Released Friday May 9th, on the Analog Planet website, Michael Fremer reviews a Zorin Audio combo, the TP-S3 turntable and PUS-12 tonearm. I could quote Fremer, but I am sure he would prefer that you visit his site to read the review in its entirety:
http://www.analogplanet.com/content/zorin-audio-tp-s3-turntable-and-pus-12-tone-arm-numbers
I haven’t formally responded to the review, so here are a few observations about Zorin, the review, Michael…
Zorin is in Taiwan (not China). We were talking about Jasmine, who is from China. Importers/distributors are always pushing for another review. If you think you’ve seen a “hard close”, you haven’t seen manufacturers clamoring for Fremer’s time. The pitfalls of fame. This has been corrected.
The Zorin combo has tough competition in that price range, although all the competing products are quite different from each other (giving buyers a real choice). It has been my practice to offer a 10% discount for packages. That is up to each dealer, and Zorin sets the MSRP (not me). However, just like the competition, packages can be had with a discount.
Concerning the latest version of the unipivot: this is Zorin’s 2nd generation of unipivot, just finished a week before it was sent to Michael. Zorin is responsive to its customers and will continue to develop their line. That’s my long way of replying to Michael’s observation that Zorin is a newcomer. They are definitely a newcomer in our market, but have been selling product in Asia for some time, with lots of product in systems across Asia. Their strength is manufacturing, NOT advertising, promotion or scheduling reviews. That’s my job. Zorin is a true manufacturer, and they have been making precision products, of one kind or another, for long enough to be considered an established company. An added benefit is that they have control over their own quality, and can produce parts just in time, rather than having to make hundreds to meet the minimum order of an OEM. That gives Zorin added flexibility. They don’t hire designers to draft new designs to be made by a faceless OEM.
The Zorin designs, like many newer Asian products, are trying to innovate, but they are still pragmatic designs. While the hex-head bolt used to secure the tonearm is visually out-of-place, you won’t need to wrap a rubber band around your tonearm when you need to secure it for a move. However, I do agree it sticks out, literally and figuratively. I remove the screws when using the arms. It can be thought of as a transport bolt.
The latest version of the unipivots are available in the stainless look, as delivered to Michael, and two-tone brass and stainless. What is interesting is that the brass version is made of the same stainless steel. The brass finish you see is plated stainless steel, that is polished, then sealed. So, the two arms sound identical, or they should sound identical. That gives Zorin eleven total tonearms when counting variations of finish.
The new pictures of the all-stainless-look gimbal bearing arms, and the new production unipivots, will be added when the last of the new units are assembled (the next couple weeks). They are having family pictures taken when everyone is ready.
I do want to know which pipe Michael uses for a ground. The big one in the middle?
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