hat do AdFontes and Zontek have in common? Quite a lot actually. First of all both are Polish brands. Secondly, I know that both owners, Mr Andrzej and Mr Paweł know each other – the former supported the latter with his knowledge and experience when Zontek project started. Both manufacture turntables (which might be obvious after point no. 2). Both gentlemen decided that the best way to go for tonearms are really long ones. And finally both these company are in some way related/connected with Audiostereo users (some of them at least). You could say that both projects are „public” ones, described in detail on this forum, and supported by many people with a lot of advise. The latter goes mostly for AdFontes, but also the creation of Zontek was described and discussed lot on audiostereo.pl, the largest Polish audio forum.

These brands have a lot in common but there are also many differences between them. AdFontes is more of „people's” turntable, so to speak. It's a great design available at dumping price really, offering outstanding performance. I mean there is no (known to me) popular mass-manufactured turntable model at this price range that comes even close to AdFontes' performance. It is also a constantly evolving design. It's creator keeps working on upgrades, and some of them are also suggested by many happy users. In this regard AdFontes reminds me of my own TransFi Salvation, Terminator/Tomahawk setup. It is also evolving as the designer keeps pushing for better and better performance which is possible partially also due to involvement of users who are not afraid to experiment with their units and then to share their experience with others.
When it comes to Zontek the evolution of the project was described on Audiostereo, but the goal of this project was quite different. It was not about offering very good performance at low cost. It was about creating a truly high-end device, no-compromise, cost-no-object (at least to a point) design. So as you can see these two Polish brands have a lot in common but there are also significant differences between their ultimate goals. What really makes me happy is the fact that these two designers help each other instead of just competing which (the latter I mean) seems to be an unfortunate standard in audio industry. I reviewed AdFontes already some time ago (see HERE), now it's time to get familiar with Zontek.

The official premiere of Zontek's turntable took place (if I remember correctly) during AudioShow 2012. Surely it was presented also during AudioShow 2013. To be honest – the crowd in Zontek's room during last show did not allow me to have a good listen. But since life is full of surprises I was given few other opportunities to listen to this turntable. The first one was a presentation of a system with my favorite Ardento speakers. It was a very nice event that took place in WUT's Faculty of Architecture Atelier in Warsaw and the system consisted of Ardento speakers, 300B SET amplifier and DAC and... Zontek turntable and Linnart phonostage. Just a few months later another special event took place – this time in Munich, during HighEnd Show. For the first time in Show's history (as far as I know) there was a Polish room there with a complete made in Poland system. Yes, you guessed that right – it included Linnart phonostage and Zontek turntable. And finally on the day of world's premiere of the first three remastered (under Jimmie Page's supervision) Led Zeppelin albums I went to listen to them to Osiecka Studio in Warsaw. The system used again included Ardento speakers and electronics and... Zontek and Linnart. None of these places really offered perfect listening conditions and still I was convinced, especially after „Led Zeppelin” show organized by invaluable Piotr Metz, that I simple had to finally take a closer look at these two great and apparently inseparable Polish products – a turntable with impressive 14,5 inch long tonearm and a tube phonostage made by Linnart.

The latter company has been somewhere on the fringe of Polish audio market for many years. It never invested in advertisement nor even offered its products for reviews (with few exceptions), although it participated in AudioShow more than once. I guess most people familiar with this name associate it with tube devices – preamplifiers, phonostages, power amplifiers, headphone amps. Also the P1 phonostage that was used for all presentations of Zontek turntable I mentioned above and now will be reviewed together with it is a tube device. In fact this particular model was created as a partner for Zontek, although it might be used with any other deck/arm setup as long as it is fitted with MC cartridge. As far as I know Mr Mirek builds also highly valued guitar amplifiers, he modifies audio devices and he „saved lives” of many audiophiles fixing their broken audio equipment.
I decided to review the whole system – Linnart + Zontek simply because these two devices were meant to work together and each time I had a chance to listen to this system its large potential was very clear to me.

