Vinyl

The all important component of this of this line stage comprises of two ECC83/12AX7 and one ECC82/12AU7 are run by a multi stage fully regulated power supply.
To back this up the design has an over size shielded power transformer for reduce the interference. An array high grade metalized polipropilene capacitors controlling the audio signal circuits. The MM input stage uses a low noise JFet with a separate regulated power supply with extensive filtering for reducing the interference and noise. Using an ECC82/12AU7 tube on the output stage, gives this unit a very low output impedance without losing signal.
The Roma79DC has easily selectable capacitors (MM) and impedances (MC) for cartridges by a front mounted knob selector which is also shown on the front LCD display.

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This is a solid piece of engineering invoking that retro turntable feel and sound. Direct drive unit separates this from most of our other Turntable offerings.

This unit does not come with a cartridge.

Pair a Sumiko Blue point special ($1099) with this deck for a clear singing precision.

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The H2 model is a high-quality turntable with belt drive and a tonearm with gimbal suspension. The unusual shape of the turntable was chosen to minimize possible interference from the platter bearing on the tonearm. To avoid sound-disturbing influences from the motor or impact sound, a sandwich construction was chosen, with a layer of vibration-damping foam inserted in the center. The chassis is made of solid surface material, which has low resonance due to its high density and physical structure, making it an ideal material for this application. The highly polished surface is produced by a complex process involving 7 grinding and polishing passes, and impresses with its pleasant feel.

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Michell's new entry-level turntable, taking the low-noise DC motor and the impedance-matched platter of the GyroDec, along with an advanced bearing on an elegant solid-plinth design with damped feet. The Michell TecnoDec requires no user-setup or maintenance. Learn More

Cadenza Black is optimized for an amazing tonal neutrality, dynamics and purity of sound.

The Cadenza Black model is using a Nude Shibata stylus with a boron cantilever. The effective mass of the stylus/cantilever system is extremely low due to the use of a very thin boron rod. This material is extremely stiff and even more lightweight than aluminium. It also uses the WRD/Wide Range Damping-system applied for MC Windfeld, MC A90, MC Anna, Xpression and MC A95 cartridges, controlling the high and low frequency damping separately. The coil wire is the famous Ortofon Aucurum wire, which is a gold plated 6NX copper wire. Cadenza Black is high performing on areas like detail, consistency and sound staging.

You may notice we are not always necessarily the cheapest retailer of cartridges but we will ALWAYS include a free professional fitting with all our cartridges. Along with any routine check-ups on your turntable.

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We are Vinyl lovers at Carlton Audio Visual. The people who work here love Vinyl and without exception have a record player at home...most have multiple! Our customers have also held the torch for vinyl through the long dark years of the nineties and early 2000s when most had forgotten about the joys of a Turntable, we had a dedicated and passionate team of clients and staff who loved their LPs. Since then Turntables have become trendy and people have rediscovered why they were loved for so long.

And when customers are at a point in their journey where the lifelong admiration and obsession with vinyl and HiFi has taken hold, we recommend the Stellar Phono Stage. It will last a lifetime of cartridge upgrades and swaps. It will extract the most out of a $8499 cartridge (Van den Hul Crimson Stradivarius MC is a sensational pairing with this unit) as it will with a $500 Moving Magnet cartridge.

You'll hear control, detail and presence; There's a spatial awareness in the sound and transparency that reveals itself when you plug this into any system. And it performs well above its pay grade. We really believe to better this you'll have to pay $17K for some Audio Research gear and hell...even then, I'd say some people will still prefer this phono stage for it's clarity in the mid range.

The only thing that we find annoying about it...it requires a remote control to operate. You'll need that in the very first instance to turn its mute off in order to get any sound. And then of course all its plethora of settings that give it such versatility for all cartridges are adjusted on the remote. So don't...like us...loose the remote! *

Also, you need to be patient with this machine and run it in. It really is night and day the difference that makes. We even have some Blue Horizon RIAA filters to use as burn in tools on new units so you don't have to put hours on your cartridge burning in the phono stage. We can do that in store for free, for you.

