Having used a SY S7 for last 30 years I can sympathise re speed instability. The issue is what's in the SY device is a common, lower cost, 6 VA laminated core transformer (E-I core or similar) not a toroid. There must have been a trade off when SY commenced but the only way to address is with something like a KCC Scientific Chronos which allows one via a vernier knob to alter cycles +/-4 to achieve correct speeds. The other issue people have faced is SY dislike of providing boards for other arms. This is counter-intuitive because the only people who would have bought his turntables must have wanted top-notch sound to start with. No 'science' stays still or does not evolve so naturally whilst his arms were aesthetically a match after years of development by others better arms became available.
KRONOS Pro ... finally
- Thread starter redandgold
- Start date
Sorry, Zeotrope, for being inprecise: Not the belt itself, of couse, I apply Vaseline to the rolls which are opposite side to the motor. My belts I keep free of fat however possible. Even by oil change I use gloves...
I suppose they did not have a real plan to solve the problem. Then they tried to workaround the bearing. There is always a problem if the manufacturer does not exist anymore. The distributor most of the time is limitet in capabilities.
The good thing with Simon Yorke was that he was so passionate to every detail. Possible that he compared before a lot of different motos and felt this low power motor sounded best.
Your are correct, Laurence. Time goes on and flexibility is a real value. And for shure several people would have variated different arms.
I understand Simon Yorke as an (lief) artist, neither as a technician nor as a commercial manufacturer. He feels his "record player" is a piece of art and part of his life philosophy. He feels his players are a total composition as a unit and so it has to sound. Therefore he cooperates with Jan Allaerts. If you buy it, you get a fixed result.
I have only seen this kind one time by Rui Borges in a similar way.
First, thank you to all forum members following my impressions and giving me feedback.
After the installation of the turntable is finished, the important question is, how does it sound (at home, independent to my show impressions)?
From the first moment, I was shocked how much better the KRONOS performance is comparing to the midclass Transrotor Massimo. I realized that I have purchased a world class turntable (I say this because at least under show conditions I heard most of the world class tables (AirForce 0/1/2/3, SAT, OMA 3/5, Wilson Benesch, Dohmann…and got am impression what they are capable of, what they do and what they don't).
Before telling you the strengths of the KRONOS, the most important is the reverse question: What is the weakness of the turntable? You get used of the virtues after some time owning a top table. But it matters more, what you don’t like. This you will hear always and let you feeling bad. "audiophilia nervosa", the reason why so many of us change the toys in hope to get better. And so IMO the hidden strength of the turntable is the missing of weakness. It is a longtime developed piece of music, where problems are solved before costumers are getting this instrument of joy. Even now after some time I don’t find a bad thing disturbing me. And this gives you real satisfaction.
What are the strengths of the KRONOS, make it so special. First at all, it is a piece dedicated to play the music, enjoying it and dive deeply into it. Forgetting time and space. Yes, Louis Desjardins had invented special techniques like the counter rotating platters or the Resonant Suppression arm, making his tables so special. But if you talk with him about KRONOS, he will talk with about music, not the proud of an engineer. His ideas are only important to him from the musical perspective.
If you talk with some other developers of great players, they can talk hours about their engineering, which efforts they fought to create a technical superior solution, what they do for isolation and so forth. For them, their product is a masterpiece of engineering. Off course I can believe them, what energy it has cost them.
But beside the proud of a new table, what matters as major objective? In my opinion you want to be deep into the music, feel what and why the musician plays the music in this way and express it with small nuances of variating the musical expression.
So you have a premonition of what you get being the owner of a PRO: It is a great instrument performing perfectly Pace, Rhythm and Timing. Feeling the musical expression and intention of the musicians is important to come close to the music. Therefor micro dynamics are important for the brain to feel it is realistic. But what I heard being in phase with the music is even more important. The human brain seems to be even more sensitive to time errors than to amplitude or resolution errors.
