Reed Audio Muse 1C and 3P

There are times as a reviewer when I find myself thinking along the lines of US Patent Office Commission Henry Ellsworth, who noted in 1843; “The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end.” In the case of turntables in particular, we’ve been working on the basic design process for some time, and it doesn’t require a terribly negative attitude to find yourself thinking like Ellsworth did. 

Of course, for every Ellsworth, there is a Vidmantas Triukas; Founder, owner, and chief designer of Reed Audio. His work with Reed is a physical riposte to the notion that there are no new ideas in analogue. We have already looked at the genuinely innovative 5P tonearm in Issue 219. Now it’s time to look at what happens when Reed produces something more conventional… to a given value of conventional anyway. The Muse 1C turntable and 3P tonearm have a cumulative price that could, with a straight face, be called accessible. Does this dampen Reed’s endlessly innovative approach?

Simplicity

The short answer is, ‘not really.’ The Muse 1C is the brand’s most affordable turntable, and this has resulted in some simplification compared to the more ornate models, but less than you might expect. Key to this is how the 1C rotates its platter. While larger models have the option of both belt and idler drive, the 1C requires you to choose one of those options and have the 1C built to that format. While the belt drive is the less expensive of those options, the Reed 1C we tested uses the arguably more exciting choice.

This is a take on an idler drive where two opposing DC motors act on the central spindle. Reed avoids the issue of the motors working against one another by running them at slightly different speeds and fitting one with a different-sized drive wheel to ensure the rotational force is equal at all points. The assembly is then phase-locked loop controlled to ensure that it is synced together. One additional benefit of this wholly custom approach is that the 1C can rotate at 16 and 78 RPM as well as 33 and 45. 

This drive unit, which looks for all the world like an oversized watch mechanism, acts on a Delrin platter that, at a whisker under 3kg, is relatively light by the standards of turntables at this price point. This is topped with a leather mat and sits semi-flush to the plinth. Given the relative potency of the motors and the lightness of the platter, the Muse is unsurprisingly pretty quick to spin up and has been utterly pitch-stable during the test. 

Birch ply

The plinth itself is made from layers of birch ply, which can be left in its natural finish or sprayed black. Power comes via a supplied SBooster unit that connects at the back of the plinth. It is somewhat utilitarian but doesn’t need to be anywhere near your line of sight. The 1C is wide enough to accommodate any arm between 9 and 12 inches in length and has a mounting plate that will accommodate pretty much anything. If you fancy a new idler drive but don’t want to part with your existing arm, I would be surprised to find it doesn’t fit. 

Of course, Reed’s reputation for tonearms means I suspect that most Muse 1Cs will be equipped with one of the company’s models, and any in the company portfolio will fit. As we have already looked at one of the more sophisticated Tangential 90-degree pivot designs, the 3P seen here is a simpler model with a conventional single pivot point. The wand itself is available in 9.5, 10.5, and 12-inch lengths, and the latter was supplied for testing. 

This being a Reed device though, the fact the 3P only pivots around a single point doesn’t necessarily mean I’d describe what results as simple. The bearing had the behaviour of a unipivot but was secured via three pivots and both vertical and horizontal axis magnetic stabilisers. The wand arrives detached from the mount, and while connecting it up is more straightforward than with the Tangential Pivot models, it is still not a task to undertake lightly. One little bonus is that the headshell can be detached to simplify the cartridge fitting. 

Necessary complexity

Part of the reason for this complexity is that the 3P scratches any itch you could conceivably have about setup and adjustability. I’ve seen arms with the means to adjust VTA on the fly, but the Reed trumps that with the ability to adjust azimuth in use, too. A small control that, more than anything else, resembles a tiny regulator allows for fine adjustment around the pivot point. A heavier counterweight is available for weightier cartridges, but the stock one could balance a relatively large and heavy Vertere XtraX without issue. Depending on your life choices, the lead-out cable can be captive or attached via a terminal block. 

The combination of deck and arm appeals more the longer you spend with it. The two products are undoubtedly engineering-led in terms of their design; nothing here that  doesn’t need to be, but there’s a beauty to the Reed that manifests itself via the fastidious nature of its construction and implementation. The drive mechanism is beautiful, and the 3P arm is barely less wondrous to look at, bridging the gap between engineering and sculpture. You don’t need to know anything about turntables to know this one is special. My inner Puritan would probably choose the black finish over the naked birch, but you have at least both options.

Using the Reed is logical enough once set up. It takes a few days to get used to the first button above ‘stop’ being 16rpm; a speed I’m not inundated with content for. The 3P arm also only sits very gently in its armrest unless you tighten a small screw on the underside to lock it into place. There’s no cover as standard but this doesn’t put the Reed at any significant disadvantage to most rivals that also do without. 

Idler no idea

I had no clear expectations for what the Reed would sound like before I heard it, partly because my experience of idler turntables in my domestic listening environment is effectively none. To this end, I started listening to The Cinematic Orchestra’s Every Day [Ninja Tune] because the opening duo of tracks are firmly etched into my brain after two decades of use. From the moment the double bass in ‘All that You Give’ delivers its first plucked note, it becomes clear that the Reed does things in its way.

