I have compared the Brinkmann lagrange with the Sme and avid decks. The sme lacks pace - its very clean sounding but too polite and saps all the life out of rock music. The avid acutus has very good timing and pace but lacks vitality in the midband. I havent heard the raven but I have heard kuzma, yorke, amazon, pluto, origin live and may others and the BLG is way ahead. However the emt cartridge must be correctly loaded at 600 ohms and MUST have around 330 - 470 pf capacitive loading on top of the interconnects due to the emt design. Without this you have not heard what the BLG can do. +/- 50 ohms or +/- 30 pf is clearly audible - I have never ehard a cartridge so sensitive to loading.
Brinkman Balance Comparisons
For those who have the Brinkman or compared it to others please chime in. How does it compare to the Avid, TW Raven AC and SME 30? I heard the Raven AC has been compared to the Brinkman in Germany extensively. any thoughts? Also, how critical is a good support stand to achieve it's perfromance?
Thanks for your help,
Andrew
Thanks for your help,
Andrew