RMAF 2009 Analog Report + Meet and Greet
Lew, I've listened to the SA-1 table for the past three years at RMAF. It's good. The MSRP is $7,800 USD. The arm and cartridge were new this year. The cartridge is only available with the package do to the agreement with Soundsmith. I think the price for the cartridge is going to be around $2800 USD for the cartridge (someone correct me if I'm wrong). The price of the arm is unknown until the production costs are determined if I remember Frank and Sean's answer to my question. Does that help? Dre |
Thanks, Dre. So I assume that the $7800 only gets you the turntable, without tonearm or cartridge. I am very surprised to learn that this product has been around for 3 years. I just heard about it in the last month or so. The design is very promising, but the price is a head-scratcher, to me anyway. They must use a fabulous bearing and platter. The plinth construction and materials might or might not be good choices. At about $3K to $4K or maybe even $5K sans tonearm, they would fly out the door. |
Lew, That that is correct. The Artemis Labs web site lists the table at $7800 USD. I believe three years ago was the introduction of the table designed by Frank. This maybe part of the reason for the higher price. I'm not sure when the table was ready for production after that. You can read about it here: http://www.artemislabs.com/SA-1-Turntable.html I'm not sure if that helps with the head scratching though. Dre |
I learned something more about the construction last night from a knowledgeable friend. Apparently the platter and bearing ARE pretty special; it's not just the Schroeder association that determines the cost. He also said that it is a great sounding table, FWIW. The fancy version with cocobola or zebrawood or some other endangered species of wood, that costs nearly $11,000 - now THAT one does seem overpriced. |
