The Kuzma ‘One size Fits All’ Armboard
By Roy Gregory
Kuzma’s analogue related products are as numerous as they are long of shelf-life. One implication of the fact that they still offer every tonearm they’ve ever designed is that their range includes arms with effective lengths from 9” to 14”, not to mention a passive parallel tracker!
The arrival of the high-performance/high value Stabi R record deck, with its ability to carry up to four arms on a variety of different armboards/mounts has, in turn multiplied the range of parts that both Kuzma and their dealers and distributors need to carry, if all options and demonstration demands are going to be met. That situation is eased slightly by the fact that all of the ‘arms use the same six-bolt mounting pattern. Exploiting the large footprint of the Stabi M armboard, they already provided a dual mount suitable for both the original 11” and later, 14” 4Point tonearms. But now they’ve gone a step further – and it’s quite a step.
The Stabi R offers a teardrop armboard, fixed using a single bolt, with precise P2S distance achieved by rotating the armboard. Kuzma has taken that concept and, by providing three mounting holes for the single-point fixing, made it universal, allowing owners to mount arms with any P2S dimension without having to swing the mount so far that the mounted arm interferes or clashes with the one next door. Simple and effective.
The Wattson Audio Madison Phono-stage
By Steve Dickinson
Perhaps the most significant to catch my eye, and ear, this year, was the new Wattson Audio Madison Phono-stage. That’s partly because, following on from my work with my revitalised LP12 turntable last year, I’ve now turned my attention to phono-stages (on which more, anon) but also because it offers something genuinely new and different, and still within my notional ‘voice of sanity’ budget. I suspect this could be a product that pleases vinyl fans, while simultaneously offending vinyl purists, because it’s digital. Like the phono-stage in the CH Precision I1 integrated amplifier, this phono stage converts the incoming analogue signal to digital before performing its phono-related functions, while outputting either a digital data stream to a DAC of your choice, or an analogue feed to your preamp. This means that the equalisation is done digitally using DSP, rather than via analogue filter networks in the traditional fashion. That allows the Madison Phono to offer multiple EQ curves, EMI, Decca, Columbia and Teldec/DGG as well as RIAA, all implemented in firmware, rather than hardware. Many an audiophile, suitably impressed by the I1’s phono inputs is completely unaware of their digital nature. I suspect that the Wattson phono-stage will pull a similar trick.
But, even more interesting at this price level is the fact that the Madison Phono also offers a choice of three different, dealer-switchable, input boards for MM, MC and optical cartridges. Like CH’s phono-stages, the MC input is current sensing, which might eliminate loading issues but replaces them with cartridge matching questions. Only those MCs possessing a low internal impedance need apply! The MM input board is of course, voltage sensing, but uniquely, the Wattson implementation of DS Audio’s application note for its cartridges has eschewed DS Audio’s conventional voltage-sensing approach, preferring to also apply its current-sensing technology to the optical cartridges, similar to its moving-coil input. Nobody else, including DS Audio itself, has done this. The phono-stage is also compatible/upgradable with the Wattson external power supply already offered for the Madison Streamer/DAC.
Exhibiting off-site, being one of those companies that failed to secure a room in the main show, Wattson were using a full Madison system (DAC/Pre and mono-bloc power amps), driving a pair of Kroma Atelier Stella speakers to show off a pair of Madison Phono stages, one equipped with the MC input, the other for optical replay. Using a Lyra Delos or a DS Audio optical cartridge, mounted in identical Kuzma 4Point9 tonearms, on a TechDas Air Force 5, they were making a very persuasive case for themselves and their switchable EQ curves. I’m looking forward to receiving a review unit to get to grips with in my own system.