Those double bass notes have a heft and tangibility that, for a fleeting second, brings to mind direct drive but, just as quickly, has you noting that the Muse 1C is articulate in a way that isn’t always the case with such systems. The potency of the low-end is balanced against Fontella Bass sounding as delicate yet tangible as I can recall hearing her. As she pushes the peaks, the fractional waver and break in her voice are apparent in a way that isn’t always the case when she’s underpinned as effectively as this. 

Further listening reveals this ‘hefty delicacy’ consistently repeats itself across a broad swathe of listening material. The excellent reissue of Ray Charles in Person [Atlantic] benefits hugely from what Reed can do. As a period recording, this isn’t something you would look towards for spleen-wobbling low end, but in the hands of the Reed, there’s a weight to the delivery that means the sublime ‘What’d I Say’ is that bit more forceful. When Charles begins singing, he’s the instant focus of your attention. That same tangible energy across the midrange and upper frequencies ensues that the Reed brings the material to life rather than simply reproducing it. 

Walking the balance

The balance that the Reed Audio walks in terms of the accuracy of what it does is very carefully considered. Given the attention to detail that has gone into its engineering, it perhaps isn’t surprising that it tends to come down on the side of accuracy over and above out and out joy with most material you play on. While it was in on test, a copy of The Egg’s Albumen [Indochina] showed up after a spell of nostalgia-driven browsing on Discogs. Listening to this on the Reed back-to-back with the resident Vertere MG-1 MkII showed the differences in approach between the two. The Vertere is the more euphoric of the two devices. It’s keener to latch onto the time signature of what’s being played and slightly airier while it does it.

The Reed hits back – quite literally – with a low-end extension beyond what the MG-1 and, indeed, pretty much anything else at this price point can generate. It’s also easier to discern specific instruments. The flute refrain in ‘The Fat Boy Goes to the Cinema’ is a much more tangible and vibrant experience on the Reed. The more constrained feeling of space around the recording should not be confused with any reduction in the scale of the recording itself, which still has a good degree of separation and three-dimensionality. 

The tests with the Vertere cart had been helpful and a decent way of getting a handle on what the Reed can do, but it undersells what the 3P arm can do because it makes very few specific demands. Removing it and running with a substantially less expensive but significantly more idiosyncratic Van den Hul DDT II was a rather impressive demonstration of its functionality. The DDT II is capable of monumental performance for its relatively sane asking price, but only if its particular needs, which are perfect alignment, VTA, relatively light tracking force, and respectably high compliance, are met. The 3P effortlessly adjusted to these requirements and secured what realistically counts as the best performance I’ve ever had out of this particular DDT II in the many years it has lived here. 

The Whole Story

The character of the DDT II then makes itself felt in the Reed Audio Muse 1C/3P’s performance as a whole. It loses some of the utterly mesmerising bandwidth and accuracy of the Vertere. Still, listening to the brilliantly atmospheric Quatermass Seven by Little Barrie and Malcolm Catto [Madlib Invazion], there is a liveliness and richness that makes the Reed’s performance feel more natural and involving. It’s still the same balance the Reed struck before, but the gentle coloration of the Van den Hul works well in this instance. 

This absolute confidence and flexibility to respond to your ancillaries is the core of Reed’s abilities. The fastidious engineering and attention to detail have been done in a way that looks out rather than in. I suspect that any arm you mount to the Muse 1C, be it made by Reed or not, will deliver everything it is capable of without drama or issue and mounting a 3P on any deck that can accommodate it is likely to yield spectacular results, too. Together, they are ready for whatever the rest of the signal path holds without fear or favour.  

However intimidating it might appear at first glance, none of the engineering is here for the sake of being clever, and the more you use it, the more Reed’s Muse 1C and 3P’s distinctive way of looking at the challenges of analogue replay make sense. As long as the company keeps probing the limits of what turntables are capable of, I suspect any belief I might harbour that there is nothing more to achieve with vinyl can be put to bed.

Technical specifications

Reed Audio Muse 1C 

• Type: turntable
• Drive System: Friction, belt, two direct current (DC) motors
• Speed: 16, 33, 45, 78 rpm; 78 rpm can be manually adjusted
• Speed stabilisation: Quartz-based phase-locked loop (PLL). Max deviation ±0.05%
• Inclinometer accuracy: 1mm per metre
• Finish: Moonlit Black, Karelian birch
• Packaging dimensions (LxWxH): 65x52x35cm
• Weight: 15kg
• Price: £9,998 (belt drive), £11,998 (idler drive)

Reed Audio 3P

• Type: tonearm
• Arm lengths: 9.5”, 10.5”, 12” (12” version tested)
• Armwand options: Wenge, Makassar Ebony, Cocobolo, Teak (light, dark)
• Mounting distance, mm: 205.5/266.1/283.8
• Pivot-to-spindle distance, mm: 223/251.6/295.6
• Overhang, mm: 17/15.4/13.4
• Offset angle: 22.9°/20.7°/17.6°
• Effective mass: depending on armwand
• Price: £4,298

Manufacturer

Reed Audio

www.reed.lt

UK distributor

Absolute Sounds

www.absolutesounds.com

+44(0)208 971 3909

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