Durand Tosca reference tone arm

Piano Tuner

Ever since I installed Durand Tosca arm on Da Vinci’s EQ turntable at Divin Lab, demand for it has constantly outpaced supply by a wide margin. The phenomenal analog performance at Divin Lab reinforces the peculiarity of each single analog parts in the chain.  The heavy duty construction aesthetic catches the attention of many and yet the arm wand is as light as paper.  This arm paired with Fuuga generates tremendous energy.  Transient responses of the lower end are very agile.  Some old Telos users told me the Tosca is clearly better in many areas especially energy of the bottom end is an instant champion. 

We set up another Tosca yesterday pairing with Miyajima flagship cartridge - Destiny. 

Piano Tuner

Piano Tuner

Piano Tuner

Piano Tuner

Piano Tuner

Piano Tuner

MichaelM

Have been using the arm for more than a week now, to say I’m impressed is an understatement. 

 Although I do like high extension very much, I’ve got a strong preference of “bottom up” representation because IMHO bass reproduction is utterly important to give you the sense of “realism”. If the bass is not right, you immediately know you are listening to a recording, it's as simple as that. That’s why I acquired a pair of xiangyu, and the RevOpods under the speakers, and the wellfloat, all of these additions are aimed to reproduce a cleaner, more convincing, less distorted bass...

 Back to Tosca, the first second the needle was dropped, I noticed immediately the energy, the weight, it was like the gain was augmented about 2-3db so I had to turn down the volume on K15 to adjust to that.

• The bass was ridiculously good: deep, full, punchy and fast
• That extends to the mids, human voices are sexy as hell; I can clearly "see" the body of the cello in a good recording which is very hard to achieve for any audio system…
• The image was as stable as it can be, it gives you a sense of ease because of that
• It was musical as heaven

 So, I know what you guys are thinking "How does it compare to the Thales Statement? And who's this arm for?" isn't it? Hahaha!

I'd have to say they are both sitting at the very top of the food chain as to tonearms. In terms of build quality, both are beautifully built and maybe thales has the slight edge due to the fact that it is made in Switzerland, however Tosca's finish is definitely among the highest by any standard and it feels more robust and solid.  So in a nutshell this arm is for those who like a "solid foundation" of music reproduction, it might not be as good as the statement in terms of "high extension" and "tracking accuracy", however if authoritative bass, sexy mids, and an overall musical representation is what you want, go for the Tosca and you won't regret.

VRamos

Michael,

Thanks for your sharing. The Tosca should pair with a Thales Exquisite silver coil to get the most balanced sound. The bottom up approach in energy delivery of Tosca will definitely complement in perfection with Thales exquisite silver, the best cartridge in my entire journey. I believe PT has been using it at AE SW for his Vertere reference arm (a bottom up approach like Tosca in energy delivery). Strongly recommend. My german reviewer friends are all raving the exquisite silver coil. 

MichaelM

Thanks VRamos, that’s a good idea! 

Never thought of this before as in my opinion Xquisite should be paired with Thales statement by default. I think even PT has not tried it but sounds like a good idea.