The Vinyl Anachronist: Upgrade Fever!

By Marc Phillips

August 2006

The Vinyl Anachronist's Michell Orbe turntable (click for larger image)

Wilson Benesch turntable with Breuer tonearm, courtesey of Globe Audio (click for larger image)

Close-up of the Breuer tonearm on the Wilson Benesch turntable, courtesey of Globe Audio (click for larger image)

“So why do I want the Wilson Benesch turntable with the Breuer arm? Why do I want a pair of Audio Note AN-Es? When will this all stop?!?”

This recent meltdown of mine occurred on an on-line audio forum, where someone had just complimented me on having an “awesome” stereo system. I know many of you, however, can identify with this type of thinking, often referred to as audiophilia nervosa. No matter what we own, it’s never enough. Or, more accurately, the more we own, the more we want.

A lot of gear has passed through my listening room in the last two years. I went through my vintage equipment phase, with a beautiful-sounding yet slightly unstable Scott 299B integrated amp. I went on to the Quad II Classic monoblocks, paired (unwisely so, according a few) with Naim preamplification. That combo lasted just a few months, and I’m still not sure why. Then, of course, I went on to the whole high-efficiency/low-powered SET chapter of my life, with Yamamoto Sound Craft amplification and Zu Cable Druid loudspeakers. I’m still a believer in this type of system, but recently I heard a Unison Unico SE integrated amp paired with one of my faves, the Harbeth Monitor 30 loudspeakers, and it made me think that this was really the way to go.

I knew I was in trouble, however, when I started thinking about replacing my analog rig. You know, my Michell Orbe SE/SME V/Koetsu Rosewood combo, the one I once swore would last me for the rest of my life. In fact, it’s been over three years since I put it on my credit card, and I still haven’t paid it off. And here I am, unfaithful again, lusting after what I can’t have. Well, actually, I can have it, I’d just have to go further into debt to get it.

I’m a victim!

I blame the audio shows. The Consumer Electronics Show. The T.H.E. Show. The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. The Stereophile Home Entertainment Show. The Vacuum Tube Valley Show. I’ve attended all these shows in the last year or so, and all they’ve done is stoke my disease, the audiophilia nervosa, and now I want everything. I want a pair of Hyperion HSP-938 loudspeakers with DeHavilland electronics, which combined to provide the most realistic soundstage I’ve ever heard. I want a Shindo-modified Garrard 301 turntable, which may be the most gorgeously retro thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on. I want Brinkmann. I want First Watt. I want mbl. I want Schroder.

Most of all, I want one of the original Wilson Benesch turntables, alternately called the Act ONE or just The Wilson Benesch Turntable. And I want it with a Breuer tonearm.

My love affair with the WB turntable started many years ago, when my friend, Dr Cameron, purchased the ultimate audio rig after his wife died. I’ve written about Dr Cameron twice in the past, but for those unfamiliar with the story, Mrs Cameron was an accomplished pianist who supplied her husband with a lifetime of beautiful, live music in their home. And while he was a serious LP collector, he always had a rather modest system, because his wife thought high-end audio was too costly and frivolous, especially when she could supply the real thing anytime he desired.

When she died in 1998, however, he felt that buying an exquisite system would be the ultimate tribute to her… not a replacement, but as close as he could get. So he purchased an Audio Note Ongaku integrated amplifier, Avantgarde Acoustics Trio loudspeakers, and a Wilson Benesch Act ONE turntable, complete with a WB arm and cartridge. Later he added a Meridian 508-24 CD player when he reluctantly entered the digital age.

What was that tenth commandment again?

Well, I thought the WB turntable was the best I’d heard up to that point. At the time I owned a Rega Planar 3, which is a great product in its own right, but no match for something like the Act ONE. As I upgraded through the years, going to a Rega Planar 25, buying a Rega Exact, then a Koetsu Black, I felt I was getting closer to the sound of Doc’s rig, which put me into a trance every time I ever listened to it. And when I bought my Michell/SME rig, I finally felt that I was very, very close. And for a time I was happy, and I stopped thinking about the WB.

Then, a couple of years ago, I attended an audio show, I forget which one, and I heard an extraordinary system based upon products I was unfamiliar with, including Audio Aero amplification. I did, however, recognize the turntable – it was Doc’s WB, albeit with a different arm. The sound in that room (Globe Audio Marketing was the distributor) was perhaps the best I’ve ever heard in a show, which, considering my experiences at Doc’s house, led me to believe that it was indeed the WB providing the magic.

At Stereophile’s HE Show a few weeks ago, I found the same guys at Globe Audio, and their room again sounded extraordinary. They had replaced the WB, however, with an impressive-looking Brinkmann Balance turntable. I asked about the WB, and the Globe distributor’s face lit up. “That is my favorite turntable,” he told me, confirming my suspicions. He told me, however, that the WB was getting harder and harder to find, especially since they were discontinued several years ago, and they didn’t make many of them. “I can get you one,” he said under his breath. “I know two owners who might be persuaded to sell.”

In fact, I could probably get the very one I had heard two years prior. It had been matched with the legendary Breuer tonearm, which is finally making its way back into the world. (It never really left, it’s just that Mr Breuer makes them one at a time, and there’s a long waiting list). The bad news is that the Breuer arm is very expensive, about US$6000. The good news is that used WB turntables probably aren’t that expensive, considering that they originally sold for about US$5000. I know that sounds like a lot of money (and I’m not even sure what cartridge I’d put on it, although I’d probably want to keep my Koetsu), but I’ve heard the Continuum Caliburn and the Rockport Sirius III and the Clearaudio Statement, and I still think the WB is the best turntable I’ve heard. And I think one day soon I’ll give that guy at Globe a call.

The good ol’ days

A couple of days ago I received an e-mail from someone who had just read The Art of Surface Noise and was intrigued by my comment that I longed for simpler days, with Rega turntables, and he wondered if the world had passed Rega by. I told him no, that Regas are still producing very competitive ‘tables, especially with the new P5 and P7 models. And I think about the two Regas I owned, and how things did seem simpler then. I worried about less, and I wanted less. A few days ago I said yes to a new step-up transformer from Yamamoto Sound Craft that would quiet down the phono stage in my preamp, and I thought about Regas, and how I didn’t have to think about VTA or matching impedances, or tube noise, or fragile stylii, or adjusting and leveling suspensions, or even about keeping the dust away. Regas are reliable, easy to use, and trouble-free. How can the world leave those qualities behind?

Still, I continue to covet the finest in high-end audio. I know many of you do, too. As Winona Ryder once said, “It’s nice to want things.” But as I just said a few paragraphs ago, “When will this all stop?” So for those of you who own Rega turntables and are wondering if it’s time for an upgrade, caveat emptor.

Marc Phillips has been writing about hi-fi and music under the Vinyl Anachronist banner since 1998. His earlier columns can be found on the Perfect Sound Forever website. You can discuss vinyl with Marc at Vinylanach@aol.com

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