Wood is good.
Up top is the new Fern & Roby Custom Reference Turntable w/ Schröder CB Tonearm ($16,500), sliced out of a fat slab of solid walnut. Yum x100. Each build of the Custom Reference ‘Table will see different plinth materials for each build. Think creative freedom. The cartridge in play was the A.3P Ebony from Sculpture A ($4535).
The system in play saw a revised pair of the Fern & Roby Raven III ($8500/pair), the revision improving on the version I reviewed according to Christopher (I hope to explore this further in Barn).
The ModWright KHW 225i Hybrid Integrated Amplifier ($9750) that leapt onto my Favorite Integrated Amp list (review) provided the Raven’s power.
In an interesting twist on system building, Dan ModWright’s new Analog Bridge ($3900) sat in between the lovely little Weiss DAC501 D to A Converter ($9645 another favorite) providing tube flavoring from a pair of 6922 or 6SN7 dual triodes. The Analog Bridge can also sit between other components wherever tube flavor is desired as a system additive.
Filling in the rest of the system picture was the ModWright H9.0X Phono Stage ($4750), a Roon Nucleus+ W/ 2TB SSD storage ($2959), the handsome Fern & Roby Ash Equipment Rack ($5650), and cables from Black Cat.
All told, this system produced an easy flow of sound that was a breeze to fall into, with music stepping in as sole focus for a rich and deep dive.