My adventure with Zontek and Linnart system started with the least pleasant part – helping both gentlemen to bring it up to my fourth floor apartment. One might think – no problem, just a phonostage and turntable, right? Wrong! This turntable with Ultra platter (23 kg!!) weights more than 55 kg. And the phonostage with a separate power supply also weights quite a lot. Finally, piece by piece, we brought it all up and the gentlemen could put all pieces together, setup the turntable and then we could start the first listening session.
While Mr Paweł was putting Zontek together I could observe few interesting solutions. Let's start with the deck. It might look like Zontek sports a large one piece wooden plinth placed on four, large silver feet. But it takes one closer look to realize that designer came up with an interesting and practical solution. A sandwich plinth with two layers of wood and a special steel plate between them is divided into two separate, independent parts. Let's assume, for the lack of a better word, that these are two triangles that are placed very close to each other but with a small gap separating these parts. Together they make a classic rectangle shape.

The smaller part sports high quality precision Swiss DC motor and electronic controlling it. So one might call it a separate, free-standing motor, but the shape and form suggest that it is in fact a part of the plinth. I asked designer about it and he couldn't give me a straight answer – on one hand his intention was to separate motor and electronics from the rest of the deck, but on the other hand he wanted to give his turntable a classic form. So he came out with the idea of this two-piece plinth that did the job perfectly. The smaller part of the plinth has also a sandwich design with two wooden layers separated with a steel plate.

The electronic circuit is placed inside lower wooden layer and the steel plate above it shields the rest of the deck from any distortion or noise coming from this circuit. Motor is additionally decoupled from the plinth. What's interesting is a fact that one might use up to three belts if one chooses to, but for the test we used just one. Mr Paweł told me that number of belts is dependent on what kind of belt is used. A pulley is very small in diameter but the platter it has to drive is quite heavy – the motor he used is quite powerful and has no problem getting platter to proper speed within 3-4 seconds but that means an extremely heavy load for a belt. First trials with belts that were not a continuous piece of rubber but rather glued failed as these didn't hold. The option was using three of them – that worked. But finally he found a better option – a single homogeneous belt and that's what we used for this review and what became a standard for Zontek.

Same, smaller part of the plinth sports an on/off switch, backlit with a green LED. It turns motor on but to adjust speed or to change it from 33 to 45 r.p.m. one needs to use a small pot placed on the side. Once you get used to it changing speed using pot becomes easy but surely some might complaint about lack of simple speed switch. Changing speed is relatively easy as the platter, the outer part of it sports a classic scale for 33 and 45 r.p.m. so if there is enough light around the turntable setting speed might be really easy. In fact after some time one starts to “feel” how much to dial a speed pot to get to 45 or 33 r.p.m. After that one uses scale (or ears) only to fine adjust the speed. I can tell from experience that it is pretty easy once you get used to it but surely some simple switch would make it even easier. I talked about it with Mr Paweł and he admitted that some customers and distributors already urged him to add speed switch and that he would probably have to comply with these requests despite the fact that, as he said, adding some sort of switch will “disrupt his external design concept”.

The larger part of the plinth sports main bearing that sits on the steel plate (so not in wooden layers), and armboard (one as a standard but up to three as an option). The review unit used only one armboard. One of the most distinct features of this turntable is its precisely machined large aluminum platter. A standard version weights 13 kg, and the one used for this test, called Ultra puts on 23 kg! The platter is dynamically balanced and its diameter is increased to provide additional stability and applying a greater gyroscopic effect. This version sports circular weights made of special non-magnetic steel pressed into platter for additional suppression of unwanted resonances.

The platter is placed on a precise bearing made of steel and bronze elements, lubricated with an oil developed especially for this purpose. This bearing is supported additionally by a magnet suspension. The standard armboard allows using almost any tonearm of any length. It's a complex design equipped with a micrometry transmission engine VTA adjustments, allowing set up accuracy in steps of 0,01mm (full range available is 15mm). It is another unique design created exclusively for this record player.

And last but least the tonearm itself. Mr Paweł told me that in fact he started with this arm and than decided to build a deck that would be best suited to accommodate it. The Delta arm is a GIANT! That's probably the best word for it. What you get is 14,5 inch made by hand of selected black ebony wood, the same that is used for many instruments for its sonic properties. The tonearm tube is made of a single piece of wood and it is hollow – making it is a hell of super-precise, time consuming job. Filling it partially in allows to achieve a proper effective weight for a particular cartridge. What is it filled in with? That's one of trade secrets, a result of many experiments. One of the first things Mr Paweł asked me to do after he put Zontek together at my place was to lift tonearm (gently) up for a second. It was heavy! I mean I've never used an arm that would have come even close to this one in terms of weight. This one was fitted with Miyajima cartridge and filled in accordingly. Then I took a closer look at the quality of craftsmanship, of fit and finish and I was simply amazed by the fact that a small company like Zontek was able to manufacture something so well, so precisely made and so beautiful on the other hand. This arm could come from any top manufacturer in the world and be his pride and joy, like it is for Mr Paweł. As I mentioned before building such an arm by hand is a time consuming process. According to designer it takes up to six weeks to manufacturer one such arm. The black ebony (although now some experiments with different types of wood are conducted) is a main material for the arm and the whole column it is placed in. Some necessary metal parts are made of bronze that, according to customers wishes, could be rhodium or gold-plated.