But no doubt. This table is very resolving too. You can hear so many details about character of voice and instruments more. This helps additionally to feel like you are there. I suppose, my great cartridge Etsuro Urushi Gold helps here a lot, too. The whole system is not in a digital way transparent, it is more a “by the way” transparent. Like it is self-evident. You get access to music and by the way information like hell.
What I loved about the Simon Yorke was the great stage definition. Having a feeling you know where the musicians are and if they move, was a great fun to me. With this KRONOS (and especially now after some more updates I will write later), I never got a better focus. And the presentation is now deep and wide. Had heard some music where I felt the music plays from the side, so wide it is if the mastering intends it. It sounds so palpable.
I hope my impressions gave you a feeling, in which lucky position I am now enjoying my new pleasure source.
After the installation of the turntable is finished, the important question is, how does it sound (at home, independent to my show impressions)?
From the first moment, I was shocked how much better the KRONOS performance is comparing to the midclass Transrotor Massimo. I realized that I have purchased a world class turntable (I say this because at least under show conditions I heard most of the world class tables (AirForce 0/1/2/3, SAT, OMA 3/5, Wilson Benesch, Dohmann…and got am impression what they are capable of, what they do and what they don't).
Before telling you the strengths of the KRONOS, the most important is the reverse question: What is the weakness of the turntable? You get used of the virtues after some time owning a top table. But it matters more, what you don’t like. This you will hear always and let you feeling bad. "audiophilia nervosa", the reason why so many of us change the toys in hope to get better. And so IMO the hidden strength of the turntable is the missing of weakness. It is a longtime developed piece of music, where problems are solved before costumers are getting this instrument of joy. Even now after some time I don’t find a bad thing disturbing me. And this gives you real satisfaction.
What are the strengths of the KRONOS, make it so special. First at all, it is a piece dedicated to play the music, enjoying it and dive deeply into it. Forgetting time and space. Yes, Louis Desjardins had invented special techniques like the counter rotating platters or the Resonant Suppression arm, making his tables so special. But if you talk with him about KRONOS, he will talk with about music, not the proud of an engineer. His ideas are only important to him from the musical perspective.
If you talk with some other developers of great players, they can talk hours about their engineering, which efforts they fought to create a technical superior solution, what they do for isolation and so forth. For them, their product is a masterpiece of engineering. Off course I can believe them, what energy it has cost them.
But beside the proud of a new table, what matters as major objective? In my opinion you want to be deep into the music, feel what and why the musician plays the music in this way and express it with small nuances of variating the musical expression.
So you have a premonition of what you get being the owner of a PRO: It is a great instrument performing perfectly Pace, Rhythm and Timing. Feeling the musical expression and intention of the musicians is important to come close to the music. Therefor micro dynamics are important for the brain to feel it is realistic. But what I heard being in phase with the music is even more important. The human brain seems to be even more sensitive to time errors than to amplitude or resolution errors.
But no doubt. This table is very resolving too. You can hear so many details about character of voice and instruments more. This helps additionally to feel like you are there. I suppose, my great cartridge Etsuro Urushi Gold helps here a lot, too. The whole system is not in a digital way transparent, it is more a “by the way” transparent. Like it is self-evident. You get access to music and by the way information like hell.
What I loved about the Simon Yorke was the great stage definition. Having a feeling you know where the musicians are and if they move, was a great fun to me. With this KRONOS (and especially now after some more updates I will write later), I never got a better focus. And the presentation is now deep and wide. Had heard some music where I felt the music plays from the side, so wide it is if the mastering intends it. It sounds so palpable.
I hope my impressions gave you a feeling, in which lucky position I am now enjoying my new pleasure source.
Yeah redandgold,
Congratulations to your new fine turntable. The pics of the set up and installation looked awesome. And very nice reading of your first impressions too… Loved it??
!! Enjoy!
Kindest Regards
/ Jk
Congratulations to your new fine turntable. The pics of the set up and installation looked awesome. And very nice reading of your first impressions too… Loved it??
