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HARTVIG Signature tunrtable

This is the turntable that Tidal has chosen as the analog source to introduce Jorn's masterpiece speaker creation - Agoria in this year's Munich show. Before the Munich show, Ulrik Madsen of Argento told me over the phone that I probably have not ever listened to a turntable that is capable of delivering bass quality at such "uncharted" area. I was puzzled until I listened to it via the Agoria live at the Tidal showroom.

The devils are all in the details. The simplicity of the design conceals an arsenal of technical merits. Mr. Hartvig has put forth endless hours in the making of a modern analog masterpiece. The product has been in development for over 3 years.
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Comments

  • From the Web site www.hartvig-audio.com, this turntable is powered by an oversized battery...how is it affecting the finical performance?
  • Setting up today the Hartvig turntable....the platter is made of acylic and T6 series aluminium...the resulting mass is 14kg net weight and most importantly, the total resonance frequency is extremely low...
  • We put Thales Simplicity arm and Ikeda 9TT on the Hartvig...the phono used is Trinity Phono 002 with an impedence setting to match with 9TT.
  • Although I have not taken any photo on the battery of Hartvig, it is undoutedly an 'oversized' battery which is not necessarily an overkill...PT told me throughout the 3 days in Munich show, the battery is enough without having to be recharged....one can imagine the 'reservoir' of DC power is huge making the operations as smooth and quiet as possible...
  • This picture has shown all the 'arms' installed in Master Chik's place: Ikeda, Durand and Thales....all have their own strengths and represents different schools of thought....What a collection !!
  • The simple design and small footprint of this turntable suggest that the sound of it should be humble and only at most in the camp of high musicality and transparency. It is really a pleasant surprise to me as well as to Master Chik that indeed this turntable has a strength which many others are envious of, including perhaps a few mega buck system. It is the incredible quality and quantity of the bass energy it can 'preserve' from the original recording. The precise mix of acylic and top grade aluminium on the make of the platter, the ultra smooth on the bearing, the dark background produced by the battery run DC motor are all contributing to such achievement.

    We spinned some LPs which Master Chik regards as reference percussion, violin and piano music, they all pass with flying colors even under such draft setup prior to any fine adjustment and feeting of the gears....

    Soundstage is just the contrary to its footprint, it is huge across 3-dimensions with lots of details. Obviously the Trinity Phono 002 also plays a key role, it has two inputs and with a capability of adjusting the output gain in 2 stages in order to have a perfect match with the cartridge used.

    Considering that we are yet using the flagship tonearm, cartridge, phono and cables....Hartvig can provide a very good platform for the components sitting on it to perform well without contaminated by the noise introduced from mechanical resonance, AC power noise, etc.

    Marvel
  • Definitely one of the most well done Vinyl turntable ever made. The experiences at Munich this year was unforgettable.
  • Marvel, please report more about the Hartvig.
  • Master Chik has done several fine adjustments on the Hartvig system including the spike plates for the motor and main base of the turntable, tonearm fine tunings on tracking force, VTA, etc.

    Before I go on to describe the combined improvements of these changes, I wish to contrast on the design of this turntable vs the many mega turntables that I have seen and listened. The structure and build of the turntable is significant but in many occasions, an 'overkilled' toll in terms of contributing to the overall performance of the turntable. Adding lots of heavy metal, lowering the Center of gravity, etc may help stablising the motion of the turntable but have they all addressed the issue of the combined resonance frequency of the turntable with the record sitting on top? Do they know resonance at various frequency will introduce noise and noise will defeat not just on the clarity, transparency but also would degrade the energy of the transmission, thus affecting the transient and dynamics. An 'overdamped' turntable will have stability, seemingly fast transient but definitely may not yield flying colors on smooth and rapid dynamic navigation.

    Hartvig adopts a very simplistic design matching coincidentally well with the name of the tonearm we have used on it: Simplicity. Mr Soren Hartvig has put his utmost effort in lowering the resonance factor of not just the base but also the motor stand, armboard stand. The small footprint is really disguising its true character on the ability to play mega scale absolutely not shying away from the 'big boys' league.

