Inspire Hi-fi Monarch (£3970)

Transcript

Direct-drive turntable with electronic speed control Made by: Inspire Hi-Fi Ltd, Derbyshire Supplied by: Inspire Hi-Fi Ltd Telephone: 01246 472222 Web: www.inspirehifi.co.uk TURNTABLE Inspire Hi-Fi Monarch (£3970) Using one piece of hi-fi equipment to make another is not a new idea, but no one has yet managed it quite as stylishly as Inspire Hi-Fi with its Monarch turntable Review: Adam Smith Lab: Paul Miller W hen it comes to turntable design, one of the most thought-provoking questions is this: ‘If a small AC motor and a rubber band really is the best way of driving a turntable platter, why did the Japanese corporations spend so much money developing direct-drive motor technology in the 1970s?’ While this is neither the time nor place to re-awaken the age-old belt-drive versus direct-drive versus idler-drive debate, suffice it to say there are bad, good and outstanding examples of all three. Success is less about method and more about how well a given design is executed. The fact is, however, that the Japanese did take direct-drive motor unit design very seriously in the ’70s, and some stunning decks resulted. Sadly, because of the opinions prevalent at the time, they were largely ignored in the UK, and some top-end models were never imported here at all. Then CD arrived and that seemed to signal the demise for direct-drives. the heart of the matter Monarch. And those who sniffily dismiss the SL-1200 as ‘just a DJ deck’ might care to start warming the oven, ready for heating a slice of humble pie or two… It is difficult to recognise the DNA of the Technics lurking below the surface of the Monarch, as the makeover is extremely comprehensive and it’s beautifully finished. Naturally, the motor is the key to the design and this is extracted and serviced, and fitted with new high precision bearing spindle before being bolted to a 6mm-thick aluminium chassis plate. This also forms the mounting for the aluminium armboard, which can be drilled to accept arms of up to 12in in length. Above and below the main chassis plate are two slabs of high quality solid wood, with the review sample being walnut and looking very smart indeed. Inspire says that other woods are available and I have also seen a rather fine gloss-black example which looked swish, if a potential fingerprint nightmare. The plinth sits on three solid feet that are not adjustable for height, suggesting that a support which is suitably tweakable Move forward 30 years and many audiophiles are now reconsidering the potential of such drive systems with many decks finally achieving iconic status. Unfortunately, economies of scale dictate that a modern motor design of this ilk would be expensive to implement and turntables that do, such as the Grand Prix Audio Monaco and Brinkmann Oasis, carry correspondingly high price tags. Such a method was not an option for Robert Isherwood of Inspire Hi-Fi, as he prides himself on delivering high quality turntables at sensible prices. The solution he chose instead was quite simple – take the heart of the one direct-drive turntable that did survive and use this as the basis for his flagship. The donor deck is the Technics SL-1200 and the result is the Inspire RIGHT: A permanent ring magnet fixed to the underside of the platter sits within the gap around Technics’ substantial brushless DC motor. Armboard is machined from solid alloy www.hifinews.co.uk | Reprinted from Hi-Fi News & RR in this respect would be desirable unless you happen to have a handy supply of beer mats to achieve the same result. Naturally, the speed control circuitry is crucial to the operation of the motor and here Inspire has made further changes. Higher specification components are transplanted into the main on-board PCB, including a much more tightly toleranced main quartz crystal, while the front end of the power supply unit is fitted into an offboard case, connected to the deck by a short umbilical lead. joystick control Control of the motor is delightfully achieved by a joystick at the rear left of the plinth which can be moved in four directions – left and right for speed selection, and back and forth for on/off. It’s simple, stylish and very effective, even if it does looks like something a drive belt should be wrapped around! In its original guise, the SL-1200 has a variable pitch facility which is bypassed when the slider is in its central detent. Inspire has chosen not to utilise this variable option and