Tier H · Silent Path (mandate)
The quietest route from groove to room, hunting hiss and hum out of the system.
One certified system per brief. Costs appear only as signed percentages against each tier’s (unpublished) baseline; absolute prices are not shown.
The certified system
| Slot | Component |
|---|---|
| Turntable | Michell Gyro 2025 |
| Tonearm | Michell TecnoArm 2 |
| Cartridge | Goldring Eroica HX MC |
| Phono stage | Whest Audio 60Se Pro |
| Preamplifier | Music First Audio Baby Reference V2 |
| Power amplifier | Audio Note P1 SE |
| Loudspeakers | Emmae Reginae (custom) |
| Whole-system cost vs tier baseline | +4.6% |
Amplification: preamplifier and power amplifier — an outcome of the search, not a requirement.
How the money is shaped
How the budget is shaped here — each share is the portion of the whole build this brief aims at that position. A position marked free is left to find its own level. Where a free position shows a minimum, the brief sets no target for it but will not let it be starved: it must take at least that share of the build.
| Position | Share of build |
|---|---|
| Cartridge | 1.8% |
| Tonearm | 5.5% |
| Turntable | 29.1% |
| Phono stage | 45.5% |
| Preamplifier | 13.2% |
| Power amplifier | 5.0% |
| Loudspeakers | free· at least 3.8% |
Why there is no subwoofer
No subwoofer is fitted. The loudspeaker already covers nearly all of the bass that recorded music actually carries, so a bass cabinet would mostly duplicate it — the coverage arithmetic says the bottom octave left over is not worth a box at this listening level.