Brinkmann Balance vs. J. Sikora Reference- Battle of the $50K Belt Drives

[bonzo75]

Some designers, like some audiophiles, are also constant tweakers. Does not mean every change is positive.

 

[No Regrets]

His choice of the Standard Max is food for thought! BTW, I felt that the Sikora absolutely held its own against the legendary AF Zero.

I understand that you are not entirely sure if what he had was the Standard Max or the Reference Line, but either way... that is quite an amazing compliment for J Sikora

Your comment also does not surprise me at all either. I truly feel that the J Sikora is the real deal when you consider the price, quality, and performance that they offer

Best wishes,
Don

 

[DividedSky]

I listened to the Standard Max at Command Performance AV in the Washington DC area. I believe the owner Jeff is also the North American distributor for J Sikora. Jeff commented that the Standard Max with the upgrade to Reference power source comes very close to the Reference. I have AMG Viella V12 and felt there were some similarities (both high mass) but the Standard Max was a step up. Not quite enough of a step up for me to drop the $$$ to switch tables at this point but it was food for thought. I wish in-home comparison was an option but I live nearly 3 hours from the store, so it just isn't realistic.

 

[No Regrets]

I listened to the Standard Max at Command Performance AV in the Washington DC area. I believe the owner Jeff is also the North American distributor for J Sikora.

Hello,

Yes, you are correct.... Jeff is the North American distributor for J. Sikora. I believe he imports it thru Notable Audio, which may be one and the same with Command Performance AV. Both companies share the same address in Falls Church, Virginia.

I spent a lot of time talking with Jeff at AXPONA 2023 in Schaumburg, IL last year. A great guy to talk with by the way He had similar comments regarding the Standard Max with the reference power supply sharing the similar house sound of the Reference Line; that you can certainly hear the brotherhood of the two tables... not necessarily twins obviously, but sharing the same blood line. The way I understand it, when the Standard Max came out, it was their - at that time - top of the line table. The now current "Reference Line" is like the Standard Max - Maxed out, so to speak. Just building on the strength's of the Standard Max - just "more" of everything. Now, whether or not the qualitative amount of how much "more" is worth the monetary upcharge is worth it..... well, that it up to the individual who is interested That's where being able to compare both tables in the same system would certainly be worth while.

I have talked with a couple of people who have owned and/or currently own both tables. The consensus is that yes, the Reference does sound better in every way than the Standard Max. However, the improvements are not earth shattering or cosmically huge. In fact, some have said it took a period of time to really appreciate what the Reference was really improving on over that of the Standard. But once you heard and understood the improvement, you appreciated it very much. However, they also said that if you had "only" heard the Standard Max, you would not likely ever feel the need to move up to the Reference and could live life happily ever after with the Standard Max.

So, at the end of the day.... I believe that both tables are really great and anyone that would be able to have one in their system should feel very blessed

I have been able to hear the AMG Viella and the Forte quite a bit. I think they are great tables as well. If either of those were what I currently had, I would simply stay with that. However, if I had to choose between AMG and J Sikora... I would agree with you that the later is a step above and I would have to say I'd go with J. Sikora.

Vinyl lovers have it good in this day and age.... there are so many wonderful tables, arms, cartridges, phono stages and at so many price points that anyone who loves to spin lp's should feel very blessed!

Best wishes to all,
Don

 

[DividedSky]

Boy you nailed it there Don- the analog world is just so so good now. I greatly appreciate your comments on the AMG comparison with the Sikora. Cheers! Frank

 

[Audiohertz2]

i have been listening to classical for over 5 years on the Brinkmann balance of a friend local to me (he unfortunately sold his house in Jan and will relocate). Vienna auditioned many TTs before choosing this, and he measured all the ones he auditioned. Fremer and the SAT designer both rate it highly to punch higher than some other pricier tables. Either way, the price performance ratio is great. The Tosca is a very good, excellent arm. You would go a long way changing your cartridge. Replace the etsuro gold with the Dava. If required. Kcin in Canada owns the Balance with both the Dava and the etsuro gold, so just spend two days there listening to both.

My tastes are classical with some rock from led zep etc. Kcin is more rock, but you can carry your LPs

He is relocating! How often do you visit..?

 

[Audiohertz2]

You are a trip Ked, you just invited someone to Kcin's house for 2 days without consulting him !

 

[No Regrets]

Hi,

I'm not sure if you have the ability to attend AXPONA (not far from the O'Hare Airport - suburbs of Chicago) this April, but it looks like J. Sikora will be presenting again along with Nick Doshi (tubed electronics) and Jeff Joseph (amazing loudspeakers) - both of which are true gentleman and absolutely wonderful to talk with, and imho are true genius in their respective audio fields - in the Nirvana A room. My guess is they will have the Reference table/KVMax arm in that room. If that system sounds anything like it did last year, you certainly will not want to miss out on hearing this!

I would think they will have the Standard Max playing in room 642 along with Devore Fidelity. I'm not sure of which electronics they will be paired with, but my guess it will certainly be worth the visit!

Just a disclaimer... I have absolutely no vested interest in any of the before mentioned manufacturers. I just simply appreciate what they all have accomplished over the years with their products. Truly impressive to hear!

Best wishes,
Don

I was able to visit with Robert Sikora via email over the last couple of days and I wanted to make some corrections to my post above...

