Isolde’s comfort zone
In order to push things along a little further,
I popped Disclosure’s Settle on to the platter and cued up
the track ‘Help Me Lose My Mind’, which features London Grammar on support
duties. Hannah Reid’s vocals were well rendered and the backing drum machine
sounded crisp and vivid, but when the bass line kicked in properly I found
myself feeling just a little short-changed.
Consonance
Isolde Remote
The notes were deep and taut but the
Isolde’s polite manner that had proved so beneficial with Melody Gardot now
started to work against it. While the music bumped along nicely enough, I found
myself wishing for a little more impact and punch, as the Consonance never really
set my foot tapping – not a problem I usually have with this particular track.
In an attempt to move back to the Isolde’s
comfort zone, I stayed with the sound of London Grammar but this time with
their own LP, If You Waitwhich, unfortunately, involved
another session with the strobe disc and that infernal pitch knob! With 45rpm
dialled in and the track ‘Night Call’, the Isolde’s true colours once again
showed through.
Hannah Reid’s vocals are much more vivid on
this pressing and they stretched out of the loudspeakers very well. Even
better, the backing piano was detailed, atmospheric and – above all –
pleasingly pitch stable, which is not something that can be said of all belt
drive designs.
I have also found this particular aspect to
be a slight concern on some previous Consonance turntables, so was very pleased
to hear that it is no longer an issue: the Isolde was as stable as could be wished
for. As a result of this, the track was most enjoyable. Later on, a drum
machine kicks in and this is quite a strange beast as it does not have any
great punch or bass impact – it just does its thing behind the main action.
As a result it can exhibit a tendency to
become enmeshed with the subsequent vocals but the Consonance Isolde/T8 dealt with
this well, also making sure it did not overpower proceedings.
Hi-fi news verdict
The Consonance Isolde turntable and T8 arm
are an endearing combination. Although they require a little fettling to perform
at their best, the end result is a highly enjoyable one, especially if your
taste in music extends to more atmospheric performances. The quality of its engineering
is good and it is easy to setup and use – speed change notwithstanding. All in
all, a welcome addition to the market.
Sound quality: 75%
T8
Tonearm Tracking error
Lab report
As the Isolde’s acrylic platter lacks a
recess for the LP label, the deck was tested with the (stiff) foam mat in
place. Fine adjustment of the DC motor is possible [see picture, opposite] but
there remains some very low-rate drift in absolute speed of approximately
±0.25% over the duration of an LP side, so it’s worth keeping an eye on this.
Fortunately Consonance supplies a very nice strobe disc for the purpose!
Peak-weighted wow and flutter are usefully low, particularly the former at just
0.03% although the ‘sharpness’ of the main spectral peak is affected by a
low-rate ±1Hz component [see Graph 1, below] which is also revealed on both
through-groove and through-bearing rumble measurements (–69.5dB, DIN B-wtd). This
is probably an (imperceptible) rocking mode of the turntable plinth balancing on
what appears to be four squash balls...
Transcendent
T8, frequency response at (from top to bottom at 10kHz): 1W into 8 ohms, 2W
into 4 ohms, and 2.83V into simulated speaker load (0.5dB/vertical div.)
The partnering T8 tonearm is a low
effective mass design (9g) with a straight carbon-fibre tube and adjustable
headshell/ cartridge mounting block. The lightweight main tube is also
sufficiently rigid to offer a relatively high 194Hz main bending mode but there
are also strong harmonic/torsional modes at 290Hz and 440Hz. The gimbal bearing
itself is not especially substantial and this, in addition to the small
outrigger appendages, is probably responsible for the higher rate modes at 1kHz
and above [see Graph 2, below]. Some play was also detected in the bearing
mount, although this may be a deliberate attempt at decoupling. Readers are
invited to view full QC Suite reports for Consonance’s Isolde turntable and T8 tonearm.
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Hi-fi news specifications
·
Turntable speed error at 33.33rpm: 33.41rpm
(+0.24%) ·
Time to audible stabilization: 5sec ·
Peak Wow/Flutter: 0.03% / 0.04% ·
Rumble(silent groove, DIN B wtd): –68.9dB ·
Rumble (through bearing, DIN B wtd): –69.5dB ·
Hum & Noise (unwtd, rel. to 5cm/sec):
–57.9dB ·
Power Consumption: 3-4W ·
Dimensions(WHD) / Weight: 380x180x480mm / 14kg
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