessions Records label and what still needed to be improved in them. This album sounded extremely dynamically, smoothly, nicely, but a little "thin", the bodies were not as richly filled as with analogue pressings. And only the best pressings from digital files I know, for example the Stereo Sound Reference Record Vol. 1, a record released by Stereo Sound, sounded good enough, so that I preferred it from the same material released on a CD. STEREO SOUND REFERENCE RECORD Vol. 1 Universal Music LLC | Stereo Sound SSAR-028~029 „Analog Record Collection” There are some albums that for some reason stay in use in the industry "permanently". We can hear them at many shows, we find in our friends' collections - well, usually even we have at least one version of such titles on our shelf. They are almost always albums with above-average sound quality, not necessarily as interesting from musical point of view, but sounding amazingly well. If, however, people are involved in such project really know what they do, and their point is to reproduce music in the best possible way, with an emphasis on music, the effects can be spectacular. Such discs, both compilations (the so-called "samplers") and complete albums have been released for years by the Japanese magazine "Stereo Sound". One of the most popular, most frequently re-issued albums with its logo is the Stereo Sound Reference Record Vol. 1. Its premiere took place on June 20th 1992 and it has been re-issued several times since – you can still buy it. And no wonder – it is a collection of the best pieces of classical music found in the Philips catalog. The interesting thing is that all these are digital recordings – a bold move, for a magazine tied to tradition and analog sound. The record sounds so good that it is difficult to resist it though. And no wonder – it was Okihiko Sugano who was responsible for the selection. Twenty-six years later, the "Stereo Sound", on September 28th 2018, decided to take this step - the album was released as a double LP. Same as on original release, all the recordings on it were sourced from Philips archives. The edition is truly beautiful. Dust jacket is made of thick cardboard, and the creamy cover features a distinct texture. The original cover was placed in the center, with all the details, such as gilded fragments. Around it, on a creamy "frame", there is the magazine's logo and the name of the series: Stereo Sound Analog Record Collection. The only thing that is missing is the name "Philips", which was used on the first release. The record was cut by a specialist at Nippon Columbia (Denon), Mr. Shigeru Ozawa. Do you remember that Denon was the first company in the world to digitally record and press LPs? (more here: Digital technology in the world of analogue. Trojan horse or a necessity?). This is a 180g vinyl release. The sound is dazzling. It rarely happens that the digital recordings released on the analogue medium sound so credible, so natural, There is a brilliant dynamics here, and great, open timbre and depth. The groove noise is negligible, which additionally helps in quieter fragments. It's really a phenomenal record - it is expensive, but worth every of the 10,000 yens! Sound quality: REFERENCE Award: BIG RED Fingerprint Perfect differentiation is one thing, but Kuzma R has its own sonic signature, there is no doubt about it. It's a warm sounding turntable. As I say, this is something other than the "analogue" sound. In this case the point is that the timbres are deepened and the center of gravity of colors is placed in the lower midrange. Perhaps that is why the sound has a huge momentum, and at the same time intimate closeness. The momentum provides a large volume and place to breath, and intimacy is manifested by a large, close foreground. The sound is presented quite close to us at all. But we are not overwhelmed by it. This is one of the features of a high quality source - a sense of "presence" of the musicians and transferring the acoustics of recording to our room, a temporary suspension of our own acoustics. That how the Kuzma R performs. The close foreground is not aggressive, because within this closeness it has the right perspective. It may seem a little confusing, but it is not - just listen to something like Johnny Hartman's I Just Dropped By To Say Hello, or Paris-Berlin by Joscho Stephan Trio to understand what I'm talking about. It is very dynamic, with a low center of gravity and dark (Joscho Stephan Trio) or very dark (Johnny Hartman). But we can see vocals and double bass from a distance, they do not sit on our lap, so to speak. This simultaneous sense of "here and now" and a perspective is something special and proves that Kuzma R with 4Point 9'' tonearm is a highly refined product. Pulse and rhythm are another strengths of the reviewed turntable. However, this is not a rhythm as precise as I remember it from the Reference 2 and Stabi XL DC models, or that I know from the more expensive TechDAS turntables. It does not always have to be that way, but sometimes, as with the Depeche Mode club remixes, as with the samples from the Skalpel record, it should be a bit more accurate, more "forward". The thing is, I believe, in a warm and somewhat soft lower part of the band. I am talking about the range below 70-80 Hz. Nothing is missing in this sound, everything sounds beautiful. It simply does not offer an ultimate selectivity and precision. Summary Kuzma Stabi R is a compact, neat, fantastically sounding turntable. It performs beautifully with analog releases, but it is able to play also digital ones really well. Its tonality is based on lower midrange and upper bass, and the momentum of the sound is simply unique. The lower bass has a slightly warm character and it is not very precisely defined. The soundstage is large, almost huge, but never seems blown up. Despite all these features, poor recordings will still sound poor. The U2's The Unforgettable Fire from 1984 was, as usual, unlistenable. But performance with higher quality recordings was simply immersive. Technical specifications (according to manufacturer) Weight: 36 kg Platter weight: 8 kg Driver: DC motor Speeds: 33 1/3, 45 VTA adjustment: optional Number of tonearms: 1 (optionally up to 3) Suspended design: no Dimensions (W x D x H): 480 x 380 x 150 mm Base dimensions: 320 x 380 x 150 mm (30 kg) Wood version dimensions: 500 x 465 x 150 mm (39 kg) Finish: black or silver Record clamp: optional Power supply: 115/230/50-60 Hz Options: record clamp, different types of armboards, finish with one of RAL's colors Polish distributor RCM S.C. ul. Czarnieckiego 17 | Katowice Polska rcm.com.pl [hfgallery] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/05.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/05.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/05.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/06.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/06.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/06.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/07.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/07.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/07.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/08.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/08.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/08.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/09.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/09.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/09.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/10.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/10.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/10.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/11.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/11.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/11.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/12.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/12.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/12.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/13.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/13.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/13.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/14.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/14.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/14.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/15.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/15.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/15.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/16.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/16.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/16.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/17.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/17.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/17.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/18.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/18.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/18.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/19.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/19.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/19.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/20.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/20.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/20.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/th/21.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/21.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/kuzma/21.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [/hfgallery]

