Our Story
Informative Years / Humble Beginnings
The Audiophile Lounge came to be after years of selling various audio and computer components for a variety of customers in different markets. We have nearly 50 years of listening experiences and 20 plus years in sales, customer support, to include Help Desk support. The knowledge gained from multiple audio experiences, setting up turntables, cartridges, measuring rooms, and optimizing systems led to the humble beginnings of The Audiophile Lounge. Music is sort of a backbone for this history as foundational music experiences were shaped by relatives who played for Santana in the late 60s. Thus, you can say that the Audiophile Lounge has quite an understanding of the meaning of musical nirvana when taught at an early age how to listen to music and just sit back and relax. Those informative years were formed by reel-to-reel; however, the essence of The Audiophile Lounge provides individualized and custom audio playback solutions for all of your home theater, stereo, and audio needs. You like records? We specialize in vinyl playback, particularly, Transrotor Turntables and audio accessories. As an audio dealer representing Axiss Audio and Transrotor, we take pride in the fact that we are able to provide premium services and equipment to any music lover. We are West Michigan's premiere Transrotor audio dealer.
We are only a handful of retailers within the United States that can provide tailored listening experiences due to our custom designed sound-proof listening studio. Listen for yourself. You deserve to hear music like you have never heard before. Come by, kick off your shoes, and relax in The Audiophile Lounge and experience your personalized audio consultation in a relaxing atmosphere. You can choose any of 1000's of records we have available to demo music. See you soon and Happy Listening!
History of Transrotor Turntables
The only way that the Transrotor History can be told is from the Transrotor company itself and the CEO, Jochen Rake.
According to Transrotor:
"Your research has pointed you in the right direction - you have arrived at one of the most established turntable manufacturers in the world. We manufacture in Germany. Here we rely on tradition and the worldwide appreciation of our engineers.
We also see ourselves as a family business. Our values are clear and inalienable - since 1971, when Transrotor was founded by Jochen Räke.
Transrotor was born in the best days of the vinyl record. We are certain that the future still belongs to vinyl records. The signs speak for us. Our portfolio is designed to appeal to fans of vinyl, precision engineering and aesthetically sophisticated designs. The worldwide trade press appreciates us. But what is even more important to us are our friends on all continents.
Link: Transrotor | Home
Why Transrotor? Anonymous review will tell you why!
When it was time for a turntable upgrade, I researched the market and found Transrotor turntables of Germany. I opted for a Transrotor Apollon in a basic layout which consisted of one motor and a non TMD 60 MM platter. About a year after owning this fine machine, I started doing upgrades and started with the platter and the bearing. I moved immediately to the 80mm platter and the new TMD magnetic bearing. This created a profound and a substantial increase in performance as the background became even quieter and even greater dynamics became the norm in relationship to explosiveness and preciseness of musical pieces when called for. Mind you, I never noticed at any point excessive wow and flutter as it was not an audible issue nor was dynamic expression lacking, there was just more of the dynamic expression with the larger platter and the TMD bearing. I had always listened to music and heard the nuances of what I thought were live recording cues such as some faders play or tape hiss on some recordings. With these two upgrades, I heard deeper into the music and there was a sense of more realism surrounding the instruments and musicians as the music played, undoubtedly due to the heavier platter and the TMD bearing. Adding mass to this record playing system increased performance greatly.
I never noticed any real noises emitting from the bearing before and with the upgrade there were no changes in what I heard, just more silence. Some of the immediate differences between the two platters were obviously weight and height. Going from 60mm to 80 mm increased the height by 20mm, meaning that I had to realign the SME V tonearm to raise it accordingly. Not a problem at all. One noticeable physical effect of the TMD bearing is that the previous bearing allowed the platter to spin up (rev) easier and would spin down or glide several rotations longer as it was freewheeling compared to the magnetic bearing. The magnetic bearing applies a magnetic force to the bearing controlling the platter and that magnetic pull is noticeable, meaning that the heavy platter needs an additional torque push/pull from the motors to overcome the magnetic pull from the TMD bearing. I had thought of weight as an issue even with the 60mm platter that is how I ended up with three motors in the first place. The three motors and belts had no problem spinning this heavy platter with TMD. The motors never stress under the influence of the magnetic bearing and there seems to be no noticeable belt wear on all three belts, even after almost 2 ½ years of heavy use. The addition of the new speed controller with three separate analog amplifiers for each motor controller and microprocessor logic allowed me to ensure stabile speed and with a built-in voltage regulator this allows for fully conditioned and stabile electrical current to be provided to each motor controller.