so the 33.3 and 45rpm speeds on the Monarch are fixed. Another item that differs markedly from the Technics is the platter. One issue with the SL-1200’s motor that makes it an awkward DIY proposition is that the magnets of the rotor are arranged in a circle and bonded to the underside of the platter. Obviously they can be removed but require the utmost concentric accuracy if they are to be fitted to any potential new platter – there have been mixed successes with this in the development stages of other similar designs that I am aware of. The Monarch’s platter consists of two aluminium billets separated by a layer of sorbothane and the rotor ring is attached to the underside of the upper layer – the Ed’s Lab Report [p73] suggests that this high tolerance has been achieved and the Monarch sounds rock-solid as a result. One additional advantage that Inspire claims for the platter configuration is that it obviates the need for a mat. While I would agree that this removes another degree of uncertainty from the vinyl replay process, the bare metal top of the platter must be kept scrupulously clean before discs are applied and the sturdy clamp then fitted. This is the first turntable where I have felt the need to clean both platter and vinyl before play – but adding a mat seemed to bring about no great sonic improvements. The Monarch is priced without arm but was supplied with an SME312S preinstalled, to which I fitted an Ortofon Kontrapunkt B cartridge. The deck was set up on an Atacama Equinox Celebration LE rack (which can be easily levelled via its mounting spikes). The rest of the system comprised an Anatek MC1 phono stage, Naim Supernait amplifier and PMC Twenty.24 loudspeakers. All cabling was by the Chord Company, which included the arm lead supplied by Inspire Hi-Fi. ABOVE: This solid walnut plinth is further reinforced by a 6mm layer of aluminium. The platter is a two-piece affair, bolted together with a sorbothane layer inbetween and gloriously fluid. The Technics both punches and times brilliantly but it lacks a sense of flow in the upper bass, and the Monarch brings this right back into the fold with consummate ease. Bass lines become distinct entities in their own right within the performance, rather than just grumbling along quietly to themselves in the background, and when a properly bassled track such as Paul Simon’s ‘Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes’, from his Graceland LP (Warner Brothers 925 447-1, see p86) finds its way onto the platter, then the Monarch is in its element. Bakithi Kumalo’s fretless bass playing was impressively pulled right to the front of the soundstage to underpin this track perfectly. In the midband, the sense of ease and flow offered by the bass end of the spectrum carries across beautifully, to ensure that instruments appear vivid and finely etched within the soundstage. The deck offers a perceptible and tightly focused sense of depth to proceedings, ‘Play a bass-led track and the Monarch is in its element’ tightly focused The subject of bass inevitably crops up when direct- and idler-drive systems are under discussion, so let’s get this out of the way first. Like the donor SL-1200, the Monarch has plenty of it, but it is magnificently controlled, beautifully deep TECHNICS SL-1200 The 1972 Technics SL-1200 was an instant success, alongside its SL-120 brother which came without arm. In 1978 it was updated to Mk2 status and became the deck that is now recognised the world over as a tough and sturdy DJ tool, giving rise to the myth that it is nothing more than a ‘disco deck’. In reality, the player simply encompassed a number of features designed to make the home user’s life easier; but the likes of a vibration-absorbing rubber base, easily height adjustable tonearm, wide pitch range and instant start/stop were exactly what DJs were looking for as well. The SL-1200 is a design classic and even features in the London Science museum as a ‘piece of technology that has shaped the world we live in’. With the highest production numbers of any turntable there should also be no shortage of Monarch donor supplies. In standard form, the SL-1200 performs well and is astoundingly well made considering its final selling price of around £450 before being discontinued in 2010. However, a growing industry is emerging offering numerous tweaks, modifications and upgrades, so it looks set to be with us for many years to come. ABOVE: Monarch supplies this outboard 21V DC