⌈ MICRO-TUNNING is a series of actions aimed at achieving an optimum performance using precise set up process and some accessories for your loudspeakers, electronic components and cables. With small steps you can change the performance of these components beyond recognition. You're welcome to read the second part of our guide dedicated to ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS. ⌋ hen the audio industry was born, in the 1920s and 1930s, it was developed by research laboratories with virtually unlimited budgets. After all, the point was to develop inventions that would revolutionize the world - most of all radio and cinema industries. Nobody talked about "high fidelity", "high-end", or "audiophilism" at the time, and whenever as a result of their work they could actually hear some sound it was considered a miracle. With time, the sound was getting better. We are still using fruits of that research and development today. A press add from mid-1950ties with McIntosh 50W-2 Of course, the work aimed at improving its quality continued, but such actions were undertaken by engineers, people in "white coats", and not audiophiles - these were none yet. It seems that the „explosion” of the audio market related to music reproduction happened shortly after the end of the World War II, when a lot of well-educated engineers returned to the civilian life, and shops filled with a lot of devices that armies did not need anymore, including amplifiers, speakers and sound sources. Passion plus opportunities have together created what we today call the "perfectionist audio market" or , in short, "audiophilism". Ken Kessler wrote about it in the McIntosh monograph in this way: This is a most common opening of a discussion: the founders of every large company from the so-called Golden Age of Audio - 1950s - to some extent were involved with electronic devices during the Second World War. [...] The very foundations of the hi-fi industry can thus be found in a military conflict, but its birth was possible only due to the conditions of the time of peace. Ken Kessler, McIntosh. „…for the love of music…”, Binghamton 2006, p. 12 The common feature of all early audio products from that time is their utilitarian design. Have a look at the first-ever McIntosh amplifier, the 1949 model 50W-2. Its design is almost iconic and it is truly beautiful in its simplicity: there are two metal boxes with electronics and transformers in them, with tubes protruding on top. Nobody cared about aesthetics - today tubes are often treated as a decoration – but the point was a proper cooling. The 50W-2 power supply module was connected with the amplifier module using a cable that could have as well power the bedside lamp. The connection between speakers and amplifiers, not only in the case of this company, also many years later - see the MC270 model - was realized by inserting the bare end of a cable under a screw, which was then tightened - as it is still done today inside an electrical socket. It was a simple and functional solution, and therefore beautiful. This beauty, however, had a flaw. Today we know that every smallest detail contributes to the sound and therefore matters. At the time, when these solutions were developed, the distortions were just so high, and the coloration of the sound so significant that all these things we are talking about this time, were of little importance. The more so, because it was difficult to measure them. And, let me remind you, hi-fi's fathers were highly educated engineers. For them, whatever they are not able to measure, does not exist. The problem actually is not, that they were not able to perform measurements, but rather that there was nothing to measure... Micro-tunning | As I mentioned in the first part of this micro-cycle, in the part discussing loudspeakers setup, my goal is to "infect you with enthusiasm and tease your curiosity." Let me repeat one more time: although I shall point out many small things you can do to improve the sound, the results can be staggering. I am writing just about the basics, we will not even go to the issue of upgrades. I hope that systematizing the means of sound improvement and providing them in the most accessible form possible will help you to open up to the "new". And that's what we do in audio hobby, right? This is a diagram representing my reference system, that is included in every review – each element is described with a number. You can clearly see all three elements that I am talking about: anti-vibration rack, anti-vibration platforms and anti-vibration feet We are in a comfortable situation today considering the fact, that a large part of the work has already been done by our predecessors. So we know more. However, the knowledge is still "dispersed", not entirely consistent and not fully accepted. I try to use it as often as possible because it delivers amazing results. They might not be as spectacular as ones achieved with proper speakers setup, they're also not so intuitive. But in the long run they seem even more important. Setting the speakers up in the right way, with sensitivity and love, immediately gets us clearly positive results, also because they aline with our expectations. Micro-tuning of electronic devices is not intuitive and it is necessary to suppress the reflex of negation only because we have not heard about such a thing and because according to "deniers", with many engineers among them, it is nothing more but a "quirk". You should try at least a few of the following tips, especially because many of them in the basic form won't cost you a dime, they are just free upgrades. Lets experiment - just like the first people who created the audio industry! What you need to protect and why | Historically, the first audio systems were made in a form of a something similar to a commode and a turntable, tuner and amplifier were mounted inside it. As a result, today there is a habit of placing audio components on a shelf or on/in specially designed furniture. Although it does not look like it, what you can see is a complete CD Player, The Stream from the Italian company Omega Audio Concept: a suspended "bowl" is a CD transport, under there is a D/A converter and power supply, all placed on a unique stand. An anti-vibration rack, that I'm talking about, acts as a mechanical interface between the floor and devices placed on the rack, as well as between all these devices themselves. It separates them from the vibrations generated by loudspeakers and from vibrations generated by other devices. It is obvious that tubes are sensitive to vibrations, that's why the designers of this type of amplifiers have long paid particular attention to their decoupling inside the device itself, as well as to the use of tubes that would be resistant to microphonics. However, these are half-measures and such a device and still must be protected against external vibrations. It is also commonly agreed, that a second group of devices that needs protection against vibrations, is that of signal sources using optical discs, such as CD (HDCD), SACD, DVD and Blu-ray players. The optical system reading the data uses error correction system and theoretically should deal with even serious shocks. The reality is different though - this system interpolates the lost data, that is, changes the signal. You must do everything you can to avoid it. It turns out, however, that vibrations also affect devices that nobody thought they would – solid-state amplifiers. This is an interesting and quite poorly researched matter, however, even a simple experiment in a good system proves that devices of this type sound differently depending on what they are placed on and even what chassis they utilize. It is often the case that it is a solid-state device that benefits mostly from proper decoupling. It causes any 'nervousness' in the sound to disappears, it deepens the timbre, the imaging improves, which results in a more stable acoustic environment for instruments. Usually, bass quality is also improved, as it is more focused, and often also better differentiated. | ANTY-VIBRATION RACKS Recordings | For this part I selected recordings offering more „general” impressions, ones that do not go deep into the details. For example a debut album of Enya (mastered by Nimbus), with beautifully presented layers of music, harmony and timbre, and on the other hand some classic jazz such as Johna Coltrane’s Ballads released as Platinum SHM-CD; (Enya, Enya, BBC Entertainment BBC CD 605, CD, 1987 | John Coltrane Quartet, Ballads, Impulse!/Universal Music LLC (Japan) UCCU-40001, Platinum SHM-CD, 962/2013). Each audio component has to be placed on something. Even if it is "suspended" using some decoupling system, the element it is suspended on still is placed on something. In the room these elements are: floor, then a rack (shelf) and ultimately feet. Let's assume that we can't do anything about the floor, so the first element to take care about is the rack (shelf). The simplest solution is to place a system on some furniture. It can be a commode, a bookshelf, etc. The important thing is, that this piece of furniture is stable, heavy and filled with something - with clothes or books. However, it is always better to choose a specialized anti-vibration rack. Such rack does not have to be expensive - see the modular model prepared by the Franc Audio Accessories. Some other cool-looking, inexpensive racks are also offered by the Rogoz Audio. What matters is that such a piece of furniture is designed and manufactured by an expert who knows which elements and solutions actually influence sound, a which ones don't. The higher up the price list we go, the more solutions and technologies are involved to minimize vibrations. There are also furniture that are based not on an idea of vibration dampening but rather its controlled dispersal. There are two main "schools" - one says that you should dampen vibrations at any cost, and the second one that claims it is impossible, so you need to choose such parameters of a rack so that the vibrations are properly controlled. Types of racks | An example of the first group are the heavy, robust racks made by the American company Harmonic Resolution Systems, which combine aluminum, granite, two types of elastomers, with a selected size and weight. An opposite example is the lineup of the German Finite Elemente, the Pagode series, in which vibrations are somewhat suppressed in a rigid frame and by special anti-vibration elements, but part of it is dispersed in wood - shelves are "tuned" to specific devices through special resonators. I would place the Artesania somewhere between those two, with their shelves suspended on a rigid, heavy main frame, and the extraordinary racks of the German Keiser Acoustics, the Leading Edge series, prepared jointly with VertexQ. Also in this case the main frame is rigid, but the shelves are light and filled with specially selected lossy materials. These are ones of the most expensive anti-vibration racks on the market, but also ones of the best. Finite Elemente Master Reference Pagode Edition rack – my personal reference. As you can see it is placed exactly how it shouldn't be, between the speakers and close to a wall. Only its depth compared to speakers' is quite reasonable. That's a real life situation… Which solution is better? There is no one answer to this question – they are simply different. It all depends on the particular design of a rack and on the devices placed on it. Generally, however, one may say that heavy, massive tables add some weight to the sound and at the same time they take some away from the lower midrange. The sound is faster, more precise and better defined with them. Lighter racks, on the other hand, tend to create sound slightly more focused on midrange, slightly warmer. They are also usually more "musical", especially if they are made of wood. They also offer a better depth of sound. Designers try to balance these features by choosing the