finally updated my system page......
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
- Start date
i've added some firepower to my vinyl playback arsenal. these pieces are incoming and i'm excited to get them installed and listen to what they might bring. i decided to not start any new thread about these until they are installed and i'm messing with them.
---purchased a Saskia II turntable. it's a 250 pound slate plinth'd idler. has 7 arm boards; 2 of which are now with the Saskia desgner, Win Tannon, to get them fitted for my tone arms........the Durand Tosca and Durand Telos Sapphire. the Saskia II only has space for one arm at a time. i'm keeping my long term, much loved NVS. this acquisition should not be any huge surprise to those who have read my previous comments regarding my bucket list tt's. this one is right up there at the top of that list. should have it in room in a week to 10 days. i'm excited.
--purchased the new Ortofon MC Anna Diamond cartridge. i wanted another top-flight cartridge to give me an alternative to my GFS. i spent 3 days listening to the Ortofon Century on the Tosca/NVS at Axpona and was blown away. and i come to understand that the new Anna Diamond has even more detail than the Century. so i pulled the trigger.
soooooo.......i'll have to take another round of pictures once this stuff is here.
---purchased a Saskia II turntable. it's a 250 pound slate plinth'd idler. has 7 arm boards; 2 of which are now with the Saskia desgner, Win Tannon, to get them fitted for my tone arms........the Durand Tosca and Durand Telos Sapphire. the Saskia II only has space for one arm at a time. i'm keeping my long term, much loved NVS. this acquisition should not be any huge surprise to those who have read my previous comments regarding my bucket list tt's. this one is right up there at the top of that list. should have it in room in a week to 10 days. i'm excited.
--purchased the new Ortofon MC Anna Diamond cartridge. i wanted another top-flight cartridge to give me an alternative to my GFS. i spent 3 days listening to the Ortofon Century on the Tosca/NVS at Axpona and was blown away. and i come to understand that the new Anna Diamond has even more detail than the Century. so i pulled the trigger.
soooooo.......i'll have to take another round of pictures once this stuff is here.
Congrats Mike. I had kinda been chasing the Saskia, at least in terms of a possible final final tt. However I struggled to get any ongoing comms w designer Win. I'm v pleased you managed to go further w him. I'm v envious.
when i was doing my Saskia II homework before i pulled this trigger i did refer back to that thread you opened and read it all the way through.
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/saskia-2-reference-tt.23985/
Win was dealing with some personal distractions during the time you were attempting to contact him. there are people behind all these products we desire and life can intrude. i'm happy to report that Win is doing better now.
That's one potent cannon you are adding into your "imperial fleet" of arsenals Mike. I was also very interested in this tt. Idler is the dynamic rhythmic king. Pls let us know how it lays out details, resolution, nuance comparing to the NVS.
Kind regards,
Tang
That's great, and I'm particularly pleased Win has such an esteemed sponsor for his labor of love. There are only a small handful of tts I would really love to own, Vyger being one, and Saskia being the other. I guess if I'm not going to own one, it had better be you, Mike.
thank you Tang.
that forward lean and rhythmic energy i loved about my Dobbins Garrard 301 is exactly what i heard from the Saskia, along with the tomb like quiet and space with the higher level drive system and greater mass. the Garrard missed refinement and nuance, but you did not care with the right music. the Saskia II seems not to care what music you play, it can cross all the boundaries. but show systems don't tell you the whole story, only glimpses. i'll have to find out for myself just what the Saskia can do in a more revealing system....arm and cartridge than in the shows i heard it.
'the perfect idler' is a dream. i hope this one is that.
best regards,
Mike
Mike, did you ever consider the Audiosilente Blackstone idler drive tt? I have no idea how it compares to the Saskia, but it too is a ground up new design idler, w some interesting attributes to it.
It's based out of Italy, so maybe this would have made it impractical to demo/consider. But it certainly would have been a worthy alternative to Saskia.
It's based out of Italy, so maybe this would have made it impractical to demo/consider. But it certainly would have been a worthy alternative to Saskia.
