“Arguably the very best tonearm yet made – a startlingly capable all rounder with none of the vices or quirks of rival super-arms…” HiFi World
One of the very best tonearms on sale at any price, Conqueror is aptly named. Yet this isn’t an overblown, showy performer – it’s not voiced to impress some of the people, some of the time. Rather, it’s exceptionally even-handed and balanced in its presentation and sounds sublime across a wide range of music. An immensely high resolution measuring instrument, it is nevertheless consummately musical and organic sounding. A real ‘fit and forget’ product, no matter what you play, it just dissolves away…
Conqueror is the culmination of many years of research work into tonearm design, and sounds light years ahead of its time. It incorporates a number of idealistic principles into engineering practice, to deliver superlative sonic performance.
Compared to more affordable Origin Live tonearms, it there’s an obvious increase in transparency, and with it a heightened sense of realism. Music sounds more natural and less processed, as if a bright light has been shone on the recording and it’s there in front of you, in all its glory. Yet it confers an uncanny smoothness on the music, too; there’s a wonderful sense of ease and rhythmic ebb and flow. Bass is yet more powerful and defined than Illustrious, which is no small feat. Vocals shimmer with natural timbre, and stereo imaging is almost holographic.
Hybrid arm tube composed of 5 materials, for superb energy dissipation
• Ultra low friction dual-pivot bearings for optimum treble performance Dual-Pivot explained
• Floating vertical bearings decouple the armtube from the deck, reducing coloration
• High strength aircraft alloy headshell for increased dynamics
• Internal high grade copper Litz wire with gold plated copper berylium cartridge tags
• Silver Hybrid external arm cable
• Copper Harmony single point contact RCA plugs for high conductivity and minimal eddy currents
• Integral VTA adjustment
• Fits all Rega armboard cutouts – old style threaded base or new 3-point mounting
“The Origin Live Conqueror arm is another masterpiece from the fertile mind of Mark Baker. It merits the highest of recommendations and is the obvious choice for Most Wanted Component of the Year. Simply, the Conqueror is in a class by itself.”
-Stereo Times
“It achieves a consistent and outstanding performance far in advance of anything possible with the Well Tempered Arm. I have bought the arm sent for review and am now in a seventh heaven of completely rediscovering my substantial, well looked after music collection.”
-Chris Bruenig