"What should turntable look like" – have you ever asked yourself that question? I bet that most of you have not. The reason is that into our mind has been encoded its "iconic" shape deriving from the 1970s design, popularized by several companies, including Linn. It is a rectangular, not particularly high plinth, with a tonearm mounted in its back right corner, a platter in its center, and a motor in the left rear corner. Details and cosmetics may vary, but even such a design outline, glanced at in a picture, will tell us what it is.
However, audio is an area of research and experiments where everything is permitted, provided it leads to the stated goal: a better sound and/or appearance. Hence, we will come upon a variety of shapes, solutions; different types of sound. Even when it comes to the top products. Or rather, especially in their case.
"XL" as in "Extra Large", "Z" as in "Zebrano" - two of the three products listed in this review carry such suffixes. Just add "4Point" to that and we will have a full set. Each of them describes the key design feature of the particular model: the “XL” speaks of the large size and weight of the turntable, the “Z” of the type of wood (Zebrano), of which the cartridge body is made, and the “4Point” describes the four-point, unique way of supporting the unipivot-type tonearm, designed by Franco Kuzma, a Slovenian, the owner of the company bearing his name.
The reviewed turntable is absolutely amazing - just one look is enough to get an idea about its external design. It is extremely heavy – no less than 77 kg without a tonearm – and fantastically manufactured. Driven by two synchronized motors, it arrived equipped by the Polish distributor with the 4Point Kuzma tonearm and the Benz Micro Ruby Z cartridge. The whole sets you back over 130,000 PLN (40,000 USD) and is an example of the true pinnacle of turntable technology. Let me stop here; it's time to audition it.

SOUND

"Abandon hope all ye who enter here: you shall pay for it" – I would actually see that kind of inscription above the entrance to any audio salon and on the cover of every audio magazine and each book on audio. Here, you pay for everything, both literally and figuratively. There is no such thing as high-end on the budget, or high end without compromises for that matter. The only difference between the budget and the high end products, both in terms of purchase cost and the cost of selection, is the difference of scale. Everything else is exactly the same. Let us repeat: luxury goods, especially luxury audio products are very expensive. Ideally, all of that is combined with high end sound and manufacturer’s own idea of what it is supposed to be. That is why I was not particularly bothered by the high price tag of the system I was auditioning. I could see its "material" worth, as well as its technological and sonic value. All of that on the relatively small area of my Base IV rack shelf.

A classic audiophile cliché says that softly suspended turntables (with decoupled sub-chassis) sound soft, warm, while those without decoupled sub-chassis, ordinary high-mass turntables (since that's still the best way vibration damping) are characterized by a contour sound. Indeed, listening to turntables from Linn or AVID partially confirms that. But what to make of SME products (e.g. the 20/3, see HERE) and the Reference model from Kuzma (see HERE), both decoupled designs, yet sounding nothing like the above associated stereotype? And what about the reviewed system with the Kuzma Stabi XL2 in the main role, which sounds both as a high-mass and decoupled design? It simply has to be carefully, painstakingly described.