See the PS Audio official site here

Read Stereophile Review here

And one from theaudiobeatnik here

*Remote was found...and we now tape the remote to the unit :/ 

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This is where the Acoustic Signature Tonearms start to get really really good. We jump up to an anti-skating knob which is capable of much more precise adjustments in anti-skate. And don't underestimate the importance of anti-skate with any reasonable quality cartridge. It can clean up woolyness in the sound. This little feature gets the tonearm to a point where those differences are very noticeable.

The TA-2000 NEO also has better bearings than the TA-500 NEO and the TA-1000 NEO. Acoustic Signature say they are 'almost frictionless ball bearings' and they're not ones to over exaggerate.

The TA-2000 NEO is on display at Carlton Audio Visual.

Also Available in a 12" version $6300

Black add $1900 (extra)

Gold add $4700 (extra)

Black and Gold are special orders. Other prices quoted are for Silver.  

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A serious Tube Phono preamplifier for serious HiFi enthusiasts.

This is one of those units that are great value. They are hand built units that pay attention to the important stuff but aren't afraid to skimp on some things in order to keep units affordable.

For example this phono stage uses point-to-point wiring that's normally only available on the highest priced units. It uses premium parts like ceramic tube sockets, Nichicon and DuRoch capacitors, 5AR4 tube-rectifier-circuitry and gold-plated, panel mounted RCA input and output jacks.

But it doesn't go silly with controls and features. Keeping things simple, keeps costs down and sound quality high.

 

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Originally this was a cartridge that AJ Van den Hul made after a specific request from a customer to produce a high end cartridge at a lower price point. He did it and sold a couple of other units after the word got out. Now they're a permanent mainstay of the Van den Hul inventory.

This particular Crimson has a Polycarbonate body. Some people really like the slightly more analytical sound of this cartridge than the wooden bodies. I admit though, we do sell more of the wooden bodied Crimsons than this Polycarbonate. I find the wooden bodies more open, more organic sounding.

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The Crimson is a top performance custom handbuilt moving coil phono cartridge. The cartridge body is made from Pau Ferro wood. This is a Brazilian wood which instrument makers have used for centuries to make instruments and in particular, bows. It has extraordinary resonant qualities as well as stiffness and strength making it ideal for cartridges as well!

Specific characteristics for this great cartridge are a relatively high (0,85mV) output, gold coils, a Samarium-Cobalt magnet, extended channel separation and superb tracking ability.

We have many happy customers with these units. It is musical, warm and sounds effortless. Certainly, if we're being picky, it doesn't reach the heights of resolution that the more expensive Colibri range of cartridges do. Still an astounding performer and well worth a listen.

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Soundsmith cartridges are handmade in the USA and are little jewels to adorn your most beloved Turntables. 

They are a Moving Iron design - the third, less talked about category of cartridge design. This design uses less mass than a Moving Magnet design so it's more reactive and dynamic.

The Paua MkII uses a new Aluminium Cantilever which is stiff where it's needed but is also acoustically dampening in critical areas.

An important factor when we choose we high-end cartridges to stock is their retipping service. We like to recommend cartridges that when something happens to the stylus there's a skilled in-house retipping service. Soundsmith offer just that.

And isn't the new sea shell casing just beautiful!

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The Mezzo and the Nautilus can perform this sonic magic of sounding lifelike and with the exact intentions of the musician, whether it’s played in the concert hall, in the studio, or on electronic hardware and software. Both these cartridges made each record sound like the best sounding record I've ever heard. That is, until I played the next record.” - Tom Lyle, Enjoy The Music

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Nestling in the Choral range, the Symphonic is our flagship MC phono stage, offering a range of advanced features over the entry-level Dual.  The high-performance Symphonic uses our latest high-frequency power supply technology to exploit vinyl’s full potential, along with many new key features, to bring the performance levels in line with the Choral range, home of the DAVE DAC/preamp.

The Symphonic offers an almost infinite number of input impedance and gain options as well as balanced and unbalanced input options to the cartridge, making it a highly flexible device for integrating high-quality turntables into Chord systems. The comprehensive settings options are all externally selectable, with selections signified internally with illuminating LEDs.

