"What are the cutouts for? To subvert standing waves or randomize vibrations?" "It's solid aluminum with some concentric cutouts surrounding the bearing mount."
![gramophone 33 rpm gramophone 33 rpm](https://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/2017/5/9/1/0/f/10fa7c56-34aa-11e7-969b-d79319ee23c1.jpg)
"So, Michael, what is that plinth made of?" For this report, I just held the flashlight, watched, and asked dumb questions while Michael Trei opened the Initial's heavy wood crate and assembled the table on my rack, next to my Dr.
![gramophone 33 rpm gramophone 33 rpm](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/10/09/42/1009421a091d87e881b10a0546192659.jpg)
When my hands don't shake and the light is bright enough, I can set up turntables at a level maybe a notch or two down from the pros. The rest of my system consisted of the Rogue RP-7 line-level preamp feeding either the EleKit TU-8600R or the Rogue Audio Stereo 100 amplifiers driving the DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 loudspeakers, connected with Cardas Clear Cygnus speaker cables.
#Gramophone 33 rpm install#
I was anxious to experience the Aeon3, so I figured that when Trei arrived to set up the Initial, I would ask him to install the fat, wood-bodied Grado at the same time.ĭuring the course of this review, I used only the Parasound JC 3+ ($2995) and the Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ ($750) phono stages, because both could provide the 55≦0dB of gain into the 47k ohm load that the moving-iron Grado Aeon requires. In 2017, Michael Fremer raved about the Aeon's more expensive sibling, the Epoch (original version, $12,000) Mikey's rave put Grado cartridges back on my radar.
#Gramophone 33 rpm series#
Just before the Initial arrived, I received the latest updated (summer 2019) version of Grado Lab's new Lineage Series Aeon3 moving-iron phono cartridge ($6000, footnote 2). Total cost of this record playing system: $11,053, not including phono cartridge or phono stage. In order that I might glimpse some of the sonic potentials of J.Sikora's higher-priced offerings, I ordered my Initial with the optional $259 glass platter mat an optional two-piece record weight added $799 more. Feickert Blackbird turntable (which uses a 12" Jelco arm) fairer and more relevant. I thought it might also make comparisons to my reference Dr. I chose the Jelco arm because it kept the price down and would make it easier to switch cartridges. The Initial package I chose costs $9995 and includes J.Sikora's High Quality Power Supply and a 10.5" Jelco TK-850M tonearm. The bare-bones Initial costs $8995 with either a blank arm mount or a mount predrilled for Kuzma, Jelco, Ortofon, Origin Live, or SME tonearms. The more expensive two-motor Standard and the four-motor (!) Reference models feature thicker, wider composite bases, thicker composite platters, taller composite motor and tonearm towers, and, to my artist/sculptor eyes, a cluttered, disorienting appearance that seems to be de rigueur in today's oligarch-priced turntables.
![gramophone 33 rpm gramophone 33 rpm](https://imgaz3.staticbg.com/thumb/large/oaupload/ser1/banggood/images/8F/50/11633069-1550-4d14-a01f-0063755a5050.jpeg)
When I scouted the J.Sikora website (footnote 1), I was attracted to the elemental beauty of designer Janusz Sikora's lowest-priced model, the Initial. He said he'd set up a few and noticed some kind of intangible something he thought I might appreciate and be able to describe to my readers. In one of our regular late-night phone conversations, he mentioned the made-in-Poland J.Sikora turntables. The black-disc high moments I am about to describe were inspired by my turntable guru and setter-upper friend Michael Trei. In like manner, collecting LPs and storing them properly, setting up turntables, aligning cartridges, and cleaning styli are ritual actions that prepare me for the high moments of focused musical pleasure only a black disc can provide. Extended bathing, lighting candles, making tea, and preparing food are ritual work forms that prepare my senses to accept both pleasure and illumination. My most cherished intangibleslove, beauty, glimpses of higher realmsenter my awareness only after I prepare my psyche to receive them.