right materials for the shelves, frame and decoupling points. Where to put a rack | Apart for the rack's design, also its placement is important. It is affected by vibrations transmitted by the floor - whether from speakers or from other rooms - but also by sound waves that influence devices directly, bypassing the rack. There are several rules. Above all, it's better if the rack is placed on the side of the room, on your left or right side, not in the middle, between the speakers. It is there, where so called nodes of standing waves are located, additionally strengthened by the proximity of the proximity of a wall – you've probably noticed, that usually you can hear the bass best when you're close to a wall, haven't you? This setting is preferred by Americans and some Japanese. This is how the "Stereo Sound" magazine's reference system is set up, and so is the one of our friend, the editor-in-chief of the hifistatement.net magazine Dirk Sommer. The downside of placing the system on the side of a room is the need to use long runs of speaker cables, and generally one should try to use cable between 2 and 5 m long (I will return to this topic in the third part of the Micro-tunning, dedicated to audio cables). Some owners of the absolutely top systems go even as far, as placing the rack in another room. Quite often, however, we have to make some kind of a compromise, that is, sound sources and preamplifiers, so the devices potentially most exposed to vibrations, are placed on the side of the room, while amplifiers, on anti-vibration platforms, are placed between the speakers. A system prepared by Kharma for the Munich High End Show 2018 – you can see a „hybrid” setup – monoblocks are placed between speakers, and all other components are placed on the side As always, you have to choose the version that suits you best and that one that is actually feasible in your listening room (living room). However, if I had to point out the best solution, it would probably be the "hybrid" one, with amplifiers between speakers and other components on a rack at the side. It requires using long interconnects between the preamplifier and power amplifier(s), but you just have to accept it :) Let me add still, that the already mentioned Keizer Acoustics has its own idea for how to eliminate interaction between components and sound-waves, offering for Leading Edge racks special acoustic "inserts" closing the rack's structure on the sides. However, the reality is that in small apartments/rooms one does not have enough space to place a rack at the side, and so it is placed in the space between speakers. That's what I had to do and that's how most systems I know are placed. If that's a case, you can at least try to move the rack away from the wall behind it. It will make an access to cables easier, but it will also minimize the impact of the sound waves. There is one „but” - the front edge of the rack should still be further away from you then the line connecting speakers. You have seen a perfect solution to this problem in Janusz room, the host of the Krakow Sonic Society meetings . | ANTI-VIBRATION PLATFORMS Recordings | This part requires more thought and focus. So let's listen to the debut of the King Crimson, but in the Platinum SHM-CD version, where there is plenty of air and analog noise, as well as the re-edition of Horowitz's recordings with Met (King Crimson, In The Court of the Crimson King, Atlantic/WOWOW Entertainment [Japan] IEDG-01, 7” Platinum SHM-CD + DVD-Audio, 1969/2016 | Vladimir Horowitz, Horowitz at the Met, RCA Red Seal/BMG Classics 633142, „High Performance”, CD (1982/1990) So, the rack has been set up. A high quality one, tailored to our needs, in the place where it is least exposed to vibrations. Its shelves are usually decoupled, which should be enough. But it is not so - many years of experimenting proved that even the best anti-vibration rack can be "improved" in this way. Same as with the racks, in the case of platforms, two main schools a light-weight and heavy platforms. There is an additional element though, the decoupling method - rigid and "floating" one. And again, as in the case of the rack, the heavy platforms are offered by Harmonic Resolution Systems (for example: the M3X-1921 RD Isolation Base, HF | No. 111), and light-weight by Finite Elemente (for example: Master Reference Pagode Edition HD-09, HF | No. 111). The Finite Elemente Pagode Edition HD-09 platform featuring Cerabase Compact feet and 1000 Hz Resonator – as the shelf has been taken off you can see the details of the design (HF | No. 111) Also other already mentioned brands offer such platforms, as well as the Japanese Acoustic Revive, Polish Rogoz Audio, Divine Acoustics, Franc Audio Accessories and others. On the other hand „floating” designs are offered by Acoustic Revive (pneumatic), Pro Audio Bono (using proprietary solution), Avatar Audio, Tewo Audio, Townsend Audio and Stacore (a reference application of decoupling featuring balls). Also the WK Audio platform called Pure is a „floating” design, even though you can't see it at first. Which of them are best? As you already have realized, it depends on the devices you want to place on them and on your own preferences. The general rule is the same though as with racks: the mass-platforms increase focus, and how detailed and fast sound is, while the light-weight ones are more musical. The rigid platforms improve sound definition, the floating ones improve the depth of the sound and make it more relaxed. But the rigid (non-decoupled) made of wood – a specialty of Japanese brands – may have a similar effect on the sound. They usually use wood that also instruments are made of. For example, the Acoustic Revive uses wood called hickory (American white walnut), which is used to build guitars. A good option is simply a thick plywood. Everything depends of course on the device and the rack, but you can experiment on your own with an ordinary board of some soft or medium soft wood. The above mentioned Acoustic Revive offers such a "board", the RHB-20 model, which really nicely modifies the sound of devices. Just go on and experiment! | ANTI-VIBRATION FEET The anti-vibration feet are the last element of the whole anti-vibration system. Often, however, it is the most important part of it, because it is the easiest to check their influence and try different ones out. The classic arrangement of feet in audio devices is a reflection of their "home" character - they are screwed in four corners of the housing. However, in order for the anti-vibration feet to work in optimal conditions, i.e. for them to work as well as possible, one must think about rearranging them. How many feet? | First of all, try out a three feet setup. A tripod is the best support in audio, for both speakers and electronic components. Companies producing such elements meet this kind of thinking, because often you can buy sets of three feet. You can then decide on one of two settings - with one foot in the front of the device and two supporting its back and the other way around. Such devices. This former solution is the most popular one, it is preferred by - for example - the French company YBA and I use it myself too. But it does not mean that it is always the best solution, one should try also the latter solution that is advocated by the Japanese company Soul Note. Three feet, with one in the front is a preferred solution of the French company YBA – the photo presents the Passion CDT 450 player and the Passion IA 350 integrated amplifier Both option are, however, a kind of simplification. The ideal solution would be determining the center of gravity of a given device. If we succeed, we need to set up the feet at equal distances from it and it does not matter where they end up. It is not easy, but it can be done even "by eye", with some approximation. This is exactly the way Divine Acoustics suggests to set up its Kepler feet (more on the philosophy of this company in the article by Piotr Gałkowski, entitled Why anti-vibration accessories affect the sound?). Where to place them | When buying anti-vibration feet, we do it to place devices on them. It's just that these usually have already their own feet, don't they? So what do you have to do? One thing is sure never place new feet under old once, - this is a mistake. The simplest option is to slide the new feet under the device and support it next to the old feet or, if we have three at our disposal, place two near the old ones and the third in another spot. The device should be supported by new feet while the old one should be elevated about the surface. This solution will yield the best sonic results. However, it is problematic, because each time we move the device, we have to remember to set the feet correctly again. Therefore, another way is simply to remove the old ones and replace them with the new. The problem you may encounter are too small threads in the bottom of the devices. In this case, you need to buy the appropriate adapters, or enlarge the holes in the device. In this way, the feet in the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition player were screwed on - their replacement was one of the elements of modification of the basic version of this device. The Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition features Franc Audio Accessories feet – they are screwed on in four corners (HF | No. 164) Which feet to use? | In short – good ones. Truism, but still true. You can of course use the affordable, really great working rubber discs made by Vibrapod, and they will do a fine job. There are various version suited best for devices of certain weight, so you can select the best ones for a particular device. Optionally, you can buy also rubber cones with a steel ball at the end - and it is a very cool and inexpensive solution. Vibrapods modify the sound towards warmth, softness and delicacy. The second option is presented by Japanese systems, where wooden stands are placed under devices, speakers and cables - remember what I said about Japanese and wood? Some companies, such as SPEC, simply equip their amplifiers with wooden platforms integrated with the chassis, and then they fix wooden feet underneath. You can make such feet yourself – you just need to make sure they are stable. What material should you use? - As in the case of platforms, I suggest rather soft and medium-soft wood, preferably those kinds that are used for musical instruments. Ready-made elements of this type are available on the market, for example, from Cardas (Myrtle Wood Block) and Acoustic Revive (HQ4). Interestingly, myrtle (myrtle) is a hard wood, which will translate into a different sound than hickory used by the AR. Mytek DAC placed on small Acoustic Revive HQ4 feet made of hickory wood However, if you want something