Kuzma SAFIR 9

[Chop]

Somehow the discussion drifted to how this tonearm looks. But I think the very high effective mass is far more interesting and I look forward to some comparison reviews.

I mostly use a trusty Triplanar Mk.VII U2 with medium effective mass. The Saffir’s extremely high effective mass has me considering an experiment: ordering an additional stainless steel counterweight and attaching a vibration-free mass of some kind onto the head shell. By adding and adjusting masses onto both ends, one should be able to maintain the VTF balancing and adjustment range, while significantly increasing effective mass. I do not worry about footfalls exciting the resultant lower arm-cartridge resonance because I use a massive suspension-less Micro Seiki mounted on top of granite slabs, on a heavy steel rack, on top of ceramic tile, on top of a concrete slab floor.

Has anyone else experimented with adding mass to both ends of a tonearm?

Yes I have. As I use a Koetsu Urushi I added mass to the headshell end of my SME 312S. In order to keep the counterweight close to the pivot point I added an additional weight inside the counterweight. All this added mass transformed the performance of the Koetsu.

 

[howiebrou]

some more pics from Munich

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Looks like a bubble tea straw...

 

[Tango]

Looks like a bubble tea straw...

Do you think they know what bubble tea is Howie.

 

[howiebrou]

Do you think they know what bubble tea is Howie.

It's a global world Tang! But just in case....

 

[mtemur]

Kuzma safir 9 tonearm and Kuzma cartridge was playing and the sound in this room was great but it’s hard to be sure if it’s because of the tonearm.

 

[howiebrou]

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Kuzma safir 9 tonearm and Kuzma cartridge was playing and the sound in this room was great but it’s hard to be sure if it’s because of the tonearm.

What are those amps?

 

[mtemur]

What are those amps?

if I’m not mistaken they were made by some friend of Living Voice. that’s logical since they broke up with Kondo but still all the cabling including the ones inside the speaker was Kondo. BTW sound in the Living Voice room was great

 

[shakti]

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Kuzma safir 9 tonearm and Kuzma cartridge was playing and the sound in this room was great but it’s hard to be sure if it’s because of the tonearm.

the comparison between the two turntables was one of my most exciting moments at this years High End show

 

[Down in Devon]

What are those amps?

The amplifiers are made by Simon Shilton. (who is a long term friend of Kevin's at Definitive Audio)
I believe Kevin has 'voiced' the ones he uses and sells through selection of some of the components.

sjs electroacoustics

thermionic vacuum valve phono, line and power amplifiers

sjselectroacoustics.blogspot.com

 

[SOS]

shakti tell us your thoughts on "the comparison between the two turntables was one of my most exciting moments at this years High End show"? Curious minds would like to know.​

And anyone know why Living Voice broke away from Kondo? Or was it that Kondo broke away from LV?

 

[Shuggie]

The Safir 9 is a fascinating design - by any of our accepted wisdoms regarding tonearm design, such high effective mass should be a problem with virtually every cartridge, but maybe not! I think it's great that designers like Franc Kuzma are prepared to be different.

 

[mtemur]

And anyone know why Living Voice broke away from Kondo? Or was it that Kondo broke away from LV?​

LV wants old Kondo sound which is a little bit mellower/romantic compared to livelier and improved new Kondo sound. that’s the summary of what LV said in an announcement.

 

[SOS]

Interesting, personally I always thought the older Kondo gear was very euphoric and had this "earthly" tone and not very accurate. It was not my cup of tea.

 

[Lagonda]

Call me old fashioned and I'm sure its wonderful, but you wouldn't call it aesthetically pleasing would you? For the cost you'd think a little attention to a buyer's pride of ownership would come in somewhere... wouldn't you? <shrug> perhaps it's just me.

That arm looks like it belongs on the turret of a M1 Abrams tank !

 

[Marcus]

Quick questions. Is the headshell removable like the 4Point? Is there a dimple at the top of the arm marking the pivot center point so as to allow the use of my P2S measurement tool? Don't see one in these pics. Might not make any difference if used in one of Kuzma's own tables but if used on another table it would be most helpful.

The headshell on SAFIR 9 is not removable and yes, there is a dimple for the pivot center point.

 

[bazelio]

That arm looks like it belongs on the turret of a M1 Abrams tank !

That's music to my ears.

 

[Birdwatcher]

shakti tell us your thoughts on "the comparison between the two turntables was one of my most exciting moments at this years High End show"? Curious minds would like to know.​

Shakti, please tell more about it. What did you expect from the Stabi R/Saphire resp. what were the characteristics of the Stabi R, that you know until that time?

It would be nice to know how the Saphire 9 would sound with Phasemation 2000, or maybe a Dynavector XV-1t. Or a big stonebody Koetsu like Blue Tiger eye or a Fuuga…..

 

[simonthepieman]

The elephant in the listening room is the extremely heavy effective mass of this Safire 9 arm. Most medium-mass arms suitable for moving coil cartridges have effective mass figures in the 12 to 15 grams range. That mass works with the compliance of the cartridge to produce an arm-cartridge resonance in the 10 or 12 Hertz region, approximately. The resonance is typically damped so that there is only modest peaking at the resonant frequency, while a 12-dB-per-octave roll-off occurs below resonance. Conventional wisdom has it that resonances in this frequency range enable bass reproduction below 20 Hz while filtering out vibrations from foot falls on wooden floors that might occur in the 2 to 7 Hz range. If your friends decide to break dance near your table, they might even upset the stylus with their vibes, if that resonant frequency is set too low.

The effective mass of the Safire 9 (unless I’m interpreting the specs incorrectly) is an elephantine 60 grams! That is 4 to 5 times higher that a typical arm. To determine the change in resonant frequency with a heavy arm, we must take the square root of the effective mass ratio, meaning that the resonance would drop in frequency by a factor of 2 to 2.3, down to the 4 to 7 Hz range, very approximately.

(I have purposefully left out the additional influence of turntable suspensions, just to keep it somewhat simple.)

The upside here is that very low bass notes will be reproduced farther away from the now-lower resonance, reducing amplitude and phase distortion in the bass region when compared to an arm with a conventionally higher resonance. More tuneful and tighter bass? More “digital” bass? It’s very possible, and an exciting prospect.

The potential downside is that the Safire 9 and cartridge could pick up extremely low frequency floor noise, causing the woofers to pump and making the powers amps work harder. But, I think anyone paying €20000 for an arm probably has vibration under control, either with the built-in suspension of the turntable, or by some other means. Owners of floppy Linn Sondeks should probably avoid this arm. (That comment is bound to provoke someone).

So, I will be very interested to hear reviews of this arm. Kudos to Kuzma for thinking outside the elephant cage!

Try the SAP 750 Relaxa magnetic support its amazing. not affliation just an impressed customer

 

[Marcus]

4Point 14 gone. SAFIR 9 ETA…30 days.

 

[tima]

4Point 14 gone. SAFIR 9 ETA…30 days.

Wonderful! I look forward to reading about the Safir from you.

Do you plan to use your CAR 60 with it.?