Analogue Options
Analogue is more than vinyl. It's music with warmth and realism. There are no sampling limits in analogue. You have the ability to make continual improvements to any analogue system, revealing more music with ever greater fidelity.
If you want to rediscover records, or invigorate an existing turntable based system we have some great analogue options for you.Enjoy great sounding record players from Well Tempered Labs and Consonance 'Wax Engine.' Match these with phono cartridges from Dynavector and Nagaoka, phono stages from Well Tempered, Dynavector, Pure Audio and Cambridge Audio.
Revel in the analogue glow of all tube amplification with the Dutch PrimaLuna valve amplifiers or the totally modern awesome new amplifiers from NuPrime. Experience New Zealand made state of the art in solid state analogue amplification with Pure Audio. Match either with the beauty of handmade Sonus faber loud speaker systems from Italy. And tie it all together with revolutionary new cables from Keith Eichmann. The KLEI gZero range of interconnects and speaker cables are pure analogue goodness that make any system sound much better - for less than you expect.
You can get better sound out of records than has ever been possible before and if you compare digital with a new vinyl pressing the record always sounds better.
Our primary source of music at home has always been a turntable. It’s not that we don’t like digital, it’s just that we have a very big record collection and are still buying new vinyl records. We know a whole lot about record player set up and what sounds good because it's what we enjoy.
When you start to investigate a new record playing system today you'll quickly find that you are spoilt for choice. We have listened to and sold many turntables over the years. What makes a system sound good comes down to some very simple principles – the quality of design being most important. A record player is inherently simple – it just has to go around at a constant speed, and allow the stylus to do its job in terms extracting information from the groove of the record. The art is in actually achieving this to the standards we expect.
The cool thing about analogue is that there is an infinite amount of information on a LP record. The better the record playing system, the more you’ll hear.
The new Wax Engine is easily the best sounding turntable we’ve heard short of the Well Tempered models.
Everyone has to be comfortable with the choices they make, so we cover a broad range with turntables. For as little as $700 you can get a thoroughly competent and modern little turntable from Duel which will do a great job. Or if looking for something a little more special, a little more 'you' the new 'Wax Engine' from Consonance is a turntable system that opens up choices and allows you to both easily fine tune and upgrade over time. If you consider yourself an analogue enthusiast, you owe it to yourself to learn about the new models from Well Tempered Labs. These are simply the finest sounding turntables we've heard, but are by no means the most costly. In fact many cartridges cost more. You could use the word revolutionary...
Since the introduction of the Well Tempered Amadeus turnable around 6 years ago, WT Labs have expanded the range in both directions. The Simplex was introduced as an entry level version. The original Amadeus has enjoyed subtle revisions and upgrades and now with the introduction of the Symmetrex tonearm is officially MK2 . The better Amadeus GT has morphed into the GTA version - the acrylic plinth being replaced by a more massive and seriously engineered composite aluminium version. And now features the top of the line LTD/Symmetrex tonearm taking it's performance well beyond that of the standard Amadeus.
Equal to the Amadeus GTA at the top of the range, the new flagship model VERSALEX is also upgraded with the Symmetrex. The plinth is a 'Baltic Ply' - in other words just like that used in Shahinian speakers which has some rather nice acoustic and mechanical properties - it's finished in a handsome walnut veneer. The motor, platter and bearing may be identical to the Amadeus components but the Verselex has its own distinctive character.
If analogue is an enthusiasts market, then the new Consonance 'Wax Engine' turntable is very much a product designed for the hands-on enthusiast. Playing a record is always going to be a tactile exercise - select the album, take the LP out and place it on the platter, cue up the arm and go. So taking ownership of the setup and operation of your turntable is just a natural progression. The LP6.3 'Wax Engine' is designed for the value conscious analogue enthusiast who wants to wring the best possible sound out of their system. It's a turntable system that opens up choices and allows you to both easily fine tune and upgrade over time.
Cartridges & Styli
With any turntable you can dramatically improve performance by replacing or upgrading the cartridge and stylus. The Well Tempered ’TLC’ is the best sounding moving magnet to have and is compatible with just about any turntable. Dynavector Moving coils are the ones to beat – they are continually improved and refined and deliver state of the art performance from around $650. The new Nagaoka MM cartridges & styli are the culmination of over 70 years of continuous development and have the smoothness which MM devotees love but also the tonal accuracy that is normally found in the upper end Moving Coil cartridges.
Phono Amplifiers
It’s far to easy to underestimate the importance of a quality phono stage – In many cases modern amplifiers simply don't include this option. The new entry level 551P and appreciably better 651P from Cambridge Audio are little stunners - far better than you might expect and the easy winners in the value for money stakes.The brand new Well Tempered Labs RIAA phono stage is just on NZ$500 and shows you just how good even low cost cartridges can sound and is our favourite of the affordable options.
The Dynavector P75mk4 phono stage is actually more compact than the Cambridge models but the sound that comes out of it is far more impressive. Now in Mark 4 form and far more sophisticated in every way, the Dynavector P75 features the Patented Phono Enhancing Circuit designed by Dr Tominari, to dramatically improve the performance of Dynavectors low output moving coil cartridges with a vanishingly low noise floor and exceptional detail retrieval.
But good as the Dynavector may be, the new Pure Audio phono stage delivers a whole new world of analogue pleasures. Designed and made in New Zealand by Gary Morrison this is truly a state-of-the-art product. If you can imagine the difference between the sound of an entry level Duel turntable and the better of the Well Tempered models, then you'll be starting to understand the gains made by investing in the Pure Audio. Remarkable doesn't begin to describe what you'll hear.
Cables
The connection between turntable and phono stage (or amp) is also critical. The output from phono cartridges (especially MC) is much lower than other audio components so it's critical that any cable used is both of high quality so you avoid loss. But even more important is that it is well shielded to eliminate hum and noise. The new cables and plugs from Keith Louis Eichmann Innovations are by far the best we’ve heard in our many years of turntable listening.“Analogue enthusiasts will be thrilled to find that these interconnects are really quiet and hence perfect for direct connection to turntables and phono stages.” For those with attached cables fitting the KLEI Harmony Bullet plugs will give a vast improvement. These are a worthwhile upgrade for many Project models and are effectively mandatory for the Well Tempered. We also recommend the ultra quiet Mogami Negelx cables which can be made to any length by order. These are a little less in cost than the KLEIs at a ballpark of around $200 a set.
And all this is just really the start of our analogue range. With notable brands such as the Italian Sonus faber, loudspeakers and NuPrime amplifers we've got all the bases covered. Drop us a line and tell us how we can help.
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