Mo-Fi Studio Deck + $1400

Mo-Fi’s Studio Deck+ is a built in Ann Arbor, TANK of a turntable. Turntables, like all audio components, make a difference in the sound of your system.

The sound of StudioDeck+ is distinctly warmer and less bright, or brittle, than the popular brands we’ve all heard of. The background is quieter and there’s less rumble.

StudioDeck+ starts as heavy mechanism with HRS absorbing/leveling feet. It uses two plates of steel on the top deck. The tonearm is a precision built 9” arm with high quality wire. The cables are plug in on the rear, in case you go nuts and want to upgrade tonearm or power cables. The platter is almost four pounds of Delrin, which is much less resonant than metal or glass.

Studio Deck+ comes with Mo-Fi’s StudioTracker MM cartridge. StudioTracker produces an output of 3.5mV and runs into the MM input of your phono section. It has a single piece cantilever which assures the best transfer of energy from stylus (elliptical) to magnet structure.

You can buy StudioDeck for $1200 without a cartridge.

Or better yet, get StudioDeck+ which includes the StudioTracker cartridge.

Mo-Fi Ultra Deck+ $2500

UltraDeck is StudioDeck’s big brother. Everything about UltraDeck is carried out to a greater degree. It uses leveling HRS feet. There are three, heavier steel plates on the record deck. The platter is almost seven pounds of dense Delrin. The Cardas arm cable is a cut above. If you can find another grand under your mattress, you’ll want UltraDeck.

UltraDeck+ comes with Mo-Fi’s cut above UltraTracker cartridge. It’s better than StudioTracker

in that the body is made of billet aluminum instead of polymer. It has a better, more precisely cut E stylus and yields better definition. It has Mo-Fi’s V-Twin dual magnet playback structure which more closely emulates the performance of the cutter heads used in making LPs.

UltraDeck runs $2000 if you don’t need a cartridge.

Mo-Fi MasterTracker Cartridge $800

Our favorite MM cart, MasterTracker, starts with superior copper wire (Ohno) within. It has Mo-Fi’s V-Twin dual magnet system and metal billet aluminum body. It uses a precision ground Micro Linear stylus. It has output of 3.0mV. It employs Mo-Fi’s one piece cantilever system for best energy transfer. For MM performance, it doesn’t get any better than the MasterTracker.

MoFi Phono Preamps

MoFi makes two of the best phono preamps in our biz. Please don’t tell them we said so- but they’re TOO CHEAP!

First and foremost, these units sound very good. Designed by Tim Paravicini of EAR, both units start with an excellent MM noise floor. Both support MC with the Ultra pushing the best phono preamps out there.

Both units have a SUBSONIC button! Every phono section should have this. When your records aren’t flat, and we all have some warped records, your woofers will wave like a flag and waste power.

Both units also have a MONO button. Every serious record collector has some mono discs. This button is indispensable when playing them.

Studiophono $300

Studiophono is a great bang for the buck phono preamp. It is terrific for MM and good for MC. If you’re running an MC cartridge for about a grand like the Ortofon Black S, then you should step up to the Ultraphono below.

Ultraphono $500

Ultraphono is a marvelous phono preamp that supports top echelon MC performance as well as MM designs. With 10 dB better quieting than Studiophono for MC, please go with this model if you’re a serious MC listener.

Ultraphono also is in outstanding headphone amp.

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Top Record Sales Of All Time

This list is of records, not CDs or downloads. I was surprised at the strong country showing!

20: Bee Gees, “Saturday Night Fever” 15m

19: Alanis Morisette, “Jagged Little Pill” 17m

18: Beatles, “67-70 17m

17: Garth Brooks, “No Fences” 17m

16: Elton John, “Greatest Hits” 17m

15: Boston, “Boston” 17m

14: Whitney Houston, “Bodyguard” 18m

13: Guns N’ Roses, “Appetite For Destruction” 18m

12: Shania Twain, “Come On Over” 20m

11: Fleetwood Mac, “Rumors” 20m

10: Hootie & The Blowfish, “Cracked Rear View” 21m

9: Garth Brooks, “Double Live” 21m

8: AC/DC, “Back In Black” 22m

7: Pink Floyd, “The Wall” 23m

6: Led Zeppelin, “4” 23m

5: Billy Joel, “Hits 1&2” 23m

4: Beatles, “While Album” 24m

3: Eagles, “Hotel California” 26m

2: Michael Jackson, “Thriller” 33m

1: Eagles “G Hits 71-75” 38m

Amphion Argon 3LS Tower Speakers: $3500 (White or Black, $4300 Walnut)

(38 1/8h, 7 5/8w, 12d, 8 ohms, 50 lbs, 85 dB SPL)

Suppose you would like a beautiful sounding diminutive tower. That… would be the Amphion Argon 3LS. It is made in Finland in Amphion’s factory. It isn’t a generic badged effort from Asia. If you’re after a very serious loudspeaker in a small tower form factor, do not pass up Argon 3LS!

