AXPONA 2024

Rhythm Distribution’s Craig Hoffman teamed up with Garrard, Goldmund, and Tannoy to unveil a beautiful-looking, primarily analog rig at AXPONA. Kat Ourlian—Global Head of Sales and Marketing for SME—was on hand to spin vinyl; she had Room 660 rocking from the first needle-drop with selections from Morphine, War, Jaco Pastorius (playing Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee”), and Massive Attack (“Angel”).

What was she spinning vinyl on? It wasn't just any turntable. It was a Garrard 301 Advanced ($54,900)—an SME-rebuilt 301 that Garrard calls "the ultimate and most advanced Garrard ever made, with pioneering plinth technology, intelligent isolation system, adjustable de-coupled feet, and equipped with an SME precision tonearm choice of the classic M2-12R or highly acclaimed Series V-12"; the tonearm here was the V-12. Reading the grooves was an Ortofon MC Diamond Phono Cartridge ($9999). The phono preamp was a Goldmund Mimesis PH3.8 NEXTGEN ($48,000), A Goldmund Telos 690 Integrated Amplifier ($36,000) drove a pair of Tannoy Stirling III LZ Special Edition ($12,500/pair) loudspeakers and Tannoy SuperTweeters GR ($2195/pair).

Also in the system: the Lumin X1 Network Player ($13,990); Nordost Tyr 2 speaker cables and interconnects, and Heimdall 2 Ethernet cables; AudioQuest Firebird and Silver Cloud power cables and Niagara 5000 Power Conditioner ($5,900); Butcher Block Acoustics RigidRack speaker stands; Focal Naim America V/Coustic acoustic panels, IsoAcoustics Gaia II speaker isolators, and a Solidsteel S3-5 rack.

Over in Room 664, a Lumin U1 Network Streamer ($5799) streamed music from Qobuz to a Goldmund Mimesis 11 Wireless Hub ($16,000), which in turn fed a pair of Goldmund Asteria Wireless Active Loudspeakers ($95,000).