more, if you do not want the feet to simply mask problems of your system, but to emphasize its advantages, you will have to pay a lot more. One of the options are feet that feature a spike and properly prepared bed. Spikes are the oldest known mechanical interface that has been used in audio for years. It is popular because it is cheap and works well. However, if it is to offer a truly sophisticated sound, the entire decoupling system must be sophisticated, and that means - expensive. The above mentioned Keplers from Divine Acoustics are an example of such a design, where the bed is made of a few ruby elements, but another similar solution is is used in the very popular feet made by the American company Stillpoints. Blade-based feet add order to the sound, improving focus and definition. Usually, they also help to bring out the depth of the stage and emphasize the sound attack. Tonal saturation and liquidity on the other hand are not their forte. Therefore, they will work best there where these sonic qualities have been already achieved or are present in excess. The interface can also be formed using a ball that combined with two surfaces form a rolling bearing. This is how the iconic Finite Elemente feet, or Franc Audio Accessories ones are built, but also the extremely sophisticated feet made by the Korean company HiFiStay. Symposium Audio and Avatar Audio also offer their versions of this solution. What do they bring to the table? Above all, saturation, resolution and palpability of the sound. They „calm down” the sound, without sharpening it. Products of each manufacturer have their own "sonic signature", but all of them share the goal of deepening the sound, even at the expense of how detailed it is. They should work well in systems that already are highly detailed and where there are no problems with dynamics. Finite Elemente feet – you can see the coupling element, a ceramic ball (HF | No. 114) To finish this part of our guide, let me add that there are also feet with a magnetic cushion, hybrid ones, combining a soft, lossy element and balls, and some others. They all adjust the sound in a different ways, which is why - as always - I encourage you to run your independent trials. GROUND FILTERS | EMI/RFI FILTERS | FUSES In this part I gathered three techniques to improve the sound of electronic devices, which even experienced audiophiles have their doubts about. Everything requires time before it is widely accepted. I write about them not because I heard about them from others, but because I tested many of them and some I use every day in my system. This is the ultimate "touch" that makes sense only when all the devices are properly protected against vibrations. With one caveat, that I'll leave for later. Recordings | In this part you could use one more the Diana Krall from Wildflower - the opening track. The second album is particularly refined and it will allows you to hear dynamics, resolution and tone shifts – it's The Dialogue (Diana Krall, Wallflower, Verve/Universal Music LLC UCCV-9577, “Deluxe Edition”, SHM-CD + DVD, 2015 | Takeshi Inomata, The Dialogue, Audio Lab. Record/Octavia Records OVXA-00008, SACD/CD, 1977/2001) Ground filters | Passive ground filters (ground/mass conditioners) and EMI / RFI filters are products that have been discovered for hi-fi only recently, despite the fact they have been used in industry for years. The problem was that audio designers did not know about their existence, and if they did, they didn't know how to transfer these experiences to audio – it's not that simple. I have talked about these issues to the owners of the Verictum, a company that specializes in this type of products, and they clearly implied that a mechanical translation of ideas that work in the industry to audio is a scenario for failure (see A Magic of a system: VERICTUM). It turns out that combining the grounds of devices at one point, preferably with such an artificial ground, results in significantly lower noise. It is easy to measure and to hear. The sound is simply deeper, the background is blacker and more velvety. And products of this type are easy to connect to the system - it's usually something like a can, a small housing (like the QAR),with a connecting cable protruding from it. You need to connect it with device's ground or its housing. QAR S-15 ground conditioner (HF | No. 161) They can be placed next to the device or in a completely different place - the connection cable should not be too long, though because it will then act like an antenna. A good solution is also to connect all the masses to the same point. It is often called a "star ground", also used inside devices. Ground conditioners that I know operate in a similar way, although they differ in the intensity of the effect. It takes some time before they operate at their full potential - after connecting them to the system one has to wait a day, maybe two, and only then begin critical listening sessions. EMI/RFI filters | Same as with the artificial ground, passive EMI / RFI filters has been known for their industrial applications. In audio, they come in two forms - large elements placed on top of devices, or below them, as well as in the form of "plugs" for unused signal connectors. Verictum X Block EMI/RFI filter – it's latest version The former are known, for example, in the form of wooden elements with a soft bottom, which we put on the device - this is how the X Bulk filter by Verictum looks like. It can also be placed under the device, but it is important that is it as close to the chassis as possible. The active version of such a filter is, for example, the product by Synergistic Research, which is an anti-vibration platform at the same time. There is something else | For a quite some time now, all my devices have been looking like hedgehogs, because their backs are not flat as their feature lots of "spikes". These are actually soft of "plugs", serving either to minimize noise - by shorting inputs or shielding outputs - or to create a local artificial ground. These are analogous solutions to the described previously, noise filters and ground conditioners, only in a miniature version. Shielding unused inputs is a standard procedure in industry. This protects fragile electronic circuits against high-frequency interference - and any opening in the chassis-screen is the point these can get inside through. That's how plugs inserted in to the inputs and outputs work. These placed in inputs additionally shortcut the "hot" pin (pins) to the ground. Acoustic Revive believes that their role of vibration damping is equally important, so it pays special attention to the material they use to make these elements. Additionally they glued small elements made of mountain crystal to them. I've been using them for years and they allowed me to be “there”. Changes introduced by these elements will only be audible after all previously described elements of fine-tuning have already been done. But they are worth it, really worth it! By themselves, they do not add anything new, but they deepen the changes introduced by anti-vibration elements and filters. They "sneak" into our perception “by osmosis”, unnoticed. Don't expect that after you plug them in there will be some huge wow effect. No, it does not work like that! They only complement the performance we have worked for, they further smoothen and deepen it. Fuses | I could end this part of the micro-tuning guide, if not for one sensitive subject: fuses. These little devils are found in every electronic device, because they protect them from damage. It is sort of a "fifth column" or saboteurs placed behind your defense lines. You see - the fuse is a non-linear element, highly imperfect, which is sort of a sudden break in the voltage path - usually the supply voltage. It is difficult to measure their impact on the sonic performance, and even more difficult to properly interpret such measurements. Apparently, we still have to wait for the right tools. But already today one can say it is easy to hear - replacing a classic fuse with one that has been prepared by a specialist company, changes the sound to no lesser extend then operation of placing a device on a good anti-vibration platform! Such fuses have better contacts, the "safety" wire is made of higher quality material, and materials for the casing are also better. On the one hand, it is about improving conductivity and, on the other hand, about reducing vibrations. Quantum Blue fuses by Synergistic Research. photo: Synergistic Research Fuses of this type are offered by a large number of manufacturers and each of them sounds a bit different. But all improve the sound. The resolution changes with them, which is the basis for good performance. The frequency response is also widening. This is really a big improvement and it's also cumulative, meaning that the more fuses we replace in a device, the better. You can start with the main fuse - it is usually the one placed in the IEC power inlet or - less often - in a separate element on the back panel. The next step should be replacing the fuses inside the device. Beware! - while all previous modifications were absolutely safe, in this case you should consult some specialist, or - even better – have such operation performed by one. The new fuses should have similar parameters/values and be of the same type (fast / slow). | MINI-MAX, OR A SUMMARY OF PART TWO Esoteric? Absolutely not - just real life. Everything I have described has been confirmed by many listening sessions, both by me and by other people I respect, and most of these things are also confirmed by measurements. Although each of the stages of the MICRO-TUNNING process I wrote about, has its own specificity, together they allow to extract so much music from the audio devices that it is sometimes hard to believe. These changes are not dependent on the price of the device, but only on its quality, or its potential. Equally spectacular changes can be achieved by placing on a cool platform and feet an amplifier that costs 2000 or 20,000 PLN. The replacement of the fuse in a 20,000 and 100,000 PLN players will be just as shocking. And what about those that cost as little as 1000? You will not believe how the sound of such a device can change – what do you have to loose if you try it out? Nothing, except maybe for your skepticism. A hierarchy of these changes/improvements is simple, although different from the order in which I discussed them: | 1 | anti-vibration platform, | 2 | anti-vibration feet, | 3 fuses, | 4 | anti-vibration rack, | 5 ground filter, | 6 | EMI / RFI filter, | 7 | elements plugged into sockets of the devices. Take this road and - I guarantee – you will find yourselves in a completely different place than at the beginning of this process. In the place called MUSIC. ■

