home entertainment 2007

MANUFACTURERS’COMMENTS
Kuzma Stabi XL and Airline
Editor:
We at Elite AudioVideo Distribution
would like to thank Michael Fremer for
his informative and detailed review of
the Kuzma Stabi XL turntable and Airline
tonearm [April 2007]. The fact that
it performed as well as it did against his
reference Continuum ’table and arm, at
almost four times the price for the
Kuzma combination, makes us quite
pleased. We feel that readers will get a
reasonable idea of how the XL-Airline
sounds from his writeup.
However, there are a few areas where
we would like to comment specifically.
First, the type of stand used to support the
XL is rather critical, in that it must be, as
Fremer points out, decidedly rigid and
nonresonant, as well as finely adjustable for
level, so that the Airline arm can be
brought to the precise point where it needs
to be for correct balance and tracking ability—this
is common to all straight-tracking
arms. Also, the current Finite Elemente
wall platform Fremer mentions will not
take the weight of the XL, so that one is
unfortunately not suitable. Any wallmounted
platform used with the XL
should have a load capability of at least 250
lbs, to ensure that there is no question of
strength, especially if a granite slab or other
massive shelf is to be used. Also, Finite Elemente
will soon release a special, heavyduty
version of its floorstanding equipment
stand specifically for the Stabi XL.
The temptation to launch into further
discussion/debate over the merits of
microporous air bearings vs groove-compensated
ones is strong, but we will
avoid it here, as we feel that the Kuzma
design is very well optimized for playing
records, and literally “speaks for itself” in
terms of resolution of detail, transparency,
transient attack behavior, and lack of
commonly accepted resonant interactions
with phono cartridges.
As for cartridge performance in the
Airline arm, we feel, as does the manufacturer,
that because of the extremely
low level of any bass coloration when
interacting with a given cartridge, the
Airline is so utterly revealing of the true
natures of cartridges that it occasionally
will find one that is not well suited to it.
In the glory days of analog it was widely
accepted that, because of known resonant
interactions between arms and cartridges
of different designs, mainly in the
bass region, one had to take reasonable
care in matching these components. It is
no different today, and the bottom line is
that the Airline is simply not the right
vehicle for some cartridges, including, it
seems, some of the latest Lyra designs.
On the other hand, Fremer reports that
the combination of the Airline and the
newest Air Tight PC-1 was “stunning,”
suggesting that the PC-1’s design is
exceptionally well thought out and
essentially devoid of interactive resonant
colorations with the Airline. May I also
suggest Koetsu, ZYX, and the newest
London, Cardas Heart, and Benz Ruby
cartridges, as well as various models
from Transfiguration, Dynavector,
Miyabi, Clearaudio, and vdH, all excellent
matches with the Airline?
In conjunction with this, it must be
firmly noted that the intrinsically low
level of any kind of conventional groove
signal-tracking distortion that is realized
when using a high-pressure, extremely
rigid, air-bearing, straight-line-tracking
tonearm such as the Airline is a substantial
improvement in almost every way
over any kind of fixed-pivot arm. It is an
inescapable fact that, even if the tracing
radius of a given pivoted arm is
increased hugely, well past the point of
being practical for use on a modern
turntable, it is still an arc rather than a
line, and will have some level of measurable
distortion over most of the side of a
given LP; whereas a properly configured
straight-line arm will never deviate from
the geometry of how the original master
lacquer was originally engraved, thus
providing an exceptionally high level of
fidelity to the groove’s signals.
We would like to close by once again
thanking Mr. Fremer and Stereophile
magazine for the review of the Kuzma
Stabi XL turntable and Airline tonearm.
Scot Markwell, Peder Beckman, Mike Hobson
Elite AudioVideo Distribution
Franc Kuzma
Kuzma Ltd.
Luminance KST-150
Editor:
On behalf of my business partners, Rick
Schultz and Mike Tseng, I would like to
thank Sam Tellig for his observationally
insightful review of the KST-150 amplifier.
There are a couple of elaborations I
would like to make at this time.
Sam correctly points out the KST-
150’s output-current limitation, and that
the user should be careful to avoid loudspeaker
loads in which the nominal
impedance is rated below 3 ohms, as
stated in our literature. It is permissible
for the high-frequency load impedance
to drop to as low as 1.5 ohms, since the
power demand at higher frequencies,
where electrostatic speakers have significantly
lower impedance ratings, is within
the rated maximum current tolerance
for the Hitachi MOSFET output devices
that we incorporate.
It is our desire at Luminance to help
foster on our website an opportunity for
communicative dialog that includes audiophiles,
designers, and reviewers, as well as
anyone else who wishes to freely and
openly investigate techniques of measurement
and their correspondent effects on
the listening experience. We plan on
releasing a number of technical articles by
a variety of sources who wish to contribute
to the ongoing knowledge and
awareness of various design-philosophy
etiologies, and provide a constructive
medium in which individuals of widely
diverse backgrounds can freely disperse
the results of their experience in the
design and evaluation of different
approaches as may become evident as the
industry moves forward. Please check
Luminance’s website for the scheduling of
upcoming forum “chat sites” that will
facilitate these offerings. Steve Keiser
Design Engineer, Luminance Audio
VPI HW-27 Typhoon
Editor:
I would like to thank Michael Fremer
for being a loyal HW-17 record-cleaner
owner and for reviewing our latest and
best record cleaner, the Typhoon. The
Typhoon was designed to be the most
powerful record-cleaning machine on
the planet, and we have the specs to
back that up. The vacuum motor used in
the Typhoon can lift a column of mercury
over 110", yet it is 6dB quieter (the
motor maker’s spec, not ours) than the
HW-17’s vacuum motor.
In my own system, I have heard information
pulled from records cleaned on
the Typhoon that I have never heard
before, even from records that are 40
years old and have been cleaned many,
many times. I’m sorry Michael was
unable to reproduce this, as the customer
needs to know how these
machines compare.
Bottom line is, American workers who
are paid real wages and get healthcare
make the Typhoon in the USA. You get
$2000 worth of cleaning machine without
importers, distributors, shipping costs, etc.,
blowing the cost of the product totally out
of proportion to what you are really getting.
Harry Weisfeld
VPI
Joule Electra VZN-80
Editor:
At Joule Electra, we really enjoyed Art
[Dudley]’s column on OTLs. It brought
www.Stereophile.com, May 2007 129