For me to describe the sound with adjectives and superlatives would mean that I might be vying for a reviewer's job, however, I am your average Joe enjoying music like the rest of you and thus my comments are more precise and to the point. The music just plainly rocks on this combination of equipment and room interaction. If an electric guitar was far left and behind or just behind the front stage, or a saxophone playing out loudly or softly, or a trumpet playing; they all sound right and oh so real to me. How does one make comparisons to a concert, well for one, if you go out to listen to live music occasionally, then I guess you will hear what real and live sounds like. To me what is important is the piano, trumpet, drums and cymbals. If a system can get this right, then you will spend hours on end listening to musicals, in which case I happen to do. My wife plays piano and I get to hear her play every once in a while at the house, I play trumpet, not as often as I would like and far from professionally, but enough to get by a few songs and just from these two instruments we both get a live impression from music besides our concerts or live music visits which serve as our reference for live music. Our last live music show was Sara K and Christian Willison in Manheim Germany. After the concert, we went home and played a Sara K album and we both just sat back in the seat and realized why this system sounds to us as good as the concert we were just at. When my wife states something like that, there is a lot of miniscule things she heard at the concert that is being recreated here in our listening room. Last night, I played an MFSL Steely Dan, Aja album and it was so hauntingly real, like the instruments were jumping out of the thin air and just playing for you as the singers played on. If you must look up at the room to see for yourself if there is actually an instrument playing, I guess that is the best complement you can give to your own system, because that is what is happening when I play vinyl via the Transrotor Apollon using the combination of electronics I own. As I listen to other songs from musicians and either re-mastered new pressings or original issues, it is just pure bliss if the recording reveals that. I can tell the differences in recording techniques as well as the ambiance of each recording. There is not a sterile flat background but a electrified one that emits the life of an event happening in front of you. Ambiance to me is the effect that the silent background of music has but is electrically charged to recreate that atmosphere and feeling. For example, listening to Bob Segers Night Moves on an MFSL record, when it gets to the lull in the music and Bob starts stating, "I remember back to 1969", well his voice is wrapped up in the microphone and you can hear him inhale and exhale. That is the level of detail that this turntable portrays, but not just his breaths, but the way he is inhaling and some of the distinct shhh effect on the microphone when someone gets to close and talks. Another distinct point I would like to make is that I can determine the quality of vinyl pressings by listening and comparing the new versus old. On some of the new non-audiophile recordings such as Marvin Gaye, Let’s get it on or Jim Croce, the sound is just flat and sterile sounding. On the original highly scratched versions I own, the sound is so much more vibrant and natural sounding yet scratched. Another aspect I hear in this system that is a standout to me is the subtle but pronounced way that drums are portrayed across the soundstage. I hear the slight tap of the snare and can visualize that drum being hit or slapped, and sometimes multiple drums that pan left or right just hit you with the right feel. It is like looking at an IMAX movie, that is the only way I can describe it, where you are immersed in the total event. On another musical example, I played Allman Brothers Band, Idle Wild South and after playing both Midnight Rider and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed I have goose bumps listening to the amazing performances that the Allman Brothers are capable of, again, that mesmerizing effect and then having cravings for 5 shots of tequila to amplify this effect and the feeling like I am meditating, yeah, meditating to the music, now that is what I call it.
Our Expertise
With years of experience in the audio industry, the team at The Audiophile Lounge brings unparalleled knowledge and skills to every project. We specialize in audio equipment, sound design, and custom installations that elevate your sound quality.
TRANSROTOR TURNTABLES: A Visual Journey
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