Show us your turntable

Phew … I can relax again … :wink:

1 Like

OK, I will turn round and head back home. I was on way round yours to straighten up your speaker.
#essentialtravelonly

2 Likes

Thank goodness. You put it back safely. :smile:

1 Like

Nothing new and posted before - just felt like posting with some colored vinyl on it.

25 Likes

Had the first listening session with the new turntable this evening and can report that I’m quite pleased with it.
Not finally sure about the Benz though, it is enjoyable listening but a bit analytic at times, more magic would be nice.

31 Likes

Nice deck!

2 Likes

Perhaps an EMT as you have the superline E.

Very nice indeed :+1: I see you weren’t tempted to go for the bright orange paint option! Looks like the 4Point 9" arm too.

What other decks did you compare it to?

That’s a good idea. Do you have experience with EMT cartridges? Anything you can recommend that adds some magic to voices on soul and jazz records?

Thanks for your feedback and yes it’s a 4point9 tone arm.
Bright orange is fancy for a while, but I could not live with such a color for a longer time.

I have to admit I did not compare with other decks for several reasons:

There is no Kuzma dealer in my area, the next one 300 kilometers away.

The turntables I would have liked to compare against are Linn LP12, Brinkmann Bardo and Thorens TD124DD - but no way to compare all these at one dealer let alone hear them on a Naim system.

In the future I can see myself using two tone arms and easily change cartridges, just for the fun of it and to tune the sound to my mood and the type music, maybe also get a mono cartridge.

Then there is the usability, fast speed up, massive build quality and looks of the Kuzma which appeal to me.

Add all the rave reviews for this table and tone arm and so I decided purely on gut feeling.

3 Likes

Not on a 4 point, I’ve heard one at a dealership, a JSD 5 I think or maybe a 6, on a Well Tempered and it was much more engaging than the Benz LPS I heard on the same deck. It’s on my list to try at home some day but I went for another living fossil first an Ortofon SPU Royal N as my standard superline is more suited to its 0.2mV output.
I may have mislead you however as I checked up again the review from Ekkehard Strauss on his Medialux blog, who’s review of the SPU lead me in that direction, (and no regrets) and I see that the compliance of the JSD has been reduced and the 4point9 will be a bit light for it. There are a couple of heavier cartridges in the range that would suit but they are of course the most expensive.

1 Like

That’s a big chunky thing isn’t it, it’s very nice looking though in its own way I like it a lot
Is it as heavy as it looks
I love all the matt black as well
Very nice indeed

1 Like

Ah, interesting. This Kuzma TT has had such enthusiastic reviews - I would love to hear one at some point. The precision and engineering attention to detail look second to none.

Auditioning decks can be a challenge of geography, and therein lies the problem, certain dealers only usually stock limited ranges and the chances of having a comparative dem of certain turntables requires some effort to travel and haul gear around.

Can see why you took the plunge unheard though, as I’m also drawn to its no nonsense engineering first approach and build quality. Agree on the black finish too :slight_smile:

1 Like

I appreciate the Kuzma approach to small footprint and attention to detail that matters… So many monster decks out there that verge on ridiculous in terms of esthetic.

3 Likes

I quite like the form factor of the Linn LP12, the Linn Ekos, the Linn paint work, everything about the Linn turntable is beautiful. Nothing would switch me from the LP12, even it sounds better!

6 Likes

I agree with the LP12- perfect in size and appearance. Just a proper LP spinner- nothing more/nothing less. I will never let mine go for this very reason :grinning:

5 Likes

Koetsu Black could be interesting as well.

Ortofon SPU Royal N is as well on my list of cartridges to try. Maybe it’ll work with the SuperLine E as well, just need to crank up the volume a litte more? Or is this tough too naive?

Next week I hope to try a Grado, using my Stageline N. On the few occasions I heard a Grado, I really liked it.

2 Likes

Don’t know about the SPU Royal N into an E, it’s perfect for the standard superline but you might get more hiss with the E by the time its loud enough, or not.
The one to watch is the cartridge compliance and arm’s effective mass. I changed the aluminium cartridge mounting plate for a brass one which increased effective mass to 18g for my arm, which is probably just above too low. There’s a spacer that comes with the SPU N series, known as the cheese, it’s made of aluminium and weighing 2.9g, I’ve seen a picture of one in brass with a weight of ~12g but it was an old picture from Japan and I’ve not found any for sale. Bass suffers if the arm is too light.

Re. the Royal N and Superline E - I can vouch that it’ll be just fine. The difference in gain is small between the standard SL and the E, giving just enough extra headroom to make carts like the standard Lyras and Clearaudio MCs viable.

As Yeti says, the Royal N needs mass in the arm to work best. You can get away with less mass using a Unipivot though. That Kuzma arm does look pretty chunky though…

1 Like

Thanks @Yeti and @Richard.Dane for your thoughts. The Kuzma 4point9 has an effective mass of 13g and is supposed to be suitable for cartridges up to 35g.

So Grado and Royal N high up on the list of cartridges I want to try

1 Like