HIFI NEWS & RR (UK), April 1997
STAR POTENTIAL
There's a glowing new object in the hi-fi galaxy - the Quasar turntable
by Ken Kessler
Gorgeous. That's the word I kept hearing, every time someone noticed the Quasar LE turntable while it was in for review. And one of the first to utter it was the owner of a Michell Orbe, itself no canine. What these individuals cooed over is one of the prettiest LP spinners to come along since the first Oracle. And that's one hell of an antecedent.
It's not that farfetched, either, as the Quasar is virtually 'plinthless', like the Oracle, as well as most Michells and a few other belt-driven alternatives to the more conventional Linns, Roksans and the like. The complete works are there for all to see, with four spring-filled pillars supporting a frame which carries the bearing/platter assembly and the armboard. The motor itself, situated completely 'outboard', is detached as much as is possible without defying reality; it's physically linked to the Quasar only by the belt. This isolationism, though, presents a minor problem, as the Quasar doesn't arrive with a template to help you locate the motor precisely. Which I'll get to later. But first, Why The Quasar Stops People Dead In Its Tracks.
Sound By Design sent the base model to us for the review, the f1780 Quasar LE, fitted with a Helius tonearm and needing no setting up on my part. But I did watch as Predrag Savic unpacked it and noted that the device's simplicity and elegance combined not just to make set-up straightforward and intuitive, but to support the adage that if something looks right, it is right. It's doubtful whether or not there's any truth to that belief, since the worlds of hi-fi, motoring, etc, are full of aesthetic triumphs which are functional failures, like Lancia Gammas and Strathearn turntables. But the Quasar LE looks as right as it gets, with a cylinder at each corner, connected by transverse bars. To these are fitted a pair of rods which make this turntable so truly user-friendly: the rods support the armboard and bearing, both of which can be moved with ease to allow the Quasar to support two arms, 12in or 9in, whatever the owner cares to match to the basic structure
It's deceptively large, especially if the standalone motor assembly is relegated to the importance of an afterthought when you do your planning. In basic, single-arm form, the Quasar has a 545x325mm (wd) footprint, and you must allow another 300mm or so for the motor unit. If you opt for two arms, the width increases to 370mm because both arms are mounted so as to extend past the ends of the baseboard and look like they're floating. But it's so damned svelte that it never seems massive, even in double-limb form, the chrome, brass and acrylic blending together with surprising harmony. Even the deluxe versions with gold-plated parts and marble- look base-plates remain tasteful and understated, despite suffering a verbal description which could apply to the bathroom in an upscale bordello.
Nothing about the Quasar's design philosophy is bizarre, outre, odd or jarring. The external motor unit is an obvious example. By relegating it off- campus, there is simply no way that motor noise or vibration can interfere with the deck itself. If isolating the motor from the turntable was a major part of the original impetus for creating belt-drive decks in place of the once dominant idler-drive deck, then Quasar has taken the concept as far as it can go. We discussed the notion of supplying the Quasar with a spacer or template to help the customer to locate the motor relative to the deck (the owner's manual suggests a not-sufficiently-precise-by-my-reckoning '225-230mm' from spindle to pulley), and then to centre it. But it then occurred to me that Savic was being polite by ignoring my initial stupidity: any sort of frame, template or spacer used to position the motor relative to the deck would violate the near-total isolation offered by the present hands-off set-up. Which implies that, should the company ever produce a set-up jig, it would be used only during the installation, then removed.
Quasar's aforementioned mix of materials isn't purely aesthetic. The baseboard is an acrylic laminate and the main chassis is brass, while armboards and platters in acrylic (beloved for its resemblance to the behaviour of LP vinyl) have been politically approved for years - all the materials have been chosen to complement each other according to their damping and resonance properties. Nothing new here: it's just common sense and a readily-admitted respect for revered designs from the past. So, too, then, the use of a record clamp, a slightly undersized spindle to 'decouple' it from the LP, a suspension so easy to adjust that it seems to be nearly self-levelling and a chassis with enough mass to obviate the need for near-neurotic attention to tonearm cable trimming. The assembly weighs 18kg, a substantial amount for something so deliciously skeletal.
Other details include the housing of the motor in a 3.3kg solid brass cylinder, a stepped pulley to allow 33 and 45rpm playback, a non-inverted bearing, an armboard that can be changed simply by removing four
motor from the turntable was a major part of the original impetus for creating belt-drive decks in place of the once dominant idler-drive deck, then Quasar has taken the concept as far as it can go. We discussed the notion of supplying the Quasar with a spacer or template to help the customer to locate the motor relative to the deck (the owner's manual suggests a not-sufficiently-precise-by-my-reckoning '225-230mm' from spindle to pulley), and then to centre it. But it then occurred to me that Savic was being polite by ignoring my initial stupidity: any sort of frame, template or spacer used to position the motor relative to the deck would violate the near-total isolation offered by the present hands-off set-up. Which implies that, should the company ever produce a set-up jig, it would be used only during the installation, then removed.