The very first impression one has listening to the Kuzma, an “anterior” impression, if I may say so, is peace. Have you perhaps ever had a feeling of a weight being lifted off your back, of a situation, music, or a particular person that let you suddenly breathe freely? Without previously realizing that you were weighed down. Colloquially, we say that "a load was taken off our mind" which describes the kind of situation I just referred to. We feel a surge of relief and happiness. And we’re sad that we wasted so much time being weighed down.
Listen to music on the Kuzma XL equipped with the 4Point tonearm and the Ruby cartridge is such “taking off a load”. It is peace. Wholeness. Inner freedom. These are not contrived epithets, dug out of the drawer to “let the poetry flow”, but a literal record of what I felt listening first to *Ark** by Brendan Perry, followed by Kraftwerk’s *Autobahn** and other albums, including *Master of Puppets** by Metallica. A breath in the Kuzma’s sound is impressive and addictive.
Additionally, coupled with a complete irrelevance of things like travel noise, pops and clicks and other forms of distortion resulting from the Long Play format. All of that is, of course, audible since there is no such thing as a "noiseless" stylus. However, in the best designs these distortions are not directly related to the music. It is very easy to single out which is the microphone noise, which is the noise of air in the recording studio or of master tape, and which comes from the playback system. Their characters differ significantly from each other and that is how we perceive them - as if they were located in other planes.
Listening to even old records on the Kuzma does not pose any problem. The turntable does not mask their flaws, although it can be a way to get rid of them. I have heard a few turntables that, starting from it, do more than a simple "masking". The Kuzma shows EVERYTHING; no masking, no withdrawing, no pretending. However, since it does that at such a high level and it’s sound is so incredibly clean, i.e. uncolored and undistorted, it is music information that becomes most important and we focus on it, hearing everything else "in passing" and hence interpreting it as less important, or altogether irrelevant.
That is how we perceive that sound on any audio system, no matter whether ultra-precise, or warm; in a listening room that masks the details, or rather tend to show them. I conducted the first listening sessions on headphones, staying deep into the night, trying to adapt to that sound and enjoying to discover things I’d never heard before. Anyone who has tried listening to the turntable in this way knows that cracks and noise can destroy every second of listening and effectively discourage to using headphones. Perhaps that is why there are so few fans of this kind of systems among the "analogue crowd", and so many among the owners of digital sources.
With the Kuzma, the comfort of listening on a very selective system with the Sennheiser HD800 and the modified Leben CS-300 XS [Custom Version] amplifier was incredible. I'm not saying as good as with a digital source, because it may have been even better. Both the turntable’s and the cartridge’s individual characters were manifested more clearly than on the speakers, which makes it even more important to answer the question whether it is also our ideal sound and whether we share Franc Kuzma’s opinion about high-end.

Audiodesksysteme Gläss
Vinyl-Cleaner

Vinyl record is – in reality – a large, flat plate made of vinyl with many small grooves. A plate that collects dust better than a vacuum cleaner. Gathering in the grooves, it is the main source of annoying cracks and noise, additionally deteriorating the sound quality. Roy Gandy, the owner of Rega, used to say for years that the best way to get rid of dust is listening to the record; since dust catches hold of the stylus, the latter perfectly pulls it out of the groove and thus cleans the record. Gandy is the source of several other controversial opinions, but this one seems to me the most bizarre. And that's because I know the sound of a record that has not been cleaned, whether old or new, and one that underwent such treatment. There is actually no comparison.
To clean the records, for a long time I used the very simple, inexpensive, really cool Okki Nokki from RCM (see HERE). If anyone thinks of a serious listening to vinyl, this is the cheapest, reasonable option. Noisy as a big old vacuum cleaner, time-consuming, and requiring constant attention from us - but it works. However, if we have more money or less time, which tend to go together, we need to think about something else. There is a large selection of products out there and everyone should look for a cleaner for his or her own audio system the same way one looks for the next audio component. It has to fare well in practice, needs to look good and be up to the tasks required of it. The most important task is of course the best possible cleaning of records; others, however, may differ. For me, equally important as the final result were ease of use and time savings.



It costs 3,000 euro (which is a lot), is small (which is good), not particularly pretty (one can get over it), almost maintenance-free (Hallelujah!) and gives great results – it is Vinyl-Cleaner from German Audiodesksysteme. My new record cleaner.
When in 2006, in my report of Munich High End (see HERE) I wrote about the CD-Sound Improver, a machine for trimming and beveling the CD’s uneven edge, the invention of Messrs. Reiner Gläss and Erich Schrott, I knew it was something special. The idea did not come out of nowhere, and was the result of research of Dr. Schrott, a biochemist by profession. A special blade bevels the CD edge at a 36 degree angle, so that the laser beam is refracted at the edge instead of being reflected back into the body of the disc; trimming additionally reduces disc’s eccentricity. This invention is now used by many record companies to prepare their masters, including the madmen from T-TOC.

