I met LL21 today at KJ West One, a high-end audio dealer in London. KJ West One is a beautiful store with lots of my favorite brands (including ARC, Jadis, VTL, Martin-Logan, Magnepan, DarTZeel, Transparent, Vertere) and very knowledgeable, seasoned audio experts. We listened to the Vertere SG-1 turntable and the SG-1 tonearm with a Dynavector cartridge into a VTL pre-amp to VTL monoblocks driving Wilson Alexias.
Playing the exact same tracks Touraj played for me at Vertere I can report that while the lower-end Vertere sounded good it did not sound like anything special. I stand by my view (especially surprising when you factor in that I prefer VTL electronics driving Alexias over solid state (even if it is FM Acoustics) driving PMC studio monitors) that the top-of-the-line Vertere record player and tonearm together form a very, very special record-playing system -- I think one of the top vinyl systems available today. (And I give most of the credit for that view to the Vertere Reference tonearm.)
I do not think we can expect 99% of the best for 10% of the cost. I just think that is an overly optimistic ratio. I think something like 2/3 of the best for 1/3 of the cost is seen more often in high end audio companies' product lines.
Yes, Lloyd, it was great fun! Thank you!
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