Quasar's aforementioned mix of materials isn't purely aesthetic. The baseboard is an acrylic laminate and the main chassis is brass, while armboards and platters in acrylic (beloved for its resemblance to the behaviour of LP vinyl) have been politically approved for years - all the materials have been chosen to complement each other according to their damping and resonance properties. Nothing new here: it's just common sense and a readily-admitted respect for revered designs from the past. So, too, then, the use of a record clamp, a slightly undersized spindle to 'decouple' it from the LP, a suspension so easy to adjust that it seems to be nearly self-levelling and a chassis with enough mass to obviate the need for near-neurotic attention to tonearm cable trimming. The assembly weighs 18kg, a substantial amount for something so deliciously skeletal.
Other details include the housing of the motor in a 3.3kg solid brass cylinder, a stepped pulley to allow 33 and 45rpm playback, a non-inverted bearing, an armboard that can be changed simply by removing four screws and the absence of a dust-cover ('Why hide all this beauty?' is probably the argument against providing a dust barrier...). Suspension adjustment involves no more than turning the caps on the four pillars, while speed change requires simply moving the belt from one of the pulley steps to the other. But the belt is the major area of criticism (and I don't mean trying to ensure the correct tension without the aid of a set-up template).
Let's not mince words here: I haven't seen such erratic behaviour from a simple round cross-section 'rubber band' since the days of the unlamented Oak. No matter what I tried, and that included using three different belts, I couldn't get the thing to stay in one place. It would ride up and down the sides of the platter, a visual betrayal, so to speak, given the otherwise near-perfect aesthetics of the Quasar. I did everything I could to ameliorate its wanderlust, especially setting the motor assembly at different heights, a millimetre at a time, to exploit different areas of the 30mm thick platter's vertical surface. Dead centre, riding near the top, riding near the lower edge - nothing would alter its aberrant behaviour.
Did it matter? Given that two different strobe discs showed sublime speed stability, and given that material with a particular vulnerability to wow and flutter revealed no sonic weaknesses from the Quasar in this department, it's arguable that unstable, 'unhorizontal' behaviour from a belt may cause no ill effects whatsoever. On the other hand, if something should look right to be right, then the quivery Quasar belt compromises the deck's glorious styling in the way that a festering cold sore on her upper lip would kind of ruin a Vogue cover shot of the truly perfect Linda Evangelista.
The cure? Simple: the Quasar platter should wear a groove around its circumference (two grooves, actually, to accommodate both speeds) to 'capture' the current choice of belt. Either that, or the company should try a different pulley which accepts flat cross-section belts. Savic didn't go into denial mode or start calling me 'anal', but I must admit that his relative lack of concern about this worried me as much as the belt's erratic movement. But enough bitching: this deck is one sweet-sounding, coherent, dynamic performer. With the luscious Helius in place, and Savic's Goldring replaced with a Lyra Clavis for the listening sessions, I fed the Quasar front-end into the Trilogy 905 head-amp, the GRAAFiti WFB TWO pre-amp, GRAAFiti 5050 power amp and Quad ESL63s. Music? Lots of singles, especially a delightfully scratchy copy of Bud Flanagan's 'Who Do You Think You're Kidding, Mr Hitler?', a bunch of recent Mobile Fidelity Anadisc 200s, the awesome Best of Gilbert & Sullivan 3LP box set from Reader's Digest (circa 1963, stereo, mint and secured for a fiver on holiday in Torquay... which speaks volumes for visiting Torquay), and anything else in reach. I couldn't stop.
Talk about more-ish. The Quasar, although probably the quietest deck I've heard this side of f2000, approaches the conundrum of playing LPs in the digital era by using a rather different approach than, say, the Michells, the SMEs or Max Townshend's stunning Rock and its derivatives. These turntables, to elicit a groan, turn the tables on CD by being just as clean and precise as digit-heads expect CD but not LP to be, and they do it without forsaking the glories of analogue. The Quasar doesn't even attempt to emulate those turntables with their near-laboratory-standard behaviour. Instead, the Quasar uses its quietness more as proof that LPs needn't seem to throw out higher noise floors than CDs rather than to suggest that LPs are actually as quiet as CDs. (Which they emphatically are not. Don't you just love 'denial'? And how some analogue champions swear blindly, or deafly, that LPs are as quiet as digital formats? I suppose they are. when they're not rotating.)
