With the arm and cartridge installed and aligned, place the deck exactly where you want it and then re-check the level. Place the motor pod so that the pulley to spindle distance is correct. Reinstall the belt, with the same orientation it had before. Run the deck for half-an-hour, re-check the speed settings (with a record playing) and you are good to go, with ‘good’ being the operative word.
They say that golf is not a game you win, it’s a game you play. In some respects, it’s an apposite adage for audio, given how far we’ve come – and how far we still have to go. But sometimes, just sometimes, even in audio, you can hit a hole in one. That pretty much sums up my feelings on firing up the Aurora/Zephyr pairing for the first time. Some things just sound right – and this is definitely one of those. Embarking on a journey to discover an affordable, listenable and truly coherent analogue player, I didn’t expect to get so lucky at first blush. Even basic record players should be inherently musical and engaging. The Origin Live pairing is a lot more than that.
Topping out…
Like any record player, no matter how modest, the Origin Live responds to careful tweaking of the set-up and cartridge alignment parameters. But that doesn’t stop it sounding invitingly and communicative from the get-go. For a compact and far from massive turntable, the sound is remarkably substantial, with an immediate sense of musical presence and purpose, stability and planted authority. It possesses an easy, open clarity and sense of organization, an unhurried poise and natural sense of pace and momentum. In short, it delivers everything you’d hope for from a decent record player: everything you’d hope for from a player at several times this price.
The heart of the performance is the player’s sinuous, elastic yet contiguous grasp of rhythm, rooted in its excellent temporal stability. The attention that’s been paid to the drive surfaces and belt, power supply and motor quality are clearly reflected in the Aurora’s temporal security, it’s ability to capture a musician’s freedom within the rhythmic framework. Whether it’s the tight, infectious groove of Womack&Womack’s Conscience (Island Records 209139), the playful intricacy and relaxed intimacy of The Cure on Acoustic Hits (Polydor 572 634 0) or the sudden dynamics, challenging switches and staccato rhythms of Vivaldi’s virtuoso concerti (Interpreti Veneziani, on the direct cut disc, Vivaldi in London – Chasing The Dragon VALDC017) the Origin Live has exactly the right balance between temporal freedom and rhythmic grip. Where a band or performer plays with rhythm, it’s both obvious and effective. Where the tempo takes control, it’s equally telling. This sort of temporal security is the bedrock of musical integrity and expressive range and the Aurora – Origin Live’s most affordable player – has it in spades. It makes the drum-tight rhythmic inflexibility of affordable direct-drives sound exactly that – rigid and inflexible, with none of the OL’s musical poise and sinuous rhythmic grace.
