If you buy after clicking affiliate links on this site we might receive a commission from companies such as eBay, Amazon etc This does not affect the price you pay.
If you buy after clicking affiliate links on this site we might receive a commission from companies such as eBay, Amazon etc This does not affect the price you pay.
Click here to see similar items on eBay, and to buy.
Origin Live illustrious MK1 tonearm is a leading super arm in spite of its relatively low retail of 1570 when introduced some years ago. This arm is in excellent condition and has been completely serviced by Origin Live – it comes with our usual 2 year warranty.
REVIEW COMMENTS
As winner of a tonearm group comparison test conducted by Hi Fi World, comments were:
“And the winner is the Origin Live illustrious, a pick up arm that is quite simply breathtaking. It’s ability to display a three dimensional stereo image is above criticism, as is it’s transparency and lack of artiface. It also has amazing tonal accuracy, which lets the “flavour” of each instrument or voice flood out of the speakers. This is the respect in which it was most obviously superior to the SME……..On any deck – OL, Michell, Notts Analogue, Clearsudio – this is surely the best.
Along with firecracker dynamics, something SME V users will know, it possessed a seamless rhythmic ease and flow which SME V users will not!
This is a beautifully fluid listen, yet gives nothing away to any other arm in terms of grip, detail and focus. Ry Cooder has an awe-inspiring delicacy of play,and this arm had the ability to transfer this into my living room. I can hear his bandworking very hard behind him, the rhythm section driving the music along. Likewise, James Brown came over with a precision that is very rarely heard from any hi-fi component. Image transparency and transient recovery were without doubt very special,while timbral qualities and the breadth of its tonal palette are amongst the very best I have ever heard. This is the big league, where the equipment isnt just self-effacing or uncoloured, but literally dissolves before your very ears. It has very little character of its own and presents the music as the musicians really intended.
The Illustriouss performance befits its name all right, bringing almost all of the fluidity of the best unipivot with vastly improved grip and incision the best of both worlds,if you like.”
HI FI WORLD GROUP COMPARISON TEST with SME, Roksan, Linn Ekos and Hadcock
“I must say that this arm sounds like nothing that I have heard or owned before.The tonal quality is astonishingly accurate and clear, bass notes have no overhang.The arm is astonishingly transparent and neutral.”
DEREK ABRAHAMS, Owner Comment
“Brilliantly detailed yet utterly musical, this arm is set to join the ranks of the all time greats. Wholeheartedly recommended!”
HI FI WORLD
More reviews are available on the Origin Live site.
The arm on auction here is not the current MK3C version and has the older metal alloy tube so is permitted for auction, as Origin Live do not auction current models.
Feature highlights
Arm tube: High rigidity accounts for tight, powerful and completely natural bass.
Ultra Low Friction bearings: Massive research has been conducted into the best bearing design for tonearms by Origin Live.
Yoke design: optimized for stability.
Headshell: Holographic images of headshells taken during record playing reveal that most flex and twist significantly. To prevent this microscopic twisting, the Illustrious Mk1 headshell is machined from high strength alloy and includes side strengthening webs for torsional rigidity.
Internal wiring is a high grade Litz wire
External cable is high grade and hard wired to internal wires thus avoiding any mechanical joint.
RCA plugs are ETI Eichmann bullet plugs.
Cable clips are copper berylium.
If you buy after clicking affiliate links on this site we might receive a commission from companies such as eBay, Amazon etc This does not affect the price you pay.
Click here to buy, and to see similar items on eBay
Category: Sound and Vision:Home Audio and HiFi Separates:Record Players/Turntables
Location: Southampton, Hampshire