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As I said before, in my opinion it makes no difference what kind of music we play on this table as each will be presented in an equally live and true fashion. Truth in this case is the capacity of invoking in the listener the emotions he or she might experience during a live event. The sound of the table with the LP Benz and in my system and room was somewhat voiced and not ‘neutral’. Of course we cannot bring live music event directly into the home but there seems to be a general consensus regarding the meaning of ‘neutral’ in the context of audio equipment and based on that, neutral the AMG was not.

Its sound was founded on the incredible blackness of the presentation and very deep exceptionally well-defined bass. Roger had mentioned that and I could only agree. It is a turntable that demonstrates the chief advantages of a mass-loaded non-decoupled design without any soft elastomeric parts. I only once before had heard something similar but even then not to this extent - from the €100,000 Transrotor Argos!


It is about bass that’s ‘alive’, i.e. changes its tone, dynamics, elasticity and depth depending on the given recording, production values and music. It does not dominate the recording yet sometimes strikes at totally unexpected moments, showing what other turntables tend to hide or level out. Take for example "Cry Me A River", the opening track from Julie London’s Julie is her name. Vol. 1. I had listened to the original mono edition (some of her records have been issued in both mono and stereo) and knew it really well. It is a very dense dark sound completely different from the Japanese HQCD issue. The double bass was really deep and tight and more so than at any time prior made the glasses in the kitchen cupboard resonate. This happens very rarely. It was a very energetic direct sound.

Another V12 characteristic that may actually contribute to the fact that rock music really shone was a slight muffling of part of midrange. It is difficult to explain in a few words because it was very delicate and had no influence on the tonal balance, soundstage or anything else. I’m talking about a slight contraction or congestion. Avid or Linn decks presented vocals somewhat more independently of the presentation. Here they were more controlled as though someone/something contained them. This isn’t meant as a critique. I liked this sound a lot and it pulled all the right strings with me. But I couldn’t help hearing how it was done.

Bringing together excellent bass and this well-tempered midrange gave music its ‘kick’. And that kick most favored rock recordings where strong bass guitars and expressive drums rely on drive. Yet Vollenweider’s album worked as well as did Depeche Mode with its rhythm, drive and depth.


While I thus agree with Roger that Pink Floyd—in my case a new pressing of Wish You Were here that I opened specially for this occasion—was fantastic, what really proved to me the Viella advantages was Jazz. I touched on it before. The turntable’s definition both in the bass and treble was breathtaking. It breathed extraordinary air into recordings to generate the soundstage and feeling of listening to live music.

That’s why I so much liked the Evans album recently issued by Resonance Records which I incidentally also unpacked for just this occasion as well as the brilliant Chet Baker Quartet’s album issued by Sam Records (originally Barclay Disques). Both of them were released on relatively young independent labels and sound fantastic! And on both the AMG gave me the kick mentioned earlier.