While one can argue about the results of such treatment, the effects of the other key product from the Germans (they also offer on request Disc Cleaner for CDs), the Vinyl Cleaner, are much easier to understand. Vinyl Cleaner looks like a cuboid positioned upright on its narrow side, with a slot on the top where you insert the record, and a window on the side, showing the amount of cleaning liquid in the tray. You slip in the record, press the button and sit back and relax. The cleaner takes care of the rest: the vinyl is rotated, cleaned simultaneously from both sides, dried, and then exposed to ultrasound. Well, you can’t really say that it’s “just another” record cleaner: the ultrasound treatment eliminates the smallest particles of dust, usually hidden deepest and most difficult to remove mechanically.

This is one of the best audio related tools that I have at home. I do not need to spend much time on it or care about anything, and my records are perfectly clean. The only problem is its availability. Polish distributor, Eter Audio, has long tried to buy a review sample – to no avail. All the cleaners straight after arriving have been sent to eagerly waiting audiophiles and there has been no chance of a review sample. Each cleaner is manufactured in Germany for a particular customer and the manufacturer cannot increase production output while maintaining the same high exacting standards.

The difficulties in obtaining a review sample from Audiodesksysteme Gläss have also been mentioned by Michael Fremer in his review of the cleaner (see HERE). I was left with nothing other than to order one for myself, after a short demonstration in the Nautilus audio salon, just before the cleaner was snatched by a lucky customer. I waited just over two months and here it is, made especially for me, beautiful; it works fantastic. The Vinyl-Cleaner.
The XL has its "own" sound. The idea of the "absolute sound" is maybe pretty, catchy, and fun, yet completely untrue. Actually, it is misleading. For me, the ideal sound is one that is closest to my notion of the live sound in combination and confrontation with my experience of the sound reproduced at home. Therefore, a given product’s “sonic signature”, including ultra-high end products, is something perfectly normal for me.

The Kuzma does everything that is expected of a turntable from that level, and does it perfectly. But it does it in its own special way. What may be surprising is that its sound is fundamentally, completely different than that of the Reference. And that it is exactly the same sound as that of the basic Kuzma Stabi S, driven to the extreme. Even though at first it may seem strange, even disturbing, perhaps. After all, how it is possible that the manufacturer offering, for a long time, no more than three models of turntables (at High End Munich 2012 a fourth model, the Stabi M, was shown; see HERE) have not been able to maintain some consistency of its offer? Knowing Mr. Kuzma, knowing his products and the underlying technical assumptions that he followed in his designs, I know that this question does not make sense. And that his concern has always been to use the fullest potential of his each turntable design. What then to make of the Stabi S, a relatively inexpensive turntable, being the prototype for the Stabi XL sound? Thinking more about it, it turns out to be the only possible logic; that starting with some assumptions, using similar materials and bringing it all to a higher level, we get a development of the basic idea. All the more so that the sound of the basic turntable design offered by the Slovenian manufacturer is excellent. For a long time I’ve been thinking to buy it for my reference system. Eventually, after many conversations with various manufacturers, grumbling about a "price mismatch" (what a nonsense, by the way! Each time I ask them which matters more, the price or the sound quality and synergy, they swear it's the latter. And then they ask about the price – you can go nuts! In the end I had no more energy to explain and I just gave up) I decided to get something else. Maybe one day I will come back to this idea. The Stabi S is such an ingeniously simple design, yet so fantastically developed, with the idea behind it so nicely executed that I cannot resist. Maybe one day.

