Acoustical Systems Aquilar Tonearm
Acoustical Systems Aquilar Tonearm — your 10" & 12" reference tonearm. Immediately audible, outperforming all other tonearms except the AXIOM offers many of the prime choice and expensive materials, as well as most of the unique technical critical solutions which made the AXIOM's performance easily stand heads above all competition.
In the past two years, Acoustical Systems research and development dedicated a lot of energy, time, money, and brain-storming to offer the unique sonic abilities of the AXIOM in a more affordable version. This version is the Aquilar.
To create an all-new superior 10″ tonearm design – which also should be easy to mount on all turntables thanks to the slightly reduced effective length.
See the Positive Feedback review here:
See the review from mono and stereo here:
Aquilar Anniversary tonearm
The Aquilar Anniversary tonearm is an advanced version of the Acoustical Systems Aquilar tonearm. The arm has nano-gimbal bearings, with an architecture of four bearings in three different sizes. The wand is constructed from an outer tube of titanium and an inner tube of carbon fiber. This makes for an extremely stiff wand engineered to maximize energy transfer speed while minimizing spurious resonances within the tonearm over an exceptionally wide range.
The arm has an effective length of 248mm, placing it in the 10" category of tonearms. The review model came wired with pure Litz silver wiring terminated with WBT RCA plugs, although other terminations are available. The arm comes in two finishes: the silver Leica gloss finish (as reviewed) or with a black base and headshell. All tools needed for mounting on various turntables are provided, and custom mounts can be acquired from Acoustical Systems.
The Aquilar Anniversary arm sits between the standard Aquilar and their Axiom tonearm in the Acoustical Systems line-up. The Anniversary edition incorporates into the Aquilar design the higher-quality bearings of the Axiom, selected for the lowest starting friction, along with calibrated micrometers for VTA and anti-skate adjustments, located on the tonearm's bearing tower. As with the other Acoustical Systems arms, the Aquilar Anniversary is designed to be set up with UNI-DIN geometry, for which a precision protractor is provided with the arm.
The Acoustical Systems Aquilar Tonearm is made in Germany.
Exceptionally high levels of execution mark all Acoustical Systems products; manufacturing and finish are of the highest order, with considerable thought being devoted to materials and design. The attention to detail shows in performance, where if there is a "company sound," it is of a natural, non-fatiguing, well-integrated, highly musical presentation, yet rich with the sort of musical detail that makes listening to great audio, such a memorable experience.