The arm employees a one-sided magnetic suspension system, which does not cause any resistance and allows a smooth and super precise control for anti-skating. It uses miniature worm gear to exert torsional force to the lower part of the arm’s suspension. One might say that this arm floats in the air. The wand ends with a metal headshell. All elements of the arm including headshell and lift are made by Zontek. The arm is simply a handcrafted piece of art although for its designing and tuning its creator used advanced computer software too. Zontek was delivered with MC cartridge Miyajima Shilabe, that according to Mr Paweł is a perfect fit for his tonearm. It's quite heavy, rather low compliance and with relatively high recommended tracking force, and equipped with a Shibata stylus. Zontek offers two additional accessories for his deck – a very nice, wooden record clamp and mat (that can be used also for other turntables).

The new Linnart's flagship phonostage P1 is also a very interesting design. All it takes is one look to figure out that this device had to be created as a result of cooperation between Linnart and Zontek. First – check the external design – there is clear resemblance between P1's nice, metal casing and Zontek's plinth – they are both divided in two triangle-like shapes. For P1 these are not two actually separate parts but it might look like they are. There is a common base for both parts and the upper part of the device is divided into two parts with a gap between them that is large enough to hold six E88CC tubes with additional anti-vibration rings/frames. P1 was delivered for test with a set of NOS Philips tube, but as standard it uses some tubes from current production. The unit delivered for test was finished with golden and natural wood elements but it is possible to order another finish (silver or black instead of gold and some other exotic wood for 4 corner columns/legs).

The look of P1 is not the only thing that suggests cooperation between Linnart and Zontek. Zontek might sport up to three arms, Linnart sports... three MC inputs. There are few phonostages on the market that have two inputs and even if they do usually one is for MM and other for MC cartridges. I can't really say that there is none, but I can say I do not know of any other phonostage that offers three MC inputs. Each of three inputs is equipped with independent loading adjustment, and you will find and input selector on the front panel. Long story short – you can actually connect three tonearms equipped with three different MC cartridges at the same time and adjust each input accordingly. Many vinyl fans use more than one arm and either they have two phonostages or they have to switch cables each time they want to use the second arm. For them and for those who do a lot of comparisons between arms/cartridges (including reviewers) Linnart P1 will be a blessing making their life so much easier. Also those who always wanted to get the second arm but didn't because they didn't want to or couldn't afford to buy a second phonostage should be happy with P1. This device sports some interesting features too. There are three small switches on the front. Descriptions say: „bass”, „treble” and „midrange”. They allow user to adjust (within small range of 1 dB) to increase level of bass and treble. A switch for midrange has three positions: 0, -1 i 1 (values also in decibels). These switches allow to make small sonic adjustment that might be required especially for some older records.

It so happened that at the beginning Zontek and Linnart played in amazing, outstanding “company” and despite huge price difference they didn't bring any shame on their creators. Both gentlemen sat in silence in my room listening to their “babies'” performance in a system that included pair if ones of the best tube amplifiers in the world – Kondo Kagura monoblocks. One of the golden rules of audio says that any system's performance is limited by its weakest link. So to test a particular device, to check its top performance one should use a system that offers even better performance so that the reviewed item would be the weakest link while playing at its best. So I used the unique opportunity and for the first few days Zontek and Linnart played in a system with Kondo Kagura.
The first record (honestly – I can't remember which one was it), stylus lands gently in the groove, music starts flowing from speakers and... all three of us react more or less the same: eyes wide open, huge smiles on our faces, absolute silence and focus on the music not to loose even a single note... Yes, obviously a lot of credit had to be given to Kondo, but you know the saying: sh.t in, sh.t out – even Kondo couldn't offer this level of performance had it received a poor signal. One could argue whether the weakest link in this system was the source (Zontek + Linnart) or my speakers, but whatever that was sound was simply amazing and I wish I had as many SUCH weak links in my system as possible!

