Wave Kinetics NVS Reference Turntable Review on Positive Feedback

jtinn · Oct 1, 2016

David Robinson just published about his 5 year experience with the Wave Kinetics NVS Reference Turntable and the Durand Tonearm Telos. It can be read here:

http://positive-feedback.com/audio-...2-tonearm-ortofon-anna-mc-photo-essay-review/

spiritofmusic · Oct 1, 2016

Excellent review, Jonathan
I had been wondering why there were no published reviews of the NVS over the years
A couple of thoughts, what is your view on the use of active isolation like Herzan/Accurion versus passive like the Wave shelf/Stillpoints etc?
And any facility for overseas customers?

Ron Resnick · Oct 1, 2016

What a wonderful review! Thank you for posting this, Jonathan!

Clearly enthralled for five years with this synergistic combination of LP playback components Dave asks rhetorically:

"Is it 'the best'?"

Instead of an affirmative "yes" and a heated and hyperbolic explanation as to why, Dave displays the cool logic and intellectual honesty to which we and all reviewers should aspire:

I'll respond by saying that “the best” is generally a meaningless category, mainly of interest to partisans of some audio ideology, or some designer, or some brand, or (especially) of whatever the partisan happens to own or favor. On the other hand, “one of the best” can be a very useful category. I’m mainly concerned with whether or not a design that is obviously seeking to be reference grade, state-of-the-art, statement, or world-class actually has done so in my experience and judgment. Once a design or system reaches the category that I would call “top o’ the heap” or “world-class reference,” then that’s that. I don’t numerically rank them after that; it’s a matter of taste and preference once you reach the mountaintop. From that very limited group, choose whatever scratches your itch and pleases you most.

By the way, that’s also true of cars, cigars, wines, bourbons, single malt whiskeys, tequilas, rums, vodkas, albums, artists, writers, books…you get the picture. And be very careful about trashing another person’s taste in such things; that shows a huge lack of class, amigos.

Having said all that, I can be more precise about that rarified zone in my listening room here. There have been three turntable systems here over the past 27 years that I would place on the top of the turntable mountain: The Wave Kinetics NVS/Durand/Ortofon is one of those three.

Which is to say it’s “one of the [extremely few] best” for me.

By noting that he has had extensive experience with two other fantastic turntable systems, and by concluding that the Wave Kinetics NVS/Durand/Ortofon system also belongs at the top echelon with these two other systems, Dave has related his view of the Wave Kinetics NVS/Durand/Ortofon to the two other systems through the prism of his direct, personal experience and, I think, has made a logically valid comparison and has arrived at an intellectually honest conclusion.

Steve Williams · Oct 1, 2016

very nicely written JT.

Great review

spiritofmusic · Oct 1, 2016

This tt is there in the rarefied price category of GP Monaco 2.0, Kronos Pro, AF2, all of which are sold in the UK
Hence my enquiry
No doubt this is a final destination product
And Mike Lavigne's long term user satisfaction comments remain the NVS's most potent online accolade

Mike Lavigne · Oct 1, 2016

spiritofmusic said:
A couple of thoughts, what is your view on the use of active isolation like Herzan/Accurion versus passive like the Wave shelf/Stillpoints etc?

I do not speak for Jonathan.

but in my room the standard Wave Kinetics decoupling shelf did a fine job when I had my Evolution Acoustics MM3 speakers. and I would expect that it could benefit from other passive devices; but which ones would be unpredictable like any question about passive.

when I got my MM7 speakers those 7 foot tall 750 pound bass towers ended up 6 feet from the NVS. and until I got the Herzan I had feedback issues, which took me a few months to understand cause and effect. I would guess that any turntable 6 feet from the MM7 bass towers would also 'need' active isolation.

would the Herzan have yielded advantages with the MM3's too? I suppose.......but it was not 'needed'. active isolation added to any turntable would likely yield some advantage over passive only. but in some situations it is actually needed. system contexts do matter.

so my conclusion is that the NVS 'system' with it's own decoupling shelf does a fine job of eliminating feedback.

