The first batch were all sold pre order, the price of the full production version hasn’t been announced but I’d assume it will be higher than the €1500 to €1720 cost of the first batch. There are a series of blogs about its development on their web site but those early orders were a gamble. The order book was closed in November 2021.
Here’s an extract from Korf’s latest email.
”The only thing we did in those last two months was building and shipping the first batch of the
tonearms. We will start the full production this autumn.”
I’m interested to hear if anyone placed their bet and whether it paid off.
His blog is great stuff. I took a bet somewhere between the first and second run. I had a quick change in circumstances - I lost out on a dream-table ( a 5000 dollar Kuzma Stabi Reference ) and decided to pursue learning how to create music instead of listening to music as a result. When it came time to finalize the order, I felt too guilty to cancel, I didn't want to do that to a small business. It also helps that the creator himself is a pleasure to deal with and will freely talk analog audio and field questions for you even if it has nothing to do with his arm.
My Technics SL-1210 G had a few issues. The biggest issue, for me, was that despite its great slam and amazing attack the high end was very shrill. Voices were noticeably sibilant. The bottom end also had a wierd bloat to it. This combination worked well for Rock music - but trying anything like Andreas Vollenweider or Ray Lynch was ear-splitting. It also was insanely unforgiving to any kind of surface noise. The stock Technics tonearm seemed to pick up an unusual amount of it compared to other tonearms I've tried (Jelco TK 850S, Sorane TA-1, Kuzma 4 Point 9).
Using an Ammonite Audio Technics SL 1210 G arm-board made installation extremely straightforward (also a great vendor - they sent me a free set of mounting screws for the G when I upgraded from the GR). It felt practically fool-proof when you use the recommended JIS screwdriver.
Setting the arm up itself was a joy. The tonearm height setting looks primitive at first but actually works quite well. The locking collar is much, much more pleasant to use than every other tonearm I've ever owned, I despise the set-screw solution digging into other arms. For this arm, the ring (clamp) simply tightens around the arm and doesn't blemish the tower. I was pleasantly surprised, and somewhat astonished, that his overhang gauge actually works quite well. Azimuth setting is equally simple, this time the setting is done at the tower instead of the headshell which is a much more pleasant and less fiddly experience than I was accustomed to.
Was there anything difficult with setup? Absolutely. The arm is basically frictionless, and you need to be careful when setting anti-skate. I left mine on 2 when first trying to set the arm up and quickly learned that was not a great plan. After getting over that brain-fart, It tested well with my Wally-Skater. With my Hana ML, the arm performed ideally at roughly 1.5 of anti-skate set. The 1210 G is kind of cramped to begin with, so unlocking the arm to set proper height can be a pain. Once I realized you can unlock the tonearm lifter, this became much less of a chore.
I told Alexey this , " The Korf tonearm TA-SF9R took the fun-but-flawed sonics of my expensive direct drive table and turned it into a show-stopper. It eliminated the sibilance, made the high-frequencies pleasing and accurate, and was able to keep the bass,slam, and PRAT intact. Everything is both more accurate to the source material and simultaneously more pleasing which is hard to achieve in audio. The Korf TA-SF9R probably represents the best value in hi-fidelity audio, easily besting tonearms that cost several thousands more with smart engineering and elegant execution. "
I will say this as well, I forgot to mention it cured the low-end bloat the table was suffering from as well. Imaging is shockingly better with this arm.
Were there negatives? Sonically, I don't believe so. Cosmetically, you do lose the ability to use the stock dust cover, which is dissappointing. Apparently, Alexey tried to get it to work with a smaller counter-weight but the sonics suffered. I for one will take enhanced sonics any day of the week. Tapping the plinth was slightly more audible with the Korf Tonearm versus the Technics (both are audible) - however I noted absolutely no noise when stomping on the ground without having a great isolation solution at the moment (I'm using sorbothane feet under the Technics feet as well as under the lowest model Isoacoustics board).
I noted no grounding issues from installing the arm (these is a grounding wire that disconnects from the Technics arm, I reconnected it using my own wire, I wonder if that could have been the cause of another user's issue noted above). I am using balanced cables to a Lino C, which feed a Mjolnir 3 and my Ether 2 headphones I evaluated the table with.
Forgive the stream of consciousness here, I am certainly no audio-reviewer. Take that for what it is worth. For me, I think the arm is incredibly special and deserves consideration. It turned a dissapointing purchase into something special. I feel that in hi-fidelity audio it is hard to find something that enhances virtually every aspect of your listening experience without either breaking the bank or having severe compromises in some area. This arm is an achievement.