⌈ The album In a Sentimental Mood by leading jazzmen: WOJTEK KAROLAK and ADAM CZERWIŃSKI is one of the best vinyl records of recent years – both when it comes to music and sound. The text below is about how it was recorded and released, as well as what it sounds like. ⌋ t is extremely easy to release a vinyl record nowadays. By a curious paradox, technological innovations have brought vinyl to the verge of extinction. On the other hand, it has been blooming thanks to DJ culture and some audiophiles claiming that analogue sound can simply be referential. A vinyl disc today is not only a medium for storing music but also the culture code – it is fashionable. Adam Czerwiński with the In a Sentimental Mood album, paying a visit to “High Fidelity” There is a world of difference, however, between releasing a vinyl record and releasing a good vinyl record. The difference is almost as big as the one between plonk and nice Barolo or tasty Rioja. A vinyl disc can be pressed by almost anyone who somehow manages to arrange an appointment at any overburdened pressing plant. It is because vinyl records are now being kind of mass-produced – just like in the 1970s, when quality was no longer that important. It is similar now – quality is important, but only up to a point. In order to release a vinyl record the way it deserves, one has to be prepared to spend much more money, but mostly to change the way of thinking. It is because almost all new vinyl discs are pressed from digital files and these files come either from digital remasters – if it is a reissue, or digital master files – if it is a new release. It is due to the fact that digital recordings are cheaper, easier and safer. The Analogue is a completely different world that is understood by almost nobody today. So, those who know what vinyl is about are really wanted, indeed. That is why Adam Czerwiński’s initiative that we wrote about in this month’s editorial is so valuable. This jazzman – musician, producer and publisher has decided to release vinyl discs. He is planning both to reissue older albums that were still digitally recorded and new fully analogue recordings. One of the latter is the In a Sentimental Mood album released exactly on 13th December 2018, by Wojciech Karolak and Adam Czerwiński himself. This is the album that I would like to tell you about. Although these two people are the front men of the album, they also cooperated with other fantastic musicians: Tomasz Grzegorski (tenor saxophone), Robert Majewski (flugelhorn) and Marcin Wądołowski (electric guitar). There are eight pieces on the album, including compositions of both musicians, but also jazz evergreens, e.g. by Duke Ellington, Slide Hampton and Sonny Rollins. The final piece on the album is an instrumental version of Jeremi Przybora’s and Jerzy Wasowski’s standard entitled Już czas na sen (Dobranoc). PROGRAMME Strona A 1. Blues zajęczy 2. Daddy James 3. Wyszłam za mąż, zaraz wracam 4. Old Folks / That's All Strona B 1. In A Sentimental Mood 2. A Frame For The Blues 3. Eight Plus Four-Karolinka 4. Już czas na sen (Dobranoc) | INTERVIEW In a Sentimental Mood is an extraordinary album. First of all, 100% of the material was recorded in one take. Secondly, it was recorded and mixed in the analogue domain. Thirdly, final mastering was made at the Abbey Road Studios, together with cutting the copper master disc in DMM technology. It is the first album released as part of the AC Records Vinyl Club that is under the patronage of our magazine. On this occasion, Adam Czerwiński visited me and we were able to talk freely about everything, as reported below. WOJCIECH PACUŁA: Tell me when the Club was established, please. ADAM CZERWIŃSKI: The Club was established exactly on the 13th December 2018 (laughs). Though it is a fatal date for Poland, I hope it will be lucky for us. Why do you need such a club at all, what is its objective? You know what, I am a person who cannot just sit down and do nothing, and I always do a lot of different things. I mostly play and record a lot, and I have been organizing the jazz festival called “Jazz w lesie” for the last twenty-four years. Now I have come up with the idea to deal with vinyl. It is because I became a vinyl fan about five years ago, I fell in love with its sound. There was a short way to go from that point to a record label – why not do it yourself? Why not do it as well as possible? It is not all about vinyl, but generally about the analogue, isn’t it? Yes, it is not only about vinyl, but also analogue tapes. I have an idea to release my albums on tapes as well. The analogue that we are talking about also includes the recording system… Yes, In a Sentimental Mood is the first album that I have recorded totally in the analogue domain, from the beginning to the end, starting with tube microphones, through an analogue table, finishing with an analogue tape recorder. In a Sentimental Mood was released in a red (transparent) and a black version Does such a fully analogue session artistically differ from a digital one? Definitely! You have to face other challenges, especially considering the fact that all the material on this album was recorded 100% in one take, as if we were giving a concert, but at a studio. I will say more – it was a 200% performance, as our Studer multitrack tape recorder controller broke down just before the session, so we had to perform continuously, one side at once. We recorded one take of each track and then determined their order. When you perform like that, all the production “halo” that we deal with while making a standard digital recording is gone. A digital recording which leaves such a studio sounds as if everything in it has been recorded together and this is how it will be listened to on an album. And the reality is that these are fully “produced” albums where almost every sound was played and recorded separately, and musicians often did not even meet one another. Everything is live and true on our album – the way it really was. It must be a very stressful situation for a musician... You know what, Wojtek has been performing for 50 years and I – for 35 years, so what could be stressful about performing live? It is a normal concert situation for us :) So, how did you manage to persuade Wojtek Karolak to take part in such a session? (Laughs) I must say I am probably a world champion, as Wojtek is totally lazy and he would most willingly do nothing, sit at home, process photos on his computer and deal with various other things, but surely not with performing, not to mention recording… However, as we have known each other for many years and have gone through a lot together – we have been performing and doing a lot of various things – I managed to drag him to the studio for this session. He complained a lot and he did not like anything – he never does, anyway. It was so until I played him the final product, i.e. the finished recordings. By the way, let me tell you that I had to “disconnect” him a little from action, as he wanted to change and replace everything, acting more like a grumbler than a producer. Fortunately, I had known it would be like that and I discouraged him from coming to the studio once again, so I did all the mixes and the rest of the work with the recording director. That was a blessing, as when Wojtek heard the final product, his jaw dropped. And he was totally bought into it when we had a presentation at the Audio Video Show 2018 exhibition with Elins Audio electronics and Acoustique Quality speakers, where I had the test pressing of that vinyl recording. I could see that he was very pleased, which rarely happens. You master your albums at the Abbey Road where the Beatles used to record – how did you manage to get there? When I was recording the album Friends. Music of Jarek Śmietana, a tribute to Jarek which I released five years ago (“High Fidelity” was one of the media sponsors of the album), I fought my way to get there. I was determined because Jarek had always been a fan of the Beatles and dreamt of recording an album there one day. I wanted to honour him that way. As I was performing with Nagel Kennedy then and I often visited London, I knew some people there, including managers. It is not easy to get to the Abbey Road Studios, as the studio does your background check three generations back in order to get to know who you are and what you have to offer. However, we did manage to do the first mastering there. When I call them now, I do it in through more private channels and I do not have to arrange anything officially. It is a very pleasant studio with nice atmosphere and wonderful open people. When you are there, music simply looks a little different than anywhere else. Does the mastering professional who prepares a tape for the needs of an LP cut the DMM disc straight away? Yes, he does it straight away, at one go. We cut the first two albums using the DMM technology, so using a copper disc. The Abbey Road Studios is one of the four or five places in the world where this is still being done. One machine is also located at the pressing plant where we press our albums, i.e. at DMS Vinyl Ltd. in Plymouth. It is a very interesting process – I would even say it is sublime. Looking through a microscope, one can see how music changes into grooves – it is something incredible and very touching! What are your plans concerning the next album? I am flying to London, literally in a moment, where I am having a mastering session on January 28th. It is my first solo album that I recorded about 18 years ago in Hollywood, featuring Larry Goldings, an outstanding pianist and organ player, Darek Oleszkiewicz (double bass) and me (drums) – a classic piano trio. When is this album going to be released? In mid April – such is the release calendar. It will be the third album released as part of the AC Records Vinyl Club. The second one has just been released – it is a reissue of the Story of Polish Jazz, Jarek Śmietana’s famous album, with rapped history of Polish jazz. In the original version it was Polish rap, while in this version we have English rap performed by Steve Logan who died in 2007. This version is being released for the first time. So, there will be three “Club” albums. I know that they will appear at all Denon showrooms, won’t they? Yes, we are starting the promotion of this very album on February 14th. Our plans are that all my albums will be present at these showrooms. There will surely be some promotions connected with them, e.g. when someone buys a turntable, etc. Before we say goodbye to each other, as you need to get your plane in a moment, let us return to tapes for a while – you would like to prepare master tape copies for complete madmen. Yes, indeed. A few people have even already demanded them. I will surely offer tapes, but