!! Enjoy!Kindest Regards
/ Jk
Congratulations indeed! I pray that you can enjoy your new addition in great health for many years to come.
You have really set the bar high for the rest of us now for when we finally get our holy grail dream table/arm. It's gonna be hard to do as nice of a write up and photo array as you have done for us!
Best wishes,
Don
You have really set the bar high for the rest of us now for when we finally get our holy grail dream table/arm. It's gonna be hard to do as nice of a write up and photo array as you have done for us!
Best wishes,
Don
Currently there are great times for stepping inside the KRONOS path. Some customers upgrade to the Discovery turntable and so some Pros are in the market. I waited longtime to get one with the latest iteration.
I have told you explicitely my reasons for the decision to purchase the KRONOS (perfect distributor/manufacturer support, great performance, good quality, long time market presence ...). Another IMO very important factor is the product sustainability. After a while some manufacturers bring new products to the market and if you have the older model, you can hope that you get a least spare parts in case of problems.
What I love so much at KRONOS is the enduring development of new parts improving the performance of your turntable. Most of new inventions if applicable you can use in your modell (Pro, Sparta) too.
One example is the latest revision of the tonearm board. In early revisions of the Pro it is a metal one. But the newer carbon fiber armboard is superior and you can exchange to the better one without problems. By good luck my table already has the carbon fiber one.
Another example is the platter weight. The earliest iterations were the metal platter weights. Some will still have them. For some time Louis Desjardins found a combination mostly with wood superior to the old edition.
This was also my platter weight and I had nothing to complain up to the moment, Louis sent me the latest edition with a composite of material plus bearings to separate upper/lower part. Not, that the wooden weight is bad. It was fun especially hearing blues and jazz music the way the music with this weight was nicely with colorful in a positive meaning. All instruments sounded great there overtones were shown concisely, which was fun. But to be honest to myself, the new platter weight is clearly on the neutral side. Hearing music is feeling "yes, so it sounds real". Beside the fact the new version rewards you with more transparency and faster transients. After I got used of it, I did not want to miss any more the advantages of the new, better platter weight.
What I love so much at KRONOS is the enduring development of new parts improving the performance of your turntable. Most of new inventions if applicable you can use in your modell (Pro, Sparta) too.
One example is the latest revision of the tonearm board. In early revisions of the Pro it is a metal one. But the newer carbon fiber armboard is superior and you can exchange to the better one without problems. By good luck my table already has the carbon fiber one.
Another example is the platter weight. The earliest iterations were the metal platter weights. Some will still have them. For some time Louis Desjardins found a combination mostly with wood superior to the old edition.
This was also my platter weight and I had nothing to complain up to the moment, Louis sent me the latest edition with a composite of material plus bearings to separate upper/lower part. Not, that the wooden weight is bad. It was fun especially hearing blues and jazz music the way the music with this weight was nicely with colorful in a positive meaning. All instruments sounded great there overtones were shown concisely, which was fun. But to be honest to myself, the new platter weight is clearly on the neutral side. Hearing music is feeling "yes, so it sounds real". Beside the fact the new version rewards you with more transparency and faster transients. After I got used of it, I did not want to miss any more the advantages of the new, better platter weight.
congratulation! the KRONOS always was a really great to hear and watch from the early days!
i was in the market for one long ago (i think around 2017...) but didn't toke the plunge then... in the meanwhile i found other TT that was ticking my heart...
i was very glad and happy to see you got yours after years of searching and was really bummed for you on the tine you spend "without good analog" (i didnt knew the problems with the SY turntables)
again, enjoy!
you deserve it
i was in the market for one long ago (i think around 2017...) but didn't toke the plunge then... in the meanwhile i found other TT that was ticking my heart...
i was very glad and happy to see you got yours after years of searching and was really bummed for you on the tine you spend "without good analog" (i didnt knew the problems with the SY turntables)
again, enjoy!
you deserve it
Thank you, Byrdparis!