spiritofmusic · Oct 1, 2016

Mike, understood
I'm soon to pour my remaining current audio savings into active isolation for my tt, a Speirs and Robertson AMD DVIA, so I get the concept
Can I check with you, are the NVS and Durand designed around each other/tailored to work together?
Or do you know of other NVS's mated with different tonearms?
I ask because I have a lot of time for the Kuzma 4-Point, esp the 14", and this is one of the few arms I'd be happy trading my Terminator linear air bearing arm for
I also think it would make an amazing aesthetic match for the NVS

Mike Lavigne · Oct 1, 2016

spiritofmusic said:
Mike, understood
I'm soon to pour my remaining current audio savings into active isolation for my tt, a Speirs and Robertson AMD DVIA, so I get the concept
Can I check with you, is the NVS and Durand designed around each other/tailored to work together?
Or do you know of other NVS's mated with different tonearms?
I ask because I have a lot of time for the Kuzma 4-Point, esp the 14", and this is one of the few arms I'd be happy trading my Terminator linear air bearing arm for
I also think it would make an amazing aesthetic match for the NVS

any great tone arm should be a match on the NVS.

and likely the NVS is more related to the Durand, than the Durand to the NVS.

Durand's are found on a wide variety of turntables all over. Joel Durand has never owned an NVS tt, and I know many Durand owners without NVS tt's. even on WBF.

and the choice of Durand for the NVS is mostly related to why lots of other's choose Durand, as well as the locality of Joel (Seattle) and Jonathan (Portland), and my involvement in allowing Joel to use my room as a testing place for a few years when he was in his intense arm development phase. both products approach the challenge of perfect Lp playback objectively, and reject any sort of sameness imprint on the music. creating products such as these requires a sonic compass and strong direction and purpose. I think Jonathan and Joel have enough of a common sonic target that it's a good situation.

I can tell you if Jonathan knew of a better tone arm to mate with the NVS he would choose it. not to anoint any 'best' or even go down that road.

spiritofmusic · Oct 1, 2016

May be a mute point for us in the UK, Mike, with no dealership this side of The Pond
But I've always admired the form/function of the NVS, just zero chance of hearing it over here
Kinda the same issue with my other impractical fave, the Saskia 2 Ref
However, David stressing how easy it is to set up, and it's l/t reliability, suggests to me that it might prove less of a risk than other more fussy uber tts in plug and play straight out of the box, given a chance to hear it in the US

XV-1 · Oct 1, 2016

spiritofmusic said:
May be a mute point for us in the UK, Mike, with no dealership this side of The Pond
But I've always admired the form/function of the NVS, just zero chance of hearing it over here
Kinda the same issue with my other impractical fave, the Saskia 2 Ref
However, David stressing how easy it is to set up, and it's l/t reliability, suggests to me that it might prove less of a risk than other more fussy uber tts in plug and play straight out of the box, given a chance to hear it in the US

Agree

Living in Australia I have always wanted to hear the NVS as I love what my Exclusive P3 dd table does. I would love to hear the NVS with my new Thales Simplicity II tonearm as I would be able to compare it directly against the AF2.

jtinn · Oct 3, 2016

spiritofmusic said:
Excellent review, Jonathan
I had been wondering why there were no published reviews of the NVS over the years
A couple of thoughts, what is your view on the use of active isolation like Herzan/Accurion versus passive like the Wave shelf/Stillpoints etc?
And any facility for overseas customers?

Using active isolation can be wonderful in the right situation. It is designed for a specific use and all variables need to be correct for it to be effective.

Currently we have our turntables all over the world, but I am not aware of any in the UK.

jtinn · Oct 3, 2016

Thank you Ron and Steve!