A rumble filter removes unwanted low-frequency rumble signals appearing on both channels. The Symphonic Phono stage conforms to the RIAA curve without the IEC roll-off when the Rumble filter is set to ‘off’ Preamps: CPA 2500, CPA 3000, CPA 5000, and CPA 8000. Preamps: CPA 2500, CPA 3000, CPA 5000, and CPA 8000.; this is commensurate with the high calibre of Chord amplification. The IEC curve response can be added by setting the Rumble filter to ‘on’. According to the wiring of the tone arm on the turntable used, the Symphonic can be operated in either an unbalanced or balanced mode.

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The HR-200S Reference Tonearm is the next installment of the highly successful Alphason HR range. Built on the foundation of the prestigious HR-100S tonearm, the HR-200S takes the original concept and the knowledge gained, furthering those ideas and improving upon them to create a truly outstanding tonearm. Each HR-200S is meticulously hand assembled, with a titanium one-piece headshell and arm tube along with bespoke bearings, providing the perfect, neutral platform for any high-performance cartridge.

These are available in 9 inch, 10.5 inch and 12 inch versions.

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Based entirely on the GyroDec, but without the costly acrylic plinth and dustcover, the Gyro SE brings the same qualities in a more affordable and compact package. 

This has been an extremely popular turntable a true high fidelity sound. Tightness in the bass, wide soundstage and the ultra low noise required to let the details of the music shine.

 

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The Maximus Neo fitted with the TA1000 tonearm has been awarded the incredibly sought after “Absolute Sound Product of the Year” by that most prestigious and discerning of publications.

The Absolute Sound on the Acoustic Signature Maximus with TA1000 arm

At Carlton Audio Visual, we have always admired the engineering prowess and refined and complete musicality of Acoustic Signature turntables.

Acoustic Signature are a small company who proudly don't produce turntables for the mass market. Their factory close to Stuttgart, Germany makes everything in house. This is not an assembly line. From start to finish. The aluminium and brass comes into the factory as a raw material and at the end of an 8 week process, a turntable is born.

We live in a world that has been transformed by globilisation where sourcing cheap components from 'off shore' manufacturers is common place. This, of course, has its advantages but asserting control over the whole supply chain is impossible as so many large companies have discovered. Just think of Nike and their struggle to control where and how their textiles are being made. This will be a problem for our generation as we try to be more ethical or more environmentally sustainable or simply strive for quality assurances. For items we care about, for items that will last a generation or two, the only way you can overcome this is by buying from manufacturers who are dedicated in-house builders.

And even at the entry level, Acoustic Signature's Maximus Neo, is made in house and to all the same quality assurances, environmental and ethical standards as their top of the range product.

An Acoustic Signature, will last you a lifetime... and more

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Van Den Hul's Crimson Stradivarius is a favourite in the CAV Reference System. It has also become a Superstar with our customers.

The Stradivarius variation of the Crimson cartridge uses a Pau Ferro wooden body but douses that in multiple layers of specialist laquer emulating the laquer used on Stradivarius string instruments. The sound is even more involving, natural and open than the straight Crimson XGW which only difference is the absence of this special laquer.

It is the easiest cartridge to pair with a range of gear. The Colibri range has astounding levels of channel separation but requires more precise matching with the rest of the gear.

 

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Now available in a Matt White finish. With the white ceramic platter, this finish looks particularly sharp!

Less is more for Rega, less noise, less vibration, less play in the bearings, less mass to store harmful resonance energy, and less ownership dissatisfaction ...

We would recommend the Rega Apheta 3 cartridge with this Turntable. For $1900 the Apheta 3 will come factory fitted on to the deck.

Or go for something that much more special, a Rega Aphelion ($6000). After all, a turntable is only as good as the information it can get from the needle itself.

Another great option is the Van den Hul "The Frog" Cartridge, a remarkable and rare device made by hand in Holland ($3499).

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Pro-Ject is the world's largest manufacturer of Turntables and the Signature 10 is their High-end offering that puts their decades of experience and manufacturing capability to good use.

It features a 10" S-bend Aluminium tonearm. The S-bend is a classic design that offers advantages in trackability of the record groove. Aluminium is one of the best materials acoustically to make tonearms out of as well having minimal acoustic resonances.

Also keeping acoustic resonances to a minimum are its magnetic feet and TPE pillows decouple the Signature 10 platter from its environment keeping a very low noise floor.

This turntable is clear and delicate sounding.

Pairs beautifully with Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge. Talk to us about pricing on the Turntable and Cartridge.

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