I would also like to sell high-resolution files with the material, as parallel to analogue recording we also record onto a computer – it is the so-called “safe”, i.e. a safety recording. So far, nothing bad has happened, but it is always worth having it. So, I also have high-resolution files that I would like to share with Club members. Thank you very much for the interview and I wish you a safe journey! Thank you, I will contact you as soon as I come back – “High Fidelity” readers will have firsthand information :) | RECORDING AND RELEASE You can find some information on the album In a Sentimental Mood in the already mentioned editorial from the February edition of “High Fidelity” (HF | No. 178). However, I will bring the pieces together once again for those who have not had an opportunity to read about it yet. It is the first album that has been released as part of the AC Records Vinyl Club established by Adam Czerwiński. It is a strictly limited edition – only 500 discs have been pressed. All of them are numbered and the first 150 are red (half-transparent), while the remaining 350 are black. The discs are put in anti-static envelopes that are placed in one of the parts of a double gatefold cover. The graphic design is excellent, thanks to photos taken by Mr Paweł Wyszomirski and the acrobat.com.pl design studio from Gdańsk. This is an AAA album, i.e. recorded, mixed and mastered in the analogue domain. The recording, mix and pre-mastering were done at the same studio – Custom 34 and by the same sound engineer – Mr Piotr Łukaszewski. Recording was done in one take onto the 24-track analogue Studer Studer A 827 tape recorder with 2” tape, through the Neve Custom Series analogue console. As Adam Czerwiński said, each of the recordings was made on the first attempt, except for one that was attempted twice. Four pieces were recorded at one go and then they were mixed and mastered in the same order. At the same time, they were recorded onto 1/4” tape on the Studer A807 mkII tape recorder and cut, and then arranged in pre-planned order. So, the order in which the tracks were recorded does not correspond to their order on the album. The copper DMM disc, i.e. the “master” of the In a Sentimental Mood album cut by a mastering specialist Having been prepared this way, the tape was then taken to London, to the Abbey Road Studios. The mastering engineer who used it to cut a copper disc in DMM technology was Alex Warton. He was responsible, among others, for the analogue reissues of the monophonic versions of The Beatles albums from the year 2014. The copper disc was cut using a Neumann cutter with the VMS-82 DMM head and then sent to the pressing plant in Plymouth. Each of the records weighs 180 g. “High Fidelity” is the AC Records Vinyl Club’s main partner. | THE LISTENING SESSION Adam Czerwiński’s album has a very specific sound character. It is low, dense, warm and incredibly (I have to say this!) “analogue” sound. It is analogue in the sense that it is smooth, saturated, filled up and characterized by very, very good resolution. While listening to the previous Czerwiński’s album (Kiedy byłem), one may appreciate its sound precision, selectivity, attack and speed. It is a cool album. However, one instantly knows that In a Sentimental Mood is something totally different. First of all, this is sound with incredible feeling and at ease. There is neither pressure, nor diva-like acting. When Karolak comes to the foreground, he does not do it in order to cover the rest of the musicians, but simply because he has found space for himself at the given moment – space left by the other performers. It is similar with Adam and the remaining musicians. They wonderfully complement one another, feeling as one body performing together. If this is not improvisation and jazz, what is? As I have already stated, it is filled up and warm sound. It resembles the analogue sound of the 1950s, but with better saturated bass and a little less emphasised attack. While listening to, for example, Roy DuNann’s recordings for the Prestige record label we will hear instruments close to us, almost coming out of the speakers. It is sound imposed by recording conditions – a small part of a publisher’s warehouse. Yet, with time, it was accepted as some kind of a sound standard. Recordings from the album I a Sentimental Mood sound more like those by Rudy Van Gelder, made at his studio in Hackensack. They are a little bit more distanced and, additionally, have long added reverberation. Considerable sound “departure” is very characteristic for this album. On the one hand, there are intimate, closely set colours and, on the other hand, there is a lot of air behind the performers. The listening session was conducted using the Kuzma Stabi R turntable (30,500 PLN) with the 4Point 9 arm (15,300 PLN) and the Etsuro Urushi Bordeaux cartridge (32,000 PLN); HERE The musicians are placed within small space characterized by great depth, though. The foreground is not very close, but we get the impression of having intimate contact with the musicians. There are very short pauses between tracks, as if someone had wanted to highlight the character of the recording – a “live” one, in a sense. The sound of the percussion is dense, the plates have their weight and are wonderfully differentiated, and yet they sound warm. What is interesting, the leader and his instrument have not dominated the album, leaving space for other people present at the studio. It is because this is such “analogue” or analogue-tube sound, one might say – the exact opposite of the stereotypical sound of DMM discs. The vinyl produces virtually no noise, there is very little crackling noise and the “mechanics” of the disc never attracts anyone’s attention to itself. The “red” version sounds a little bit different – it does not have as high resolution as the black one and the higher midrange is a little more audible. The differences are not big, as these are small changes, but a colour pigment added to vinyl always has an effect on sound – it is simple mechanics. ■ Sound quality: 10/10 Award: BIG RED Button [hfgallery] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/th/07.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/07.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/07.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/th/08.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/08.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/08.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/th/09.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/09.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/09.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/th/10.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/10.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/10.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/th/11.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/11.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/11.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/th/12.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/12.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/12.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/th/13.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/13.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/13.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/th/14.jpg" big="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/14.jpg" src="foto_testy/1902/a_czerwinski/14.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [/hfgallery]

⌈ Fun fact no 1 - Ksawerowa, a village near Łódź, is the only one in Poland with a tram connection. Fan fact no. 2 – it is one of the few villages in the world where high-end turntables are made. ⌋ t's style over substance" - I thought, seeing the Tentogra Oscar turntable for the first time. It was during the Audio Video Show 2017.. "It's probably style over substance" - I said to a friend when I saw the same turntable a year later at the Audio Video Show 2018. The change was subtle, because "probably" does not make a summer. Do you remember the scene of a dam being blown up from the Force 10 from Navarone (directed by Guy Hamilton, 1978)? A small explosive charge apparently did not make a dent on the huge structure. It just "scratched" it. The rest, however, was done by nature. I think it was the same with me and the Tentogra Oscar turntable from Ksawerowa. After the initial shock, quickly, when I learned where its form came from, when I listened to how it was built and when it finally spent some time in my system, its shape became familiar and more natural to me. The founder, owner and chief designer, Mr. Wojciech Samołyk described it this way: The construction of the Tentogra turntable was my idee fixe. I wanted to pay tribute to both music that would achieve the best possible reproduction and setting, and an architect who is an incomparable master for me. I wanted to combine my two first and longest-lasting loves. tentogra.pl, accessed on: Feb. 18th 2019 The master he mentioned is Oscar Niemeyer, and the tribute is the form of a turntable named after him. Although Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) is no longer with us, he still belongs to the world's leading contemporary architects. His most important projects include buildings in Brasilia, the new capital of Brazil, from the 1957-1964, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Aparecida, or the Seat of the French Communist Party. Another of his achievements is the National Congress building located at the Plaza of the Three Powers. Please take a look at this building and you will better understand where I am today, and the form of the turntable we are talking about will become understandable and even natural as if it were the only possible one. Of course it is an illusion, turntables have quite specific acceptable shape and form. However, the Oscar turntable expands this pool and for me it will always be one possible ones, next to such extraordinary designs as the Preambulator by Metaxas & Sins, Kronos Sparta, or La Luce, a designed prepared by the Spotheim. WOJCIECH SAMOŁYK Owner, designer Mr. Wojciech Samołyk, a young student working on his project. My adventure with turntables started while I was still fascinated with the CD in 1999 when with my friend, also an architect, I tried to build a turntable. It never got out of the designing stage, we never even tried to actually build one. Over the period of the next 16 years, I built a large collection of audio devices from the 1960s and 70s. The concept of building a turntable has matured over the years. I studied designs of many old turntables. As an advanced audiophile, I also owned some interesting modern designs, such as the SME 20/2, J. Sikora, Transrotor and others. When I tried to convince my friend to work with me to build turntables together, he refused. Finally, four years ago, I dared to try to design my first turntable by myself. I was encouraged to do that by Mr Jerzy Owsiak - the man behind The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (W.O.