[Listening test] Audio Origami Titanium Pickup Arms

Vinyl Frontiers: Audio Origami Titanium Pickup Arms

The Listening Tests

Audio Origami PU7 Titanium Twelve Part 2:

Does more length equal more music?

Product: PU7 Titanium 12 inch pickup arm
Manufacturer: Audio Origami Audio
Servicing and rewires: Johnnie Nilson
Price: £4500 (12 inch) £3900 (9 inch) YMMV
Author: Mark Wheeler, The Old Scribe - TNT UK
Reviewed: Summer-Autumn 2024
Published: November, 2024

Sound Quality Audio Origami PU7 Titanium twelve inch

"Enough already!" snort plebs, stage left, "Our Old Scribe is obviously getting too pally with the guys at Audio Origami!"

One role of our pages is to bring locally made products to a global audience and another is to showcase good quality schmutter from manufacturers too small to buy much magazine exposure in the commercial websites. Hence, your Old Scribe was offered a global exclusive by the nearest analogue audio manufacturer in Scotland, just down the road from a certain Scottish turntable manufacturer and the Audio Origami 9inch arms are getting a reputation as a more synergistic match than that other Scottish manufacturer's own.

Audio Origami with Dynavector XX2 Mk2: set up

Part 1 described the history and technology of this pickup arm, built just down the road from your Old Scribe. The first listen uses the Dynavector XX2 Mk2, which is an internally well damped, cartridge. The XX2w Mk2 also happens to be a cartridge favoured by both key figures in the PU7 development and production, although Stephen and Johnnie have both now progressed to the lofty performance of the Dynavector XV1-T. The foot long Audio Origami PU7Ti will be directly compared to the reference Hadcock GH242SE Super Silver (without damping) on a two arm modified Michell Orbe SE subchassis.

The second sound quality impressions will be with an internally undamped Decca London cartridge. This will be compared to the reference Hadcock GH242SE Super Silver with optimum level of damping fluid. There is no more challenging test of a pickup arm than a Decca London.

"Get on with it," whinge plebs, stage left, "Our Old Scribe is getting more verbose with every review"

Installation of this longer arm required an extended arm platform for the Michell which was duly ordered in laminated acrylic from True Point Audio (review pending). Obviously the balance of the Michell suspended subchassis will be upset by this arm. Even on your Old Scribe's heavily customised Orbe SE with Pete's Pylons and a True Point Audio lightweight acrylic armboard (replacing a heavier Michell armboard), the high mass of this arm hanging further out from the chassis centre contradicts the Michell principle of each spring being equally loaded for correct suspension dynamics.

Fortunately in for review at the same time are a set of Reference 8 O-ring Pete's Pylons (review soon). These are 33% stiffer than the 6 O-ring version. The asymmetric moments now loading the subchassis still required equal and opposite suspension asymmetry and some brass weights on the second arm subchassis mouse ear. Mark Sears of Missing Link and Vinyl Passion was kind enough to supply a suitable tonearm cable even though he knows we do not review wire here at TNT-audio.com. This wire is thin and flexible and so ideal for suspended subchassis arm dressing, whatever its other qualities. It proved to be incredibly transparent and easily equal to the Van den Hul silver litz of the Hadcock.

The Dynavector XX2 Mk2 was happier tracking at 2.15g in this arm. 0.2g heavier than in the undamped Hadcock. This can affect bass balance and possibly PRaT. Lateral arm cartridge resonance is quite strong with a wide hump between 9-13hz, peaking at 11Hz. vertical resonance also peaks at 11Hz but with a narrower spread from 10-12Hz, perhaps due to Dynavector's proprietary flux damping. It took some faffing to choose tracking force and bias. Tracking force seems to need to be higher than on the GH242SE. Concerned that this might mean this AO PU7 is higher friction or stiction, the arm was re-balanced at zero g (no grammes of tracking force, not re-balanced in outer space) and retested for friction. None measurable any more than the GH242SE. The arm also easily surpasses the Wallytools (review soon) stiction test. Resetting at 2.15g the sound balance is obviously bassier than at 1.85 because most cartridges tend to sound bassier at the higher end of their recommended range. The different tracking forces on these two pickup arms give similar tracking performance on test discs.

