- Last week a post-Munich dealer / customer exhibit took place at Micha Hubers (manu-) factory near Zurich. I met Micha for the first time, haven’t used his products in my own system (yet).
On show were two Thales turntables and a new smaller EMT ’table, mated with Exquisite low and medium output & new EMT cartridges on a Thales Statement & new EMT arms. Electronics were a prototype Thales (phono)-preamp, EMT tube phono listened through CH precision amp & Stenheim 3. And an Audio Consulting (of Geneva) chain, consisting of Tube battery phono / amp & Rubanoid hybrid speakers w. lessloss speaker cables. The factory tour was totally impressive, both from a technical "artistic" level, the research behind, the agility, commitment and efficiency of the team - and Michas relentless fine-mechanical searching spirit and his modesty & friendlyness. Every audio afficionado will be totally impressed by the precision & handcraft applied by that team in a highly inspiring atmosphere.
Listening to "show systems" has its limits, less here than, it seems, in Munich. A moderate area, old wooden floor room made some floor / room resonances, apart of which the huge qualities of the front end & systems were very audible: The breath, resolution, dimensionality of the A.C. system, the precise matter-of-fact see-through quality of the CH Precision / Stenheim system. The extreme levels of precision, focus, natural ebb & flow of the Exquisite-powered front ends was supremely audible: The Statement arm is flabbergastingly open & transparent, it’s in every technical and audio detail a tour de force, the engineering and "simple form complexity" of the parts, the execution and its seemingly simple function. As a scepticist regarding complexity I am still in awe of the total success of this very complex concept. It sounds totally lucid and non mechanical, like an exquisite master tape. The Exquisite cartridges whose interiors and fine adjustments we could observe "live" under the lab microscope are unique in more than one way, which made itself very (in-)audible in a complete lack of artefacts. They are indeed state of the art as well. No wonder some big names use OEM cartridges out of Michas manufacture.
- The massive reduction of overhang in the Thales tonearms and hence the minimizing of skating forces does to my ears very audibly increase tracing stability under dynamic signals, something we experience too with a correctly adjusted air-bearing arm. The advantage of "Tangential" is IMO primary the reduction or elimination of overhang, not the moderate or small angle error of radial arms.
If it must be simple in handling and more conventional in looks & adjustment than an ET 2/2.5 (and if finances are available), there is IMO most probably no real alternative for the Thales arms, notably the Statement arm. Specially impressive ist the smooth solidity of all bearings and fittings - and their finish: Pieces of art without snobbery. And the sonic result is simply superb.