Auditorium
23 step-up transformers
read
the review on 6moons,
Jeff Day
All I can say is that if you have a Denon 103 cartridge
and a low-gain moving-magnet phono stage, you haven’t
experienced what they are truly capable of without the
Aud 23 tranny – it’s that good!
Read the Review of the Ortofon
SPU version in American Wired
Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 Transformer
From
the DIAPASON Review
The
best transformer ever?
The price of a very good CD-player for a simple MC-transformer!
Crazy, you'll say. A product like this is certainly
only made for audiophiles or hi-fi maniacs dedicated
to vinyl, possessing an excellent turntable or even
an excellent preamplifier. In fact we are speaking about
a transformer of rare qualities, made for cartridges
with low impedance like i. ex. Ortofon. We have made
the test with a cartridge of Shindo Laboratory mounted
on a Shindo tonearm, amplification was Shindo preamp
"Catherine" and Shindo poweramp "300B
Limited" with Tannoy "Gold" speakers
of the first generation. We compared the transformer
to some of highest reputation (Shindo "Arome",
Ortofon MC 3000, new Denon "pro").
After two months of audition we were sure that there
is no way back, never before we had listened this way...
Without exaggeration we can say that it was simply the
rediscovering of our vinyl collection, in fact this
transformer literally transcends the cartridge. It serves
a tone unbelievable open, dynamically and musically.
The listening becomes a moving experience. In comparison
to the competitors like the Shindo "Arome"
or the Ortofon 3000, the Hommage T1 gives the impression
instruments have more physical realism, the touch of
the pianist is more distinctive, the play more mighty,
vivid, expressive. The wonderful recording of Tchaikovski's
Concerto for Violin with Szering and Haitink (Philips)
makes one believe in a better reading of the cartridge
that extracts information never being heard before.
Fortissimos enfold unlimited and without diminution
of the orchestral image, almost without dynamical limitations,
the limit of saturation appears as being moved extremely
high. The other transformers - as excellent as they
are - give the impression the music is losing respiration,
swing, extension, suddenly appears more static, less
nuanced (shading?), more flat in rhythm and expansion
- briefly said, the music seems likewise poorer and
less arranged.
Of course, it requires a system and especially a preamp
that is capable of making the differences audible. But
for sure this transformer is a milestone and joins at
the first onset the mythic products in the history of
hi-fidelity. For us it is not only the best transformer,
it also means a new definition of the musical possibilities
in analog reproduction. The one regret: it's made only
for cartridges with low impedance, let's hope that Ortofon
will keep on the production for a long time.
Jean Marie Piel, Paris
Diapason March 2006
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