The Korf Tonearm now available for preorder

[PSAF]

This is a guy I follow and share on my two Facebook groups Dr Feickert USA and DS Audio USA. Mr. Alex Korienkov, if you are looking for quality affordable tonearm or head shell check him out, I just ordered the tonearm and I have two of the head shells, highly recommended, one of my Korh HS-A02 ceramic headshells in the pic below

https://korfaudio.com/blog86

https://korfaudio.com/

 

[Addicted to hifi]

This is a guy I follow and share on my two Facebook groups Dr Feickert USA and DS Audio USA. Mr. Alex Korienkov, if you are looking for quality affordable tonearm or head shell check him out, I just ordered the tonearm and I have two of the head shells, highly recommended, one of my Korh HS-A02 ceramic headshells in the pic below
https://korfaudio.com/blog86
https://korfaudio.com/

Congrats on the new tonearm.

 

[Site7000]

Price?

 

[Yeti]

Anyone got one yet, or waiting? The blog would suggest the first round of orders have been sent out.

 

[mtemur]

Price?

+1

 

[Yeti]

The first batch were all sold pre order, the price of the full production version hasn’t been announced but I’d assume it will be higher than the €1500 to €1720 cost of the first batch. There are a series of blogs about its development on their web site but those early orders were a gamble. The order book was closed in November 2021.

Here’s an extract from Korf’s latest email.

”The only thing we did in those last two months was building and shipping the first batch of the tonearms. We will start the full production this autumn.”

I’m interested to hear if anyone placed their bet and whether it paid off.

 

[PSAF]

Alex told me 2200 Euro

 

[Yeti]

Well I have my deposit down for one from the second series, not sure which deck to put it on yet. I have a MK2 Rock which I’ve used with a Rega 300 with the damping trough/paddle and an Aro without or a Lenco 75 but that still needs a plinth and I may yet be tempted to go PTP. It probably won’t be going on the Artemis until it’s proved itself elsewhere and I’d need an armboard.

 

[Holmz]

I did find that the Korf head shell seemed like a magic trick to knock down some sibilance on my table.

I was thinking about the arm, but I ended getting a second hand CB-9 a few months back.
But I would be interested in how they perform.

 

[XV-1]

Does this tonearm actually exist yet?

 

[Jackl3y]

I’m Curious too.

 

[Yeti]

No reports have appeared from anyone who’s actually got their hand on one that I can find but there’s a headshell that’s been around for a while that seems well received.

 

[PSAF]

Yes it is available I had S/N 001, but sold it due to hum issues trying to get it to work on my GAE. The build quality was excellent and I imagine would be a very good sounding tonearm. Alex also has a have a straight version coming out

Buy Your TA-SF9R Tonearm Today!

korfaudio.com

Buy Your TA-SF9 Tonearm Today!

korfaudio.com

 

[Yeti]

It’s been a somewhat mythical beast so far but here’s one in the matal.



Just out of its cardboard slip case, I’ll pause to read the manual before going any further.

 

[Yeti]

A couple of days in and the Royal N is loving its new home, possibly more than it liked the Schröder with brass carrier.

A couple of criticisms, the plastic clip marks the arm tube after not much use, not that I’m too bothered but others might be, and as it’s a relatively high mass arm is there enough bias adjustment for an SPU Classic GM(E) running at 4g?

I’m using the Ortofon cable but connecting the ground tag to my phonostage seems to turn it into an aerial, whether it’s connected to the arm or not and it’s picking up some irregular clicking and at night a Spanish radio station, not to mention the alarming racket that ensues if I leave the volume set and turn the light on in the garage at the other end of the house. I’ve not had this problem with the captive cable of the Schröder or the Aro’s original cable.

 

[Yeti]

I’ve cycled through the Royal N, Transfuration Proteus and now an SPU Century (there was still one left in a German dealership). With that last I’ve replaced the Ortofon Cable with a Lyra Phonopipe. I still can’t connect the ground wire as I was hoping, in fact it sends the superline into oscillation with a bit of provocation for reasons unknown but leaving it hanging doesn’t seem to be a problem. It’s a lot easier to hear when the loading’s optimised with the Phonopipe and the Century is sounding magnificent loaded with 100Ω playing a bit of Friedrich Gulda Beethoven.
Time will tell if the bias setting limit of 3 will cause the cartridge any problems tracking at 3.95g, with the Royal N I settled at a bias of around 2.7 when tracking at 3g as best as I could assess it so I think the scales a little conservative at the upper end but I’d like a bit more.