I've been reading lots in the magazines about the J. Sikora tables - any actual owners here who care to share their thoughts?

[BillK]

In particular the Standard Max/Kuzma 4 Point combo as reviewed in TAS seems to be the combo to beat for price/performance.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[No Regrets]

I was able to hear the J. Sikora Reference using their own tonearm at AXPONA in April, which was being show with Doshi tube electronics feeding the amazing Joseph Audio Pearl Graphene speakers!

This was easily the best sound of the show, imho. I spent a lot of time there, all three days and was just captivated by what I heard! The music was full, rich, dynamic, detailed, but not etched... simply very involving.... to the point that it was very difficult to leave that room.

I also had the opportunity to hear the Standard Max. It is a very impressive table, which if I understand correctly, uses the same platter, motors ( but only 2 vs the 4 on the Reference) and the same motor controller. You can upgrade the power supply on the Standard Max to the one that is used on the Reference. The pods that contain the motors are made of different metals on the Standard Max. Both tables weigh a "ton" so you'll have to make sure you have a sturdy support system that can withstand the weight.

I wish I could have heard them side by side in the Doshi/Joseph room as I have an inkling that they would have sounded more similar than different. But unfortunately, that wasn't an option. I heard the Standard Max using the Integrity Tru-glider arm with a DS Optical cartridge and other electronics that I'm not familiar with. The sound in this room did not make a huge positive impression on me. I'm not sure if it was just the affect of their room ( as we know it can be difficult to get great sound in a hotel room), or the combination of the arm/cartridge, or the accompanying electronics.

The Standard Max looked to be built like a tank, impeccably finished, and certainly looked the business! I am very interested in getting either the Reference or the Standard Max for my next and last table, but am holding off until I can hear the Standard Max under better circumstances.
I just can't get the sound of that the Reference system out of my mind. If I could afford it, I would have bought their entire system that they were exibiting.... the J. Sikora, Doshi and Joseph Pearl Graphene speakers.

I hope others chime in... I truly believe J. Sikora has earned the respect they deserve with what they have produced.

Best wishes,
Don

 

[mtemur]

Standard max is a great table. I heard it with it’s own arm. IMHO Kuzma 4P or another great arm needs to be matched with this lovely table.

 

[No Regrets]

Standard max is a great table. I heard it with it’s own arm. IMHO Kuzma 4P or another great arm needs to be matched with this lovely table.

I have to believe the Standard Max would be a great table too. Especially considering how similar it is to their Reference table (which I totally and completely fell in love with )

Have you had an opportunity to compare the Standard Max to their Reference?

I would think the Kuzma arms would be awesome on the J. Sikora tables as well. In fact, I believe they often used Kuzma arms on their table before they designed their own arm.

Best wishes,
Don

 

[mtemur]

Have you had an opportunity to compare the Standard Max to their Reference

Unfortunately no.

 

[Alrainbow]

I have there tables 5 times now never anything but SOTA analog be it top cart or less.
and do agree the combo in doshi room was analog best of show for me too.

 

[bonzo75]

The Lampi and Ideon distro in the U.K., Gpoint audio has had this for well over 5 years now, right from its early stages, before it became famous. it used to have the Kuzma 4p before they made their own arm. Anyone interested can schedule a visit to listen, just outside London. You can hear it with Aidas carts, Destination audio electronics, various speakers including audionec

 

[No Regrets]

The Lampi and Ideon distro in the U.K., Gpoint audio has had this for well over 5 years now, right from its early stages, before it became famous. it used to have the Kuzma 4p before they made their own arm. Anyone interested can schedule a visit to listen, just outside London. You can hear it with Aidas carts, Destination audio electronics, various speakers including audionec

Hello Kedar,

I'm curious how you feel the J. Sikora Reference or Standard Max compares with the Brinkman Balance. If I remember correctly, you were quite fond of the Balance at one time... at least up until the Vyger came along

I'm jealous of you being able to hear so many wonderful analog systems.

Best wishes,
Don

 

[Solypsa]

The Lampi and Ideon distro in the U.K., Gpoint audio has had this for well over 5 years now,

Iirc G point also has a Primary Control Kinea on demo, for perhaps an interesting comparison.

 

[Barry2013]

Hello Kedar,

I'm curious how you feel the J. Sikora Reference or Standard Max compares with the Brinkman Balance. If I remember correctly, you were quite fond of the Balance at one time... at least up until the Vyger came along

I'm jealous of you being able to hear so many wonderful analog systems.

Best wishes,
Don

I have the Standard Sikora with the KV12 tonearm which replaced an SME20/3 plus SME V.
Much prefer it. None of the darkness of tone of the SME.
I use a Stillpoints LP1V2 with it which is better than the stock clamp. More revealing. Goldnote PH1000 plus matching PSU gives great synergy.