    Rather than describing what Hartvig sounds like, similar to Tidal, it just disappears from the chain. I shared this with PT yesterday who was also listening to the system and he agreed. Music produced has endless ripples on the details with notes bursting out contiguously one after another like the eruption of many 'spring eyes'in a hot spring making my eyes and mind very busy picking up and re-constructing the tonal picture in a virtual space....it is not the kind of 'die hard' bass that creates the impact, it is the deep and smooth diving into the bass plain which the room can afford to contain that heartens me the most. The background is exceedingly dark and revealing compared to the other first class turntable sitting behind. Ironically, I can hear more symphonic noise from the aged tube in the power amp when we listened to this turntable setup.

    All in all, Hartvig certainly is in the top league from the musicality and quality point of view but ironically not from the sheer weight and size point of view. Look no further if one is looking for a robust and advanced solution to play vinyl and prepare to shock his audiophile friends with such a neat and humble looking turntable. This is a new breed which is a game changer that a top league turntable must occupy half a room and cost a full room (HKD10K/sq ft for an average apartment in HK).
  • The Hartvig turntable has been properly setup in Master Chik's showroom in Central pairing with the Trinity Phono 002 using the Thales Simplicity arm and Ikeda 9TT. I am deeply impressed every time when I visited Chik's place by the unparalleled bass resolution and background quietness. Tracking to the innermost record is perfect by the Thales tonearm coupled with the outstanding performance of the Trinity phono. The phono has 2 inputs and has a switch to change the polarity, though it is not as advance as the big brother which I am using at home, the ability of plugging different switches at the back to set different impedance can provide the flexibility to mate with various cartridges.

    Whilst the look and feel of the Hartvig turntable may appear to be humble, the music is packed with flares and dynamites. It is absolutely not in the camp of 'muscular wrestling' where all the excitments are 'squeezed' out with seemingly an asserted force at the back. It just simply bursts out like the eruption of volcanoes in a rhythm only determined by the inner core of the earth, ie the music itself.

    This turntable is designed for those who looks for simplicity, slick design and shocking performance....
  • I concur Marvel's comments in spite of my concurrent ownership of NVS and AAS Gabriel. The strength of the strength of Hartvig is in the bass department. It is organic with great speed and punch. The Battery power supply gets you a very clean staging background enhancing the touchable quality of imaging along the z-axis. The flow of the music is gorgeous when Thales simplicity is employed. For transients fans, setup a Durand Talea 2 atop the Hartvig will get what you want from uni-pivot.

    Everyone listens differently and one should never put a price factor to dictate pre-conclusion. In my humble experiences, I have never ever listens to any Clearaudio Statement that sounds right to my ears despite hefty price tag.
  • The beauty of tracking must be appreciated. In this regard, the Thales has no equal. I can't say my analog rig is the best in Taiwan because I have the Durand Telos. It is about personal preferences and experiences of matching. It is about bringing the best out of the design strength of the arm. For example, I can kill or undermine the transient and macrodynamic strength of the Telos by mounting a Koetsu/My Sonic Lab type of cartridge.

    If Thales strength is tracking and hence smoothless, don't break the inherent strength by mounting a goldfinger. Pick another arm to play symphonies. Similarly, don't criticize until one learns about the preferences of the owner.
  • The deployment of Ikeda on Simplicity , in my view, has achieved a remarkable balance between the mass of the tone arm and the weight of the cartridge itself. A friend of mine has recently bought a Simplicity arm not ending to pair it with a DaVinci cartridge. The latter is comparatively too heavy for Simplicity. Not saying that it would not yield good sound but it can be better....

    The Hartvig turntable in Master Chik system is throwing out big soundstage paced with details. Eyes closed, one would believe we ar hearing a mega system with a heavyweight footprint...I think this. Is technological craftsmanship making this possible.
  • I visited Marvel's place on CNY Chor 4 and it made me recall some days ago, I went with him to master Chik's showroom to listen to the Hartvig turntable. The Hartvig turntable is a great one and I would say it is one of the best buy within the price range.

    In terms of performance, the most apparent strongpoint of the turntable is the bass which is controlled but not tight sound. Given the constraint on dimensions in master Chik's showroom, the Hartvig turntable still produced a vivid and wide soundstage. Compared with Shindo turntable which I am using, the Hartvig turntable is more nature and lively.

    The Hartvig turntable is a "hidden gem" and it deserves more "voices". I just hope more people could experience it and appreciate its beauty.
  • Hartvig vibration prevention platform! A sheer weight of 30kg!
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