What we heard was purely organic, clear, vibrant, involving sound. Both gentlemen couldn't stay long so we just randomly picked 7-8 records and played one piece from each of them, different music genres, different (but always high quality) pressings and labels. Whatever the music type, regular or 180g vinyl, 33 or 45 r.p.m. - didn't matter that much. Each time it was about fluid, coherent and amazingly musical presentation with no obvious downsides. It was that kind of magic that was to be expected from Kondo system and a single fact that Zontek and Linnart didn't „spoil” it proved how good these two were. Kaguras offered very transparent, detailed sound so were fully capable of showing any imperfections in signal delivered to them. From this first moment until the very last I spent with Kondo I used this analogue system a lot simply enjoying fabulous sound it “extracted” from my record collection. These were few amazing, full of extraordinary musical experience days but I knew that the real assessment of Linnart and Zontek had to wait until Kondo leaves the system and I get back to everyday reality.

I probably mentioned that before – reviewer's life is a mixture of fantastic moments, like having a chance to listen to Kondo, and these not so attractive like a day after this extraordinary piece of equipment leaves the system. Going back to reality, even though my own system is pretty good, offers decent sound quality that I like a lot, is hard, needs adjusting. There is one way to get back on horse quickly – I have to start listening to some other amazing device, that plays music in a very natural, involving way. And this time the solution was right there in front of me – it was the reviewed Polish duet (plus Japanese cartridge). Wojtek reviewed most Miyajima's cartridges but I did not really have any chance to get acquainted with any of them before. To be honest - looking at the specification I wasn't particularly thrilled – low compliance and large recommended tracking force (3g) caused some doubts whether it could sound the way I like it. When I saw the cartridge... well I wasn't thrilled either. OK it had a nice wooden body, but the cantilever looked very thick and large – not like something that could offer the level of performance, of sophistication I would require from a cartridge at THIS price level.

All it took to change my mind about Miyajima was the first few seconds of the first record still with Kondo in the system, but each and every recording listened after that also proved what an outstanding analogue system was at my disposal starting with cartridge with arm and deck and ending with phonostage. One of the first records we listened to with Kondo was Dead Can Dance Spiritchaser so when I switched to my system same record landed on the platter. Mobile Fidelity did a great job with their pressing of this great album and the reviewed system showed me that even more clearly than any other turntable I listened to this album before on. Zontek is a mass-loader and as expected it delivered powerful, extended and beautifully differentiated bass. Every smallest detail, subtlety was read from a groove and translated into coherent, fluid, resolving and very orderly presentation. What I really liked about this sound was how relaxed it was, how orderly. And by relaxed I surely don't mean that it lacked dynamics, or that dynamics was limited in any way. It's rather about, assigning human feature to a machine, self confidence, absolute certainty that the job will be done in the best possible manner. You won't find any hints of nervousness in the sound, of any limitation or whatsoever. It didn't matter whether I played some fast, dynamic music, or some slow, moody pieces, or anything in between. Zontek and Linnart always delivered a presentation that could be described as: rich, coherent and involving.

This setup doesn't cut any corners. If there is a very deep electronic bass on the record it is delivered. Some systems would try to cover lacks in extension by emphasizing mid-bass, but not this one, this one makes you feel the lowest notes that you can hardly hear. My speakers are not the best in the world, far from it, but they can deliver quite a low and powerful bass. That allowed me to realize how much had Zontek to offer in this regard, but also to realize that Linnart's phono wasn't introducing any limitations to bass extension either. At some point I did a head-to-head comparison between P1 and my (solid state) ESELabs Nibiru. The Polish phonostage might not have offered such a taut bass as Slovenian one, but they both went down as deep, and both offered tuneful, well differentiated, dynamic bass. I particularly enjoyed sound of acoustic instruments – double bass or grand piano, but electric and electronic bass sounded also better than via most phonostages I knew.

On Dead Can Dance the extended, powerful bass was truly impressive, in this system maybe even best I'd ever heard before, but it never dominated upper part of the range. That's another “native” feature of this setup – sound is truly at level across the whole range. It extracts every last drop of information from a groove and converts it into amazingly coherent presentation. It is impressive when it comes to bass but midrange and treble are as good as the low end. Sound might be called “warm” but it is not about any emphasis in the midrange, or about lack of openness or vibrancy of the treble. Vocals seems so palpable, so expressive, warm, rich, with a lot of texture but also very clean, pure. The live recordings, especially those from small clubs like the famous Jazz at the Pawnshop for example, the holography of the presentation is breathtaking, and since it leads to unparalleled realism it is easy to forget that it's just a reproduction we listen to at home, on our couch.

