Tier L · Characterful (listening philosophy)
Voiced for colour and personality over neutrality.
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 Costs appear only as signed percentages against each tier’s (unpublished) baseline; absolute prices are not shown.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 | Vertere DG-X Sabre Lite Pack |
| Tonearm | Vertere Groove Runner X |
| Cartridge | van den Hul The Frog |
| Phono stage | Rega Aria Mk3 MM/MC |
| Preamplifier | Audiolab 9000Q |
| Power amplifier | Audiolab 9000P |
| Loudspeakers | Neat Petite Classic |
| Subwoofer | KEF KF92 |
| Whole-system cost vs tier baseline | −1.1% |
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.
| Position | Share of build |
|---|---|
| Cartridge | 16.1% |
| Tonearm | 3.4% |
| Turntable | 17.1% |
| Phono stage | 14.1% |
| Loudspeakers | 28.8% |
| Preamplifier | 7.8% |
| Power amplifier | 12.7% |
Why there is a subwoofer
A subwoofer is fitted. Below this loudspeaker’s natural reach there is real musical content — organ pedal notes, synth bass, the lowest drum weight — and the coverage arithmetic says a dedicated bass cabinet genuinely extends the system rather than doubling what the loudspeaker already does.