Koa wood. Originally an early 1990s era Star III. I tried to make a Clearaudio work in this room, but the suspended floor here is so awful I absolutely need the SOTA's suspension for isolation. The suspension on these decks is borderline magic - NOTHING extraneous gets through!
Tannoy Glenair 10
Sweet sounding 10" dual concentric. TMR sold these to me with internal WIRING all wrong! Easy fix - it's just baffling they were run this way by prior owner and passed through quality checks?!
Phison Audio A2.120 SE
Super sweet sounding solid state amplifier. Class AB, 120 Watts a channel. I'm obsessed with tubes, but this SS amp gets the midrange right. REALLY right. This Phison actually has sweeter mids than my Rogue Apollos (a tube amp). Didn't believe it until I heard it. Amazing speed and punch down low, too. Amazing detail.
Audio Research Reference 6
This preamp does everything, and sounds amazing with everything. I've found some other preamps are extremely picky about their amp partner - not this one. Clean, linear, dynamic sound with a touch of sweetness.
Hagerman Trumpet MC
STUPID good sounding MM/MC phono stage for the money. Tubey, warm, sweet, open sound. Easy to hot-rod with tube rolling. I like it as much or more than several MUCH more expensive phono stages.
Critical Mass Systems Sotto Voce
Really nice rack. Black Platinum filter up top for the turntable. Unfortunately it's not as rigid nor massive as the CMS Maxxum in my big rig, so I still rely on the SOTA's suspension to keep vinyl playing cleanly in this room (very bouncy floors).
Fidelity Research FR64fx
Amazing tonearm. Consistently prefer it over Clearaudio Universal 12" VTA and Graham Phantom II Supreme, in head-to-head comparisons.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Excellent cartridge. Nice warm musical balance. Trying to decide whether to keep it or go for something with a little more technical acuity and detail. But it's truly a lovely match on this table & arm.