supply which connects to the underside of the deck via a three-pin, lockable cable Reprinted from Hi-Fi News & RR | www.hifinews.co.uk Lab report INSPIRE HI-FI MONARCH (£3970) ABOVE: The prominent ‘joystick’ toggles between 33.3/45rpm and on/off. The motor also acts as an electronic brake, stopping the platter nearly as swiftly as its starts pushing the action off into the depths of the listening area in a quite uncanny manner. There is a large window directly between the loudspeakers in my listening room and Jennifer Warnes appeared to be singing at me from just outside it during ‘Ballad Of The Runaway Horse’, from Rob Wassermann’s Duets album [MCA-42131]. This was almost as disconcerting as it was impressive! crisp sense of order This expansive sense of depth lent spatiality to orchestral recordings as well. Where I felt the Monarch was less convincing, however, was in terms of its soundstage width, as this seemed reluctant to extend much outside the physical limits of my speakers. The electric piano that signals the start of The Eagles’ track ‘Long Road Out Of Eden’ [Universal 060251749243 1] is tucked away at the far left-hand edge of the soundstage and it usually emanates from well beyond the left loudspeaker. But through the Monarch it seemed to come from behind it: an occurence that was similar with other LPs I used throughout the review period. The Monarch never sounded constrained or lacking in atmosphere – it just seemed that performances were pushed into a rather narrower, longer space than one might expect. But to continue with the deck’s strengths: the top end is again something that is a delight to experience. The Inspire has a crisp sense of order and insight to it, which, in conjunction with the smooth and languid nature of the SME arm fitted, meant that it has the rare ability to offer a sometimes startling sense of clarity – but without slapping you (metaphorically) around the face with the detail that it retrieves. All too often a crisp treble is accompanied by unwanted spit or ‘zinginess’ when a less than perfect pressing presents itself, but the Monarch is a sophisticated operator and never seemed to be caught out in this way. Groove problems and general LP malaises are most certainly not glossed over, but the deck seems to have an uncanny ability to pull out what you want to hear and gently sideline the unwanted accompaniments. Certainly I found myself spinning more than a few albums and even some 7in singles that don’t often see the light of day, due to the clearly audible hard lives that they have led. The Monarch made the very best of them and dug right to the heart of the music. All in all, as I listened over many days (often into the early hours), I found that the Monarch gives a captivating sound, with an unerring and highly addictive sense of solidity. It has a wonderful tonality that captures with aplomb all instruments, be they electric or acoustic, and the end result is that it keeps drawing you into the music and (as I say) tempting you to dig out those old favourites – which is always a good sign. Like the Technics SL-1200/1210 deck(s) that have acted as donors for the Monarch, this turntable is a true direct-drive with a performance to match. The brushless DC motor includes a permanent magnet in the form of a peripheral ferrite ring which is bonded directly to the underside of Inspire’s aluminium/ sorbothane/aluminium sandwich platter. The active portion of the motor is quartz-locked and, in this case, delivered a driftfree 33.32rpm within 1 second of selection – that’s a fixed error of just –0.055% (power consumption increases momentarily from 5W to 12W here). Wow and flutter are very low indeed with minor 3Hz/6Hz variations amounting to a peak figure of 0.02% and residual flutter just 0.03% [see Graph 2, below]. The very best belt-driven decks struggle to achieve this and certainly feature significantly heavier platters to assist in the process. Neither is there any significant transmitted noise. Because the platter is supported via a sealed, phosphor-bronze bearing only induced, rather than directly-coupled, noise will find its way from the active portion of the motor into the platter. Through-bearing noise amounts to –69.2dB (re. 5cm/ sec), a figure that reduces to just –70.4dB for the in-groove measurement and demonstrates the effectiveness of the critically-damped platter. Without the record weight in place, in-groove noise deteriorates by about 0.5dB. I would not expect a