In addition to bringing home the natural relative proportions of instruments’ physical scale and dynamic contrast, the Tri-Planar Mk VII is a master of soundstaging and imaging within. Where many audio components tend to sheer off the outer edges of the sound-stage, and increasingly so as depth recedes, the Tri-Planar does not. Instead, and this is of course dependent on the record and associated gear, it seems to open up the farthest reaches of the stage, as if illuminating previously dark corners. Within that space, voices and instruments “materialize” with particular vividness and tangibility.


The TAS review covers Clearaudio Master Solution turntable, Redpoint Audio Design Model B turntable, and Tri-Planar Mk VII tonearm.