52 Test Turntable Bergmann Audio Sindre

Nr_6-2009

AiryNo, Bergmann Audio is not a new manufacturer from Ruhr, tryingto revolutionise the turntable with the help of heavy machineryengineering and montane technology.The exquisite turntable “Sindre” actually comes from our northernneighbour and mesmerises through a truly airy performance.

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Associated EquipmentCartridge· Benz LP-S· Clearaudio Gold?nger· Jan Allaerts MC1B· MFSL C3.5· Denon DL103R

Phonostage· Pass XP-15· Leema Agena· MalValve preamp three phono

Pre amplifier· MalValve preamp three line· Vacuumstate RTP3

Power amplifier· Pass XA30.5· SymAsym· Audio Research VS60

Loudspeaker· Lumen White Artisan· K+T Prototyp

Turntable/Tonearm· Transrotor Fat Bob / GrahamPhantom

· Clearaudio Innovation / Universal· Acoustic Solid Machine / SME M2-12

et`s be honest. With such astunning apperarance, it almost

doesn`t matter how the thing sounds.With its harmonious proportions, cleardesign and effortless elegance, theBergmann Sindre demands attestationbeyound all questions of taste-as anatural champion independent of whatcomes out at the other end. Pieces ofsuch beauty usually have a price, andthis is no exception: The Sindre withtonearm expects to be honoured with14.000 Euros. The fact that Sindrewas originally a dwarf within NordicMythology, who became known forforging Thor`s Hammer, provides littleconsolation in this respect. Thecreation Johnnie Bergmann hassculpted from the mythological namelooks the exact opposite of roughhammering- and represents preciseScandinavian design of the finestorder. Exquisite, yes, but that is notenough to justify the premium price.For this we expect a technical highlightor two. And indeed it boasts suchfeatures- from the field of compressedair applications.The source of this is a compressorwich is part of the turntable offer; atransparent plastic tube delivers theair to the turntable, where the invisibleand almost inaudible gas achievesdecisive effects: In particular, itestablishes a virtually perfect bearingfor the platter and tonearm.The platter bearing is a key componentof any record player; the qualitythereof co-determines the audialcapacity of the player , which is why

L all ambitious manufacturers invest afair amount of effort into this specificcomponent. At the end of the day, itall boils down to the interplay be-tween a spindle and a socket, whichare designed to absorb the horizon-tal forces while causing as littlefriction as possible -usually with thehelp of lubricants: Friction causessurface irregularities and noise- bothof which are unwelcome.These componrnts are usuallyaccompanied by a ball, which runsagainst a platter bearing and absorbsthe vertically active forces; in otherwords: it carries the platter weight.There is an infinite amount of dif-ferent designs for this feature, but inthe end, all operate according to thesame principle. A non-contact andtherefore frictionless bearing is thedream of every turntable designer;one of the very few possible ways ofachieving this is to let the platterfloat on an air bearing. similar to thetechnology behind hovercrafts.Players of this design have appearedin regular intervals over years- andhave achieved various levels ofperformance success, at this point intime, there is only a handful ofplayers which honour this principle.If I am not entirely mistaken, theSindre is in fact by far the cheapestof these player models.

The entire Bergmann construction:The motor control to the left, thecompressor to the right,-and in between- the turntable withtangiential arm

54 Test Turntable Bergmann Audio Sindre

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Cow

boy

Junk

ies

–Th

eTr

inity

Ses

sion

Played

Cowboy JunkiesThe Trinity Session

Guiseppe VerdiAida, Wiener Philharmoniker,

Karajan, Tebaldi, McNeil

Marc CohnMarc Cohn

Dead Can DanceToward The Within

Rickie Lee JonesRickie Lee Jones

The underside of the subplatter servesas a “lid” for the airbearing andcarries the snub axis ofthe horizontal guide