Turntables tend to be capricious. Their sound changes, often without any apparent reason, from day to day, often from record to record. Some of them need frequent tweaking and adjustments, in other words they require our time and attention. It's quite cool; after all they are our "toys" and their maintenance is a part of audiophilism. However, I am of the opinion that the more time we spend on the equipment, the less we have it for the music. If I have to make a choice, I always choose the music. Hence, the Stabi XL seemed to me like a dream come true for a maintenance-free, even, always-the-same turntable; a solid turntable. Saying ‘solid’ I mean both the manufacturing quality and the sound. Its sound is very precise. Unlike the Reference model, however, it also has body and bass. Lots of bass, actually. The advantage of mass loaded turntable designs is their ability to reproduce very deep bass, properly differentiated, and thus setting the whole tonal character on a solid foundation. I have only once heard at home something similar to the reviewed turntable, with the six times more expensive Argos from Transrotor (see HERE). Even the SME 20/3, truly unique in this respect, did not sound with such authority, nor had it such "weight" in each tone.
Treble is, on the one hand, ultra-precise, on the other it is rich and not thinned out in any way. Similarly to the low notes, the highs are also well differentiated in time, color, and space. They do not draw attention to themselves, although they are not just "complementary" to midrange, either. That is not the kind of turntable that favors midrange. Actually, it does not "favor" anything and I cannot pinpoint any particular element that might seem emphasized. All sub-ranges are very even and precisely delivered.

If I were to point to something that "sets" that sound, it would be an ultra-fast transient response and a very clean sound attack. Even the best turntables from other manufacturers, at least the ones I've heard, are not able to deliver that in such a clear way. In a cheap turntable it could turn into emphasizing the attack, at the cost of a thinned out body. I know it and don’t like it. I understand the designers going for this type of sound, because in live music the aspect of dynamics and immediacy of sound is probably the most important; that is what makes us know that we listen to a "live" event. Its 1:1 transfer home is impossible. And when it’s emphasized, the resulting presentation usually comes out dry and devoid of "body". Ugh!
The XL sound has fantastic body. The bass has a proper weight, and is differentiated both coloristically and dynamically. There is no question of it being thinned out. Yet it is the attack that has priority. You can hear it in the clarity of sound, its differentiation, in the ability to show the aspects of recordings that often get lost elsewhere in the mass of more important detail and information. Small signals – for that’s what I’m talking about – are in this design as important as large ones. Perhaps that’s why the dynamics of recordings is so deadly, so natural. I know what I'm saying. Listening to the ECM recordings, the label that brought this aspect to perfection, but also the 200 gram vinyl issue of Winston Ma’s album *The All Star Percussion Ensemble** I probably heard for the first time so good transient response in a sound playback device. Almost as good as what I hear when I soundboard live percussion. The attack on home systems is often blurred, indistinct. We got used to it, assuming, perhaps subconsciously, that it should be like this and that’s it. The Kuzma, however, shows that something can be done about it and that the music is mostly a temporary aspect, and if the signal attack is slow, softened, then we have something like – excuse my comparison – analog jitter.

It was quite fresh in mind as just a few days before the turntable arrived and was set up at my place (the people from RCM, Polish distributor of Kuzma, do everything for me, I just sit back with folded hands; I like that approach :) I’d soundboarded a small band in Krakow’s Rotunda club; just a keyboard, acoustic guitar, eight singers, violin, bass and drums. In order not to unnecessarily complicate the matters, we decided, together with Martin whom you may know from the Krakow Sonic Society meetings, to mic up the drum kit with three microphones – a dynamic mic for the kick drum and two capacitive mics to pick up the snare, the toms and the cymbals. Normally, each drum shall be captured by a dedicated microphone, but we went for simplicity and the best possible consistency of sound. The sound of snares grabbed by capacitive microphones is excellent. The thing is that they are easy to overdrive, but I have no problem with that as color is more important to me. But it was the attack transients that were shown fantastically. The Kuzma hinted at something similar. And it did it the best of all the turntables I'd heard in my system.
Soundstage was unbelievable, too. Large, expansive and well ordered. Nearer – further away, warmer – colder; all depending on how it was set by the sound engineer. Equally important was also the natural size of the instruments, and their volume. Turntables tend to show large phantom images with ease, presenting big vocals, instrument bodies; they, however, often only "work their magic", inflating the sound so it seems spacious. The reviewed turntable showed perfectly defined edges, so there was no "inflating". And yet the records sounded spectacular, making the speakers "disappear" and bringing over the original sound and acoustics to our room.