Ś.P.) and I promised to build and offer him the very first unit. The PIERWSZA with the 0001 serial number, or the prototype will be delivered to him this year and it will definitely be auctioned on one of W.O.Ś.P charity auctions in 2020. Let me invite everyone to bid high for it. In 1984, I graduated in architecture at the Lodz University of Technology. I remember the very beginning of my studies and the enormous aesthetic experience when I first saw pictures of Oscar Niemeyer's projects. It was HIM, not Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe or any other famous architects of the twentieth century, who was my master and guide. The first pictures I saw in architectural magazines, as it turns out today, were photographs of the Oscar Niemeyer's life's work, the new capital of Brazil. Brazilian National Congress, the work of Oscar Niemeyer. photo Wikipedia The Brazilian National Congress was a very special object for me. The poetry and simplicity of the forms that make up this beautiful object, the contrast preservation principle, the soft/hard lines, the two inverted twin forms that reminded me some convex/concave vessels. At some point when I saw this object in aerial photographs, I understood that the layout of forms created by Niemeyer was also a turntable! I decided to pay tribute to my master by realizing his famous work as "Tribute to Oscar Niemeyer" in the form of a Tentogra Oscar turntable. Please note, that this object made its way to the UNESCO's world's architectural heritage lists, which puts it on a par with the Cheops pyramid. After graduation, I never took a job as an architect. The times were extremely unfavorable for this profession. Today, by entrusting my company to my children, I finally have a lot of time to return to my profession. Maybe not as architect but as a designer. The development of the turntable lasted over a year. I designed all the elements myself using a graphic software. I had to create a functional object, maintaining the basic principles of ergonomics. An important ingredient of the visual features of the Tentogra Oscar turntable was the use of wood, aluminum and using synergy of colors and textures. At the beginning of the 1980s, I traveled to France several times and worked there in the reconstruction and restoration of antique furniture under the direction of Jan Czepiel, former director of the Krakow Conservation of Monuments Laboratory (PKZ). When manually applying varnish, I began to understand the beauty of high gloss finish for wood. Restored furniture often came from the 16th and 18th centuries. I transferred these experiences and skills to the chassis of the "Oscar". I decided to make it from stable MDF, finish with exotic wood veneers and colors also other elements. Mr. Wojciech Samołyk in France with a restored furniture by Andre Boulle'a My friend and my daughter's drawing and painting teacher, Mr. Mariusz Korczak, from the Art Education Workshop in Łódź proved to be helpful in this respect. It's hard to believe by I managed to persuade Mr Mariusz so that for 1.5 years I could study with him a completely different type of drawing and painting than those I was taught in college. It was an amazing visual and spiritual experience. The internal construction of the turntable consists of two aluminum slates. Two adjustable tonearm bases are mounted on one of them, a brush-less DC motor and its controller enclosed in a Faraday cage (the convexity on the left side of the turntable) are placed in the other one. The platter features its second invisible part in the form of a pulley inside the chassis and weighs approx. 15 kg. During the Audio Video Show 2018, I presented the second model of the Tentogra turntables, named Gramy. In both turntables I use innovative software that records time of usage for cartridges. We were the first in the world to use this solution. For Oscar, an innovative battery drive is a standard feature. For Gramy it's an option that may be ordered additionally. Gramy features yet another innovative solution that allows user to adjust VTA of a tonearm. This feature means that one does not have to use some expensive tonearm to be able to use this function. What I find interesting in designing turntables is their evolution or continuous development. Creating values that will make these conceptually very old, devices, easier to use and simply more modern. When I run out of ideas, same as Tesla designers, I ask others for help. In the evolution of my turntables I want to use the latest achievements not only technological ones, but also of fine arts and intuition as well. For now, I plan the third model, and there is another one planned for future. | OSCAR The Plaza of the Three Powers, where the Congressional Palace is located, looks best at night observed from a distance. The building consists of two twin towers, on one side a dome, on the other a saucer. Illuminated after dark, they resemble a city of the future or a scenery of science fiction movies. Certainly, they no one looking at them will think about the seat of the congress and senate. A calm surface of water reflects and duplicates the building. tentogra.pl, accessed: Feb. 18th 2019 Deck | A sturdy chassis is the first thing that strikes you – it is a non-suspended, mass-loader. It has a form of a long, flat cuboid, visually divided into two parts. The lower part is made on CNC machines of aluminum plates, and the upper part is made of MDF boards. Aluminum is de-stressed - deprived of mechanical tensions - and painted. It is not anodized because the anode introduces stress. The upper part can be varnished or finished with natural veneer. It consists of two halves, closing the chamber underneath, in which elements that can not be seen from outside are hidden. Platter | And you can not see, for example, the rest of the platter. One of the doubts I had when looking at the turntable for the first time concerned mass distribution. It is a common knowledge that the mass of a turntable should be focused as low as possible. In the reviewed turntable, the visible part of the platter has the shape of a basin tapering towards the bottom. Mr Wojtek, however, removed the housing for me and I could see that there the remaining part of the platter with a large flywheel under it - the center of gravity sits therefore really low, lower than the support point of the bearing. The platter consists of two parts - the bottom one, shaped as an hourglass, and the upper one, made of glass. These two elements are not mechanically coupled with each other, the glass simply lies on aluminum. What's more, there is a large cut out in the middle with a diameter close to the diameter of the label on a record. And again - it was about minimizing the vibrations transmitted from the bearing through the spindle. The glass part is centered using a polyamide element. The zirconium-ruby bearing is integrated into an aluminum plate using phosphor bronze. In top of the platter one places a heavy element of a rather complicated structure, with two decoupled aluminum elements inside. The unit I received for the test, featured one that was still in the early design phase. Motor | You can see something else there - the 24 V DC motor (asynchronous DC) that was mounted atypically, because in the right front corner. This is a belt-drive turntable. The drive belt is flat and belted on this wheel. The motor features its own controller, supplied by the manufacturer, ensuring high precision of rotation. However, Mr Wojtek found it insufficient and ordered an additional control system from the Polish specialist, to control the motor control system. This cascade control resulted in exceptional precision in rotation. Wow & Flutter measured in accordance with DIN IEC 386 during a dozen or so measurements amounted to no more than +/- 0.12%. The controller was placed in a Faraday cage made of thick aluminum - it is a small convexity visible on the top panel. The motor is controlled using buttons placed on the upper part of the deck. The owner of the company is a fan of shellac records, which explains why user can use one of three rotational speeds: 33.3, 45 and 78 RPM (rounds per minute ). The selected speed reading is available on a large LCD display. It will also be useful for additional, manual speed fine-tunning as well as for reading the cartridges operating time. This last information will be useful to anyone who tries to break in a new cartridge. Power supply | One of the most important innovations here is the power supply. Oscar is powered using a battery called Blue Power. The reviewed unit included its latest version, that allowed several hours of operation without the need of recharging. The previous version allowed for half that time. As Mr. Samołyk said, after changing battery to one with bigger capacity, he noticed to his surprise that the sound got louder! Yes, the power supply can change the sound significantly - just listen to the Brinkmann turntable with a solid-state or tube power supply (RoNt II) if you need to check it yourself. The Blue Power is a large box with a utilitarian appearance, painted gray, with a blue LCD display on the front. It displays information regarding percentage of battery charge. It uses li-ion batteries. The battery switches to charging mode automatically after discharging, but it can also be done manually, for example at night. It connects to the turntable with thick, solid cable featuring sturdy connectors. Tonearm | The turntable features two tonearm bases that can accommodate arm up to 14". For this review Oscar was equipped with a 14'' arm – the fantastic Kuzma 4Point 14. I know it from several other tests and although I'm not a fan of long arms, this one presented many advantages. The second base is to be used with a tonearm with - as it reads in company materials - a mono cartridge, maybe even one with a special stylus for shellac records. Platform | The Oscar turntable is simply a deck – user buys whatever tonearm (tonearms) he wants. However, it has been conceived as part of a larger system consisting of three elements: a deck, an anti-vibration platform and anti-vibration rack. Turntable weighs hefty 70 kg - mass-loader, and Oscar is one of them, suppress vibrations in large mass of the base and platter. They are, however, quite sensitive to external vibrations. The Tentogra turntable has been secured against external vibrations in three steps. The first step are the magnetic feet under the rack and the rack itself weighing 