 

[bonzo75]

Hello Kedar,

I'm curious how you feel the J. Sikora Reference or Standard Max compares with the Brinkman Balance. If I remember correctly, you were quite fond of the Balance at one time... at least up until the Vyger came along

I'm jealous of you being able to hear so many wonderful analog systems.

Best wishes,
Don

Don,

I still like the Brinkmann Balance a lot. I think it is one of the finest values in the market, especially the used prices in EU (I don't know the about the US as it is imported). I always liked Vyger since 2018 it is that last December I was able to hear the Vyger Red Sparrow in another set up too, to extricate what it does for music. So, the only reason I dropped Brinkmann of my list, is DaVa. With Dava, the TT becomes less important, I can get a restored idler, or Feickert Firebord, or STST Motus II, one of the heavy arms like FR/Ikeda/Dynavector/Bokrand, and I will be fine. I am sure the Standard Max, Primary Control Kinea, might work too but I have never compared them to other tables.

If I want to spend to make the ultimate jump (for me sonically), I will get the Vyger. I don't desire anything in between. I also wrote on Vyger and Dava here https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/zero-distortion-vyger.35529/post-852820

Yes there are some great pivoted arms now like Primary Contol Field coil, and while I have not experienced Safir 9 or Kronos discovery myself, these can be mounted with synergistic carts on good tables to get an uplift.

Assuming you want to maximise the sound of your system with a TT set up, once you get to a certain level the record makes the bigger difference to the sonics, as does the synergy of the analog to the downstream system to show case the recordings. For example, if you compare a bad to mediocre pressing on two tables, and if you find one table to be better in sonics, you could change this equation by putting a good pressing on the table that sounded lesser. So, you really need to know this crossover point where records become more important for sonics than the gear (keeping aside the music benefits from the records).

The other thing is depending on your system philosophy, you could get lower priced analog gear sounding very high resolution, to the extent that adding higher priced analog gear does not get an added delta - and yes, the whole system sounds higher resolution than many other higher priced systems with higher priced analog. This happens because if the source to speaker path is kept simple, you get to hear a purer signal from the record as compared to adding costly sh*t in between that does not let the signal through.

 

[No Regrets]

Don,

I still like the Brinkmann Balance a lot. I think it is one of the finest values in the market, especially the used prices in EU (I don't know the about the US as it is imported). I always liked Vyger since 2018 it is that last December I was able to hear the Vyger Red Sparrow in another set up too, to extricate what it does for music. So, the only reason I dropped Brinkmann of my list, is DaVa. With Dava, the TT becomes less important, I can get a restored idler, or Feickert Firebord, or STST Motus II, one of the heavy arms like FR/Ikeda/Dynavector/Bokrand, and I will be fine. I am sure the Standard Max, Primary Control Kinea, might work too but I have never compared them to other tables.

If I want to spend to make the ultimate jump (for me sonically), I will get the Vyger. I don't desire anything in between. I also wrote on Vyger and Dava here https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/zero-distortion-vyger.35529/post-852820

Yes there are some great pivoted arms now like Primary Contol Field coil, and while I have not experienced Safir 9 or Kronos discovery myself, these can be mounted with synergistic carts on good tables to get an uplift.

Assuming you want to maximise the sound of your system with a TT set up, once you get to a certain level the record makes the bigger difference to the sonics, as does the synergy of the analog to the downstream system to show case the recordings. For example, if you compare a bad to mediocre pressing on two tables, and if you find one table to be better in sonics, you could change this equation by putting a good pressing on the table that sounded lesser. So, you really need to know this crossover point where records become more important for sonics than the gear (keeping aside the music benefits from the records).

The other thing is depending on your system philosophy, you could get lower priced gear sounding very high resolution, to the extent that adding higher priced gear does not get an added delta - and yes, the whole system sounds higher resolution than many other higher priced systems with higher priced analog. This happens because if the source to speaker path is kept simple, you get to hear a purer signal from the record as compared to adding costly sh*t in between that does not let the signal through.

Thank you Kedar for such a thoughtful and detailed reply! Everything you’ve said makes perfect sense to me.
Best wishes to you,
Don

 

[Audire]

We own the Sikora Standard Max. We use two Sikora KV-12 arms. It’s a great TT.

 

[No Regrets]

We own the Sikora Standard Max. We use two Sikora KV-12 arms. It’s a great TT.

View attachment 109152

Great looking system and I bet it sounds amazing!
Thanks for sharing the pic!
Best wishes,
Don

 

[MortenB]

I have the Standard MAX as well. Mine is a slightly special version with brass sandwich plinth and brass ‘’boots’’ on the motor housings as seen here.

