Thursday, September 25, 2014

BRAUN PCS 52

Ok, I'm a huge fan of Dieter Rams, but have no experience whatsoever about the sound quality of Braun creations till today…



Most of the Braun collectors are just 'design' collectors… often architects, art professors, designers and so on.
 



When I received this BRAUN (fitted with the SME 3009 ii tonearm) having a closer look to some details I was more and more impressed by the functional design of every little part.




The construction is also easy to service. It uses the Thorens turntables (TD 124, TD 135, etc.) as example.





Braun’s engeneers belived in the advantages of the combination of belt and idler wheel (like Thorens’ did, but in a different way): the stepped pulley of a Papst motor drives the idler wheel, the idler wheel transmits its energy to an intermediate wheel whose upper end is shaped to locate a rubber belt;  this wheel and the inner platter are connected by a rubber belt. Upon the inner platter we have the heavy (2,7 kg !!!) main platter.




The Braun has not variable speed of any kind; anyway the  RPMs are correct and fixed.
It has a generously sized sintered bearing, everything turns wonderfully smooth and silent.





 
Everything is simple, straightforward designed and nice.
Dieter Rams probably had its best days when he designed this gem. 

Sooo Cool (above with a CM2 PAPERSTONE mat upgrade)!!!


In Conclusion: I'm hooked. The BRAUN PCS52 biggest strength is not only the design but, above all, the SOUND QUALITY, that is combined with being as user friendly. It is COMPACT, which can help in case of space problems, and the neat design is going to capture everyone, also allergics to any vintage ;).
As with the ERA, my own main turntables have been lying fallow whilst the BRAUN has been here, but with that small but significant lift in sound quality, I think I've finally found a match for my beloved Thorens TD 124.


PS: Many THANKS to Loris Daniele for the good hunting ;)


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