This is the first pair of R252s and there are a few details that remain to be fixed, including the choice of bass amps that will come with the final design. Even so, the cabinet is beautifully finished, the flawless painted baffle and veneered carcass adding to the retro/pro aesthetic of the squared-off format. First deliveries are scheduled for February next year and the price is already fixed at £150,000 (including sales tax).
Driving the R252s are three separate but intertwined systems.
System One – the DJ rig.
A large number of Spiritland’s own events centre on ‘name-brand’ DJ sets, with high-profile guests spinning the discs. For that purpose, there’s a comprehensively equipped mix-booth, with twin turntables and CD players, linked by long balanced, leads to a Sugden FBA-800 stereo power amp. With 40 Watts of Class A output, the amplifier is capable of driving the speakers plenty loud, while being robust enough for daily use – and the abuse that is inevitable in a shared space with multiple operators.
The ’Every Day’ system.
For general use, quieter, afternoon listening sessions with an emphasis on musical quality and more broadly based presentations, a second, multi-source system is provided. This is built around the suitably brutalist profile of the (more hi-fi familiar) Kuzma Stabi RM, equipped with the heavier platter of the Stabi M and a Stabi 313 VTA tonearm and Ortofon SPU Royal N cartridge. This feeds a Consolidated Audio ‘Monster Can’ transformer and Sugden PA-4 phono-stage. CDs are spun on a CEC CD transport, with D-to-A conversion via an APL DSD-WR DAC (and GR streamer, as required) while an Otari reel-to-reel provides tape replay.
Those sources are connected, single-ended to a Sugden LA-4 line-stage, which is in turn connected to the single-ended inputs on the FBA-800 amplifier. A front-panel switch on the power amp selects balanced or single-ended inputs, allowing easy switching between the two alternate systems. Meanwhile, a second set of long, balanced leads connects the LA-4 to the DJ mixer, should the ‘Every Day’ sources be needed for a DJ session.
The ’Higher-End’ solution.
For critical listening sessions, album presentations and the like a third, more eclectic and musically ambitious system is provided.
Turntable is a Kuzma Stabi Reference, with Stabi Reference tonearm and another Royal N/Consolidated Audio pairing, but this time feeding a Triode Corporation/Living Voice phono-stage, the latter equipped with a custom linear power supply. Amplification is from SJS Audio, a Model 7 Silver Premier line Stage and SJS Model 8, 300B amplifier, dressed down in the company’s basic aluminium chassis instead of the beautiful, curved wood casing more generally seen. Hooking up the “special Occasion’ rig requires swapping the speaker cables between the Sugden and SJS amps, but otherwise, all three systems are ready to roll.