What connects thissolution to several ofits kindred players isthe result of logical rea-soning: If you have toproduce compressed airfor the platter bearing inany case, then why not sup-ply the tonearm with thecompressed air as well: Exactly!Airbearing is one of the few ways lpgenerate a “passive” tangential armwhich runs smoothly enough toactually works very well. JohnnieBergmann implemented this designstrategy as well- and the result is partof the turntable offer. The Sindre iscomprised of three devices: the turn-table itself, the compressor for airsupply to the tonearm and platterbearing and the feeder for the motor.I find the compressor the mostastonishing of the three: In contrastto all the other representatives of thisdesign type which I have encounteredover the years, it operates virtuallysoundlessly. What this means: Eventhough sufficient tube length issupplied, the compressor need not

be banished to an adjacent room, itcan actually be left with the turntable.During the test it was placed on thefloor under the turntable rack and didnot cause any trouble there. The mostbothersome feature is the fact that thepower switch is on the back of thedevice (which IMHO desperately needsto be changed). The solid metalhousing of the air processor is quitebulky (width 21cm, height 22cm, depth42cm) and mainly contains features forsound insulation. The astonishlingycompact pump is located in a massivecylinders act as “Elcos for air”, i.e.:buffer stores, which “smooth out” theintermittent airflow from the com-pressor. There is also a waterseparator, which withdraws condensewater from the compressed air- as thiswould harm the airbearings- andanother good helping of soundproofingmaterial in the housing cover.The design strategy has paid off- theunit is whisper quit. The turntable baseis comprised of a thick MDF sandwich.Circumferential milling conveys acertain optical lightness to the block,the impeccably executed black mattfinish is the perfecy laminate for thisraw material. It stands on three height-adjustable spikes, which are adjustableby means of counter nuts. Nothing offthe peg, self-manufacturedcomponents with a hand-smoothrubber vibration pad on the adjustingring.

Luxurious conditions:All of these elements aredesigned to optimally supplythe speed-regulated DC motorwith electricity

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The platter is a relatively normal 60"acryl platter- at least at the firstglance. In actual fact, this elementforms the tip of the iceberg so tospeak; when removed a “subplatter”of the same diameter in the form of a3,2kg aluminium disc appears. Thisplatter flush with the upper platteredge and must remains optically invisible. The belt runs along the borderof the subplatter (flat rubber belt) andis understandably quite difficult toassemble. The motor- a relatively highspeed regulated DC motor- does itsmagic out of sight, which is why somepratice is required to successfullyattach the belt: a secund pair of handsis immensely helpful. I cannot saymuch about the motor; it is so wellintegrated that I hardly felt like di-sassembling the turntable until it be-came accessible. The aluminiumplatter carries the spindle on itsunderside- or to be more precise-what is left of the spindle: The Sindrepossesses an airbearing, however, theplatter requires an additional guide inthe horizontal plane. This is providedby a “spindle stub”- which is hardly acentimeter in length and runs along aplastic sleeve. In the light of so fewfrictional surfaces, there is hardlyreason to worry about bumps causedby the system. Those who prefer anairbearing in which the horizontalplane is also uncoupled through an airpillow, should consider the larger“Sleipner” turntable model.The airbearing is located beneath thesubplatter- and like all very goodsolutions- has a very simple mode ofoperation: A round aluminium plate of(sub)-platter diameter is rotated inter-nally, which creates a “basin-like”structure. A several centimetre widebridge remains on the outher ridge.There is a drill hole through the baseof the basin, which is the entry pointfor the compressed air. The subplatterlies on the aforementioned bridge untilthe air pressure rises to the pointwhere it lifts the platter. The airdetermines the breadth of the air gap:The more pressure the broarder the

gap. Air flow can be adjusted bymeans of an adjustment screw onthe back of the unit, however, thereis usually no need to adjust thesetting. The system worksexeptionally well- despite itssimplicity- and it is astonishinglyquite as well. If one goes throughthe hassle of putting one`s earclose to the operating unit, one canhear a slight hissing noise, butvirtually nothing can be heard atnormal hearing distance. Thebearing performs its job, which is toprovide the platter with a close tofrictionless base, perfectly: I spunthe platter with the belt removed totest how long it took to stop rotating.The experiment yielded no results asI grew tired of waiting and ended it.

