Munich 2024

Zeiler Audio

Ken Micallef  |  May 18, 2024

Zeiler Audio’s Ralf Zeiler took a stellar rig to AXPONA. I was very curious to hear his room at High End Munich.

The turntable was a “simple Garrard 401,” Zeiler wrote prior to the show. I didn’t recognize the tonearm or cartridge.

Amplification consisted of Zeiler’s unusual looking, low-profile Zeiler Audio PR-01 Preamp ($37,000) and PA-01 Power Amplifier ($37,000), each with tubes mounted horizontally. A Zeiler Audio SUT ($4500) was also used.

Zeiler debuted his new SP-01 Loudspeakers (matte: $35,000/pair; gloss: $42,000/pair).

“I see the SP-01 as a modern interpretation and a tribute to the iconic studio monitors from Tannoy and Altec, which served as the standard in recording and broadcasting studios during the 1960s and 70s,” Zeiler wrote on his website.

With a minimum impedance of 8 ohms and 97dB efficiency, the SP-01 could mate easily with any amplifier. It uses a 15" pro-audio neodymium coaxial driver with carbon-fiber-reinforced paper cone; an elliptical wave guide said to provide constant directivity; a vented enclosure with a variable bass port; enclosure walls consisting of a compound of several wood- and non-wood layers of different density and hardness; a two-way crossover featuring custom-made paper-in-oil capacitors; and cryo-treated internal wiring.

Though the system could be peaky and played with occasional glare, The Rolling Stones’s "Black and Blue" filled the room with energy, grunt, and extreme fun.

COMMENTS
zimmer74's picture
Submitted by zimmer74 on May 18, 2024 - 2:57pm

the tonearm is the Naim ARO, a classic unipivot no longer made, that is highly sought after in the used market.

JohnnyThunder2.0's picture
Submitted by JohnnyThunder2.0 on May 18, 2024 - 6:39pm

it on his LP12 in his reference system. It is a very special piece of audio equipment.

amplifierx's picture
Submitted by amplifierx on May 19, 2024 - 11:08am

Naim have made a modern version for their Solstice turntable - with SLOTS in the headshell. I have one of the originals and it isnt going anywhere.

nunhgrader's picture
Submitted by nunhgrader on May 18, 2024 - 4:12pm

Beautiful components. That's a great picture also (top but, all of them)!

georgehifi's picture
Submitted by georgehifi on May 18, 2024 - 7:25pm

The way he's holding himself and gazing at them, in a slightly relaxed flexed pose, he's obviously proud of his creations and the way they look. They do look good even though to me tubes have long been passe.
Cheers George

JRT's picture
Submitted by JRT on May 20, 2024 - 8:00am

Zeiler Audio PA-01 two channel power amplifier (US $37k), at the output stage of each channel, uses one triode connected KT150 beam tetrode in single ended application.

Herb Reichert wrote an interesting article for Sound Practices discussing this, circa 1992, currently hosted on the EnjoyTheMusic website.

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/sound_practices/2/triode_pentode.htm

Be sure to (re-)read the last two sentences in Herb's article.

volvic's picture
Submitted by volvic on May 20, 2024 - 11:14am

Great tonearm on an LP12, and I've seen and heard them used on Avid tables with good results. Indeed, Avid at one time offered the Naim Aro/Avid Slide to make installation a cinch. Pity it couldn't work on an SME table, always wanted to try that out.

mauidj's picture
Submitted by mauidj on May 20, 2024 - 5:17pm

For a system that could be peaky and played with occasional glare….amazing. I bet I could put one together for less than half that with none of those faults. Why can’t you call a spade a spade and call stuff like this out for the failure it seems to be rather than giving it faint praise like “filled the room with energy, grunt, and extreme fun.” Hell my $1000 dj speakers and a cheap streamer do exactly that.

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