System Optimisation

We enjoy the challenge of getting the best possible sonic reproduction from an audio system.

Our approach is to asses the effects of your room, the magnetic and electrical fields around your components and the support structure of your current system set-up. Depending on your priorities and lifestyle we will discuss the options available to improve your system's performance.

We then design and have manufactured custom supports and/or cables that permit the best location of your system components, or if appropriate, assist you in auditioning alternative components that better meet your priorities.

Record Archiving

We have the capability of recording 24 bit/192 kHz digital archive copies of your singles, LPs or 78s. We can provide digital copies of your music in your format of choice - MP3, FLAC, CD or DVD-A.

All records are digitised using our Galibier Gavia turntable (Lenco for 78s) and your choice of cartridge using the professional studio quality Prism Sound Orpheus FireWIre interface and Pure Vinyl 3.

Prices on application.

Turntable Set Up

One of the drivers for Artisan Audio coming into being was a realisation that in the UK we have fairly low expectations of the true capability of the vinyl record. For historical reasons, the benchmark for analogue audio is flawed and coloured and may prominent figures spread disinformation about the need for accurate arm/cartridge geometry.

We embarked on a research project to investigate the influence of materials, architecture and manufacturing processes on how tone arms sound. Central to the project was a requirement to set up phono cartridges consistently so that tracking distortion is minimised. We developed our own technique and methods, including calculating and producing, using CAD software, a set up protractor for each tone arm we work with.

Audio is one of those area where science, art and wishful thinking collide. We take an engineering approach to turntable set-up. To hear your records at their best, the stylus must be guided over the record with as little tracing error as possible.

The stylus should be perpendicular to the groove floor and the tracking force and anti-skate force should be optimised. Fractions of a millimeter matter, half a degree, five hundredths of a gram make a difference. Turntables, like any mechanical device, slowly drift from their best set up over time and require occasional tuning.

We offer to tune up all turntable makes. We take your turntable into our lab and record its current performance, then clean, lubricate, measure and adjust as necessary. If parts are worn and need replacing we will advise you.

We check our work using our highly-resolving reference system with analog instruments and digital oscilloscopes to compare the turntable's performance to the "before" recording. When we are satisfied, we record the "after" result and burn a CD, so that you can hear the difference we make and also give you a reference point for assessing your turntable's sound in future.

Please contact us to discuss your requirements in detail.

Custom Cables

We believe that the importance of cable is exaggerated in some audio circles. We have a prototype wireperson make up our cables and interconnects for us using studio quality cable - of equal specification to that used for the original recording - fidelity in the truest sense.

The best cable is the shortest possible cable. Cable lengths should be determined after locating your equipment in positions where each item is outside any electromagnetic field generated by a nearby component. (Too often components are stacked vertically, with sensitive low voltage signal circuits being subjected to massive interference from a transformer in an amplifier on the shelf below).

We offer a service to measure these effects with our hand held meter and then specify exact cable lengths, determined according to the ideal module locations.