Tier Hi · PRaT (listening philosophy, open architecture)
Costs appear only as signed percentages against each tier’s (unpublished) baseline; absolute prices are not shown.
Forward (source-first)
| Slot | Component |
|---|---|
| Cartridge | Koetsu Azule Platinum MC |
| Tonearm | Supatrac Blackbird Farpoint 9" |
| Turntable | AVID Sequel SP (no arm) |
| Phono stage | EAR Yoshino PhonoBox MM/MC |
| Preamplifier | Music First Audio Baby Reference V2 |
| Power amplifier | Audiolab 9000P |
| Loudspeakers | Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 |
| Subwoofer | BK Electronics XLS200-DF MK2 |
| Chain cost vs tier baseline | +0.2% |
70.7
node quality
5.86
edge synergy (raw 6.46, 6 edges)
-0.60
drive delta (drive 0.80x)
power
architecture
Feasible; no blockers.
Architecture competition
| Architecture | Quality | Synergy | Cost vs baseline | Feasible | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| integrated | 72.2 | 4.73 | +0.1% | yes | |
| power | 70.7 | 5.86 | +0.2% | yes | ✓ |
| mono | 72.0 | 5.13 | −0.4% | yes |
Costs appear only as signed percentages against each tier’s (unpublished) baseline; absolute prices are not shown.
Aft (speaker-first)
| Slot | Component |
|---|---|
| Loudspeakers | Wilmslow Audio Emmae Reginae |
| Integrated amplifier | Sugden ANV 50 |
| Phono stage | Naim StageLine S (MC) |
| Cartridge | van den Hul The Frog |
| Tonearm | Supatrac Blackbird Farpoint 9" |
| Turntable | AVID Sequel SP (no arm) |
| Chain cost vs tier baseline | −9.6% |
73.2
node quality
5.08
edge synergy (raw 5.08, 5 edges)
0.00
drive delta (n/a-integrated)
integrated
architecture
Feasible; no blockers.
Architecture competition
| Architecture | Quality | Synergy | Cost vs baseline | Feasible | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| integrated | 73.2 | 5.08 | −9.6% | yes | ✓ |
| power | 72.3 | 5.60 | +0.4% | yes | |
| mono | 73.1 | 5.57 | +0.7% | yes |