Sound quality

Instantly obvious is the typical change of balance from the 10% increase in tracking force. A slight adjustment to loudspeaker position corrected this. That extra bass warmth does not mask improved resolution, via the AO PU7 Titanium, of Noel Redding's bass during Fire on The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced. Stereo apparently means stable, not solid, as pointed out in my original review of this Dynavector cartridge. The first impression of the PU7Ti is of more stability, like a motorcycle with a lower centre of gravity.

This isn't going to be one of those b*llsh*t reviews "I rediscovered my record collection long into the night", written exclusively in superlatives, usually because the manufacturer took out a big advert. At TNT-audio we do not do adverts. Anyway, at this level of system and performance we're looking for subtle improvements in resolution and changes in presentation. I had worried, for example, that a relatively heavy tubed gimbal arm would not have the pace and timing of my preferred unipivots. I need not have worried, it is no surprise that the AO PU7 is a favourite among Linnies looking to upgrade from their Ekos SE.

Rhythm and timing are as good as any arm I've ever heard. Pace is not the accelerated LP12/Naim Aro fleet of foot joie de vivre. Nor is it the monochrome bombast of magnesium tube SME/Rega models. If anything the 300mm AO PU7 is more reminiscent of the stainless steel tubed SME3012/1/R models with the added gravitas of an Ekos SE. If Yoshiaki Sugano were still making cartridges one could imagine the foot long PU7 in his armoury.

"Arm-oury! See what the Old Scribe did there?" moan plebs, stage left, "At last a pathetic pun"

Some more listening

Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks (a Simply Vinyl heavier repress that sounds really close to my original, minus the original several thousand hours of wear since it's 1975 purchase) suits the balance of the AO PU7Ti/Dynavector XX2 Mk2.

Your Old Scribe had started to detect an edge to the sound that really spotlights vocals of the bluesy persuasion. This is an arm that conveys vocal misery with a transparency beloved by Linnies (based on their undying loyalty to the Ittok/Ekos over the Aro). Hence next up on the platter of the extremely modified Michell Orbe SE is the deluxe packaged MFSL Joni Mitchell Blue. If this album usually brings tears to your eyes, this pressing played with this arm/cartridge through valves (tubes) will provoke a total sobfest.

Some light relief is needed in the form of consummate entertainer, Alice Cooper with the original lineup. This is the crew who were collectively called Alice Cooper before they wandered off East to join Lou Reed in New York as Vince donned the Alice mantle for his own alter ego. The recent repressing of Billion Dollar Babies, with two additional slabs of live vinyl, sounds close to my very heavily worn 1973 copy. Again, the AO PU7Ti effect is noticeable mostly at the frequency extremes. Dunnaway's Gibson EB3 bass and the dentists drill stand out spectacularly effectively during the end of side Unfinished Sweet. Ends of sides are the true torture tests of vinyl front ends. The spectacular big production title track simultaneously explodes with overblown drama while maintaining excellent rhythm and pace. Even Sick Things manages to avoid sounding ponderous.

Pink Floyd's Animals has always been a a familiar test of analogue front end resolution. Both my original copy bought pre-order in '77, and the 2018 remaster, perfectly exemplify the differences between the Hadcock and the AO PU7Ti. Top and bottom of the audible bandwidth are more explicit with little trade-off to the vocal sweetness expected of the stainless steel tube unipivot Hadcock. There are no known NOS Hadcock GH242SE Super Silver left, and the latest titanium tube Audio Origami is the closest to the best of the Hadcock's best qualities with added bandwidth. Those still searching in vain for a good sample of the Naim Aro could look to the AO PU7 titanium too.

