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Reviewer: Paul Candy
Financial Interests: click here
Digital Source: CEC TL51X transport, Audiomat Tempo 2.6 DAC, Windows XP based laptop, M2Tech hiFace USB-S/PDIF interface
Analog Source: Pro-Ject RPM 5 turntable, Pro-Ject Speed Box, Pro-Ject Tube Box SE phono stage, Ortofon Rondo Blue cartridge
Amps: Audiomat Opéra Référence integrated
Speakers: Green Mountain Audio Callisto (on sand filled Skylan stands), 2 x REL Q108 Mk II subwoofers.
Cables: MIT Magnum M1.3 interconnects & speaker cables, MIT Magnum digital cable, Wireworld Equinox 6 interconnects & speaker cables
AC cords: Harmonic Technology AC-10, MIT Magnum AC1, Wireworld Aurora 5² & Silver Electra 5².
Stands: Grand Prix Audio Monaco four-tier rack
Powerline conditioning: BPT Pure Power Center with Wattgate, Bybee Quantum Purifier and ERS cloth options, GutWire MaxCon
Sundry accessories: Acoustic Revive RR-77, Auric Illuminator, Audio Magic/Quantum Physics Noise Disruptors, Caig Pro Gold, Echo Busters acoustic room treatments, Grand Prix Audio APEX footers with silicon nitride bearings, Isoclean fuses, HiFi Tuning Disc Demagnetizer, Nitty Gritty record cleaning machine, dedicated AC line with Wattgate 381 outlet.
Room size: 11 x 18 x 8’, long wall setup, suspended hardwood floors with large area rug, walls are standard drywall over fiberglas insulation.
Review Component Retail: CDN$3.135
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The Well Tempered Lab Amadeus is former aerospace engineer Bill Firebaugh’s latest iteration of his 25-year old turntable design with an innovative out-of-the-box approach to resonance control. While just about all turntables and tone-arm designs use some sort of rigid precision-machined bearings to tackle vibration and resonance, Firebaugh took a different approach. Regardless of how well constructed or implemented, all metal to metal bearings require some—however small—amount of play to work properly. This introduces some degree of high-frequency chatter.
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Firebaugh’s three-fold approach for ultimate mechanical stability is quite remarkable yet also simple, elegant and perhaps even cheeky. First the Amadeus tone arm ditches the traditional vertical and horizontal bearing. The arm is attached to a golf ball (!) suspended from a beam with a thin poly thread.
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The golf ball is partially immersed in a cup of high-viscosity silicone fluid. There is essentially no mechanical contact between tone arm and table. Using a golf ball might at first seem puzzling but as any decent golfer can tell you, golf balls can indeed have an effect on one’s game. In this particular application I suspect it was the precise manufacturing tolerances that primarily attracted Firebaugh.
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