New Entry On Our Site: ABC’s

It’s up near the top, called ABC’s. It is a short list of my recommendations on how to assemble a dynamite system. It approaches the task from the beginning, with the Milwaukee credo of getting a dollar’s worth of performance for each dollar spent. Print it out. Highlight. Visit to discuss/audition!

Mobile Fidelity UltraDeck+ $2000

MoFi introduced its StudioDeck+ ($1150) a couple months ago. I’m glad they did the roll out in summer when business is slower- because the StudioDeck+ has been on back order since day one. Mofi has been busy trying to fill dealer demo requests. They’ve been impossible to get until now.
You can read about StudioDeck+ in our June newsletter. I’m happy to announce, just in, is the UltraDeck+, it’s bigger brother.
UltraDeck+ is the UltraDeck turntable, with UltraTracker cartridge included. The UltraDeck runs $1800 by itself. UltraTracker runs $500 by itself. If you buy the PACKAGE, MoFi sweetens the deal, calling it the UltraDeck+ with the $300 combo price break.

UltraDeck Table: $1800 a la carte

-Hardened stainless steel inverted bearing with brass sleeve & sapphire thrust pad
-10” Tonearm with precision bearings
-1.3” Delrin Platter with decoupled spindle
-Fully Isolated AC Synchronous Motor
-Aluminum damping overlay
-Cardas internal tonearm wiring
-Hinged dust cover
-Height adjustable isolation feet by HRS

 

UltraTracker Cartridge: $500 a la carte

-DUAL Magnet (to emulate cutter head motion) MM cartridge, 3.5mV
-Single piece Cantilever Design
-Nude Elliptical Stylus
-Silver Billet low resonance body
 

 

 

 

 

MasterTracker Cartridge: $700 a la carte

-DUAL Magnet (to emulate cutter head motion) MM cartridge, 3.0mV
-Single piece Cantilever Design
-Nude Microline Stylus
-Dark Grey low resonance Billet body
-Employs Ohno Copper Coils
 

 

 

 

StudioPhono MM/MC Phono Preamp $250

What?! Did I read that correctly? A dead quiet, great sounding phono preamp that supports top MM & MC cartridges for only $250?! Wow!
Up till now we’ve only been able to endorse phono preamps for about $1500 (Rega Aria) that played nice with top MCs. Well, we now have a terrific sounding, if not baronial in scale, phono preamp to mate with the best carts out there. I’m reluctant to say that a $250 phono preamp is a game changer in the analog world but…
Spend the lion’s share on the cartridge. StudioPhono will take care of the electronics affordably!
 

 

 

 

New! Marantz SR-6012 Surround Receiver $1500

Marantz’s new SR-6012 has just arrived. It has Dolby Atmos and 9×110 on board to drive the whole system, 5.1.4. It also supports the new HDR/Dolby Vision and HLG video technologies.
Dolby Atmos is available in four ceiling channels or two. You want four. With four, your image
can go left/right/front/back. It can even SWIRL around the room. With two, it can only go back/forth between the two speakers. For the extra effort that Atmos requires, do it right and run four!
Marantz receivers have a three year warranty parts and labor. They have discrete transistors for all channels and heat sink properly so they don’t need noisy fans. The other guys use fans and even hybrid chip amps in some models!
Most importantly, the Marantz receivers are the most reliable out there. When you take into account all that surround sound receivers do these days, it’s a tall order to make them work properly.
Marantz has been doing surround receivers since the category was invented. We have sold Marantz since the 1980s and it’s the only surround receiver line we feel we can endorse.

New! Marantz SR-5012 Surround Receiver $1000

Marantz’s new SR-5012 has just arrived. It has Dolby Atmos and 7×100 on board to drive a system of 5.1.2. It also supports the new HDR/Dolby Vision and HLG video technologies.
 

 

New! Marantz SR-7012 Surround Receiver $2200

Marantz’s new SR-7012 runs 125×9 with the features of its brothers above. What makes the 7012 tempting is that its parts are more erudite. The sonic purity is not just beefier, but cleaner. It’s the best surround receiver out there! If you want to do it all on one chassis at a fair price, get 7012.
 

 

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

In 1949 Strauss put his compositions in perspective with Wagner’s.
“With Wagner, music reached its summit. I am only a straggler.”

Neil Gader:
“Former TAD helmer Andrew Jones, now with Elac, not only wowed audiences at Newport with the impossibly cheap ($229pr) compact Debut B5, but returned to RMAF with its big brother, the F5- a powerhouse 3-way floorstander at a ludicrously paltry $559pr… even jaded audio critics could be seen shaking their heads in disbelief.”
“The Elac F5 go beyond just being the rare, good speaker for the money. They’re a veritable gift to budget conscious audiophiles and the younger audience, particularly those looking for a cost effective, room filling alternative to headphones. And keep in mind that the Elac/Jones collaboration is just getting ramped up!”

Greg Weaver:
“Andrew Jones’ new Elac F5, at $559 per pair, were even better than I had expected. How he hits this level of transparency and bloom at this price is way beyond me!”

Andrew Quint:
“A phenomenal bargain for fledgling audiophiles (or experienced ones with a summer home to equip) is Elac America’s entire line, though it was the F5 floorstander ($559 pr) making music in Denver. Elac speakers have been designed by Andrew Jones, who has created much more expensive gear for KEF, Infinity and TAD. An audio-show-length audition revealed that the F5 has surprisingly substantial bass, detail and spaciality. It may be the least costly loudspeaker I’d call ‘high-end’ that I’ve ever encountered.”

TAS Affordable Stand Mount Speaker of the Year $229pr
“The Elac Debut B5 is a rarity in the high end. It’s little, it’s vinyl clad, and it’s cheap. And it packs more pure, honest musicality into its modest bass-reflex cabinet than a $229 speaker has a right to. It’s also the first effort in what should be a long and fruitful collaboration between Elac and the celebrated designer Andrew Jones. Refined and dynamic across the board, the B5 also has surprising bass extension on tap and an instinctual feel for the body and scale of live music. At times you can hear some port tuning, but that goes with the territory with a single 5” woofer in a teeny cabinet. Still, you can give these babies a little more gas and not cringe for fear of smoking a driver. What makes the B5 so effective? The difference is how everything comes together in such an exquisitely balanced and musical fashion. What the team at Elac has managed to wring from this most humble of designs is nothing short of exceptional. Jones’ first shot for Elac is a bull’s-eye.”