Tier Lo · Twin Arms (mandate — one system, two front ends)
Two cartridge-and-arm front ends on one shared deck and core — one voiced for timing and drive, the other for warmth and scale — so the whole run of music has something built for it.
One certified system per brief. Costs appear only as signed percentages against each tier’s (unpublished) baseline; absolute prices are not shown.
One system, built once. A single deck, phono stage, amplifier and pair of loudspeakers are shared; two independent cartridge-and-arm front ends sit on top of them, each voiced for a different kind of listening. You choose between them by choosing an arm, not by rebuilding the system.
The shared core
| Slot | Component |
|---|---|
| Turntable | Origin Live Aurora Mk5 (no arm) |
| Phono stage | Rega Aria Mk3 MM/MC |
| Integrated amplifier | Rega io |
| Loudspeakers | NVA Cube 3 |
| Whole-system cost vs tier baseline | +0.5% |
The two arms
Arm 1 · PRaT
For timing, drive and momentum.
| Cartridge | Goldring Eroica LX MC |
|---|---|
| Tonearm | ProJect Tonearm 8.6 Carbon (Debut PRO) |
Arm 2 · Romantic
For warmth, body and orchestral scale.
| Cartridge | Goldring 1042 MM |
|---|---|
| Tonearm | Roksan Attessa Unipivot tonearm |
One phono stage with two inputs serves both arms — no second stage was needed. 1 decks at this tier can carry two arms at once. The two arms never share a cartridge or a tonearm: the second is built to be unlike the first, by construction rather than by preference.
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. The two arms each carry their own cartridge-and-arm share.
| Position | Share of build |
|---|---|
| Cartridge (each arm) | 13.0% |
| Tonearm (each arm) | 3.1% |
| Turntable | 16.3% |
| Phono stage | 12.0% |
| Integrated amplifier | 16.9% |
| Loudspeakers | 22.4% |
Why there is no subwoofer
No subwoofer is fitted: at this tier the budget is better spent inside the core system, and the loudspeaker carries the bass range alone.