30 kg. The second step is a pneumatic platform, which we used in the test. It was made of layers of wood specially glued under the pressure of 1000 tons / m2, filled with 130 pneumatic elements and finished with natural leather. Additional decoupling is provided by four feet with a sintered ceramic ball placed between the base of the turntable and the platform. Two feet are placed under the rear corners, and the other two in the middle, in the front. The Tentogra turntable test was done the same way as tests of other top turntables, such as, for example, Air Force One and Air Force Three Premium by TechDAS, Kronos Pro Ltd. MkII, and recently the Kuzma Stabi R. So it was placed on the top shelf of the Finite Elemente Pagode Edition rack, or actually on two of them - it's as wide as the Air Force One. It featured the Kuzma 4Point 14'' tonearm and the Miyajima Labs Madake cartridge. I used two phonostages – the RCM Audio Sensor Prelude IC and Grandinote Celio IV. Recordings used for the test (a selec- tion) Benny Carter, Jazz Giant, Contemporary Records/Analogue Productions AJAZ 7555, „45 RPM | Limited Edition #0404", 2 x 180 g LP (1957/2009) Brendan Perry, Ark, Cooking Vinyl/Vinyl 180 VIN180LP040, 2 x 180 g (2011) Brian Eno, Craft On A Milk Sea, Warp Records WARPCDD207, 2 x 180 g LP + 2 x CD + 24/44,1 WAV (2010); Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Study In Brown, EmArcy/Universal Music Japan UCJU-9072, 200 g LP (1955/2007) Cocteau Twins, Stars and Topsoil, 4AD CAD 2K19, 2 x 180 g, White Wax LP (2000/2011) Czesław Niemen, Katharsis, Polskie Nagrania „Muza” SX 1262, LP (1976) Frank Sinatra, This is Sinatra!, Capitol Records T768, LP (1956) Gerry Mulligan & Thelonious Monk, Mulligan Meets Monk, Riverside/Analogue Productions AJAZ 1106, „Top 20 Jazz, 45 RPM | Limited Edition #0584”2 x 180 g, 45 rpm LP (1957/2009). Hans Theessink, Jedermann Remixed – The Soundtrack, Blue Groove 1910, 180 g LP (2011) Mel Tormé, Oh, You Beautiful Doll, The Trumpets of Jericho - Silver Line 904333-980, 180 g LP (2000) Nat ‘King’ Cole and his Trio, After Midnight – Complete Session, Capitol/Analogue Productions APP 740-45, 3 x 180 g 45 rpm LP (1957/2010) Wes Montgomery & Wynton Kelly Trio, Smokin’ At The Half Note, Verve/Universal Music K.K. [Japan] UCJU-9083, 200 g LP (1965/2007) [REKLAMA5] It is easy to present a new product at a high-end price. Everyone has already realized that the whole audio industry has been following this path for some time now and the race for offering the most expensive product on the market seems to have no end. I don't approve that, but I'm also not too vocal about it. The fact is, that bigger money in the industry means that at least some of it will be invested in research. And there is never too much of it and it is not true that everything about turntables has been said already several decades ago. New solutions, materials and technologies, if used properly, allow us to hear more and better. Anyway, today expensive components are very easy to come by. It gets complicated, though, when they have to play music. And when we see something so different from our expectations, which goes against our habits, like the Tentogra turntable and it is in addition also so expensive, the complication grows to the scale of a serious problem. Until the turntable named after Oscar Niemeyer begins to play. This is a turntable proposing precise but also deep sound with powerful low bass and tremendous dynamics. The latter is truly surprsingly amazing, even compared to what I remember from the best turntables I reviewed. From what I remember, only the Tech DAS Air Force One, Kronos Pro Ltd. MkII and maybe also Transrotor Argos delivered clearly faster sound. All other, expensive and very expensive turntables were in this respect similar to the Polish design or even slower. Speed, dynamics, impact, focus are all even more surprising considering that they are accompanied by a powerful and deep bass. In this respect, Oscar is more similar to some decoupled designs, such as the aforementioned Kronos, or Avid HiFi Acutus Reference. Speed is usually associated with dryness or lack of richness. Yes, it does happen, but not in high quality designs with a proper setup. Tentogra proves how low the bass can go, while being also rich, saturated, and very well controlled. I have to admit that I haven't heard the electronic bass from the opening track on Brendan Perry's Ark played so well for a long time. I mean, it sounded so good in my room only once or twice so far. I've always missed either richness or control – this time I got both. With the material in which the low tones are not the most important ones, and are part of the band, an accompanying part, like in the jazz recordings by Benny Carter, Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk and others, the turntable does not fall into exaggeration, does not boost the bass, neither does it enlarge the double bass. Although, from the very beginning, Tentogra delivers deep, well extended performance. The cymbals sound clean, rich, heavy – it was particularly articulate on Clifford Brown and Max Roach's album Study In Brown - but it not them that make the character of this recording. They complement midrange and bass. It is particularly clear with older albums, for example on the Czesław Niemen's Katharsis. This is a pressing typical of its time, meaning rather dark, without a clear top end. Oscar, like other good designs, presents this feature, but not as a disadvantage, but just as a feature. So there was a beautifully rich midrange and a dynamic bass with a warm, rich mid-part. The Polish turntable renders large phantom images and real momentum But it's something that it has in common with the Kuzma tonearm it was equipped with, as well as with the Miyajima Labs cartridge I used for this test. I know this arm and cartridge from many other listening sessions and I can say that they simply enhance features of the deck they play with without changing its character. Although it is a mass-loader, its main sonic features are warmth and a large scale of sound. I would say that these are the sonic features typical for "idler" turntables, such as Garrard 301 and Thorens TD124. Oscar adds to that speed and dynamics as well as a precise bass. The similarity that I am talking about goes even further. Mr. Samołyk's turntable does not focus on selectivity or resolution. And both these qualities are at a high level, I mean high-end level. However, if I were to describe Tentogra Oscar performance using just two terms, the last ones that would come to my mind would be 'selective' and 'resolving'. In response to this type of accusations fans of "idlers" answer that they find this sound more natural even if it seems less accurate. In music, more important is so-called "drama", or the ability to build stories, and not a beautiful, effective "vocabulary" and "syntax". And in this respect, Oscar is on par with both of the above-mentioned designs. In turn, the way it builds a soundstage is characteristic for decoupled turntables by Linn, Avid HiFi and Kronos. The point is that there are no clearly defined outlines of instruments, they are not cut out from the background. They are large, "colorful", dense. Differences between pressings are nicely presented, and one can easily recognize different approach to sound recording by, for example, Roy DuNann and Rudy Van Gelder. However, they are never the goal, you can hear them if you know about them and if you are looking for them. And finally, something that we rarely talk about directly, but what is always present – the background noise. It's a turntable with a low travel noise and well controlled pops&clicks. So the music is presented on a black background in a vivid way. The number of pops&cracks is not high, but one needs to properly setup a tonearm and cartridge on this deck. Even with minor errors, the sound can be too "technical" and the cracks&pops can be annoying. If you hear that know, that this is not a turntable's issue (deck's) but it's a matter of tonearm and/or cartridge calibration. Summary This Polish turntable will find owners only among people who like to think out of the box – they need to do it to understand its form. In this case it is as important as the performance, it simply can not be disregarded. The sound it proposes is warm, large, extremely dynamic, with a well-extended, well controlled bass. The definition of individual sound events is not a priority, it is not highly "detailed" and "selective" sound. You will love this turntable for something else - for beautiful colors, explosive dynamics and large scale of presentation. ■ [hfgallery] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/05.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/05.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/05.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/06.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/06.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/06.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/07.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/07.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/07.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/08.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/08.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/08.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/09.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/09.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/09.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/10.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/10.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/10.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/11.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/11.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/11.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/12.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/12.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/12.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/13.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/13.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/13.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/14.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/14.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/14.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/15.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/15.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/15.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [img mini="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/th/16.jpg" big="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/16.jpg" src="foto_testy/1903/tentogra/16.jpg" desc="HighFidelity.pl"] [/hfgallery]