significant improvement with an aftermarket mat, but the platter’s metal surface must be kept scrupulously clean. Readers are invited to view a full QC Suite report for Inspire Hi-Fi’s Monarch turntable by navigating to www.hifinews.co.uk and clicking on the red ‘download’ button. PM ABOVE: Unweighted bearing rumble from DC-200Hz (black infill) versus silent LP groove (with weight, blue; without weight, red) re. 1kHz at 5cm/sec HI-FI NEWS VERDICT It may seem odd that, in 2012, someone is pulling parts out of a 30-year-old turntable design and building a new deck around them. However, by choosing the Technics SL-1200 as a basis and making a raft of well considered changes, Inspire Hi-Fi has come up with an innovative and stylish turntable that is easy to set up and use and sounds superb. Maybe those Japanese engineers were right all along... Sound Quality: 81% 0 - - - - - - - - 100 ABOVE: Wow and flutter re. 3150Hz tone at 5cm/sec (plotted ±150Hz, 5Hz per minor division). Stability is up with the very best turntables HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS Turntable speed error at 33.33rpm 33.32rpm (–0.055%) Time to audible stabilisation 1sec Peak Wow/Flutter 0.02% / 0.03% Rumble (silent groove, DIN B wtd) –70.4dB Rumble (through bearing, DIN B wtd) –69.2dB Hum & Noise (unwtd, rel. to 5cm/sec) –64.5dB Power Consumption 5W Dimensions (WHD) 490x145x390mm Reprinted from Hi-Fi News & RR | www.hifinews.co.uk VINYL SECTION HI-FI WORLD Royal Flush Rafael Todes strikes it lucky with Inspire’s brand new Monarch turntable... T he now deceased Technics 1210 turntable has been resurrected in many guises. There is the Timestep EVO Technics which I reviewed last year and has become my reference. And Origin Live has thrown its hat into the ring with an upgraded and tweaked version recently, which is also a strong and great value contender. And now, for Technics watchers, an even more radical rethink of this classic direct drive comes from Inspire... It’s not difficult to understand why this is an important event in the great hi-fi scheme of things. Although direct drive was a major player on the international audio scene of the nineteen seventies, in Britain belt drive continued to rule the roost, and still does today. To find a brand new direct drive then, from a British manufacturer (only Brinkmann does DD new, these days, I believe), is a very unusual event. exudes both superior craftsmanship and gravitas. The plinth is substantial, and beautifully constructed in solid walnut, with a horizontal billet of 6mm aluminium running through it. A quirky gear stick protrudes from the far left hand corner, which switches the motor on, and changes the speed. There is an outboard power supply providing 21V via silver-plated lockable DIN sockets and plugs, boasting a large toroidal transformer, and Fidelity Audio capacitors and voltage regulator. The aluminium billet armboard supplied is for a 12 inch arm (although 9 inch mounting is available), and the review sample is furnished with an SME312S, and a top-of-the-range Ortofon Per Winfeld Cartridge. I used my Audio Origami arm lead with this ensemble. What then has this got to do with the Technics SL1210? Well, the short answer is that Inspire "I don’t think I’ve ever heard this recording come to life in this way before..." Why? Well, put it this way – most Brit turntable manufacturers tend to work by assembling relatively easy-to-find parts into their own unique chassis. Given that a direct drive motor and the accompanying quartz lock controller and power supply is neither plentiful nor cheap, you’re more likely to find them using an Impex AC motor driving the subplatter by a rubber belt. The clever thing about the Inspire is that it uses the one relatively easy-to-find direct drive ‘powertrain’, that of the Technics SL1200. This obviates the need for a huge investment in motors and controlling circuitry, whilst still taking this technology to the next level. The first thing that strikes one about the Inspire Monarch is that it isn’t that easy to detect its Technics ancestry – the deck HI-FI WORLD JANUARY 2012 have taken many of its best bits and used them in the manufacture of the Monarch, keeping costs down and reaping the benefit of all those years of Technics’ research and development. The bearing spindle is rehoused in a phosphor bronze sealed bearing, each one manufactured to fit the individual Technics bearing spindle. High grade oil is used within the bearing, and