Report on the Kronos Event at KJ West One. By Chris Kelly
On the evening of Friday 21 November and all day on Saturday 22 November KJ was absolutely rocking to the sounds produced in both of our audition rooms with Kronos turntables as the source. Upstairs we had a Kronos playing into a Naim Audio system with Magico S1 loudspeakers. Downstairs in the bigger room was pair of turntables, the Kronos and the Kronos Sparta, playing into an Audio Research/Constellation Audio system using our formidable Focal Grande Utopia EM loudspeakers.
We were delighted to welcome to KJ West One Mr Louis Desjardins, founder, designer and chief engineer at Montreal-based Kronos. Louis’ enthusiasm, musical knowledge and grasp of engineering ensured that this event was both entertaining and informative.
Louis’ contribution to the art and science of audio reproduction was to devise and build a turntable consisting of twin platters, exactly matched in mass, rotating in opposite directions as the music plays. The platters are held on a beautifully executed suspended frame.
I asked Louis where the inspiration had come from. He said he was reading an article in Stereophile magazine about different methods that have been introduced to get vinyl replay as accurate as possible. In his endearing French-Canadian accent he said “It just came to me. I had been working on automotive engines as an engineer and realised the value of balance within an internal combustion engine. A heavy turntable platter creates huge torque that must have a degrading effect on the sound. So I came up with the concept of having a second platter below the main one, rotating in the opposite direction to null out the torque”. After that, with much work and experimentation he finalised the design that he played for us.
Speaking to packed audiences in our main room Louis was able to illustrate the significance of his design breakthrough by playing the same album twice, once with the second platter off and once with it on. The difference was immediately obvious and nobody doubted the improvements to be heard.
KJ West One is extremely proud to have the Kronos turntable family on permanent demonstration in our showroom.
Thanks to Louis and to Simon from Decent Audio, the UK Distributor for Kronos products, for coming and sharing with everyone who attended these magnificent machines. Thank you too to all who attended for making this a very special event.