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
Congrats Mike. Ill have to get you Oliver's phono cable when he finishes . Love to hear it someday.
the Audiosilente Blackstone Reference was under my radar. reading about it now on the website it likely has the specs to play at a high level. hard to say how it might compare to the Saskia II. at 39k Euro's it should be pretty good.
i've heard and loved the Saskia II with my own ears personally; which does matter.
I thought it was a little less pricey than that. As you say Mike, you can only make a decision on what you hear, all else is speculation.
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the original version of the Audiosilente Blackstone (not the Reference) is around 8k Euro's (or was back in 2013).
maybe that's what you were referring to. i assumed since you were comparing it to the Saskia II that it would have been the full zoot version priced similarly to the Saskia.
Simone's website isn't the easiest to navigate. I'll put this down to his Latin temprament LOL.
There's an interesting Italian language (Google translates to English) online in depth article that goes pretty deeply into the Blackstone concept, and after reading it, I'm left hugely impressed. No reason to believe the Saskia isn't similarly fully loaded.
I was actually in a little communication w Simone (one better than w Win), and may have gone down this path had funds been available. IMHO, there seems to be so much more on offer from tts like the Blackstone than any number of similarly priced belt drives (Vyger being the honourable exception).
There's an interesting Italian language (Google translates to English) online in depth article that goes pretty deeply into the Blackstone concept, and after reading it, I'm left hugely impressed. No reason to believe the Saskia isn't similarly fully loaded.
I was actually in a little communication w Simone (one better than w Win), and may have gone down this path had funds been available. IMHO, there seems to be so much more on offer from tts like the Blackstone than any number of similarly priced belt drives (Vyger being the honourable exception).
Mike, will obv await yr in depth impressions of the Saskia when you listen some more and open a dedicated thread.
But can you give some early thoughts, either in yr setup or what you heard at Win?
We would all be interested in whether the Saskia is indeed a "Super Garrard" ie maintains all the drive and immersion of the Dobbins 301 w added sophistication, or whether it's a totally different listening experience, as EMT 927 would be to Garrard.
And how it will eventually compare to yr DD NVS and superlative belt drives like the AS2000.
I do find it fascinating you in the end turned away from the AS and went down a specialist idler route, this surely being an outlier in the high high end (Saskia and Blackstone the only high end new production idlers I can see out there).
But can you give some early thoughts, either in yr setup or what you heard at Win?
We would all be interested in whether the Saskia is indeed a "Super Garrard" ie maintains all the drive and immersion of the Dobbins 301 w added sophistication, or whether it's a totally different listening experience, as EMT 927 would be to Garrard.
And how it will eventually compare to yr DD NVS and superlative belt drives like the AS2000.
I do find it fascinating you in the end turned away from the AS and went down a specialist idler route, this surely being an outlier in the high high end (Saskia and Blackstone the only high end new production idlers I can see out there).
Marc, to be fair to you, i admit all those questions go through my mind too. so i can fully relate to the desire to speculate and toss opinions around about this. but also to be fair and responsible, it's premature for me to take it beyond what i and others have already written about our brief impressions of the Saskia II. no one has lived with this tt yet and done any sort of deep dive we can refer to.
OTOH my expectations for the Saskia II could not be higher. i expect it to play with those big boys. and i am not being critical of my Dobbins-Garrard 301 when i say i don't see it as in the league with the Saskia II; which is a no compromise design and build.
why did i pull the trigger and choose this idler over other belt driven choices? i did not need to buy a turntable as i am very happy with my NVS and what i'm hearing. but my radar was active for maybe the right additional tt that would add a musical element to my vinyl choices. i'd pushed the envelope on the digital and reel to reel tape as far as i could, and wanted to do a little more for my vinyl.
then this particular tt got my attention and the more i thought about it....it checked all my boxes....(1) i'd heard it and loved it, (2) knew it was a serious design and build effort and knew Win Tannon personally, (3) idler tt's do rock, (4) it had extreme high mass yet fit my space, (5) i liked the look and feel, and (6) i could choose to afford it. emotionally the idea of owning a Saskia II excited me.
if everything was the same but it was belt driven would i have done it? don't know.
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