Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

An ever increasing number of turntables are sold with matching arms these days, but there is still a certain satisfaction to matching deck, arm and cartridge to create something just so. Audio Origami has been fulfilling this need with its highly regarded PU7 tonearm. Enter the PU8 update.

High-grade stainless steel is used in the gimbal, pillars and mount, increasing mass in an area that doesn’t alter effective arm mass but serves to considerably improve resonance damping. The bearing housing has always been made of Delrin for improved resonance control but is now bigger and thicker and the azimuth screw holes have been helicoiled to make cartridge changes easier.

The armtube is aluminium surrounded by a carbon fibre outer layer. The resulting combination avoids the resonance issues of each individual material while being extremely stiff and light. Inside the tube Audio Origami has used the latest generation of its MMADS (Meta Material Armtube Damping System), which isolates internal vibrations by floating the internal wiring and blocking any remaining resonance. The PU8 can be ordered in lengths between 9 and 14in to suit a wide selection of requirements. It terminates in a spacious headshell with integrated cartridge enhancer.

The most technically interesting aspect of the PU8 is the anti-skate system. A post on its lefthand side acts against a pivoting bar and weight assembly. The weight can be moved relative to the rotating point to adjust resistance. I really like this solution as it has the same consistent resistance as a line and weight setup while looking altogether more elegant.

This is then topped off with a level of build and finish that is truly exceptional even judged at the asking price. The review sample is supplied to be used on our resident Michell GyroDec and sits on that like it’s been built specifically for the task. No tonearm is ever a true joy to fit, but the PU8 gets rather closer than most to being completely straightforward.

Sound quality
AO says the PU8 is designed for medium and low-compliance designs and this doesn’t prevent it from forming a happy partnership with our resident Van den Hull DDTII, which is a rather higher compliance design. The PU8 simply allows the Van den Hul to deliver its qualities. Ray LaMontagne’s Ouroboros arrives at the ear without a shred of any sense of the mechanical to how it sounds. LaMontagne hangs between the speakers as a tangible presence in a way that feels utterly organic.

What the PU8 does is allow your cartridge to get on with delivering the qualities that made you chose it in the first place without the slightest sense of constraint. I always enjoyed the DDTII when it was connected to the SME 309 mounted on the GyroDec, but there was a sense of the two operating in tandem. With the PU8, it’s as if the cart hangs in free space.

This can cut both ways. The PU8 has the SME (and indeed everything else I attach to the Gyro) comprehensively beaten in terms of airiness, articulation and the ability to get out of the way, but the more overt muscularity of the SME results in deeper, if not more detailed bass than the PU8 can manage. It would be a huge stretch to suggest it is in any way lacking in low-end extension, though. <

Conclusion
The PU8 repeats this imperious neutrality when used with our Vertere Mystic and Analog Relax EX300 cartridge. There is a sense that if a cartridge will fit on it (and it’s a spacious headshell balanced by a choice of two counterweights so it almost certainly will), the PU8 will get the absolute best from it in a way that looks deceptively easy. This is not a cheap tonearm, but such is the level of performance on offer it can quite easily be the last that many ever buy. ES    

DETAILS
Product: Audio Origami PU8
Type: Gimbal tonearm

FEATURES
● Integrated cartridge enhancer
● Delrin bearing housing
● Aluminium and carbon armtube

Read the full review in  Issue 540