I was "speculating" that they would be showing their top of the line, Reference Table in the Nirvana A room at this year's AXPONA 2024 in Schaumburg, IL as they did in 2023 . However, Robert said that they would instead be showcasing their new Special 15th Anniversary Edition of their Standard Max table.

Also, "In room with DeVore there will be an Initial table. It is meant to be a not expensive system in general but I do not know the details."

So, I sincerely apologize for my speculations.... you know what happens when you assume

I actually consider this to be good news though. I am really looking forward to hearing what the Standard Max is capable of in a truly amazing system .

Best wishes,
Don

 

[DividedSky]

Anybody get a chance to listen in the Joseph/Doshi/Sikora room at AXPONA?

 

[No Regrets]

Hello,

Yes, I was able to spend 3 days listening to the Sikora/Doshi/Joseph room at AXPONA.

It was yet again, another great showing by some really talented designers and very gracious men... Robert Sikora, Nick Doshi and Jeff Joseph!
Talk about system synergy... they had it in spades!

This year, they presented an anniversary model of the J. Sikora Standard Max (Extreme or Plus - I can't remember exactly what he called it).
Although it looked very similar to Standard Max, it uses different metals and weighs substantially more. Their goal, I believe was to develop a product that goes between the Standard Max and the Reference.

How much better does the upgraded model sound over that of the Standard Max? I have no idea. But, I can say it sounded very impressive indeed.

Nick Doshi showed a new custom bespoke phono stage that can be customized by the desires of the customer including different equalization curves!

Jeff Joseph showed his new Pearl Graphene Ultra? The bass modules have been redone with new drivers, crossovers, capacitors, and internal cabinet redesigns. They sounded magnificent!

This again, was my favorite room of the show. I spent a great deal of time there all three days... I pray that I did not wear out my welcome!

Best wishes,
Don

 

[MortenB]

A lot of the design from J. Sikora is based the combination of different metals with different properties for resonans damping, and Quite a few metals are involved. They seem to consider the combination of aluminium, steel, brass etc as their best sounding turntables. Expensive to manufacture for sure, and therefore mainly seen on the Reference and the new Standard Max anniversary model.

Here is a tip for potential buyers: Look for a second hand Standard MAX in the silver finish dating back a few years. Back then they used brass as you see on my Standard MAX. They used the brass for a reason

 

[tima]

Yes, I was able to spend 3 days listening to the Sikora/Doshi/Joseph room at AXPONA.

It was yet again, another great showing by some really talented designers and very gracious men... Robert Sikora, Nick Doshi and Jeff Joseph!

What cartridges were they using in that room?

 

[Argonaut]

Here is a tip for potential buyers: Look for a second hand Standard MAX in the silver finish dating back a few years. Back then they used brass as you see on my Standard MAX. They used the brass for a reason

Nice

 

[DividedSky]

Awesome thanks for the report Don!

 

[Kcin]

You are a trip Ked, you just invited someone to Kcin's house for 2 days without consulting him !

I just saw this.. lol.
In the meantime Ked, send your shirts over that need laundering - do want them on hangers or folded?

 

[bonzo75]

I just saw this.. lol.
In the meantime Ked, send your shirts over that need laundering - do want them on hangers or folded?

If you want my autographed shirts you will have to send me your phono and carts

 

[No Regrets]

What cartridges were they using in that room?

Hi Tim,

I believe they were using the....

Copied and pasted from the Aidas website....

The Aidas Mammoth Gold is the newest and the most advanced of the Aidas cartridges. The cartridge’s body is made with the ivory from 21,000 year old Siberian wooly mammoth tusks.​

However, they told us the one being used was used from the very center of the Mammoth tusk, the whitest part and just happens to be the most rare. Only 10 of these special cartridges could be made in the whole world and we were able to hear one of the 10 in this demonstration.

The system did sound great! To how much of an extent we could contribute the sound to the Mammoth Tusk, I have no idea . Last year they had the J Sikora Reference table using a Lyra Atlas Lambda cartridge and the music was sublime! If I'm being honest, as nice as the system sounded this year... I seemed to be more enthralled with the system from last year - just going from my memory of course.

Best wishes,
Don

 

[pjwd]

Hi Tim,

I believe they were using the....

Copied and pasted from the Aidas website....

The Aidas Mammoth Gold is the newest and the most advanced of the Aidas cartridges. The cartridge’s body is made with the ivory from 21,000 year old Siberian wooly mammoth tusks.​

However, they told us the one being used was used from the very center of the Mammoth tusk, the whitest part and just happens to be the most rare. Only 10 of these special cartridges could be made in the whole world and we were able to hear one of the 10 in this demonstration.

The system did sound great! To how much of an extent we could contribute the sound to the Mammoth Tusk, I have no idea . Last year they had the J Sikora Reference table using a Lyra Atlas Lambda cartridge and the music was sublime! If I'm being honest, as nice as the system sounded this year... I seemed to be more enthralled with the system from last year - just going from my memory of course.

Best wishes,
Don

If they use 21,000 year old parts in their most advanced carts , what do they use in their entry level

 

[DividedSky]

Mammoth tusk!

 

[tima]

The system did sound great! To how much of an extent we could contribute the sound to the Mammoth Tusk, I have no idea .

It is actually a very nice well-balanced cartridge that imo is a decent value compared to several at higher prices. A cartridge's body does influence its sonic character. The Mammoth Tusk gets people's attention but there is more to it than that. I had heard Aidas wanted to be at the show but didn't know if they made it from Lithuania.