Oh, the bass wasn’t as rich, full-toned, and bloomy as it is
through the Walker or Da Vinci (although, frankly, the Ortofon
cartridge is probably part of the reason for this, as bass-range
fullness and warmth are not its foremost virtues), and maybe the
stage wasn’t quite as wall-to-wall wide or deep as it is through
those über ’tables (although there’s a bit of ditto in this, as well),
and maybe tonal balance was a little on the leaner, “top-down”
side overall (triple ditto), but when it comes to that elusive
combination of image focus and extremely low-level timbral,
textural, dynamic, and performance-related details—coupled, of
course, with the absence of hi-fi artifacts like grain, color casts,
and resonances—that makes a well-recorded singer like Gardot
sound “really there” as opposed to “hi-fi there,” the AMG V12
simply has the magic touch.
As I said in my review of the (much more expensive) Walker
Black Diamond Mk III in this issue, audio is a game of inches,
and the difference between a presentation that doesn’t quite “fool
ya” (even though it may sound great in many hi-fi ways) and one
that does (at least on the right cuts) is a step function. Some
systems just can’t negotiate that itty-bitty distance between the lip
of the next step and its landing. All other things being equal, it
takes a great source component (and a truly great source) to give
a stereo that final boost up. Judging by what I’ve heard, the Viella
12 has to be considered a great source component.
How this came to pass is anything but a lucky accident. From
the age of 14 AMG’s chief cook-and-bottlewasher Werner
Roeschlau was trained as a machinist. He subsequently studied
mechanical and aeronautical engineering and went to work for
L
istening to the superbly recorded track “Gone” from Melody Gardot’s first album Worrisome Heart [UJC]
on Werner Roeschlau’s new Analog Manufaktur Germany (AMG) Viella 12 (or V12) record player, I had one
of those goosebump-raising moments that occasionally make this tired old hobby of ours seem brand-new
again. In this case it wasn’t just because Gardot sounded “real,” although she did (and for a good deal more than a
moment); it was also because she was sounding real via a turntable/tonearm that (cartridge aside) was virtually the
least expensive item in my system. Thanks to the Raidho C 1.1s I’ve gotten used to this sort of thing—well, more used
to it—at least when I play highly select LPs back via the $90k Walker Black Diamond Mk III, the $100k+ AAS Gabriel/
Da Vinci ’table newly equipped with Da Vinci’s superb Master’s Reference Virtu ’arm, and (the “bargain” of the
bunch) the $38k Acoustic Signature Ascona ’table with Kuzma 4Point ’arm that I reviewed in our last issue. But via
a $16.5k record player? That has seldom happened before (and over the years I’ve reviewed several such products).
Yet… this time it did.
AMG ViellA 12 TurnTAble
And ToneArM
A StAtement Product for the reSt of uS
JonAThAn VAlin
PhoToGrAPhY bY Joel SAlCido