I decided to go for the Standard MAX instead of the Reference due to the value at offer with the Standard MAX, it was already max’ing out my budget.

As I understand the development story of the Sikora turntables the Standard came before the Reference as it was designed to set the Standard J. Sikora was aiming for. Again as I understand it, that was to perform better than the Kuzma XL that was J. Sikoras reference at the time. However with J. Sikora being so facinated with the Kuzma XL, they designed the Reference to have a top of the line model with somewhat similar visual apperance. From what I have been told the Standard MAX and the Reference are sonically very, very similar when using the same power supply. The upgraded power supply can be used for them both. I have not tried it, as it was not avaliable when I ordered my Standard MAX.

Both myself and friends / musicians who knows my system well heard similar improvements when the Standard MAX was introduced into the system, as No Regrets decribe above opening post. Highly recommended and No Regrets ;-)

 

[BillK]

I have the Standard MAX as well. Mine is a slightly special version with brass sandwich plinth and brass ‘’boots’’ on the motor housings as seen here.

I decided to go for the Standard MAX instead of the Reference due to the value at offer with the Standard MAX, it was already max’ing out my budget.

As I understand the development story of the Sikora turntables the Standard came before the Reference as it was designed to set the Standard J. Sikora was aiming for. Again as I understand it, that was to perform better than the Kuzma XL that was J. Sikoras reference at the time. However with J. Sikora being so facinated with the Kuzma XL, they designed the Reference to have a top of the line model with somewhat similar visual apperance. From what I have been told the Standard MAX and the Reference are sonically very, very similar when using the same power supply. The upgraded power supply can be used for them both. I have not tried it, as it was not avaliable when I ordered my Standard MAX.

Both myself and friends / musicians who knows my system well heard similar improvements when the Standard MAX was introduced into the system, as you decribe in your opening post. Highly recommended and No Regrets ;-)

View attachment 109239

Which tonearm(s) are you using? It's hard to tell from the photo.

 

[MortenB]

Main arm (to the right) is a Davinci Audio Labs, and the second arm at the rear is a Jelco TK850

 

[Audire]

I have the Standard MAX as well. Mine is a slightly special version with brass sandwich plinth and brass ‘’boots’’ on the motor housings as seen here.

I decided to go for the Standard MAX instead of the Reference due to the value at offer with the Standard MAX, it was already max’ing out my budget.

As I understand the development story of the Sikora turntables the Standard came before the Reference as it was designed to set the Standard J. Sikora was aiming for. Again as I understand it, that was to perform better than the Kuzma XL that was J. Sikoras reference at the time. However with J. Sikora being so facinated with the Kuzma XL, they designed the Reference to have a top of the line model with somewhat similar visual apperance. From what I have been told the Standard MAX and the Reference are sonically very, very similar when using the same power supply. The upgraded power supply can be used for them both. I have not tried it, as it was not avaliable when I ordered my Standard MAX.

Both myself and friends / musicians who knows my system well heard similar improvements when the Standard MAX was introduced into the system, as No Regrets decribe above opening post. Highly recommended and No Regrets ;-)

View attachment 109239

Beautiful the way you have yours set up. Congrats!

 

[BR549]

I have the Standard MAX as well. Mine is a slightly special version with brass sandwich plinth and brass ‘’boots’’ on the motor housings as seen here.

I decided to go for the Standard MAX instead of the Reference due to the value at offer with the Standard MAX, it was already max’ing out my budget.

As I understand the development story of the Sikora turntables the Standard came before the Reference as it was designed to set the Standard J. Sikora was aiming for. Again as I understand it, that was to perform better than the Kuzma XL that was J. Sikoras reference at the time. However with J. Sikora being so facinated with the Kuzma XL, they designed the Reference to have a top of the line model with somewhat similar visual apperance. From what I have been told the Standard MAX and the Reference are sonically very, very similar when using the same power supply. The upgraded power supply can be used for them both. I have not tried it, as it was not avaliable when I ordered my Standard MAX.

Both myself and friends / musicians who knows my system well heard similar improvements when the Standard MAX was introduced into the system, as No Regrets decribe above opening post. Highly recommended and No Regrets ;-)

View attachment 109239

I used to own this very same version of the standard max and absolutely loved it. The looks are just great - better than the Reference that I ended up purchasing. Save for a great deal on a reference, I would still own this one (although the Reference did lift the SQ quite noticeably - you could tell they were from the same family, but the Reference wins to my ear in the SQ category).

 

[BR549]

I owned the Standard Max (as stated above in silver and brass, which was so good looking) and now own the Reference. Really love it - works well and plays well above its price point sonically. Can't really move it around though because it weighs 250 lbs, but other than that, I just love it (and really don't need to move it, but sometimes wish I could).