Building The Perfect Harmony in a HiFi Record Console
“Does it sound good ?” was the central question percolating in the minds of the Wrensilva audio engineers as the team built their first all-in-one record console.
Turns out, good was a huge understatement for describing the sound quality achieved by the team and Scott Salyer, Wrensilva’s founder and longtime audio engineer and production studio installer.
Creating the Wrensilva Sound was one part of the challenge—fitting it all neatly inside of a sleek, modern credenza was the other part—because all that sound, especially bass, causes a lot of vibration. And vibration can wreak havoc on the turntable’s needle, causing skips to the music. For the Wrensilva team to achieve a room-filling sound and dampen the vibrations, they focused on every detail and the finest materials in three areas: Electronics, Design, and Tuning.
Electronics. A Custom-Built Speaker Crossover To Fill The Room With Music.
For many audiophiles and HiFi enthusiasts, the speaker is where fine-tuning can unlock a 3D soundstage and precise imaging, allowing you to hear the location of the instruments. This makes it feel like the music performance is happening in the room right in front of you. To achieve this effect, the Wrensilva team customized all essential parts of the speaker including the woofers, tweeters, cabinet, and electronic crossover. Scott said, “The speaker crossover is hands down the most important circuit. This is where we can actually make it sound the way we like it to sound.”
The speaker crossover acts like a brain—dividing the audio signal and sending low frequencies to the woofers for deep bass and sending high and mid frequencies to the tweeters for pinpoint highs. To build the perfect crossover, the Wrensilva team focused on achieving a balanced, fundamental reference loudspeaker that is natural, open, and airy, with effortless bass.
To feed those speakers with ample power, the Wrensilva team installed an amp with ICEpower circuitry that Scott trusted and knew from his years as a recording studio engineer. “These amplifiers sound so alive. It’s what artists and producers are using to power their studio monitors because they know it’s not coloring the sound.”
The custom-built crossover for the M1 Console.
Design. Bass You Can Feel & Vibrations That Don’t Skip A Beat.
The Wrensilva team knew that loud bass was a critical part of an immersive listening experience. But all that bass can adversely affect the turntable’s performance. To dampen these vibrations, the Wrensilva team designed a multi-layer record player vibration isolation system. The Wrensilva team knew that loud basswas a critical part of an immersive listening experience. But all that bass can adversely affect the turntable’s performance. To dampen these vibrations, the Wrensilva team designed a multi-layer record player vibration isolation system.
As the vibration travels from the speakers to the turntable, there are four areas within the cabinet built to dampen vibrations with NASA-like materials and vibration-isolating chambers. Finally, the Wrensilva engineers saved their biggest trick for last: a floating turntable.
Fully decoupled turntable with split-plinth construction for vibration isolation.
The floating turntable is a turntable that sits on a platform called a plinth. The plinth was built from material with special dampening properties described as, “…layers of hardwoods separated by viscoelastic, dampening compound, and then a layer of acrylic for aesthetics.”
Not only is Wrensilva’s floating turntable design built with one floating plinth, but also a second plinth—a split plinth—was added to isolate the vibrations of the turntable motor from the turntable itself.
Tuning. The Most Natural Sound As The Artist Intended.
One of Wrensilva’s original inspirations was the sound tuning in British speakers. Scott said, “They have the most human-like voice reproduction. That perfect balance—a sweet spot in the mid-range where you get the most natural sound in the world.”
To re-invent that British HiFi sound, the Wrensilva team invited the industry’s most well-respected musicians, music producers, and sound engineers to give their input and suggestions. That feedback shaped the Wrensilva Sound and challenged the team to push the limits of the circuitry.
The Wrensilva team knew they’d achieved a legendary sound when they heard praise from their most critical audiophiles. “It feels like the console is somewhere in the house and it’s playing music through three rooms, even though it’s not in those rooms. It’s just filling the house.”
The Wrensilva Sound = Electronics + Design + Tuning
The Wrensilva team spent five years testing and refining the electronics, sound and design to create a premium audio system deserving of a handbuilt record player console. It had to be free from distortion or noise with a warm, balanced sound that elevated a music listener’s experience.
“It’s not just vibration isolation, there’s the next level which is just as important: the electronic aspect and how everything plays together. Not pushing preamp too hard, the preamp not pushing the amplifier too hard, the port not tuned too low to interfere with the console,” Scott said. “All that stuff adds up.”
“It’s not just vibration isolation, there’s the next level which is just as important: the electronic aspect and how everything plays together.”
Scott Salyer
Wrensilva team putting final touches on a M1 console
For many of Wrensilva’s fans and customers, the true joy of the Wrensilva Sound comes from effortlessly switching back and forth from the analog thrill of listening to records to streaming playlists with Sonos, simply by using the oversized, machined-metal control knobs with their luxury feel and smooth action. Unlike other systems, a multi-room record player makes it much easier to spread the sound of vinyl throughout a home, an enjoyable experience for everyone in the family to take turns dropping the needle.
