New OMA turntable

[djsina2]

Oswalds Mill Audio - K3 Turntable | OMA Turntable

K3 has been a seven year project to create and redefine state of the art for vinyl playback. We wanted to set a new mark for the turntable, forming an internati

oswaldsmillaudio.com

 

[djsina2]

Think it’s more $ than AF0?

 

[Addicted to hifi]

Oswalds Mill Audio - K3 Turntable | OMA Turntable

K3 has been a seven year project to create and redefine state of the art for vinyl playback. We wanted to set a new mark for the turntable, forming an internati

oswaldsmillaudio.com

great looking turntable.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Fremer lists one on his gear list on the Zero review. so likely it's in review now and we will see something in Stereophile soon.

at this point it's a tease......since there are literally no facts we know about it. we assume it's a direct drive, but could be an idler, or a remote possibility it's a belt. no evidence it has any suspension or air bearing or air layer suspending the platter. fluid suspension? maybe? how heavy is the platter? a pivoting arm, but might it be a linear tracker? lots of hints......but nothing specified......a tease.

but it does have us talking about it. a little mystery is good to stir things up.

i'm sure it's a very serious effort, OMA has done some pretty top flight stuff.

 

[wbass]

I saw and heard it on a trip to OMA in June. It's direct-drive, if I remember correctly. The chassis is cast. I don't recall that it has any kind of suspension system, but I could be wrong. I don't think the arm is linear.

I was impressed, but, then, I was also hearing it through OMA's $500k horn speakers.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I saw and heard it on a trip to OMA in June. It's direct-drive, if I remember correctly. The chassis is cast. I don't recall that it has any kind of suspension system, but I could be wrong. I don't think the arm is linear.

I was impressed, but, then, I was also hearing it through OMA's $500k horn speakers.

did he play more than one tt? any relative impressions? with a single source hard to assign cause and effect......especially in an ultra system that is unfamiliar. too many new things to sort them out.

 

[PeterA]

I watched a video tour of the OMA facility on YouTube in which the owner describes the superiority of direct drive tables over all other types and he discusses some nice vintage examples. I presume this new table is DD and the plinth is cast stacked pieces. No suspension, no vacuum, just a very solid and heavy DD table and very expensive.

 

[wbass]

@PeterA Yes, that's correct, as far as I know.

I heard a number of records on the SP10-R in OMA's plinth. I believe the arm was a Schroeder. I don't recall the cart, I'm afraid. Pretty much everything--Muddy Waters, jazz of various eras--sounded excellent on the SP-10R.

I only heard one cut on the K3: "Billie Jean." I was impressed by the truly rock solid bottom end.

But, again, all of this was through OMA's main speakers, very large horns paired with dual 21" subs. It's an impressive and unusual way to hear recorded music, as the room is almost the size of a movie sound stage. It's just an overwhelmingly big, expansive, and live-sounding room in which one demos these impressive objects. In many ways, it's closer to what you'd hear in a good music club, very clear and real sounding with low distortion. Not a hi-fi sound so much as, yeah, a club sound, in a good way.

I don't know if it's the *best* listening experience I've had--again, it's so unusual--but it was damned impressive.

If I'm remembering correctly--and I could be way off--the K3 costs somewhere around $350K.

 

[bonzo75]

Those ultra big horns they have are awful.. it's the smaller monarchs that are better

 

[wbass]

@bonzo75 I see you reviewed the big horns on your site, and your assessment, while mixed, seemed positive. I didn't get to hear the Monarchs unfortunately.

I guess I said "impressive" and "unusual" above to indicate that, truly, I didn't know what to make of the biggest horns. The scale of the things was pretty overwhelming. Whether they were coherent or not, I couldn't say. But it was a neat experience.

On the whole, however, who on earth has the room to be able to even contemplate owning such speakers? They're almost in another category, one that I wouldn't necessarily call "home audio."