Another wonderful feature of this setup – when live recording were played system not only reproduced the music, it also rendered it in my room together with the ambiance, the atmosphere of a concert, with all those little details, with concert hall's acoustics and so on. All that created more of participation felling than just listening to. I was so involved in the music spectacle that I couldn't help smiling when a phone (on the recording) rang, or I couldn't really listen to this record hungry as too many people there obviously were busy eating and drinking making me even more hungry. I could see the air around instruments, see them breathing – that's what creates in impression of music being made in a space by instruments that have body. Cymbals and other percussion instruments seemed so vivid, so vibrant and yet rich and colorful. Proper recordings show sort of aura around such instruments, or shining/sparkling if you please. Mass-loaders usually aren't masters of spacing and imaging – soundstage delivered by them isn't usually too big. That was not the case here, I guess a lot of credit should go to a tube P1 here. I assessed this feature listening to my favorite Carmen with Leontyne Price on RCA record. I remember few sources able to put wondering choirs even further away (the amazing Air Tight PC-3 on my Trans-Fi for example), but what I heard now gave me no reason for any complaining. In fact if I had no comparison to those few other sources I wouldn't be able to tell, that the soundstage could be even deeper than this one.

Again – considering that Zontek is a mass-loader I probably should have had started my test with some rock records. I hadn't but it was because of the above mentioned presentation of 3 classic Led Zeppelin albums in Osiecka Studio. After this event I already knew that Zontek and Linnart were true “rock animals”. So at some point I decided for a “rock” day and played some old rock all day long. There was Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, AC/DC, U2, and even the Black Metallica. There were no surprises here. Power, drive, outstanding control over all events on the stage despite the fact that most rock albums were not something one would call “audiophile recordings”. This was a very energetic presentation with outstanding pace&rhythm – everything was in its place in proper quantities and proportions.
These records proved also that the reviewed setup was really good in differentiating recordings. Listening to these first Led Zeppelin albums it was easy to observe how the music and recording techniques got better and better, more mature and of higher quality. Among those records there was one that didn't sound so good – it was the Metallica. I know that I wrote many times that this particular version, a 4 LP album at 45 r.p.m. was the best version I knew. That is still true but Zontek and Linnart proved beyond any doubt that it was still quite a poor recording – great music, but a poor flat, bit lifeless sounding recording. And I think it was this setup that revealed the true face of this record – it seems that other turntables could have been too forgiving for it. On the other hand AC/DC was pure fun. The unlimited raw energy emanating from Angus Young was simply impressive as well as the way this setup conveyed it. My feet were tapping, head was rocking, my throat was hurting from singing along, and some neighbors hate me ever since.
Pink Floyd albums proved again how well Zontek and Linnart dealt with spacing and imaging. As all fans know Roger Waters and the band loved playing with spacial effects to surprise listeners with sound coming from different directions. Even this kind of “crazy” wasn't a problem for this setup – each of those sounds came exactly where it was supposed to come from with a perfect timing. Fantastic!

Summary

Few years ago it was impossible to build a complete high-end system based exclusively on Polish products especially if the system was supposed to include also a turntable. Mr Jarek Waszczyszyn (of Ancient Audio) built a complete system, no doubts a high-end one, but only with a digital source. Today using only products that I already know I could easily build an amazing, top performance Polish system (Polish with one small exception – there are still no Polish cartridges) that would make me absolutely happy for the rest of my life (yes, Kondo would always be there in the back of my head as an ultimate goal, but I could be happy without it). Zontek and Linnart would be responsible for vinyl playback, I would surely get Ardento speakers, monoblocks and preamplifier most likely from Amare Musica, and CD Player from Ancient Audio. There are a lot of high quality racks, platforms and other anty-vibration accessories made in Poland (Rogoz Audio, Base Audio, AudioPhilar, Franc Audio Accessories) and cable brands. I would order Zontek most likely with two tonearms – one with Miyajima, but the other for my absolute favorite among cartridges – Air Tight PC-3. Linnart is not the only Polish high-end phonostage, as there is also The RIAA and Amare Musica is also about to release their product, but as a tube fan I would love to have P1 in my system also considering its very special feature of 3 MC inputs.