The 2021 Beatles Let it Be album of remixes by Giles Martin and Sam Okell is biased more towards modern systems (and ears) than the George Martin original. The AO PU7Ti makes this more explicit with additional clarity to the ambiance around John's voice on Across the Universe, for example. Typically various versions were originally assembled from takes (1,2,4,7 then 8) between 3rd February 1968 and 2nd October 1969, when it was released as a mono mix on a World Wildlife Fund Fundraiser, this song has different acoustics for the numerous parts. Take 9 is included on Let It Be speeded up to E♭ and this is laid bare by the PU7/XX2Mk2. "It was a lousy track of a great song and I was so disappointed by it. When Phil Spector was brought in to produce Let It Be, he dug it out of the Beatles files and overdubbed it. The guitars are out of tune and I'm singing out of tune".

The Mackerras recording of Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen is one of Decca's earlier digital vinyl outings. The vocals on this are a real test of pickup arm/cartridge calibre. The Audio Origami PU7 titanium 12 inch arm lays everything clearly before the listener, missing nothing heard with any other arm/cartridge combination.

Titanium Tube vs Aluminium Tube

The AO new proprietor Stephen Cosh likens the aluminium arm tubes to the rear wheel drive Porsche 911 Carrera 2 and the titanium tube to the 4 wheel drive Carrera 4 models. The latter has more grip and control. The editor and I both drive ancient Carrera 4S and I'm definitely more inclined to the higher information retrieval of titanium than aluminium. An inevitable LP spin, ever since my first encounter via a Source/Odyssey/Decca Supergold at Doug Dunlop's house, is Latin Quarter Modern Times. Fierce vocal mic eq makes for a serious HF tracking challenge. Doug's system synergy from Mike Moore's 5 spring suspended subchassis turntable via Doug's Concordant amps and Dalquist DQ10 or Quad ESL57 loudspeakers created an unforgettable yardstick for this LP. Indeed that experience was one of the reasons your old scribe got the Hadcock/Decca which seemed to handle the hf with unipivot aplomb while providing gimbal style bass resolution. Modern Times can sound dreadful with most arm/cartridge combinations. So it's all ears on the high frequencies but there's a surprise in store.

The first thing your Old Scribe notices is not the high treble, it's the bass. Until this outing on the longer AO PU7Ti I hadn't realised how good the bass is on this album. In theory the Hadcock can usually be equal to arms like the SME309/IV/V bass quality and extension, if not quantity, as Geoff found in his review of the Hadcock GH242SE. The AO PU7 titanium adds more definition to the lowest frequencies than any other pickup arm I've tried on the Gyro/Orbe platforms.

The 12inch AO PU7Ti does also seem to add extension compared to the Hadcock used without fluid damping, unnecessary because Dynavectors have their own internal damping. The Little Feat Last Record Album was always a Flat Response favourite to put arm-cartridge systems through their paces. The long Audio Origami PU7 Titanium 300mm manages to plumb the depths without becoming plummy. Returning from the NWAS after hearing Pink Floyd's Meddle on that original PA system, it just had to be played. My copy is an earlier, thinner vinyl MFSL (dating back decades to when MFSL were 1/2 speed mastered from the original master tapes and pressed by Victor in Japan). This disc has never sounded better than on the full length AO carrying the Dynavector. This was followed by a first listen to a new copy of Pink Floyd Live at the BBC with the BBC's usual impeccable balance and compered by John Peel. Jeff Beck's Wired and Return to Forever's Romantic Warrior were two of the albums that opened your Old Scribe's ears to jazz-rock and again both handled with aplomb.

Dynamics

The Rolling Stones half-speed remastered Black and Blue album seems to have more dynamic range than my somewhat worn original. The anticipated extra clarity of high frequencies cannot be confidently attributed to the half-speed mastering (because the early pressing has too many plays on it, starting with an Ittok/Asak) but the remaster dynamics are stronger, which the AO PU7Ti exemplifies explicitly.

As the review period unfolds, dynamics are the big standout advantage of this longer, stiffer arm. This is especially true at the frequency extremes. The not-quite-a-unipivot Hadcock GH242SE Super Silver has the frequency extension of the best gimbal designs. The AO PU7Ti 12" matches the excellentc dynamics of the Hadcock mid and treble with equally excellent bottom octaves. On the Old Scribe Euterpe project system (crossing over at 240Hz) there is more action from the Focal Audiom 12VX bass drivers. This is no boom and tizz outing though. Bass dynamics do not swamp vocals or guitars on the spectacularly bassaholic Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge track Saint of Me. The Audio Origami PU7Ti 12" presents Mick Jagger's breathy dylanesque delivery clearly over Me'Shell Ndegéocello's bass antics.

