Our review, to be published 20th February 2019, comprises three pickup cartridges of low output moving coil technology and one moving vane optical from DS Audio. With the light powered DS002, we have the Audio Technica AT-ART1000 ‘direct coil’, the LINN KRYSTAL ‘skeletal’ moving coil, and the Rega Aphelion ‘skeletal’ moving coil, all benchmarked against the  magazine's resident Lyra Delos. In a marathon session Colloms and Bryant carried out extended comparisons for these five cartridges.

Below is a close up of the unusual Audio Technica showing the amazing pair of tiny micro coils, bonded to the boron cantilever just above the stylus. The V-shaped sections are the magnet poles and in use the coils are settled into the two gaps under the influence of the optimal down force.

Audio Technica AT-ART1000 direct coil design is physically heavy. This is also a low output design, and is priced in the UK at nearly £4,500. It is clearly an Audio Technica flagship.

Rega’s Aphelion is of UK manufacture and costs £3,149. Also a low output moving coil, the latter assembly becomes correctly aligned when the correct tracking force is applied. The generator is a tiny micro cross coil assembly distinguished by an absence of the usual tie-back wire tensioning to the assembly to the magnet. Instead the boron cantilever is supported on a specially designed rubber mount where the correct alignment occurs at the correct tracking force, and then may be micro-adjusted by ear for best sound quality. 

LINN’s KRYSTAL is a development in their ‘skeleton’ series, though at a more moderate price. The somewhat rough hewn appearance is set off by gold plating of the integrated body and magnet poles. It has a fine line naked diamond stylus of low tip mass with an alloy cantilever. Three point mounting is possible.

DS Audio : DS 002 This is the third design in the DS optical series and comes complete with a self powered preamplifier/RIAA equaliser delivering line level output for a line level preamp, this somewhat mitigating the high price.

This cartridge needs four wire connection as each channel’s electro-optics are powered via the lead-out wires from the custom head amplifier-equaliser. The stylus is a Shibata line contact. Lightweight vanes are hidden inside, at about half the extent of the cantilever, with infra red LEDs and matching photo diodes to sense the motion driven by groove modulation. 

Lyra Delos - The current HIFICRITIC mid-price reference is the Lyra Delos, a budget example in Lyra’s range, but pretty exceptional in this, low output moving coil class and a useful benchmark.

​Once again the UK's largest consumer AV/Hi-Fi Show and the UK’s largest industry trade show, and its 32nd year!
www.bristolshow.co.uk

​HIFICRITIC will be exhibiting as usual at the Bristol HI-FI Show, with stocks of the current edition at show prices and many well discounted back numbers, plus show discount for subscription sales, cash or credit card. Please come with your audio queries for us to try and answer.

​Held on the 10th and 11th, the latter day was unfortunate in view of the many Remembrance events on this particular Sunday. My Saturday visit was eventful including a rainstorm with some site flooding belying the stock photo above, but finding many popular exhibits from leading brands, though as an exception missing Naim and Focal. They had put in a strong appearance at the recent September Festival of Sound, the London show, in September. Note that the Hi Fi News show will be rebranded for next year and will move venue to Ascot Racecourse.

Predictably quiet on a weekday morning it was a breeze getting round the show on the Friday first day. I wanted to catch up with audio industry members, see and book new products and discuss findings for published reviews in HIFICRITIC.

​I managed to steal a couple of hours to drop in this week at AIR studios for the latest recording project from Mike and Françoise Valentine of Chasing the Dragon. Singing star Eleanor McEvoy was playing electric and acoustic guitars with the Steinway and Rhodes piano accompaniments from Damon Butcher, former keyboard player with ‘The Beautiful South’, in the nicely reverberant and spacious acoustic of the main chapel. This will be Chasing the Dragon’s 6th direct cut album.

http://chasingthedragon.co.uk/eleanormcevoy.html

 After 30 years of endeavour, founder/owner Anthony Michaelson has sold his Musical Fidelity creation to Heinz Lightenegger, the man behind the highly successful design and manufacturing operation, Pro-Ject. The Musical Fidelity head office moves to Austria, and further design and manufacturing is planned for Europe for this brand.

By coincidence HIFICRITIC is reviewing two products from Pro-Ject, the 'SE’ universal phono amplifier and the Project Essential Three (acrylic platter option) turntable complete with factory fitted Ortofon OM 10 moving magnet cartridge. And there is also one from Musical Fidelity, the MX –VYNL universal MM, MC head amplifier and RIAA equaliser.

​The reviews will appear in the upcoming issue: Vol 12 No 2, April to June 2018. 

2017 came and went, and almost without warning 2018 arrived in a rush with the first HIFICRITIC show date for the last week in February, with bitterly cold winds sweeping in, and with worse to follow. Braving the chill, that happy band of West of England enthusiasts queued up in the cold from 9.30AM to get ring side seats for 10AM in the better demonstration rooms. 
 
It was one of the largest shows for some years, certainly judging from the number of brands presented, well over 200 at last count. 

Read Martin’s full Show Report

The Clarity Alliance, the UK hi-fi industry’s trade body, held its AGM and Conference , at which it announced the appointments to its board of directors and a sell-out audience enjoyed thought provoking and informative presentations from a number of guest speakers.

​Alon Wolf, founder of high end loudspeaker brand Magico brought his latest loudspeaker, to show the press just what could be done if you make the decision to invest in building larger quantities. Big outfits do this all the time and reap the rewards of economies in scale, usually to the benefit of the consumer. However, Magico inhabit the world of high end audio with essentially bespoke, to order manufacture, with small batch quantities of raw materials, hand crafted assembly and resulting high prices.

Brands listed as at 2/2/2018: