J Sikora Initial Max Turntable Review | The Real Entrance into High-End Turntables? 

Even though it's way outside my budget, this video was very illuminating, thanks!

our made in poland turntables is the best :)

Loving your getting more comfortable in your vids. Your passion is less blocked by seeming discomfort. Less stammering, Ah's.... and more tonal variation. And manageable length. AFA the product/ review, great info. Good assortment of technical and subjective sonics information. Few reviewers would ever be able to actually compare in real time multiple ttbles in this range. That's why we come back to you! Thanks!

Thanks for explaining how the “black background” translates to the listening experience. Never heard it put so well. Great review!

I wonder if the noise levels of the mastering turntable approaches to levels of these.

What would be a step up from the VPI Prime but less expensive than this?

I's impossible to test a turntable. Only table+arm+cartridge+phono amp.

ok but, how is 15k "entry to the high end" ?? What kind of definition are you using?

So much for my Prime Scout

I agree and wonder what the viability is for new turntables, especially at this price. My son has a couple hundred records at this point but the only tt he bought was a bottom line Rega when he was in college. I gave him my old Verdier when he finished grad school and bought a home. My daughter enjoys streaming music and cd’s, has no desire for tt or vinyl. I have 2 turntables, one in each of our residences. Both however I’ve owned from new for minimum 25 years; Brinkmann Balance and Walker Proscenium, which I believe are still produced today and retail some 10-20x what I paid back in day. I haven’t changed arms either and have zero interest of consideration in buying a new tt. I do own a few different cartridges, 1 purchased as recently as last year. Beyond that, I wonder what the actual tt market is. Every audiophile friend I know either has a minimum 15-20 year old tt w/collection of vinyl commonly exceeding 500 or they have no tt, no vinyl and no desire for either. The engineer in me was enamoured by the technical design of the Esoteric TT introduced a couple years ago, otherwise there’s really nothing innovative or new in the space to compel most of us to consider a new tt. I get the new speaker designs, new digital technologies and innovative circuit topologies and gain devices. The tt has reached its technical transcription precipice decades ago, these new designs just seem more aesthetic/artistic exercises than anything that better or more accurately extract music from a record groove than what I achieve with my 25-30 year old equipment

This looks interesting! Searching or an upgrade from a VPI superprime scout to a 2 tone arm system. I did not see any VTA adjustments on that kevlar tone arm (I like unipivots); any info on that? Have you heard the Ars Mechaniae M1? Similar machine building background out of Germany, but wonder whether the M1 is more design driven as opposed to sound driven. Nice video!

I've never heard their tables. But the J Sikora Reference, and this table to some extent, looks as if it borrowed from the Kuzma turntables as much as they could.

Perhaps the location of the turntable is just for the purposes of the video, but I hope that's not where it is located for listening purposes if the goal is to achieve the lowest S:N ratio.

Thank you Tom for the review. I'm not familiar with this turntable but familiar with upper models like standard max. There are some design flaws with J. Sikora tables. 1. Using two motors is always a compromise, never as good as one but I should admit W&F figure of standard max that I measured was ok (not great). 2. The second motor shouldn't be landed on the same plinth with bearing and tonearm. It should be placed on the lower plinth just like the first motor. 3. Uni-pivot tonearm is lacking bass, dynamics, robustness and adding coloration to upper octaves. These are the things I can remember now. By the way your Benz cartridge's cantilever looks skewed to outside you should consider increasing anti-skating and more importantly checking geometry. Normally skewed cantilevers are the result of suboptimal geometric (overhang and offset) alignment and rarely due to anti-skating. I recommend using Lofgren A for 9".

If you look closely to turntable wopples when it’s doing a rotation

A complete waste of money, but that is down to customer choice. Turntables do not have a "musical sound" but of course they do need a decent quiet bearing and speed stability as prime requirements. Once you get to a certain quality level reached by many mid priced turntables, the measurements from this beatifully engineered one will I guess measure better mechanically, but I would not bank on hearing any sonic difference when using the same cartridge. Products like this are really status symbols, and there is a market for them, otherwise the makers would soon go bust.

What a tour de force of a turntable. As you point out, certainly not entry level, but what a statement piece. I thought my Nakamichi TX1000 was heavy at around 70 lbs, but light compared to this beast.

Impressive looks….but the turntable wabbles…..money does not always bring better sound!

I have tried to warm to TAS reviews since subscribing way back but the reviewer unfortunately has a boring voice and says practically the same things each time. Examples are seldom given and close up footage of products from all sides is never given. The overall 'flavor' of the site is "advertorial" notably packed with sub-sentences and sub-clauses reminiscent of lawyers and politicians. Let us be clear, so-called 'high-end' audio equipment should aim to deliver the source to the output -- usually full frequency speakers without coloration but some like earphones even though no live performance ever sounds like earphones do. While some cartridges certainly do have a particular coloration or 'flavor' they really should not. Very high prices and exotic materials seem to cause manufacturers to add something, even subtract something deemed to be undesirable and they tend to be packed in fancy ways which have nothing to do with music. It therefore becomes a matter like, dislike or preference from a range of 'front-end' components aimed at people with a lot of money for what is really their hobby. Now, briefly, to the Sikora turntable described with adjectives and vague words here. At the price point it should indeed be solid and have no unwanted noises but what it is really is a product of precision engineering prowess, more akin to laboratory equipment than domestic sonic mastery. Who, therefore, is the target customer? It is certainly not home listening because homes usually contain people and this equipment has cables, exposed belts and apparently no cover, so how would it hold up in a given 'normal/average' environment? Also, having been closely associated with custom made double belt equipment many years ago I have to remark that uneven resonance and adhesion was generally a nuisance. Better to use one belt and keep the second as a spare -- naturally in some sort of vacuum vessel with zero humidity and preferably totally sterilized! I question the use of so much steel being used when non-ferric metals can give weight and support without the risk of magnetic effects. Also, insulator materials, including the tone arm(s), are prone to static build up and presumably have some grounding solutions totally separate from power supply grounding. We do not know because the presenter did not tell us. I am inclined to unsubscribe because this site is unsatisfactory in too many ways.

very boring review..

What a boring speaker