Reed 3p - review

Okay so I've been living with my new Reed 3p, bought from our very own Hugo of Ammonite Audio, for a good month or so and thought it was about time to put down a few thoughts.

Quality of finish.
Absolutely top notch engineering and beautifully finished, even in the standard Seashell White (think brushed aluminium). The armwand is a 12" cocobolo and again finished perfectly.

Gripes... the phono leads (cryo + cryo bullets) are a little stiff. But that's it.

Ease of installation.
Once you lose your nervousness about handling such an expensive, precious, and seemingly delicate thing it's very easy. Remember this is a magnetically held pseudo unipivot that behaves like a gimbaled design so once the armwand is located into its cradle and locked magnetically it's pretty much plain sailing.

It does differ from a normal arm when it comes to positioning, Reed provides a template for where the arm should be at rest and this is not the usual position, it's at approximately 30° from linear and takes a little getting used to visually.

However I had it installed in around 15 minutes. The Allaerts took another 15 minutes to get perfectly aligned.

Playback.
Using the arm is exactly like any other. Except of course VTA, and azimuth can be easily adjusted on the fly - fantastic.

It feels just like a gimbaled design in use.

One other neat feature is the ability to quickly lock and unlock the arm when in the arm rest, something I use all the time now.

Sound.
Being a pseudo unipivot design I expected a clean, detailed, liquid midrange and top end and I wasn't disappointed. Spaciousness, openness, airiness - instruments are beautifully nuanced and differentiated and vocals are a minor revelation.

Imaging is pinpoint and the soundstage wide and deep wth lots of layering.

Is there more detail? God yes. Do I hear new things on familiar tracks? Yes. In fact it made me realise just how veiled the Allaerts has been all this time without me knowing and that this was down to the previous arm. This makes you wonder just how good our carts might actually be if only we knew!

But what about the bass, a possible weakness in a unipivot design? It's all there, but cleaner, faster, more articulate and seamlessly integrates into the lower mids. Lets put it this way, since installing it I've been going mad trying to figure out what has been rattling in my listening room - for the first time, so it goes deep.

It's strange how our hifi's evolve, and of course all of the above observations are both subjective and unimportant. The important question is has my listening pleasure increased, has music been more enjoyable because of the new/latest addition?

The answer is a definite yes.

Sales.
Hugo is a gent. He went out of his way to make two videos showing set up for me so I wouldn't hit a snag. That's service.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...eb334aa191.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...150ed9b921.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d6ac1004fa.jpg

Very nice. I’m not jealous, honest!

That looks amazing Adrian, an inspired choice I think. :)

Stunning looking arm any TT. I'm biased about the TT mind you [emoji6]

Good review too. Well done!

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the kind words Adey - I’m very glad that it’s hit the spot for you. The Reed 3P is definitely a bit special and I am missing it!

Just saw this thread.

Recently bought one of these 3P 12" arms from Hugo. Absolutely delighted with it. I've bought from Hugo before, he remains very helpful and informative and a most pleasant and rewarding experience.