The way I heard the KRONOS so many times before at fairs and it never disappointed me, I was relieved the whole system was even better at home.
For all KRONOS owners I can only recommend to upgrade their system to the latest level. It makes sense performancewise.
The way I heard the KRONOS so many times before at fairs and it never disappointed me, I was relieved the whole system was even better at home.
For all KRONOS owners I can only recommend to upgrade their system to the latest level. It makes sense performancewise.
After some months of enjoying the new turntable system I asked myself if there is any option to raise the top level performance I have.
From knowing even small parts like the platter weight matter, I asked myself if an upgrade of the tonearm makes sense. In my mind was the statement that the Kronoscope RS is already one of the top tonearms you get for your well earned money. And the difference should not be huge, making the smaller of the top arms a real best buy in the champions league of the tonearms.
Sound is great, handling is great and quality too.
As every year I planned to visit the Munich HighEnd. This year saying Hi to Aristomenis Georgiadis from TLA and Louis Desjardins from Kronos was a must do to get the latest information. As I was in communication with Louis in advance, by good luck I learned that Louis had a small time gap between the fair and already fixed other customer visits after HighEnd. By coincidence there were two days he had to stay in Europe without plans. So I felt lucky he offered to pass by my home and system.
From knowing even small parts like the platter weight matter, I asked myself if an upgrade of the tonearm makes sense. In my mind was the statement that the Kronoscope RS is already one of the top tonearms you get for your well earned money. And the difference should not be huge, making the smaller of the top arms a real best buy in the champions league of the tonearms.
Sound is great, handling is great and quality too.
As every year I planned to visit the Munich HighEnd. This year saying Hi to Aristomenis Georgiadis from TLA and Louis Desjardins from Kronos was a must do to get the latest information. As I was in communication with Louis in advance, by good luck I learned that Louis had a small time gap between the fair and already fixed other customer visits after HighEnd. By coincidence there were two days he had to stay in Europe without plans. So I felt lucky he offered to pass by my home and system.
Now the issue with tonearm upgrade decision returned back. This was a once in the lifetime opportunity to get installed this top of the top Discovery RS tonearm upgraded from Louis Desjardins himself. After few days of thinking about the purchase I decided to got the step forward, not knowing how much enhancement it would be.
As you know, the level of progress depends on your own status of your system...
As you know, the level of progress depends on your own status of your system...
By the way, Louis told he had invented meanwhile a new footer with totally different approaches like several metals and a separation over the bearing with different materials. Once going all in I ordered this too.
I'd be interested in knowing....
1. if/what kind of change to the sound these footers bring to your table?
2. can anyone order these footers or only people who have a Kronos table?
Best wishes,
Don
I am sorry, but I never tested the footers itself without the rest of changes. I only felt every step goes in the right direction.
The main business of Kronos are turntables and tonearms. Extras like platter weights, footers or racks he invented for himself and his clients. If you ask Louis, maybe we will sell them isolated. The price was reasonable to the performance.
The main business of Kronos are turntables and tonearms. Extras like platter weights, footers or racks he invented for himself and his clients. If you ask Louis, maybe we will sell them isolated. The price was reasonable to the performance.
So my visit became part of Louis’ Europe tour 2023.
I picked him up from airport. It is always great to talk personally to a developer of your product. You learn a lot about the ideas, principles und philosophy of the developer. Louis is a very smart person. You can talk about a lot of different topics beside the audio business. But he is also an absolute 100% audiophile. Music is his passion and he never accepts compromises getting as close as possible. The perfectionist in a good meaning…
I picked him up from airport. It is always great to talk personally to a developer of your product. You learn a lot about the ideas, principles und philosophy of the developer. Louis is a very smart person. You can talk about a lot of different topics beside the audio business. But he is also an absolute 100% audiophile. Music is his passion and he never accepts compromises getting as close as possible. The perfectionist in a good meaning…
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