Bergmann Sindre Turntable

Alan Sircom has posted a review of the Bergmann Sindren turntable and linear tracking tonearm ($21,000) at Hi-Fi+. His conclusions:

My main concern with parallel trackers – aside from the whole falling-to-bits thing that modern designs like this, the Cartridgeman and the Kuzma designs have cracked – is the lack of boogie factor. It’s been a long time since I was a Flat Earther, but I still remember to check for the illusive ‘tune’ from time to time. In this setting, I used a Well-Tempered Amadeus with the regulation Dynavector cartridge as brief riddim comparison. And used Ivan ‘Boogaloo’ Joe Jones 1975 rare groove ‘Sweetback’ from the Luv ‘n’ Haight/Ubiquity Bag Of Goodies album to lay down the tunes. And, yes… the Flat Earthers have got a point – the sound from the Well-Tempered was just that shade more funky and the beat more obvious and even easier to follow. Both were more than entertaining and easy to live with, but where the W-T had a tauter bass and more rhythmic control, the Bergmann sounded more open, dynamic and less congested. This was an impressive confirmation of what the Sindre is doing right, because ‘congested’ is not something I would connect with the W-T under any normal setting.

The thing with air-bearing arms – and especially on air-bearing decks – is they are usually a frustrating glimpse at the best vinyl can do. Frustrating because for every record played, you spend twice as much time tinkering with the thing to make it play again. Not so the Bergmann. It just kept on playing. No fuss, no bother, no panic. And no distortion. How cool is that?

You can read the full review here. Paul Seydor also review the Sindre turntable and arm for Hi-Fi+’s sisyter publication The Absolute Sound here.