Since this news affects Galibier purchasers, I decided to cross-post the recent news about the Artisan Capriccio tonearm that I posted in the Artisan section of this forum.
Also, I updated the pricing on the Serac page to reflect the selection of the Discovery Plus-4 Tonearm cable.
Please note that those of you who have existing deposits involving Artisan tonearms benefit from your "early adopter" status and the price we negotiated holds. You can brag to all of your friends about how savvy you are
Here's the post ...
I've had a couple of days to live with the Discovery Plus-4 Tonearm Cable on the Artisan Capriccio Tonearm. This is an absolutely stunning combination. I was hoping to find a cable a bit more modestly priced than the Plus-4 (the Plus-4 retails for $500), but the sonics of this cable won't support making a compromise.
I'm going to take some heat from those people who have been hanging on my every word as I hoped to come in under $600 for an arm/cable combination. The Capriccio / Discovery Plus-4 combo is going to set you back $795. I'm going to hold this price for all of 2008.
To those of you who are griping at the $795 price, you need to understand that The Plus-4 cable alone retails for $500. Furthermore, I challenge you to find another tonerarm under $2,000 that beats it. You'll find different, but not better. Of course, we're adding even more value to the package by supplying:* a dedicated protractor - a "Wally style" unit which scribes an arc to ensure that you've set the correct overhang
All of this gets me to wondering if the Discovery Essence Tonearm Cable (that Dave likes so much in its interconnect configuration) is too good for the arm or not. While the Essence tonearm cable would raise the arm price by $300 (the cable retails for $800), it may be worth it. There's only one way to find out, and I plan on doing so by March.
* a second headshell
I need to get in gear with manufacturing the protractor. As if I needed the inspiration, this arm/cable combination motivates me to get on with designing a fine-adjust VTA armboard for this arm. It's definitely worth the effort.
It's a good time for analog ...
Cheers,
Thom
