47 Laboratory - The minimalist alternative
by Peter Russell

Issue 11 - May 2001
© Images and text copyright Absolute Multimedia UK Ltd 2001

Just think of the X files. Somewhere buried deep in a bunker along a nondescript corridor there is a door with the label 47 Laboratory. Yet another anonymous research lab searching for the fourth encounter? You could be right, but not this time. In this instance the search is one for musical purity. (There are many paths to musical nirvana and most of us spend our lives mixing and matching in our attempts to get there. How does the saying go, better to have travelled...) 47 Laboratory is a small Japanese company whose mission in life is to confound the audio world by creating cradle to the grave audio equipment; every component in the audio chain and therefore a complete system and listening experience, but to do so with the minimum number of components and the greatest possible simplicity. At the moment their efforts extend only as far as electronics, but I understand a speaker has been under development for some time.

In looking at this equipment it's essential to understand that it's the embodiment of a single, over-arching philosophy built on the three pillars of simplicity, short signal paths and mechanical integrity. All this is embraced in carefully executed jewel-like casework. It's a philosophy that is pursued without compromise, to the extent that the end results are almost unrecognisable as a "highend" hi-fi system, and elevate user frustration (the opposite of user friendliness) to new and undreamt of levels. Why bother? I hear you ask. Because the ends more than justify the means. At over UK£14,000 for the system under review there has to be considerable justification.

I suppose the words that come to mind when first viewing the 47 Labs are 'small, compact and where's the rest of it?' This last comment was made by a visiting friend and also by my wife, who continually expects the arrival of a series of large and heavy cardboard boxes to complete the system.

As someone who has spent a good deal of his audio life (and income) as a committed member of the Big Is Beautiful Club, a firm believer that the crock of gold at the end of the audio rainbow is too large to get through your average door, my acceptance of the 47 Lab. System could prove interesting to the psychiatrists out there, and this coming from a psychologist! I prefer to see it as confirmation that I no longer have anything to prove. Perhaps it is called maturity.

At the heart of it all has to be the amplifier or Gaincard (you know, a straight wire with gain). To get it all into perspective, imagine two packets of playing cards joined together at their ends by a face-plate, two knobs and two miniature toggle switches, two umbilical cords terminated with computer connection blocks going into a large biscuit barrel. This is the amplifier. Oh yes and before I forget, the (heavy and incredibly solid) biscuit barrel is the power supply and is called the Humpty. The object here is to create the shortest signal path possible with the least number of components and the maximum rigidity. The literature, states that there are only nine components in the signal path, excluding the attenuators, and that the signal path is only 32mm long including those parts! The design is, unsurprisingly, completely dual mono, each channel getting an on/mute toggle switch and a volume knob. This has twelve, rather coarse and inadequate increments. The whole construction sits on integral spikes, one at each corner, which in turn sit in matching cups. Power output is rated at 25 watts per channel, with a 50w version available for those who feel the need for more testosterone.

The Gaincard has provision for only one line input, but you can run two outputs. Each mono channel has its own grounding post. Fortunately if you need more than one source and most of us do, you can add an Input Chooser, which is the same size as the amplifier on which it can be placed. It too has three spiked feet, which fit into the integral cups on top of the Gaincard. Very neat. The Input Chooser accommodates four line inputs and two outputs.

If the amplifier is distinctly off-beat then so too are the source components. The digital solution is eclectic to say the least. At a time when everyone else seems to be gradually moving towards single box CD players, 47 Labs have created a three-box approach. We have the transport, DAC and 1 shared power supply (another biscuit barrel, but this time called the Dumpty).

The transport is more than odd. It is weird. The size of an average hardback novel, it sits on three freestanding pillars that at times want to walk in different directions! With its high mass and rigid construction the player seeks to control the storage of mechanical energy and internal vibration.

All the manual controls are on the top, consisting of more small toggle switches, recessed into dimples machined into the main slab. They control the backlight for the status window, play, stop, track forward/back and pause. Placing a CD on the transport can only be described as a ritual. It involves securing the disc with a plastic puck which screws into the transport hub. 47 Labs seem to have taken the care needed to place a vinyl record on a turntable and transposed it directly to playing a CD. All that is missing is a laser arm to locate the first pit on the disc! This is no plug and play experience.

The transport can be used as a stand alone two-box player (including the Dumpty) as it has a 1-bit, 4x oversampling on-board DAC. Alternatively, you can use it with an external converter, but once again things are far from straight forward. There are two digital outputs, the second of which is for use with conventional designs. The number one output is reserved for 47 Lab's own Progression DAC, itself another embodiment of the company's apparent obsession with simplicity. Like some of the Audio Note DACs there is no attempt to confuse the owner with upsampling, oversampling, or filters; there simply aren't any. The argument is that throwing more and more complex technological solutions at digital retrieval is missing the point. By adhering to the principle of simplicity and short signal paths, whilst at the same time minimising mechanical vibration, the problems so often associated with digital reproduction can be avoided. 47 Labs. see filtering and oversampling as a classic case of the cure being worse than the disease. Listening to their system I'm forced to concede the point.

Given the configuration of the CD player, its owner is forced into exactly the sort of ritualistic behaviour that normally goes with expensive record players, and it goes way beyond the disc clamping arrangements. Get even a little bit careless and the whole contraption will collapse on its none too steady legs, doing a perfect mechanical impression of a 'Flat Fish' which, with true Japanese whimsy, is exactly what it is called. Any notion of using CD's as a convenience has gone right out of the window here. A steady hand, good eyesight and the use of two hands to stabilise the transport are a must. Fortunately there is a remote control with a range of functions in addition to those provided on the transport itself. Unfortunately it does not share the same bombproof build quality as the rest of the equipment. It's almost as if someone simply ran out of time and rummaged in a box of discarded mid-fi remotes. Incidentally, I understand that there is also another, more expensive (!) CD player available called, rather descriptively, the Pi-tracer. It's the company's flagship model, but that's all I can tell you.

