Kronos keeps getting better

Tango

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For KRONOS , Louis will show you some other items when he visit you next time after Munich show and I'm sure he will discuss with you more :D:D:D

I look forward to that Khun Boon. You know I have been very patient.

Kind regards,
Tang
 

nenon

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Reading this thread 3-4 years later but I found it quite interesting.
With the release of the Kronos Discovery (BTW, it's cool to see that the plans @Chris F saw when he visited Louis Desjardins turned into a reality now) there is a good opportunity for people to buy the Kronos Pro at a good price from those who upgrade to the Discovery.

@Tango - I see in your signature that you ended up with the AS turntable. Is there a continuation of this thread where you compare the Kronos to the AS? And what happened with the SAT tonearm, that's also missing from your signature?
 

Tango

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Reading this thread 3-4 years later but I found it quite interesting.
With the release of the Kronos Discovery (BTW, it's cool to see that the plans @Chris F saw when he visited Louis Desjardins turned into a reality now) there is a good opportunity for people to buy the Kronos Pro at a good price from those who upgrade to the Discovery.

@Tango - I see in your signature that you ended up with the AS turntable. Is there a continuation of this thread where you compare the Kronos to the AS? And what happened with the SAT tonearm, that's also missing from your signature?
The Kronos with Opus1 is an excellent combo for digital people starting to go into vinyl. It is super quiet giving background close to digital. But the sound is more organic less crisp less clean no photo shop sound. (I think digital sound is like a photo shop picture.) The Kronos has quick, dynamic, very lively sound but less solid than other turntables I own. The unit I had has a problem with speed. Mr.Desjardins was extremely nice to me..took care of me every time I had problems. But I put it in its flight case when the AS2000 entered my system. I already sold my Kronos. Also sold my AF1P combo with SAT and Axiom. My second SAT is now with my friend Gianluigi. I never wrote a direct comparison Kronos vs AS2000.
 
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amadeus

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Tango i can imagine that you sold your Kronos when you heard your AS2000....:)
I also sold my Kronos also when my Audio Tekne TT arrived the Kronos is in my opinion the most over rated TT in the Turntable history in the higher price range in the medium price range the Linn LP12 is!
 

andromedaaudio

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" Talking real value for money here" :) .
I saw on your website you have the Sonus faber Fenice at the moment Amadeus .
Congrats, that looks like a design that can do it all

Sorry slightly off topic
 

nenon

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The Kronos with Opus1 is an excellent combo for digital people starting to go into vinyl. It is super quiet giving background close to digital. But the sound is more organic less crisp less clean no photo shop sound. (I think digital sound is like a photo shop picture.) The Kronos has quick, dynamic, very lively sound but less solid than other turntables I own. The unit I had has a problem with speed. Mr.Desjardins was extremely nice to me..took care of me every time I had problems. But I put it in its flight case when the AS2000 entered my system. I already sold my Kronos. Also sold my AF1P combo with SAT and Axiom. My second SAT is now with my friend Gianluigi. I never wrote a direct comparison Kronos vs AS2000.
Thank you. Very useful. I was curious how the Kronos compared to the AS2000. Your description is very good. That's exactly what I am hearing with the Kronos Pro - super quiet, big dynamic, lively, etc.

Kronos is in my opinion the most over rated TT in the Turntable history in the higher price range in the medium price range the Linn LP12 is!
Interesting comment.

Generally speaking, I am an analog guy. But I am also an IT guy and a DIY-er having built turntables, speakers, amplifiers, line stages, etc. Not very proud of my TT builds but they looked cool :). The Lenco based one was very noisy. The magnetic levitation one did not sound good and had speed issues. The list (of TT failures) goes on... at some point I realised I had to give up DIY turntables and leave that to the expert. That was one of the best decisions in my audio hobby :). My other DIY projects turned out really good, though. Some could compare with the best out there.

About 2-3 years ago I started a new mission. I could not understand why my digital source did not sound as good or as engaging as my analog source. Very little I knew at the time about digital. But as an IT guy and a DIY-er I started a long and extensive journey testing all kinds of digital components – from Raspberry Pi’s to low powered computers like the Innuos to high power computers to dual CPU computers like the Taiko Extreme. As usual with high-end audio it turned out everything matters – the CPU, the motherboard, the RAM used, the power supply, the software, wiring, cables, chassis, vibration treatment, temperature, network connectivity, etc. etc. A lot of these things are more important and made a bigger difference in digital than in analog. I have a thread on AudiophileStyle where I’ve documented and shared some of my digital source experiments.

It took a long time, but I completely surpassed my analog rig, which at the time consisted of a Triangle Art Maestro / Moerch DP-8 on a MinusK stand, and a ZYX Universe II cartridge. Several phono stages were used but at the end I was switching between a cost no object DIY phono stage I made and a Ypsilon VT100 SE. Of course, the most important factor has always been the recording. My top vinyl records cannot be reached by any digital source. But the rest were lacking behind my digital rig at the end. But let’s not go into a pointless vinyl vs. digital debate. The point I am trying to make is that it was time to upgrade my analog rig.