Compatibility

Being a big heavy gimbal arm (from a range that suits Linns as much as their own Ekos SE) your Old Scribe wonders if the AO PU7 dumps energy into the arm base like the Ittok/Ekos or the SME V. So the AO PU7 was tried on both the black Pedersen Wildly modified Michell silver subchassis and the Old Scribe Mildly modified Michell (write-up soon) subchassis. This latter less weighty assembly will be more prone to exposing the kind of incompatibility that resulted in the 2 cent armboard fix. The two modified Michell subchasses here are different in approach and execution with different goals in mind. The black Pedersen now has sand loaded cast resin surrounding the Pedersen bearing reinforcement. This adds to the stability of the Michell inverted bearing in the subchassis, so we'll designate it Pedersen-Plus to differentiate it from Gert's original. The inverted bearing thread is treated with locktite thread lock. The black Pedersen-Plus also uses nylon arm board bolts on the True Point Audio extended arm mount in the spirit of Pedersen's compliant arm board system and TPA's recommendation. By contrast the stripped aluminium Michell subchassis has the areas between the spokes filled with brass swarfe loaded resin. On the silver chassis the bearing is installed with low torque and copperease on the thread. On this silver chassis the armboards are held in place with titanium allen bolts. Hence the bare subchassis might be less forgiving of arms that transmit resonance. This will be a test of compatibility with this heavy 12inch arm assembly.

Lowell George's Thanks I'll Eat It Here demonstrates the excellent male vocal capacity of this arm-cartridge combination on this subchassis. There is no undue emphasis anywhere in the audible bandwidth, suggesting how well the Audio Origami MMAS system is doing its job. For female vocals, Carol King's Tapestry MFSL has excellent vocal dynamics. These do seem a bit more edgy at the end of side 1 on the bare aluminium subchassis than the more heavily damped black Pedersen-Plus. Because this has the familiar 'tail too high' VTA/SRA sonic quality it might merely be revealing something about the set up or the pressing. The Wallytools procedure is pressed into service (review soon). The one set up challenge with the Audio Origami PU7 series is the basic 2 set screw height adjustment requires patience, care and some way of shimming while adjusting. A block of something nearly high enough (e.g. a Lego brick) and a set of feeler gauges (metric or thou will do) is ideal. After adjustment the 12 inch Audio Origami PU7Ti seems closer still to the Hadcock's beautiful vocal quality while adding more articulation at the extremes of high and low frequencies, without the artificial bombast of some of the better cast tube arms.

The Decca Torture Test

The 12 inch Audio Origami PU7Ti is not a svelte fluid damped unipivot. The AO MMADS is damping arm tube resonances not cartridge suspension resonance which is the function of fluid damping. The PU7Ti is therefore not an obvious match for the Heaven and Hell Decca London direct scanning moving iron cartridges. The Decca London makes very specific demands of its platform, particularly benefiting from fluid damping. Hence designing an arm optimised for a Decca might mean it won't work well with fully damped cartridges, like the Dynavector range and vice versa. These two cartridge brands are polar opposites in fluid damping requirements but very similar in questions of vibration propagation. Hence your Old Scribe believes that these are ideal cartridges with which to explore the measure of a pickup arm. The Decca can make impeccable rise times, being the cartridge that can produce an unusually clean square wave even with a conical stylus profile. Tests over 30 years ago using special test discs demonstrated that Decca London cartridges were the most capable of this among a group including much more expensive flagship moving coil and moving magnet cartridges. This Decca also reproduces vocal magic, especially with its walnut body.

