Earlier today I had the pleasure of visiting Miks home to collect a new Etsuro Urushi Cobalt UK version cartridge of which more anon, but also managed to spend about 40 mins hearing his system and expect to have a more extended listening session soon when I will have more time.
Mik is the proprietor of Unique Audio here in the UK and one of the most knowledgeable experts on vinyl reproduction in the world.
His system is incredible and I can say that with no exaggeration whatsoever.
Every element of it is custom made wherever possible. Its current guise is as follows:
Last ever built Rockport system 111 which was shipped out to him in 2011 by Tim Sheridan OF LORIEN.
LFD Golden Cobra reference tonearm cable featuring the worlds only d profiled pure silver conductors.
CS Port turntable with tonearmand etsuro custom cartridge. LFD raptor tonearm cable.
Custom one off SPJ Alba Special with Kevlar platter and Black Lady tone arm. Koetsu Blue onyx diamond cantilever with modifications to compressor etc and tonearm. Etsuro Gold SE cartridge.
Amplification is a Jadis heavily modified jp 800 preampwith large platinum wiring on inputand outputs all custom madeby Dr Bews of LFD. Custom output and mains transformers wound in solid platinum. Custom made pure silver mains cable. Wiring between pre power for high frequencies a long run of LFD diamond viper reference interconnect with large enchanting cable with 62 different diameters for different frequencies married up to a pure platinum coupling cable uniquely designed.
Bass amplifiers coupled with LFD Diamond Vipor long run coupled LFD Silver Raptor and diamond unscreened dongle together with a pure platinum coupler.
Jadis amplifier 4 chassis x 2 bass amps ja 800x2. 8 blocks in total biiamped with many revisions, different capacitors for bass amp and high frequency amplifiers specially tuned for each frequency.Mains and output transformers amplifier wound in purist platinum custom made for Mik. Internal wiring incorporating pure platinum. Passive component selection has been optimised for eacg frequency band (LF and HF)amps designed for strictly LF and HF.One-off amps. Input and outputs custom tuned with pure gold and platinum wiring with gold for high frequenciesand pkatinum for for bass. A total of 27kgs of platinum in the amps,
The speaker cable is custom made LFD pure silver ribbon /stranded hybrid speaker cable with pure platinum coupler.
The Rocport speakers are biamped and specially wired with pure platinum harnesses and specially modified.
Aesthetic io eclipse modified with pure platinum wiring, pure platinum transformers with many revisions.
Audio Tekne phono stage.
We used the Modern Cool 4 disc vinyl with all three decks.
for listening as it is a recording I am familiar with and time was regrettably short.
They all sonded stunning as you might expect. Every desirable attribute was there in abundance. Completely pure sound with no interfering artifacst (the compressors were in a separate room, The closest to a top class live performance I have ever heard anywhere.It feels superfluous to give more detail which may disappoint but I do want to say a bit about the three different turntables I heard,
We listened first to the SPJ which looks incredible and has an amazing musicality to its sound, Rich and well resolved and I am sure Baroque music would sound absolutley stunning. My only reservation was whether the sound might be too much of a good thing and a bit overwhelming for a long listening session.
Next up was the CS Port which had a more neutral sound. It married the best of high end digital sound with all the vitues of vinyl analogue sound if that isn't too much of a contradiction in terms. All beautifully balanced and distinctly different in character from the SPJ.
Last up was the Rockport which became my favourite. There was a complete rightness to the sound and I could have happily listened to it for hours. It was the nearest things to a live performance that I have ever listened to.
How much the different sounds owed to their different cartridges I cannot say, but they all sounded superb. Different genres of music would I am sure have revealed more of their different characters of sound and may have changed my preferences. All were stunning and ultimately personal preferences and tastes would I am sure determine individual assessments of them and I am very grateful indeed to Mik for the opportunity to hear his incredible system.
It reflects years of dedicated development which is very quickly evident on listening to the system.
I am expecting to be able to have an extended listening session next week and will update this post then.
Mik is the proprietor of Unique Audio here in the UK and one of the most knowledgeable experts on vinyl reproduction in the world.
His system is incredible and I can say that with no exaggeration whatsoever.
Every element of it is custom made wherever possible. Its current guise is as follows:
Last ever built Rockport system 111 which was shipped out to him in 2011 by Tim Sheridan OF LORIEN.
LFD Golden Cobra reference tonearm cable featuring the worlds only d profiled pure silver conductors.
CS Port turntable with tonearmand etsuro custom cartridge. LFD raptor tonearm cable.
Custom one off SPJ Alba Special with Kevlar platter and Black Lady tone arm. Koetsu Blue onyx diamond cantilever with modifications to compressor etc and tonearm. Etsuro Gold SE cartridge.
Amplification is a Jadis heavily modified jp 800 preampwith large platinum wiring on inputand outputs all custom madeby Dr Bews of LFD. Custom output and mains transformers wound in solid platinum. Custom made pure silver mains cable. Wiring between pre power for high frequencies a long run of LFD diamond viper reference interconnect with large enchanting cable with 62 different diameters for different frequencies married up to a pure platinum coupling cable uniquely designed.
Bass amplifiers coupled with LFD Diamond Vipor long run coupled LFD Silver Raptor and diamond unscreened dongle together with a pure platinum coupler.
Jadis amplifier 4 chassis x 2 bass amps ja 800x2. 8 blocks in total biiamped with many revisions, different capacitors for bass amp and high frequency amplifiers specially tuned for each frequency.Mains and output transformers amplifier wound in purist platinum custom made for Mik. Internal wiring incorporating pure platinum. Passive component selection has been optimised for eacg frequency band (LF and HF)amps designed for strictly LF and HF.One-off amps. Input and outputs custom tuned with pure gold and platinum wiring with gold for high frequenciesand pkatinum for for bass. A total of 27kgs of platinum in the amps,
The speaker cable is custom made LFD pure silver ribbon /stranded hybrid speaker cable with pure platinum coupler.
The Rocport speakers are biamped and specially wired with pure platinum harnesses and specially modified.
Aesthetic io eclipse modified with pure platinum wiring, pure platinum transformers with many revisions.
Audio Tekne phono stage.
We used the Modern Cool 4 disc vinyl with all three decks.
for listening as it is a recording I am familiar with and time was regrettably short.
They all sonded stunning as you might expect. Every desirable attribute was there in abundance. Completely pure sound with no interfering artifacst (the compressors were in a separate room, The closest to a top class live performance I have ever heard anywhere.It feels superfluous to give more detail which may disappoint but I do want to say a bit about the three different turntables I heard,
We listened first to the SPJ which looks incredible and has an amazing musicality to its sound, Rich and well resolved and I am sure Baroque music would sound absolutley stunning. My only reservation was whether the sound might be too much of a good thing and a bit overwhelming for a long listening session.
Next up was the CS Port which had a more neutral sound. It married the best of high end digital sound with all the vitues of vinyl analogue sound if that isn't too much of a contradiction in terms. All beautifully balanced and distinctly different in character from the SPJ.
Last up was the Rockport which became my favourite. There was a complete rightness to the sound and I could have happily listened to it for hours. It was the nearest things to a live performance that I have ever listened to.
How much the different sounds owed to their different cartridges I cannot say, but they all sounded superb. Different genres of music would I am sure have revealed more of their different characters of sound and may have changed my preferences. All were stunning and ultimately personal preferences and tastes would I am sure determine individual assessments of them and I am very grateful indeed to Mik for the opportunity to hear his incredible system.
It reflects years of dedicated development which is very quickly evident on listening to the system.
I am expecting to be able to have an extended listening session next week and will update this post then.
