Munich 2024

Austrian analog manufacturer Korf Audio introduced their new flagship series of ceramic tonearms, the TA-AF series, at High End Munich, including the TA-AF9 “premium tonearm” (€3200) on static display at their booth. The TA-AF9 was also live on a TechDAS V turntable in the Engstrom room.

“Drawing inspiration from aerospace technology,” the Korf press release stated, “this new series features ceramic parts and aerospace-grade flexure bearings for a realistic vinyl record playback of incomparable smoothness and depth.

The Korf products showed exceptional construction and smart design as well as solid visual appeal.

Presented by the husband-and-wife team of Alexy and Irina Kornienkov, Korf showed the 9" TA-SF9 fixed headshell tonearm, 9" TA-SF9R replaceable headshell tonearm, and the new 9" TA-AF9 Reference tonearm (€3200), with full ceramic headshell and armtube; “zero friction, zero stiction flexure pivot horizontal bearing”; “advanced ceramic vertical bearings”; brass moving parts, Cardas Litz wiring, and gold-plated contact pins.

“As a result, customers enjoy the grain-free, smooth sound they have come to expect from Korf plus more clarity, better low frequency response, and deeper silences."

Also on display, the HS-A02 ceramic headshell (€199) with single, seamless ceramic casting, pure silver Litz wiring, and gold-plated contacts. A handsome Korf TT-101 turntable looked equally smart and sleek.