with the platter off, turning the spindle by hand gives a clue to the high tolerances involved. The onboard circuitry is upgraded with high-spec parts such as a new quartz chip of greater spec – taking speed control to even greater heights than previously achieved with past Technics, it is claimed [see MEASURED PERFORMANCE]. The platter is completely unrecognisable from the original www.hi-fiworld.co.uk SL1200 item on which it’s based – two massive billets of aluminium sandwich some Sorbothane in the middle. There are two screws to facilitate removal of the platter, which has a slight record label recess with three added ring indents to offset any resonance escaping from the vinyl. A substantial steel puck weighs down on the record for greater stability. The feet are machined from aluminium and have shock absorbers internally fitted. Aesthetically they are in keeping with the style of the deck, but are without the convenience of screws, so any height adjustment has to be done by other means. There is a touch of the Feickert Woodpecker to this deck, in the shape and layering of the plinth, and the look of the arm board, I feel. SOUND QUALITY Using my trusted reference recording of Bach's 'Brandenburg No.3' (English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Raymond Leppard), and having adjusted the VTA to suit the mood, I was struck by what the deck does right. The strings have a much more coherent sound to them than I am used to with my reference SL1210; there seems to be more texture and depth to the tone. Where that greygrungy slightly hash-ridden sound exists on the standard Technics, this is greatly reduced with the Timestep Technics, and with the Monarch it recedes further still. The strings seem to have the bloom you hear on a great belt drive, but now with the energy and articulation of a top VINYL SECTION HI-FI WORLD direct-drive. The best of all possible worlds, as Dr Pangloss might have said! In particular, listening to the violin soloist in 'Brandenburg 4', I hear a violin the way I’m used to hearing it sound; not sheeny and brittle, lacking substance, but with a mellow body – so that you could actually identify the maker of the instrument from the information the deck is providing. Bass is tight, controlled and with a nice articulate leading edge that propels the music forward. I have the feeling that the deck is processing the sound of the entire chamber orchestra equally – there are no registers being favoured, a common fault I often hear with other decks, and this gives a monolithic unity to the final sound. On one of my favourite jazz albums, ‘High Standards 2’ with Coleman Hawkins and Red Allen, I was immediately struck by how the piano on this 1958 recording sounded different to my reference. I was reminded that it is indeed a percussion instrument, as I could hear that split-second attack as the hammer hit the strings, which if not present makes a piano sound soggy. This deck has this in spades. There is a lovely moment on the track when the piano and double bass have a duet, and the combination of piano attack and bass pizzicato is up there with the best I’ve heard. Coleman www.hi-fiworld.co.uk JANUARY 2012 HI-FI WORLD VINYL SECTION of pace and timing with a substantial range of tonal colours, to produce a hugely coherent performance which doesn’t show off or shout like its earlier adolescent-like incarnations. Instead it quietly gets on with the show with a real maturity. Its soundstage isn’t the greatest, but given what it does do, I can live with this. The Technics has finally come of age, and like any doting parent, it's now about to cause me separation anxiety! a delight to behold, all the subtleties of orchestration that Mozart writes which so often I don’t hear were clearly present, not in an ostentatious look-at-me way, but in an organic, almost understated, but nevertheless ‘musical’ way. I don’t think I’ve ever heard this recording come to life in this way before. Listening to the REFERENCE SYSTEM: Mozart 'Piano Concertos' Technics SL1210 mk2 (Timestep) as recorded by Daniel SME V tonearm Barenboim and the English Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cartridge Chamber Orchestra on EMI (not the greatest recording), Icon Audio PS3 phono stage and even the dazzling playing VAC Auricle Musicblocs power amplifiers B&W 802D loudspeakers from Barenboim can often Townshend Isolda cables sound muddy, as one of the greatest challenges for vinyl for my ears is the