At about 38” tall and 7 ½ wide, this Amphion doesn’t have a big footprint. Yet it casts a massive soundstage, with impressive width and depth. Its cosmetic finish {black, white or walnut- an upcharge} is more stylish than regular speakers and gorgeous! Why don’t Amphions have traditional cloth grills? It’s because those socks slightly muffle the sound. That won’t fly with Amphion.

Amphion’s “magic” starts with its Wave Guide tweeter design. Using a 1” Titanium tweeter within this gibbous saucer baffle, Amphion’s image is broad and immersive. The Wave Guide also provides a much larger sweet spot than traditional tweeter designs. When listening to Amphions you simply can’t miss the spacious soundstage they purvey. The size of the image coming from these diminutive speakers is nothing short of surprisingly spectacular.

We recently sold a set of Argon 7LS in a less than ideal audiophile setting. The speakers are about 14 feet apart and near the side and back walls, on either side of a custom wall unit. The couch is about ten feet away. Yet when you listen in this gorgeous, yet non audiophile prescribed living room, the sound is wonderfully expansive and clear. I can’t imagine any speaker, at any price, being a better fit for this family’s living room than Amphion.

You’ll find that Amphions are forgiving of where they are placed. Further, you don’t have to sit at X marks the spot, as you do with many audiophile speakers. They’re made to work well in normal living rooms. Amphion is quite proud of this different approach from “the other guys.”

The 3LS features one 6.5” front firing Aluminum Bass mid driver. It also features a rear firing 6.5” aluminum ABR. Amphion contends that traditional ports are out of tune, and pollute the midrange as well as bass in their attempts to deliver more bass to your listening experience.

As audiophiles we all make the judgment of, how much bass is useful? We want strong bass, but we don’t want it to intrude on the timbre of the music. Specifically, I don’t want so much bass from my speakers that it makes a grand piano or drum kit mushy.

Amphion cabinets are created with CNC design and rigid construction. Even the Wave Guide mechanism itself is threaded into the cabinet baffle- not just screwed in like everyone else. The cabinet rigidity is well beyond your mainstream MDF enclosure.

Amphion uses high end components in the crossover. They cross the tweeter over at 1.6K, which is lower than everyone else. Most companies cross at 2.5-5K which invariably ends up sounding harsher because it’s at a frequency we’re very sensitive too. We are much less sensitive to the 1600Hz setting.

Amphion uses high purity silver plated copper wire. It doesn’t sound brighter. It elucidates superior definition to standard copper cable. Transients and overtones are more clearly delineated and natural.

While there are many fine speakers on the market, it’s really tough to get a small tower with cosmetic panache and GREAT sound. Amphion’s 3LS delivers all of this with lovely aesthetics and surprising bass extension without becoming muddy!

Amphion Argon One $1400 Per Pair: Black or White ($1500 Walnut)

(12 3/8h, 6 3/8w, 10 3/8d, 8 ohms, 18 lbs, 86 dB SPL)

Argon 1 is the little brother to the formidable Argon 3S stand mount. Argon 1 uses a 5 1/4” Aluminum bass/mid and 1” Titanium tweeter. It is rear ported, yet tuned to be in pitch. Argon 3S is significantly larger and uses an ABR.

Clearly Argon 1 will most likely be used when your real estate is tight. Yet it has considerable weight to its sound and maintains all the beauty of what Amphion is noted for. As you read about the Argon 3LS above, Argon 1 uses the same quality tweeter, wave guide, crossover network and cabinet quality. It’s a modestly sized speaker that produces a massive soundstage and respectable muscle.

Argon Zero $1000 Per Pair: Black or White ($1100 Walnut)

(10.2h, 5.2w, 8.66d, 8 ohms, 9 lbs, 86dB SPL)

Argon Zero uses a 4.5” Aluminum bass/mid and a 1” Titanium tweeter. It is rear ported as Argon 1 above. Argon Zero is ideal in the near field for use as a highly resolving transducer when you don’t need Herculean bass.

David Crosby Made Mattresses

Singer David Crosby “brags” that he made some of the worst mattresses in history while he was in prison for a year in Texas. A judge determined this was the only way to save him from himself and keep him from his addictions.