Ploughing through our Joni Mitchell collection two things become obvious. The Decca (this one has a decent low hours conventional diamond with good polish) is much more sensitive to surface noise and those annoying burnt in white debris specs that seem to plague rarely played albums. After Ladies of the Canyon, Court and Spark and The Hissing of Summer Lawns, I put Blue on the turntable. This is a more recent 33rpm Reprise pressing than the previous 30+ year old vinyl. Joni's vocals and guitar are again the strengths of the Decca, as good in the AO PU7 as in the Hadcock. Surface noise on the old discs is significantly more noticeable with the Decca than the Dynavector in any arm. Surface noise with the Decca in this new arm is also higher than the optimally fluid damped unipivot, ironically damped with AO silicone damping fluid bought from Johnnie. Qualitatively this is exactly what one would expect comparing great arms with these two different design approaches but is actually quantitatively far less than one might have predicted. There are two reasons for this. The Hadcock GH242SE has often been described as having bass performance of a gimbal arm despite being a unipivot. It is weird that apart from the usual papery handling noise and increased surface noise than the XX2mk2, the Decca sounds remarkably similar to it in the AO PU7 set up.

The Dynavector's bass was stronger and better articulated with the higher mass AO PU7Ti and seems to reach lower than the fluid damped Hadcock. The Hadcock probably has a slight edge with the Decca midbass though, perhaps because of the fluid damping. On reaching the track Carey, something prompted your Old Scribe to try the recent 45rpm MoFi reissue of Blue. The AO PU7Ti/Decca combination really draws attention to the different quality of these two vinyl transcriptions; the MoFi immediately felt right, more as I remember earlier pressings. Returning to the Reprise 33rpm copy, there is the slightly strained quality that the Decca often creates, as though on the edge of mistracking. The HFN (Len Gregory) and Stan Ricker test discs both demonstrate that the Decca feels constantly on the edge of disaster but gets no worse as groove velocity increases. There is now a cartridge enabler headshell alternative (and accessory for other arms) for the AO PU7 range that may help the Decca further integrate with this new version of the PU7.

The Analogue Productions pressing of The Doors LA Woman side 2 is exemplary of all that is wonderful about the Decca. L'America is dense with transients and drop-ins exposed with staggering clarity. The WASP crisp bass from Elvis's bassist Jerry Scheff is really clear with the AO PU7Ti and Ray Manzarek's stabbing Hammond chords leap into the room. The whole LP has clear local ambience around Morrison's head suggesting excellent phase performance, which in a pickup arm usually indicates excellent control of tube and bearing resonances. The AO PU7Ti pulls this off all the way to the end of side 2 despite it being undamped.

Alternatives and Cartridge Matching

Now that SME are out of the pickup arm market, the more expensive SME V-12 cannot be considered as a rival. As a standalone arm the SME might also seem a little dated now but their old Series III was an early example of a titanium tubed arm. Rega's 'titanium' model does not refer to the actual arm tube so competition is scarce. I wonder how the 9 inch AO PU7Ti would stack up against the forthcoming release of the Alphason HR200S, also with Titanium tube.

Because the Audio Origami PU7Ti 12" pickup arm has a moving mass of 14g, high compliance, low damping cartridges like the old Shure V15 iii simply will not work. Hooke's law is one of the laws of physics that cannae be broken, as Mr Scott assures Captain Kirk. Subchassis turntable owners need to ensure that the arm/cartridge resonance does not overlap with the turntable suspension frequency. Few subchassis turntables have the real estate area for twelve inch arms. A solution to the subchassis resonant frequency coincidence might be 'mushroom' isolation replacing springs in compression suspension (Thorens/Ariston/Linn etc) and pylons for dangly subchassis suspensions.

Conclusion

The Audio Origami PU7Ti 12" pickup arm is a moderately high mass ultra rigid cartridge carrier. Therefore it will need careful matching of components for front end synergy. It will bring out the best in cartridges from medium compliance moving magnet models to the heavyweights of the moving coil world. At this price point it would be disproportionate to mount it on any turntable costing less than the arm. It will work with premium cartridges like the Dynavector DRT-1T, any Koetsu, the Audio Technica ART100 or the higher end Sumikos and will also exploit lesser cartridges while you save for the best.

Your Old Scribe decided that it would be worth owning this pickup arm because it could not be more different in principle (different modus operandi and different length) from the Hadcock, so has offered to buy it from Audio Origami.

Music Enjoyed during this review

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