Thursday, May 8, 2014

Durand The Kairos tonearm


































































$6450

The Kairos™ is Durand Tonearms newest model. It will be introduced for the first time at the 2014 High-End Audio show in Munich (Germany), then will be presented to the US customers at T.H.E. Show at Newport Beach (May 30-June 1, 2014).

The Kairos™ offers all the adjustments needed to explore its full potential: VTA is adjusted with a convenient threaded collar which raises or lowers the whole bearing assembly; the VTF can be modified in fine increments; and, as in the case with the Talea™, the azimuth can be very easily adjusted on-the-fly, by turning a screw located under the main plate. Anti-skating is of course available, and can be defeated with a simple operation.

For the first time in our tonearms, we offer with the Kairos™ the option to use your own cable if you feel inclined to, and we introduce a unique feature to that effect: a DIN plug integrated in the base of the arm, to minimize the transmission of vibrations to the phono cable. The arm is sold without cable, but we offer separately a dedicated phono cable (DIN-RCA or DIN-XLR), developed specially for the Kairos™.

Faithful to our usual design philosophy, the Kairos™ is based on the simplest design and the greatest attention to the types of materials involved in the assembly, so as to guarantee maximum quality of reproduction. For the very first time in our products, the armwand is made of a specially developed blend of composite materials. The result of a long period of development, we are delighted to offer this technology, and are confident in the tonearm’s abilities to deliver far beyond its price point.


Specifications:

Effective length: 263 mm (10.35”)

Pivot-spindle distance: 247.37 mm (Loefgren A geometry).

Overhang: 15.66 mm

Offset angle: 20.81 degrees.

Cartridge mount: 1/2”

Mounting on the plinth/armboard is done with 2 x 10-24 (or M4) screws (for metal armboards) or 4 x #8 wood screws (for wood armboards).
Weight of the whole assembly: ca. 1.1 lbs (.770 kg)

Bearing: Unipivot, Swiss-made non-corrosive, non-magnetic stainless steel pivot in a sapphire jewel. The center of mass of the tonearm is in the same plane as the bearing, thus ensuring an ideal dynamic balance, without the need for the outrigger weights commonly found on other unipivot systems

VTA: fine adjustment with a threaded collar. Maximum range: 15 mm.

Azimuth: adjustable on the fly.

Anti-skating mechanism can be disabled if desired

Counterweights: 130 g, 95 g, 60 g; with additional fine adjust weight to allow adjustment of VTF in small increments (typically +/- 0.1 g). The Kairos™ is a medium mass tonearm, and the combination of counterweights provided with it allows use of most cartridges currently available. The Kairos™ has been successfully tested with cartridges from 5 to 15 grams, with compliance from 8 to 20 µm/Mn

DIN connector inside the arm base.

Jig to set the pivot-to-spindle distance provided; no need for a ruler, the jig places the tonearm exactly in the right position
Arc protractor included

Like the Telos™ and the Talea™, the Kairos™ is a medium-mass tonearm that can be used with most modern cartridges on the market.