Palladian XO boron
There are days when my work is just fun!
Gecom-tech 16th February 2024
There are the days when I really enjoy my work!
Yesterday I installed the Acoustical Systems Aquilar tonearm in the Anniversary version with the Acoustical Systems Palladian XO Boron cartridge in the home of a very pleasant customer.
I have already reviewed here the "standard" Palladian and I liked it very much.
The XO version has a different diamond and features a boron cantilever instead of the tapered aluminum in the standard Palladian.
I had already talked in detail with Mr. Brakemeier - the designer - about this system at the Munich High End show 2023... that conversation had aroused my curiosity and some positive expectation.
I already had experience with the Aquilar tonearm and knew what it could do.
The installation was so pleasant, straightforward and uncomplicated, as I have not experienced in a long time. First, I received a special custom manufactured titanium plate bolted to the tonearm base ring of the TechDAS AF2.
Technically, of course this is much better than the original plain wooden board - which of course is suspectible to vibrate!
With this tonearm, a hell-of-a-lot was done right - even things that you may not see right away... the production quality is simply top notch!
I particularly liked the bearings - extremely low-friction and free of any play. If you set the tonearm to 0g tracking force, you will notice this immediately.
From my point of view, one of the best commercially available tonearms.
Already when mounting the Palladian XO Boron, I had the first smile on my face: really good contacts to connect the pickup - fits, creates the right contact pressure and does not wobble. I have experienced time and again “much worse”.
Previously, a pickup and tonearm from another known manufacturer were mounted - a typical "me too" product IMHO (“…when vinyl is booming, we also build...”).
There were, for example, contacts for the pickup that simply did not fit and would have to be drilled “open”(!).
The whole mechanical installation, adjustment of the tangential geometry and tracking force went very smoothly, quick and pleasantly.
Then came what is usually the main job: the measurement-based adjustment of the static parameters of the pickup.
I optimize for channel separation, distortion (THD and intermodulation) trackability and repeatability. Something like this can easily take a few hours if you have to adjust individual parameters, which of course all influence each other, several times in a row.
As usual, I started with tonearm wand exactly parallel to the platter surface and azimuth exactly 90° vertical.
And most of the values were right away in very good form!
My grin just grew wider…
I just had to adjust the tracking force and the zenith angle precisely.
The measured results were excellent within no time.
I must also praise the serial consistency: I had started with the values of the standard Palladian tested here weeks ago - the XO Boron behaved practically identical!
Of course, the system was exposed to the temperature fluctuations and vibrations from airmail transport and was not settled in at all.
I am very familiar with the customer’s audio system, as I have been looking after it for years. The immediate increase in sonic performance - even with the system out-of-the-box and far from broken-in - was unexpectedly large and most impressive!
In about a week I will go there again – doing further fine adjustment when the system has then some 20+ hours playtime.
I know what else to expect with a few hours play on the cartridge - in a positive sense!
As expected, the XO increased significantly in terms of fine resolution and dynamics compared to the Palladian, - this without sacrificing the other advantages.
Michael Fremer/Stereophile once wrote about the also very good audio Technica Art 1000 (I also have that cartridge, but it can't reach the level of the Palladian):
"If you can afford it - buy it"
I would like to use these very same words in recommending this combination of tonearm and pickup!!!
Druckversion 