I'm in the process of adding a second turntable for mono, which means I need a drawer-type transport rather than my beloved top-loading 47 Labs Shigaraki Transport, as I won't be able to sit it on top of the rack any more. Therefore I'm inviting trade offers for a high-spec horizontal-loading transport, and may also consider it for sale. The Shigaraki transport is rather a beaufitful if eccentric piece of kit, with the entire motor assembly physically bonded to an extremely strong, heavy plate of Japanese shigaraki ceramic, to give a vibration-free platform. You place a CD on it, place the puck on top, then push a button to load up the track index, before pressing play, giving using it an almost vinyl-like sense of occasion, the Japanese music ceremony as I call it. Mine is the magnetic puck model, currently £1800 at the UK distributor Midland Audio (there is an SC version now with screw down acrylyc [puck for extra £££) and asking prices for the very occcasional used ones that comes up seem to be in the £750-900 region. Comes with the original remote (I haven't checked whether any others will operate it). My one is upgraded with a heavy custom toroidal twin-rail AC (24v/24v I think) PSU rather than the original lightweight Shigaraki-ceramic switch-mode job it comes with, and anecdotal evidence out there suggests that this mod brings it close to Flatfish standard (the next model up at double the price). An alternative approach to this mod is to pay £1500 for a 47 Labs Power Dumpty PSU). The original PSU, which is quite a beautiful ceramic object in its own right, will go to its new owner for completeness (it's 110v though so will need a step-down transformer if you want to go back to it). I do have the original box (it's about three years old). How does it sound? Well, spectacular and I'm really in two minds about parting with it. I must have compared it to half a dozen dedicated transports or CD players used as transports, and nothing on my system comes close for detail and coherence. (So much for my Chord DAC64 being transport-agnostic). It sounds fantastic with the Chord, an odd pairing though I admit as most people use it with either the original Shigaraki DAC, or with similar non-OS, non-filtered DACs that are currently in vogue. a few links: [URL]http://www.sakurasystems.com/products/shigacd.html[/URL] [URL]http://www.midlandaudiox-change.co.uk/[/URL] [URL]http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=digital&n=114805&highlight=Roark[/URL] [URL]http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/47lab/shigaraki.html[/URL]