ability to resolve micro-details from background playing. The Monarch was very speed stable, Here the Monarch producing just 0.09% total wow and flutter with a carefully centred test really triumphs, as disc. Our analysis shows basic rate in the opera before, drift at 0.55Hz (33rpm) at a very low exposing the dialogue level of 0.05%, and no second harmonic between the soloist in common with belt drives. The spectrum front, and the forces above 1Hz is clean and free of flutter of the orchestra components, except for three discrete behind. With this level spikes that are harmonic- related, at of resolution, the 2.2Hz, 4.4Hz and 8.8Hz. These may well concertos sparkle with be Direct Drive cogging effects, but if Mozartian wit. so are at a very low level, just 0.02% and, being very narrow, suggest little energy is involved and their audibility CONCLUSION No turntable I’ve heard unlikely. The turntable’s low 0.07% DIN can do it all. Some can weighted wow and flutter value we set a soundstage which measured is as good as it gets; the is holographic, some Monarch offers a top notch result. can be highly inaccurate Our vibration analysis of the but capture some of magnesium SME312S arm, made with the raw essence of a Bruel & Kjaer accelerometer, shows a the music, some can basic modal peak at 200Hz, a relatively low frequency as arms go due to the be amazingly accurate structure’s extra mass and length. This but leave me cold. This shifts colouration down the audio band, one does a hell of a away from the middle frequencies lot, and what it does, where shorter, lighter and stiffer arms it does really well. resonate, a point forgotten with 12in The way the Inspire arms. There are some modes further Monarch transduces up the band but the peaks do not reach music is nothing short any high level so they will not have of pure pleasure to much impact. High frequency headshell behold. It combines ringing is minimal, helped by a web that a wonderful sense HI-FI WORLD VERDICT Startlingly musical performer with blistering speed and dynamics, yet smoothness, sophistication and purity of tone too. Superb. INSPIRE MONARCH £3,970 Inspire Hi-Fi +44 (0)1246 827272 www.inspirehifi.co.uk ) Hawkins’ sound is sweet and detailed; the whole band seems blessed with pace, rhythm and timing and a foottapping quality I don’t often hear. Far from being a one trick ‘pace, rhythm and timing’ pony though, this deck has real substance and body to its tonality – there’s more than just a beat with a fast leading edge, but rather a well-portrayed, timbrally accurate note that follows. So it does piano well! Listening to Tchaikovsky’s '2nd Piano concerto', a golden age Decca recording with Vladimir Ashkenazy, I was struck by how well the turntable separated the different textures involved. The instruments of the orchestra sounded so life-like, that it really illuminated the subtlety of the musical line, as if someone has taken a bright light to the score. The other thing that it did well is the massive dynamic swings involved in this symphonic piano concerto. The Inspire really is fiercely dynamic, and I’ve rarely heard a turntable do this so easily – it's like hearing the master tape. Listening to the vintage Philips recording of Mozart’s opera 'Cosi Fan Tutte', conducted by Sir Colin Davis, there is a moment in the overture when the wind and strings play a chord together, and the strings come off early, leaving the wind to fend for themselves. The better the reproduction, the clearer this ingenious and subtle colour change is. There is so little overhang on this deck, that it’s as clear as daylight. The sound has grandeur to it; it’s weighty, sweet and compelling. The first aria between two of the males often sounds unbearably bright, possibly a problem with the equalisation on the master tape, but the Monarch made it sound as acceptable as I’ve ever heard – indeed it was even rather good! Female voices had real substance, even in the higher registers, in places that can sometimes cause my system to scream. The opera orchestra proved FOR - superb transient speed - excellent dynamics - tonal purity - overall musicality AGAINST - nothing MEASURED PERFORMANCE www.hi-fiworld.co.uk stiffens the top plate, one reason SME arms have smooth midband and treble. Wow Flutter Total (unwtd) Total (DIN wtd) 0.08% 0.05% 0.09% 0.07% ARM VIBRATION WOW & FLUTTER Speed variations 0.1 W&F (%) Rotational rate 0.55Hz I 0.05 0.02 0 frequency (Hz) 1Hz JANUARY 2012 HI-FI WORLD 10Hz