Another nice report, Ron. It's interesting that he went 'passive' in the vibration control. One less thing to plug in, but he is adding the vacuum hold down system, so there will be the pump.
Passive beats active in that it’s never reacting. It just “is”. The Minus K is a particularly ingenious and effective device. It’s basically leaf springs in pre-bending mode.easily adjustable and super stable...
Passive beats active in that it’s never reacting. It just “is”. The Minus K is a particularly ingenious and effective device. It’s basically leaf springs in pre-bending mode.easily adjustable and super stable...
Ron, interesting report, but I'm not getting any idea on musicality from yr mini review. I believe Mike Fremer said the original GP Monaco DD tt had detail and resolution, yet it didn't charm him. I've heard a few digital front ends recently that were uber resolving yet would be hard for me to live with l/t.View attachment 53308
Today Steve and I attended Marc Gomez’s demonstration of his brand new SAT XD1 turntable. The event was hosted by Maier Shadi, proprietor of The Audio Salon in Santa Monica, California. Michael Fremer, Editor of AnalogPlanet, expertly and entertainingly performed DJ duties.
The XD1, as Marc explained, is as small as possible but no smaller. The concept here was to allow the engineering and design and functionality to drive the form and the aesthetics. The sides of the base of the turntable are rounded and machined to diffract acoustic vibration from the speakers of the system in which the turntable is employed.
Marc explained how he does not believe in the concept of “voicing” audio components to sound a certain way. Rather, as an engineer, Marc’s philosophy is to imagine, design and build the best product he can make with the best quality materials from an engineering perspective, focusing on maximizing performance, and the resulting product will inevitably sound great.
This direct drive turntable is obviously extremely well-machined with great precision. While Marc uses a motor manufactured by Technics, he machines his own motor support structure which is literally about 10 times the weight of the standard motor base. (Marc passed around the original Technics base and his custom base for comparison.) Marc uses the magnets and windings and the electronic controller of the Technics motor, but modifies other aspects of the motor for his custom use.
The base for the platter and the motor is supported by three large pods which have a viscoelastic dampening layer.
The entire turntable base is machined from a single billet of magnesium alloy. Similarly the case for the motor controller is machined from a billet of magnesium alloy.
View attachment 53310
The entire turntable sits on a Minus K negative stiffness vibration isolation platform, which is custom-made by Minus K to Marc’s specifications for the XD1. Like the turntable base and the motor controller case the box for the Minus K platform is machined from a solid rectangular slab of metal.
During the demonstration I asked Marc: “While I appreciate that the Minus K platform is made to your specifications for your turntable, given that this is a state-of-the-art and cost no object design why didn’t you make an isolation platform which is integrated with the turntable itself rather than being separated from the turntable by the intermediary footer pods?”
Marc replied that he wanted a passive, and not an active, vibration isolation solution, and that of all of the available technologies the Minus K provides exactly the vibration isolation functionality he wanted. With regard to why the turntable has feet which sit on a separate platform he said that he specifically wanted an intermediate vibration dampening function performed by the visco-elastic component of the pods which attenuates vibration at higher frequencies than does the Minus K platform.
Interestingly, Marc said that he is planning to design a vacuum hold-down system which will be a standard part of the XD1.
Marc mentioned that he will be offering a specialized and dedicated version of his tonearm specifically for the XD1, and that this specialized version will not be available separately from the turntable. Among other special titanium parts, this specialized tonearm will have a titanium tube inside the carbon fiber arm-wand.
View attachment 53311
As with the system I heard a few weeks ago at The Audio Salon the phono stage and the line stage and the power amplifiers are all solid-state components made by Dan D’Agostino. The sound from the system today fronted by a Lyra Atlas SL cartridge on the new version of the SAT tonearm, the CF1, on the XD1 turntable was very clean, very transparent, high in resolution and dynamics, and very detailed. This analog front-end is a very “transparent to source” type of sound.
I feel strongly that anybody who enjoys the sonic attributes of the SAT tonearm will be very excited by the sonic attributes of the XD1 turntable. I assume that many of Marc’s tonearm customers will want to buy the turntable as well, getting the specialized titanium tubed tonearm for the turntable in the process.
Thanks to Marc for a very interesting demonstration and technical explanation! Thanks to Maier for hosting the event (and for inviting me), and thanks to Michael for telling interesting background stories spinning vinyl!
Ron, interesting report, but I'm not getting any idea on musicality from yr mini review. I believe Mike Fremer said the original GP Monaco DD tt had detail and resolution, yet it didn't charm him. I've heard a few digital front ends recently that were uber resolving yet would be hard for me to live with l/t.
How was the SAT tt on the musical/emotional connection stakes, versus AF0?
Ron, interesting report, but I'm not getting any idea on musicality from yr mini review. I believe Mike Fremer said the original GP Monaco DD tt had detail and resolution, yet it didn't charm him. I've heard a few digital front ends recently that were uber resolving yet would be hard for me to live with l/t.
How was the SAT tt on the musical/emotional connection stakes, versus AF0?
A valid comparison like this is impossible if one wants to maintain any semblance of intellectual honesty about it.
TLi, why would one demo a product not even close to completion? Vacuum hold down will surely alter the sound a lot. Is the stated price gonna be the final price for the design to incl vacuum?The demo SAT turntable is not a final product. It is not even a final prototype, may be considered as a concept map.
As Marc said the titanium inner tube tonearm is not ready, the suction is not in place. The sound will very different in the final product. The titanium inner tube with Ti cartridge headshell will made the sound much brighter than the other SAT arms.
Suction will reduce vibration on disc surface, further enhancing resolution. It will be interesting to listen to the final sound. But when one is charging this amount of money for a turntable and the final sound is not ready for audition, it really takes a lot of faith on Marc to place an order.
The demo SAT turntable is not a final product. It is not even a final prototype, may be considered as a concept map.
As Marc said the titanium inner tube tonearm is not ready, the suction is not in place. The sound will very different in the final product. The titanium inner tube with Ti cartridge headshell will made the sound much brighter than the other SAT arms.
Suction will reduce vibration on disc surface, further enhancing resolution. It will be interesting to listen to the final sound. But when one is charging this amount of money for a turntable and the final sound is not ready for audition, it really takes a lot of faith on Marc to place an order.
If this is not a finished prototype, what was then the purpose of this presentation ?
So you mean all we have to do to stop the insane spiralling escalation of pricing of the very top end is to just stop ordering them and wait for sanity to prevail.Pre-orders. The AF0 was not the production model either.
pre-orders will dictate whether the project will go ahead and what the financial palatable price will be.
So all we have to do to stop the insane spiralling escalation of pricing of the very top end is to just stop ordering them and wait for sanity to prevail.
I am doing my part. I am not ordering the SAT or the AF0.
A manufacturer of kit this expensive has to scope out whether there is is a market, how many he can manufacturer to make it viable and what price.
We have see a few very expensive turntables never get to production. Goldmund and the Av Design Haus’ Dereneville VPM 2010-1 to name two. Even the Basis Audio Work of Art, did that ever get into real production?
I am doing my part. I am not ordering the SAT or the AF0.
A manufacturer of kit this expensive has to scope out whether there is is a market, how many he can manufacturer to make it viable and what price.
We have see a few very expensive turntables never get to production. Goldmund and the Av Design Haus’ Dereneville VPM 2010-1 to name two. Even the Basis Audio Work of Art, did that ever get into real production?