It was time to step up my analog game, and I ended up getting a maxed-out Kronos Pro (SCPS-1, carbon fiber armboard, BB tonearm). The improvement from the Triangle Art was shockingly big in my case. But that should not be a surprise as I went from a mid-price tier to a high-price tier TT. If I had to pay retail for the Kronos, I would probably never own that, but I got a very good offer for a used one that was hard to refuse.

What brought me to this thread was the tonearm discussion. Everyone with Kronos Pro is using the Black Beauty tonearm, and I was looking for feedback from people who have tried others. The BB is very primitive in terms of adjustment flexibility, does not have anti-skating, almost impossible to adjust overhang, etc. For a retail of $10K (which luckily, I did not have to pay) it gives you very little adjustment flexibility for the buck. But the real question I had was how did it sound compared to other high-end tonearms. And I found the answer here, thanks to @Tango .

Also, surprisingly the SCPS-1 made a pretty significant difference on the Kronos Pro. Something that no one shares is that half of the improvement of the SCPS-1 is mechanical. You just place it under the Kronos Pro TT as a shelf, and it sounds a lot better. The other half is electrical and what was even more shocking was that power cords have an unexpectedly big influence as well.

Now that I’ve stepped up my analog game, I have a new analog reference to compare digital to. What is interesting to me is what people who are switching from a similar Kronos set up find the Kronos to be lacking. The Kronos to AS quick comparison is again very useful. Thank you for that @Tango . I won't be able to afford to hear all these top tier / top dollars TTs in my system, and I don't read or trust commercial reviews, so threads like this are the best source of information for me.
 
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MadFloyd

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The Kronos Pro is an excellent turntable. It's my 4th table and while more expensive than the previous ones, it was so much better - truly in a different league.

I think the BB arm sounded very good as well but unfortunately it wasn't a good match for my Lyra Atlas so I went with an inexpensive used SME 3012R arm that does the job. Not the best arm by any means but the price was right and it worked well with my Lyra.

I use my turntable just about every day and still cherish it.

Louis' new table and arm look very promising. I'm hoping to hear them one day.
 
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mtemur

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Tango i can imagine that you sold your Kronos when you heard your AS2000....:)
I also sold my Kronos also when my Audio Tekne TT arrived the Kronos is in my opinion the most over rated TT in the Turntable history in the higher price range in the medium price range the Linn LP12 is!
I can not agree more.
Also, surprisingly the SCPS-1 made a pretty significant difference on the Kronos Pro. Something that no one shares is that half of the improvement of the SCPS-1 is mechanical. You just place it under the Kronos Pro TT as a shelf, and it sounds a lot better.
neither normal nor pro versions of Kronos measure well with regular power supply/motor controller in terms of wow&flutter. I hope SCPS-1 makes a huge difference.
The other half is electrical and what was even more shocking was that power cords have an unexpectedly big influence as well.
IMO/IME power cord used for power supply/motor controller of a turntable has a dramatic effect on SQ. there is no logical explanation I know but it makes an impact on SQ almost equally like the power cord of the amplifier.
 
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amadeus

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" Talking real value for money here" :) .
I saw on your website you have the Sonus faber Fenice at the moment Amadeus .
Congrats, that looks like a design that can do it all

Sorry slightly off topic
Yes the Sonus Faber Fenice is a speaker capable delivering true dynamics in a very natural way like it has the best of conventional bass reflex speakers and the Horn speakers....
 

Zeotrope

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Ok thanks. Why did they switch away from the Andre Theriault arms, does anyone know?
An Andre arm is now used on the Nagra Turntable…
 

nenon

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If it helps, I upgraded my Black Beauty (Andre Theriault ?) tonearm to their new Kronos Discovery RS tonearm, and that was a significant upgrade.
I also tried their lower line, Kronoscope RS, tonearm for about a month in my system, and that was also better than the Black Beauty.
My understanding is they learned a thing or two from the development of the Kronos Discovery turntable and applied some of those technologies into a new tonearm design that's quite better than the Black Beauty and Helena.
 

Zeotrope

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If it helps, I upgraded my Black Beauty (Andre Theriault ?) tonearm to their new Kronos Discovery RS tonearm, and that was a significant upgrade.
I also tried their lower line, Kronoscope RS, tonearm for about a month in my system, and that was also better than the Black Beauty.
My understanding is they learned a thing or two from the development of the Kronos Discovery turntable and applied some of those technologies into a new tonearm design that's quite better than the Black Beauty and Helena.
Or Kronos had a falling out with Andre because he developed an improved Black Beauty for Nagra? I also noticed the Kronos arm, which looks to be similar in design, is more than 2X the price of the Black Beauty... just speculating - seems odd to suddenly in-source the arm after so many years of proclaiming that the BB was the "best in the world"...;)
 

Zeotrope

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Feb 11, 2021
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That TT is badass! What is the list price with the arm?

That ”new” arm looks suspiciously similar to the Black Beauty. I‘d love to know the backstory there.
 

Boon@GAV

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Feb 21, 2023
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That TT is badass! What is the list price with the arm?

That ”new” arm looks suspiciously similar to the Black Beauty. I‘d love to know the backstory there.

New Discovery RS Tonearm was totally differ from the old Black beauty both performance and appearance :):):)
IMG_3836.jpeg IMG_3840.jpeg IMG_3842.jpeg IMG_3844.jpeg
 

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