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Listening to John Abercrombie's Night, the first thing that sticks out is that sense of impact we were talking about earlier. The sheer presence of the instruments, the percussive and mellifluous sax, the tzang of the drum skins, jump out at you into the room and hit you with really powerful physicality. Very, very nice. Real impact. Hello music! The ability to go from piano to fortissimo with split-second speed to hear the overhang from the recorded acoustic prior to that in your own room is kind of uncanny (and may be a figment of my imagination of course but I pretty clearly thought I heard it). The timing of the dabbed guitar glissandos rise perfectly with the Reggae drum taps and the dabbed punctuating sax notes. Right away, you want to turn the volume up to get more of the effect. When the sounds get complicated, the turntable responds. You can tell it's the sax's harshness, not the equipment's. You don't get the cavernous bass of the Kuzma XL but enough to totally involve. Sprays of high hats explode around the room, pure and glistening. Heady stuff indeed. In the more delicate and reflective guitar and sax passages, the Twin is able to express both the thoughts and moods of the performer, which is for me a sign that things are really spot on.

A record that really tests a turntable is Emma Kirkby singing Purcell's Songs and Airs [L'Oiseau Lyre] which Kevin Scott put me on to. The incredible delicacy, warmth and purity of her voice is an out-of-this-world experience in the first place but a huge challenge for a turntable. A lot of setups will harden it in places and not manage to capture the speed and richness of her voice as it jumps and glides from note to note. If the cartridge isn't sitting right, you get distortion in passages. It's really tough and maybe one of the best records to use to set up a cartridge by ear. This is a record where the baby Kuzma really excels as it's able to really capture all the expressive and lyrical wonders of that voice.

The Twin in this configuration has more transparency and a touch more detail but isn't as delicate or lyrical. When she really belts "I love, I love", the whole room almost vibrates but I do get a rawer, harder sound than on the Kuzma. I have a strong suspicion that this is down to the arms (and possibly setup) and hope to put the Kondo-wired SME on at some point to test this theory out). Nevertheless, the impact of her voice and its seductive presence is something to experience.

Truth is, I'm a bit of a turntable fetishist. It's fun to fantasize about what I would do if money were no object. At the moment, I'd have four enclosed booths, each completely sonically isolated from the room, with a plate glass door that lifts at the touch of a button. Behind there'd be some ludicrous electron-microscope isolation table to give that extra touch of obsessional pizzazz. And what turntables would grace this madness? Well, I'd start on the left with a Kuzma XL with a nice three or foursome of arms. Then the baby Kuzma just as I've got it now. And then I'd have the Twin, probably with a Kondo-wired SME 312 and a Shroeder. The fourth would be the nominal Garrard plinth but as I know them so well now, it would also be the one that gets changed a lot. So I'd have a Raven one week and an Artemis Shroeder the next. And get to keep all those turntables too to see what would evolve. But the point being is that the Twin would likely win a stable shelf of its own because its qualities are unusual in my experience, and quite marked. I don't think it would be easy to find a turntable that combines the same levels of timing, detail and transparency without paying a heavy price elsewhere.

To characterize -- or caricature -- the turntables I've got at the moment, I'd say the baby Kuzma is luscious, lyrical and expressive; the Garrards are authoritative; and the Twin is detailed, transparent and with unrivalled timing. So there you have it. For this reviewer, the Twin marks the birth of a real star. It's going to be a hard search to find a turntable that is more expressive, has more visceral impact or more real seductive power. Because of that, do choose your arm and cartridge carefully. If you do, you're likely to have a turntable that will bring joy for years and years.


Quality of packing: Strong cardboard box with foam insets well thought out and exectued. I'd expect the table to arrive in good condition if handled with reasonable care.
Condition of components received: Perfect.
Completeness of delivery: Complete.
Warranty: 2 years on the table, 5 on beraring.
Pricing: Starts at 4900 euros with acrylic platter, Poly-Oxy platters adds 450. The DFA 1o5 tone arm adds 600. Kuzma tone arms with the new Crystal Wire cabling can be supplied as an OEM factory version indentical to standard Kuzmas (pricing on demand).
Value: In this reviewer's opinion very good considering design, quality of construction, hi-tech motor, bearing and sonic quality achieved.
Feedback and communications: Dr. Feickert has been excellent, the turntable has performed faultlessly and the overall review experience has been a pleasure. In particular I'd like to note that Dr. Feickert has been very patient. I have taken far longer than normal to complete this review due to pressure of work, and Dr. Feickert has been incredibly understanding, for which my thanks.
Feickert Analogue website