Conclusion

The theoretical notion of perfection, defined as "disappearing" from the audio system, both in terms of sound and of appearance, is always tested and modified by reality. Therefore, the best products should be perfectly manufactured, have an interesting, quality external design and what’s more, sound perfect. While the first demand is universal and 'better' will simply always mean 'better', the looks and the sound are the areas subject to all kinds of interpretation.
As a high end product, the Kuzma Stabi XL has a strong "personality". It has a well contoured sound, precise, and perfectly differentiated (at all levels). The turntable delivers a strong, deeply extended and exceptionally well-controlled bass, differentiated midrange and full-bodied treble. Discussing particular sonic sub-ranges seems a little far-fetched in this case since everything sounds very even. Resolution and selectivity are at the reference level.
My personal ideal is a combination of AVID’s and SME’s sound, hence – again, for me – the Kuzma turntable is a little too controlled, leaving no room for some freedom. A paradox? Well, yes; although in audio we aim to keep all sonic aspects under control, music requires something more; something that while being a departure from the theoretical ideal of perfection, allows to convey more feeling, emotion and mood. The XL does it all extremely well, indeed. Listen to it in a quality audio system, and you will not be able to think of anything else for a long time. However, one should know his or her own expectations, because only then we will get a perfect synergy between the product and ourselves. With Franc Kuzma’s turntable it is simple inasmuch as we deal with an outstanding product, backed by an exceptional man. An XL size man.

DESIGN

Stabi XL

Stabi XL looks like a small turntable, but its weight, 77 kg, says it all. It occupies a small area, being extended vertically instead - it could be a very tasty way to distribute the weight close to the axis of the support plate. An unusual solution is mounting the tonearm on the tower that is mechanically connected with the platter only by means of the surface on which they are both placed. They are usually coupled together as closely as possible. Here it has been effected by the components weight. The tonearm tower is truly massive. Made of brass components, it houses a brilliant tonearm lift mechanism (VTA adjustment), based on an ultra-precise bearing. Height adjustment is via a knob on the side, controlled on an electronic gauge with a 0.01 mm accuracy.
The main bearing is seated on the heaviest turntable component, a massive base made of solid brass. It consists of two round slabs – a wider bottom and a narrower top, pressed together so that they look like one. The idea was to keep the mass as close as possible to the platter support. The bearing has an inverted design, with a spindle shaft more than 2.5 cm in diameter, tipped with a ruby ball. A large aluminum sub-platter with an even thicker shaft, about 5 cm in diameter, is fitted snugly onto the spindle shaft. On top of the sub-platter rests the platter. It has a sandwich design, with three aluminum plates separated by acrylic layers, all firmly screwed together and topped with a mat of textile and rubber, being an integral part of the platter. The record spindle is made of steel, with a pointed end. A heavy, brass screw-on clamp perfectly secures the LP and flattens its surface against the platter. The reviewed version is sometimes called the XL2, because it employs two motors. One can also order a four-motor version – its base look slightly different and the motors will extend beyond the platter outline. The two-motor version looks much more shapely. The motor assemblies are nestled into the base’s milled curved cutouts. These are not run-of-the-mill assemblies – they are made of solid brass that perfectly absorbs vibration. Each motor shaft has two stacked pulleys that drive two flat belts. The belts are looped around the sub-platter and the pulleys that tension the belts on both sides. The motors are controlled and synchronized by an outboard power supply. Its front panel sports an indicator showing the selected speed, which can be changed in steps, or finely adjusted.

4Point

4Point is an unusual arm - although it is a unipivot design, it is supported at four points. To increase stability and improve resonance control, horizontal and vertical oil damping has been used. The armwand has a tapered profile. Arm wiring is via a stretch of silver wire from the cartridge clip to the DIN connector. Connection cable is made of the same wire, terminated with RCA Bullet plugs in a silver version. Although the arm has the length of 11", mounting distance is like for 9" arms, which is Kuzma’s trademark. The arm has an integrated great VTA adjusting mechanism that we do not, however, use in this case. The counterweight is made up of two parts, mounted on two threaded shafts. The larger, bottom one is used as the main counterweight, to establish the arm’s basic balance, including the cartridge weight. The actual VTF is set by the upper, much smaller counterweight.