 

[bonzo75]

I was positive on the Monarch, which are the butterfly horns. The big ones were too disparate

 

[MikeHorns]

Looks like a tug boat with a crane.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I only heard one cut on the K3: "Billie Jean." I was impressed by the truly rock solid bottom end.

interesting that was the only cut on the K3. "Billie Jean" has a huge bass thump on most everything. i suppose it's not fair to make too much of that. i'm sure it was still rock solid to an exceptional degree considering it's design (to the degree we understand it)..

 

[wbass]

That's true about "Billie Jean." It was quite detailed and layered, too. But, again, it was just the one track that I heard.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Looks like a tug boat with a crane.

View attachment 81646

Don't let it anywhere near the Suez Canal!

 

[tima]

no evidence it has any suspension or air bearing or air layer suspending the platter. fluid suspension? maybe? how heavy is the platter?

None of which are necessary to an excellent turntable. A lot depends on implementation. OMA stuff seems generally well executed. I wonder if we'll hear anything about the controller system which imo is a key to successful direct drive - nowadays that means software control and few if any manufacturers will get into details. I don't see any +/- pitch control on the 'panel' which is a good thing, but then I don't see an 'on speed' indicator which can be helpful if something isn't right.

"Emphasis was placed on dynamic speed stability, as opposed to the average speed approach of all other turntable manufacturers." That is a sentence I'm unclear how to parse. It would be interesting to learn what is peak deviation from perfect 33?.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

None of which are necessary to an excellent turntable. A lot depends on implementation. OMA stuff seems generally well executed. I wonder if we'll hear anything about the controller system which imo is a key to successful direct drive - nowadays that means software control and few if any manufacturers will get into details. I don't see any +/- pitch control on the 'panel' which is a good thing, but then I don't see an 'on speed' indicator which can be helpful if something isn't right.

"Emphasis was placed on dynamic speed stability, as opposed to the average speed approach of all other turntable manufacturers." That is a sentence I'm unclear how to parse. It would be interesting to learn what is peak deviation from perfect 33?.

in Fremer's Zero review, he makes a big deal of the concept of the extreme lowering of the noise floor as slowing down the music, which i interpret as sustaining the note. it was a similar perception (in contrast to my previous experiences) i got when i first listened to my Rockport Sirius III in 2002. was it the same thing? i don't know.

if this K3 is meant to occupy that over $250k turntable realm, then i personally would expect it to pull off that same trick. can that be done without a suspension or air bearing or air film? can it be done with fluid? or does it even attempt to enter that degree of lowering of noise?

the SAT uses a Minus K shelf as part of lowering the noise floor. but Fremer views the Zero as quieter from what i read.

maybe the K3 covers new ground with the 'speed' issue? does it compete at the top level in low noise? lots of excellent turntables are without any suspension for sure. but at this price is 'excellent' good enough?

will OMA's target audience of NYC whale's even care?

 

[wil]

It’s as much an art object us anything else and that will be a big draw for the few people who would consider this. It’s great to see an audio company take aesthetically adventurous path.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

It’s as much an art object us anything else and that will be a big draw for the few people who would consider this. It’s great to see an audio company take aesthetically adventurous path.

your comment is interesting, i was going to add "or their interior designers" to my last comment.....but you have said it better. 'Art' of course.

we might not be the intended audience, not that OMA products do not perform because they do. but if you follow Mr. Weiss's marketing efforts, video's and such, he directs his comments more to newcomers to high end audio and why it's worth considering instead of another bespoke car or boat, and not to experienced audiophiles particularly. so his aesthetic emphasis and considerations fit into that focus.

he is not taking this path for his health, it's where the money is.

i do appreciate the style of OMA, and agree it's good to see such beautiful, classy, products......our hobby is better for it.

 

[K3RMIT]

Those ultra big horns they have are awful.. it's the smaller monarchs that are better

Bro while I know your correct an all you just posted bit man it’s what he does for a living lol.