Long story short – we, Poles, can be really proud – our, still not so big audio industry has produced another phonostage and the first turntable of the top quality that can compete with famous brands in terms of both: performance, build, and fit&finish! Congratulations for both designers are in order!

Zontek ZONTEK

Zontek is a mass-loader of classic proportions, made of mixture of classic (wood, bronze, aluminum) and very advanced materials (special steel) with a belt-drive. Although it might have a classic look at the first sight it's plinth is divided into two separate parts. Both have triangle-ish shape and placed close next to each other together they create a regular, rectangular shape. Plinth is a “sandwich” design. Two layers of an exotic, seasoned hardwood are separated with a steel plate. The smaller “triangle” contains Swiss DC motor build in the “leg”, and the electronics controlling the motor that was placed under steel plate layer (this way plate serve as a shield for any distortion or noise) in a hollow part of lower wooden layer. On the front there is a button that starts or stops motor, and on the side there is a small pot that allows to change and fine tune speed.

The main part of the plinth sport the main precise bearing that is installed in the steel plate layer and is supported also by a magnetic suspension. Large platter is made of aluminum. The standard version weights 13 kg, and the Ultra version, used in this review, weights 23 kg. In both version the size of the platter is the same but the Ultra version sports circular non-magnetic steel weights pressed into it for additional weight and suppression of unwanted vibrations. Zontek offers also additional accessories for its deck including record clamp (used during review) and a mat (not used). The main part of the plinth is supported by three large adjustable feet. To adjust one of the one has to take off a round cap and than, using hex key, adjust the spike that sits in a metal spike base that is connected with the feet with rubber elements.

One of the feet (in this particular case, as it could be all 3 feet) hosts an armboard. This particular armboard can accommodate any arm of any length. It sports additional element – a precise VTA adjustment mechanism that includes a metric scale.
Zontek was equipped with company's own tonearm called Delta. It's a 14,5 inch arm with magnetic suspension. Wand and the whole column of the arm is made of Black Ebony. Arm sports a metal headshell. Wand is hollow which allows to fill it to some point to achieve required effective mass for particular cartridge. There are also couple of different weights so the proper one can be chosen to fit best a particular cartridge. These weights allow for a precise tracking force adjustment. Metal elements of the arm/column are made of bronze – customer might choose the finish as these could be gold or rhodium plated. All elements of the tonearm including lift and headshell are made by Zontek. The tonearm cable that runs from pins to modified ViaBlue RCA sockets is a silver Van den Hul. For this review turntable was delivered with pre-installed Miyajima Shilabe cartridge ( MC).

Linnart P1

The Linnart P1 is a tube phonostage. It sports six E88CC – manufacturer delivered the device with six Philips NOS tubes; but it is sold with tubes that are currently manufactured. P1 sports an external, also tube based power supply, build around EL84 and EF184 tubes. Both elements are connected with multi-pin thick cable. The quality of P1's power supply enclosure is good, although it might not be the most beautiful device I've ever seen. That should not matter as the PS will most likely be placed somewhere behind the rack anyway. Looking at the casing of P1 itself it becomes kind of obvious that it was created as a partner for Zontek – the device is build on one platform but everything built on it is divided into two triangle-like shapes with a gap between them wide enough to accommodate six ECC88 tubes. A rigid, aluminum casing is black but some of its elements might be ordered in different colors. The grid on top of both triangles in reviewed unit was gold but they could be black or silver and the same goes for metal elements of four “legs”. The latter are finished with some sort of exotic wood and that is another element that customer might chose from an available pallet.

The phonostage offers three independent MC (RCA) inputs, and one RCA output. Each input sports an independent loading adjustment. Predefined values are to chose from are: 100, 200, 300 and 400 Ω. There are few toggle switches on the front panel. The one on the right is a main switch, the next three allow small adjustment to the level of: bass (+1 dB), treble (+1 dB) and midrange (three options: -1 dB, 0, +1 dB). The are two are: „mute” and input selector. To achieve highest sound quality designer decided to use only high quality elements like: tantalum resistors, or polypropylene and oil capacitors. As an option Linnart offers a more advanced, dual mono power supply for P1, but ordering it involves, of course, a higher price.