So, working from a position neither of defensiveness nor of digit-envy but of confidence in its medium, the Quasar simply revels in 'analogueness'. It's lush, it's fat, it's warm, it's involving. Even squeaky-clean, modern LPs taken from digital originals sounded more ear-friendly than their CD equivalents. (Which begs the question: Should new LPs sport a three-letter-code of 'DDA' or 'DAA' if they started out digitally?)
Something about the Quasar suggests 'middle ground', moderation, tranquillity. The soundstage, while as precise and three-dimensional as is required, is not as Cinemascopically grand as that of the Michell Gyro-deck. Bass is extended and controlled, but less tightly damped than that of the Garrard 401. Treble? Sweet as sugar, but without the ultimate attack. And still the Quasar represents a sane approach to analogue playback which will satisfy an LP-playing hard-core, while not alienating CD listeners.
Perceived value? An absolute bargain, especially if you never expected to have a piece of sculpture thrown in for free. It looks as fresh and clean and modern (and therefore ironic) as did the Transcriptor which Alex used in Clockwork Orange. But, please, Savic, do something about that belt...
WHAT HIFI (UK) Aug.1997
STAR PERFORMER - QUASAR
For: Excellent detail and bass extension from a user-friendly design
Against: Slight pulling of punches in the midrange
Verdict: The Quasar is the result of an unusual approach to turntable design, but one which works really well.
The striking design of this turntable belies several proven engineering principles. There's the clear acrylic platter - a material often chosen as a support to vinyl by makers like Michell, Voyd, Pink Triangle and others. Then there's the outboard motor, which you place on a table next to the deck with just enough tension for the rubber belt to drive the platter. Speed change for 45 or 33 rpm is achieved by changing between two polished steel pulleys atop the chrome-case motor. The platter bearing and armboard are mounted on two chromed-steel bars which run between brass bars on the subchassis, suspended at four corners by levelling pillars on springs. The subchassis itself is mounted on an acrylic plinth, and the whole thing is easy to set up.
One advantage of the clamped armhoard is that it can be moved relative to the platter, allowing a wide variety of tonearms to be used and set correctly. We opted for a gorgeous SME - the gold-plated V model costing Ј1938. We partnered this, incongruously some might say, with a moving magnet cartridge - the van den Hul MM2. Moving magnet design are coming back into high end fashion, their real-world prices compared to some of the crazy stuff, and full driving sound being preferred by some ears. The MM2 is equipped with the famous vdH 'Type One diamond tip - a real groove go-getter.
We tested the Quasar after listening to the Anna Log - a bit like putting Tony Blair in a war cabinet that's just been presided over by Winston Churchill - hut after the initial shock (Anna really is good at what she does) the combination started turning out some great sounds.
Separation and detail are especially good here. There's plenty going on and the turntable leads you through a piece like Bruckner's Ninth Symphony(Carl Schuricht conducting the Vienna Philharmonic on EMI) with verve and deftness. The great swathes of music in the third movement are presented with broad brush strokes while brass trumpets perform a rejoinder in the middle of the soundstage. You don't get that absolute locked-on feeling that the Anna Log turntable achieves through its solid backdrop of sound, but the deck portrays the tonal contrasts between horns and tubas wonderfully. Dynamically the deck is a little soft in the midrange, though some will love the sweetness this can bring to massed violins, the resolution, the sense of bows biting strings suffers. This wasn't the cartridge either - it wasn't apparent using the vdH 2 on another deck.
Listening for this we put on female vocals - Break It Up from Patti Smith's Horses album. And to be honest it's not a serious fault at all - there's some midrange energy missing compared with the Anna Log here or a Michell Orbe, though it didn't stop us enjoying the rest of Horses, especially the rhythmic Land. When Patti Smith starts to talk over the track, the deck handles her sibilants superbly. The way sounds decay into the acoustic is good, and there's a sense of almost limitless headroom making percussion sound live and vibrant. Good decks don't present surface noise in a way that dynamically challenges what's happening in the music, though it would be churlish to say they ban it altogether. Our copy of the Patti Smith disc was the recipient of years of teenage abuse yet the Quasar SME combination tracked it unerringly, never bothering us with surface noise.
One of the Quasar's strong points - a result of the midrange imbalance - is a stomping bass. Theng bars to Stunt Girl by Garbage come across with huge thumping drumming that can take you aback, though on older recordings such as Al Green's Belle, we found the low-end to be somewhat overblown. However, it's great with dance-orientated music, and we enjoyed lots of tracks like The Happy Mondays' Loase Fit on this deck.
If the midrange could be a little bit stronger this would be a blindingly good deck for the money. As it is the Quasar is just really really good.