The setting board is alignedparallel to the arm- and theneedle must then land preciselyon the line

The sleeve with the arm floatsfrictionless on the air cushion

A sound proofing marvel:The compressor is located in thelarge block, the other two act asfilter capacitors for the compressed air

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The motor is integratedand covered, which clearly addsthe simple elegance of the unit`sappearance

There is a water separatoron the back of thecompressor; Moisturewould not be conductivefor the unit`s functionality

Simple and functionalcartridge unit fixation.Somewhat cumbersomewhen it comes to setting

Let`s have a look at thebeautifully simplifiedtonearm. It has atangential design ofcourse, which meansthat it reads therecord the way itwas cut- preciselyand on a straightline towards theplatter axis, withouttracking angle error.Pivot bearings do notcome in every possiblevariation, which is why thepositioning of such an arm is a highlycomplex task: The only impulsemechanism for the entire tonearm isnothing more than the force that thegroove sidewall exerts on thediamomd needle stylus. This soundsworse than it is- provided onemanages to position the arm in aclose to frictionless manner. JohnnieBergmann solves this problem byhorizontally attaching a round metaltube to the turntable and furnishing itwith numerous small holes. A sleeve ofappropriate internal diameter ispushed over the tube and the actualtonearm is affixed to this sleeve.When air flows through the aforemen-tioned holes an air pillow formsbetween tube and sleeve- and voilà,the sleeve and thus the arm hover. Asthe tube and sleeve are both round,the construct can be rotated asrequired, which means there is noneed for a bearing for the verticalplane. The elegant tonearm itself is asandwich construction made of carbonfibre and aluminium; The arm has asmall peg on the front for cartridgeunit fixation. The cartridge is peggedto the arm using a suitable shapedclamp. This is a simple and elegantsolution- but also somewhat finicky;It takes a few deep breaths before onemanages to set the pieces at the rightdistance and achieve perpendicularneedle placement (the two adjustmentscrews only allow for limited adjust-ment). The adjustment of the bearingstrength is somewhat tricky as the

system is not very sensitive. It is setby sliding the counerweight which isuncoupled with integrated rubber. Theexcentrically drilled component is alsorotatable, which is more of a nuisancethan an advantage in this case; In anycase, one should always try to positionit vertically. Apart from such largelyunimportant trivia, the ensembleworks excellently. Neither the arm northe turntable showed any problemsduring the test period. All in all the unitconstitutes a very mature piece ofengineering- my compliments to thedesigner. It would be good if he has afew more in stock because the Sindrenot only looks good and workssmoothly, it plays records absolutelybrilliantly; I for one certainly count itamong a handful of the best turntablesthat I have hitherto encountered. Itquickly becomes apparent that theelaborate platter bearing is worth extraeffort: I have never heard a turntablewith so little static noise.A lot of what i hitherto taken forgroove noise seems to actually havecome from the bearing. The lower therecorded level on the platter, the moreimpressive the result. The new 200-g-by the fantastic Cowboy Junkies album“The Trinity Session” is a point in case:Nuances, which would otherwiseremain unnoticed, reveal themselves;The thus achieved spatial audio-representation adds an entirely newdimension to the church acoustics. TheSindre is a master of differentiation inits dynamics; a superficial view of the

Bergmann Audio Sindre· Price· Distribution· Telephone· Internet www.bergmannaudio.com· Guarantee· Turntable B x H x T500 x 210 x 475 mm

The bottom line…Exelent optical design, harmoniousconcept, brilliantly implemented:From now on, Denmark has some-thing to say when it comes tohigh-class turntables.

bass may lead one to think it is too weak- which is not true: It merelyrenders very precisely, is light-footed without undue reinforcement. Itdoes not achieve the bench-vice-like power of my Transrotor Fat Bob,but then again, there is no need for it to do so. The wonderfully extendedand free-breathing high range area creates a perfectly harmonious whole,which can be regulated to an extent through cartridge selection. I re-commend that those who prefer the base to be more robust have a lookat the Jan Allaerts MC1B, and that those who prefer their units somewhatmore neutraltry out the new Benz LP-S. The Clearaudio Goldfinger phonocartridge is unfortunately too heavy for the tonearm, a Denon DL-103Raudibly underchallenges this fantastic unit. It is amazing what can beachieved with a little bit of compressed air and sound engineering.The Sindre is, without a doubt, a true highlight from the turntable craft.

Holger Barske

Central piece:The air cushion formsbetween the ringplateau and thesubplatter underside