Owner Comments

Owner Comments

Turntables

All Comments are published with the kind permission of our clients.

Aurora

In the early 90’s I embraced the “perfect digital sound” of CD’s and basically left my records to prop up a wall in the basement. However, 5-7 CD-player upgrades later I have finally settled for an Audio Research CD3 which has that soft valve-like sound I miss from my old records…and then it hit me: Why not revive your record collection? So a late night in the early fall I logged unto the web and browsed several turntable producer’s web pages and where amazed at the wide variety of options still out there! I finally settled on an Origin Aurora with a Silver tonearm and Sumiko Blue Point Special Evo III cartridge…and what can I say. It is like an old love affair. Two weeks and hundreds of records later I am still not quite sure what to tell you. The amazing roundness and natural sound to voices and especially acoustics is just…unbelievable. You can actually feel your shoulders drop about a foot and you can finally relax without worrying about edgy highs and clank–sounding voices. Ok. It doesn’t have the clear deep bass definition of the CD but I am prepared to swap that for the gorgeous sound of this turntable any day!
Cheers
K

Aurora Gold

Many thanks for completing the upgrade on my deck to an Aurora Gold Mk2. The deck arrived safely on Friday morning and was set up with the speed controller allowed to ‘burn in’ during the day and adjusted Friday evening. I notice you have released a new version of the Ultra with the potentiometers at the rear. Your commitment to continued product development is admirable.

This weekend is a busy one as there is a local 24 hour Le Mans style mountain bike race held every year on this mid-summer weekend. The Mountain Mayhem is the largest event of this type in the world and is limited to around 2500 riders…

Even with the cycling some extended listening has taken place. The Aurora Mk1 provided 2 years of great pleasure in this home and if the sound it delivered could have be described as good then this upgrade is simply astonishing and I now understand the praise the Aurora Gold has received from so many reviewers. This is a giant killer of a deck and delivers a true sense of realism in music.
Thanks again
John Betterton UK

Sovereign

As you know I recently bought a Sovereign MK2 turntable and Conqueror Mk3c arm from D.C.S, who were very helpful, and thought I would give you some feedback.

My previous deck was a Linn Lp12 / Ekos arm / Pink Link DC motor with battery power supply / Cetech carbon fibre sub chassis /Lyra Helikon.

I know from your instructions that the deck and arm take around 2 weeks to run in and settle down so I wasn’t expecting too much when I cued up my first LP. I was surprised though to find some obvious improvements straight away. The first thing to grab my attention was the speed. Fast musical passages are noticeable faster than they were, more dynamic and life like. The soundstage was noticeable deeper, not much different left to right though, and the bass went much deeper.

On day two I was on my holiday but had planned to go into work for a few hours to do some preparatory work for the following week. I thought I would just listen to an album before going. Big, big mistake. I ended up spending the entire day listening to music, always just one more record. The sound is very addictive and draws you into the music.

The deck is really starting to come on song now after two and a half weeks. The background is now darker, there is more focus, better soundstage and fine detail which wasn’t immediately obvious before.

With a Ralph McTell album, Ralph Albert & Sydney, live recordings at the Royal Albert Hall and The Sydney Opera House, McTell reaches the end of a song and asks the audience what they would like him to play next. With my previous deck I could hear the loudest voices but there was very little sense of space or acoustics within the Opera House. Now I can hear a multitude of voices at different levels and know exactly where the sounds come from. You can hear the lowest voice just as obviously as the loudest and you hear the acoustics of the venue very clearly.

I am delighted with the deck, I find it a lot more natural sounding and less fatiguing to listen to for long periods than the LP12. I now hear a wide range of tonal colours in the music.

I upgraded my amplifiers from Linn Kairn / LK240 mono blocks to Chord Electronic 3200 pre and 1200C power amplifiers and bought a Whest PS20 phono stage a few years ago. Since then I have never been really happy with the sound from my turntable. I was forever trying new turntable mats and different interconnects but to no avail.

With the Sovereign and Conqueror everything has snapped into place, my amplifiers have never sounded so good and I never really appreciated just how good the Helikon really was.

The turntable and arm are really eye catching, the build quality is excellent and the arm is a joy to use.

I would recommend this turntable and arm without reservation to other music lovers looking for a turntable or arm upgrade. This will be my final turntable but one that I know I will be very happy with.
John Kopec

Dear Mark and son (sorry, but I don’t know your name)
I felt compelled to write to you after my experience of hearing the Origin Live Sovereign record deck on Saturday last, at the Bristol Hi-Fi show.
I was the guy who visited you three times during the day, and was in your room for the last 45 minutes or so, at the end of the day with Paul Carter (one of your customers, or should I say, disciple).
I have been looking at replacing my Linn LP12 for the last three years now, but have not found anything that surpasses it to the degree that would warrant the expense. Until I heard the Sovereign on Saturday.
Trying to find appropriate adjectives to describe what I heard and my emotional response to it, has been difficult. The best I could come up with is beguiling, enthralled and captivated.
Rather than describing timing, soundstage, quality of engineering, etcetera, it is the result of these attributes that were responsible for my emotional reaction and what makes me so desirable of this masterful deck. I could reel off all sorts of features about this deck that make it so superb, but for me, it’s the sound and how that translates into feeling, that is the most critical element.
I would like to thank you and your son for spending time to explain the various engineering accomplishments that have gone into the development of your products, which can clearly be seen in the end product. It’s also evident that you both have a passion and a determination to strive for ’best’ rather than just ’okay’.
I cannot part with my hard earned money without having a sense that the people I’m buying from care about their products and about my experience, and you certainly do.
Every time I came into your listening room someone commented that it was the best sounding room in the show, so I knew I wasn’t alone in my opinion, and you are to be commended on this primarily as the environment was not the most conducive for demonstrating hi-Fi.
I find myself feeling a bit odd that I’m commenting in such a manner about a product I’ve not even bought yet, but such was my delight I couldn’t help it.
So I look forward to arranging a more detailed and critical demonstration at your showroom, hopefully in the not too distant future.
Thank you both again, for your attention, as I know how tiring these exhibitions can be.
Best wishes
Jeff King

Tonearms

All Comments are published with the kind permission of clients.

Onyx