Steve Williams · Oct 3, 2016

JT

Is there no way for these guys in the UK to demo your turntable. You might be losing out on bona fide customers

jtinn · Oct 3, 2016

spiritofmusic said:
Mike, understood
Can I check with you, are the NVS and Durand designed around each other/tailored to work together?
Or do you know of other NVS's mated with different tonearms?
I ask because I have a lot of time for the Kuzma 4-Point, esp the 14", and this is one of the few arms I'd be happy trading my Terminator linear air bearing arm for
I also think it would make an amazing aesthetic match for the NVS

The Wave Kinetics NVS and Durand Tonearms were not designed around each other, but a great turntable and a great tonearm will always work together as long as there are no fit problems. We have customers using many different tonearms and I have yet to receive a complaint.

I hear really good things about the Kuzma 4-Point and look forward to one day hearing it on our turntable.

jtinn · Oct 3, 2016

Steve Williams said:
JT

Is there no way for these guys in the UK to demo your turntable. You might be losing out on bona fide customers

A distributor or dealer will have to step up and take on the line. We have had numerous inquiries, but we are looking for the right relationship.

jtinn · Oct 3, 2016

XV-1 said:
Agree

Living in Australia I have always wanted to hear the NVS as I love what my Exclusive P3 dd table does. I would love to hear the NVS with my new Thales Simplicity II tonearm as I would be able to compare it directly against the AF2.

I certainly hope you get to experience it one day. Please let me know when you do. I am personally looking forward to hearing the Thales on our NVS. I love the way it gets the alignment as you would a linear tracker with the technology of a pivoting arm.

Audiophile Bill · Oct 3, 2016

jtinn said:
Using active isolation can be wonderful in the right situation. It is designed for a specific use and all variables need to be correct for it to be effective.

Currently we have our turntables all over the world, but I am not aware of any in the UK.

Hi Jonathan,

I wonder whether you could expand on this point to explain the situations where you see active isolation useful or not.

Obviously I am no turntable designer so very curious as I would have expected an active platform of this quality to benefit all turntables regardless of design especially when they are active down to 1hz or so, which is far beyond any integrated turntable suspension that I was aware of?

Cheers

PeterA · Oct 3, 2016

Audiophile Bill said:
Hi Jonathan,

I wonder whether you could expand on this point to explain the situations where you see active isolation useful or not.

Obviously I am no turntable designer so very curious as I would have expected an active platform of this quality to benefit all turntables regardless of design especially when they are active down to 1hz or so, which is far beyond any integrated turntable suspension that I was aware of?

Cheers

I presume one of the variables that needs to be correct for active isolation to be effective is a very sturdy and solid support rack. I think Mike L discussed that in the tread about the Herzan. I'm curious to know what the other variables are.

I also wonder if the isolation shelf that Wave Kinetics sells for under the NVS is available for purchase as a stand alone product for use under other turntables. According to this review, it purports to isolate three types of vibrations: airborne, floor borne, and most interestingly, those originating from within the turntable itself. I would like to learn more about this platform and how it works.

Audiophile Bill · Oct 3, 2016

PeterA said:
I presume one of the variables that needs to be correct for active isolation to be effective is a very sturdy and solid support rack. I think Mike L discussed that in the tread about the Herzan. I'm curious to know what the other variables are.

I also wonder if the isolation shelf that Wave Kinetics sells for under the NVS is available for purchase as a stand alone product for use under other turntables. According to this review, it purports to isolate three types of vibrations: airborne, floor borne, and most interestingly, those originating from within the turntable itself. I would like to learn more about this platform and how it works.

Hi Peter,

Sure - I can definitely see the benefit to having a very sturdy and solid rack - mind you I can't see that not being of benefit to most turntables too tbh especially if they are coupled through spikes to a solid floor rather than suspended.

Wonder whether your 30/12 would benefit from active? I asked Franc Kuzma about my TT which has its own suspension tuned to 2.2hz and he said I would benefit from active platform.

spiritofmusic · Oct 3, 2016

My next port of call is the Speirs And Robertson AMD DVIA electronic active platform for my tt, an option that I'm sure would benefit any top rank tt put on it, whether Kuzma Stabi M, Kronos Pro, GP Monaco 2.0 or this NVS
It's good to below 2Hz, and Mike's advocating the NVS on his Herzan is good enough for me

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