The final box in the system is the Phono Cube that, as its name suggests, is an active MC stage. In keeping with the design philosophy, it is small, dual mono with two grounding posts, and at first sight looks rather like a huge cartridge. It comes attached to another Dumpty power supply, and surprise, surprise, it's operating principle is far from straight forward.

The Phono Cube is a current amplification device with a zero Ohm impedance, an approach first employed by Dr Tominari of Dynavector. This approach allows all of the current generated by the cartridge to be amplified, the output level being determined by the output amperage of the cartridge; output voltage divided by the internal impedance. For most cartridges the standard version (75db gain) will be adequate, but there is also a high gain (93db) version for very low output cartridges. Having assembled the Humptys, Dumptys and Flat Fish we have to link them all together.

All the King's men in Japan have come up with a solution that really challenges hi-fi credibility (not to mention the tomes of literature on cable design often used to support the high prices demanded by certain manufacturers). Here we have what can best be described as hi-fi spaghetti; it looks like it, feels like it, and I haven't tried the rest. It is 0.4mm solid OFC copper wire sheathed in plastic with each conductor run as a separate wire. The story does not end there; the plugs are plastic with not a solder joint or crimp in sight. Not in my wildest imagination did I ever foresee this, or the hours of endless `amusement' that went with it, but I'm getting ahead of myself. In the kit you get 50m of spaghetti and packs of plastic phono plugs and bananas for speakers. You are supposed to use a pair of tweezers to help you to assemble the interconnects. Fortuitously, 47 Labs advise you not to use the cable as power cords!

The idea is that you make your leads up yourself, so there I was sitting on the floor with a pair of cable strippers and tweezers trying to make the cables. It is not easy. For one thing the copper wire is brittle and if you are not careful you will end up surrounded by 3-inch lengths of cable as you inadvertently sever the wire. Get it right and you will achieve equal lengths of conductor, get it wrong... It is best to allow an extra nine inches or so for over enthusiastic use of the strippers.

The bare copper is inserted into the plastic pin and out through the end, bent back down its length, threaded through a small hole at the base of the pin and wrapped round the shank to secure it. The other conductor is threaded through the wall of the collar, bent down the inside and reinserted into the inside of the collar to be gripped by the incoming cable, Repeat three times and you now have a set of interconnects. The interconnects are connected by inserting the pin through the collar and into the female RCA socket. Then the collar is pushed into place. The speaker cable is exactly the same but without the collar, the pin being the same size as a standard banana (no attempt at Japanese humour here). The cable is terminated at the Gaincard by four small Philips headed screws which certainly limit the range of speaker cable you could use with the system, but then, I really can't see anybody buying the amp and not buying the philosophy as a whole.

The complete system was wired with the cable; interconnects, digital link and speaker cables. Only the phono cable was my old standby from FM Acoustic. The whole system was set on BCD stands, and a VPI brick was placed on top of the Input Chooser/Gaincard stack to ensure that I did not have to chase it round the shelf every time I changed an input. The analogue front end was a Well Tempered Signature with either a Grasshopper III or a Miyabi cartridge (there is a 47Labs/Miyabi cartridge, but this was not available for review), while speakers were either rebuilt Quad ELS57's or the rare but wonderful Ensemble Profysias.

So there you have it; a complete system, ready to (rock and) roll. But before we get into the musical performance it's worth pointing out, once again, that the finished article is the product of a single, coherent philosophy. As such, adopting anything other than the complete system will dilute that philosophy, and therefore the potential benefits. I'm not saying that you couldn't pick and mix these components, or that you couldn't build the system over time, spreading the pain of the considerable financial outlay. But once you taste the benefits, I'm confident you'll hunger for more.

Taking on the entire system requires a leap of faith. The listener is drawn into the equipment as an active participant, with all the incumbent obligations and frustrations that implies. 47 Labs is very much an enthusiasts' preoccupation, a step into the audio unknown. With its minimalist pretensions, purist circuitry and demanding ceremony, the production of music becomes a conscious and somewhat ritualistic event. Its saving grace is that it's definitely worth the effort. Now read on.

Junji Kimura, the creator of the 47 Labs system has set as his musical objective; to recreate the 'heart of the sound' which he defines as "living in the point of contact where musician and instrument meet". This statement reminds us that when we listen to live music we experience a performance. It is the recreation of the performance and our involvement in it that lies at the heart of the 47 Labs system. The nature of musical experience is different for each of us, dependant as it is on our predispositions, experience and emotional sophistication. Our sensitivity to our emotional response to what we experience is central to being able to participate in the performance and engage in the point where musician and instruments meet. In the sense that that meeting point is ineffable, lies the heart of any attempt to `explain', `analyse', and ultimately communicate the nature of one medium through another. A description of a painting by Turner, no matter how sensitive, cannot replace experiencing it. It may help you see and experience the painting differently however.

The extent to which the 47 Laboratory system can create that meeting point and the resulting suspension of disbelief that transforms a recording into a performance is what we are exploring here. It was Aaron Copeland who said that music has four ingredients; rhythm, melody, harmony and tone colour (timbre). Every time we listen to music we experience them although we may not distinguish them. The ability to present these as part of a performance is the goal of all audio reproduction.

It is no accident that most of the musical examples I'm going to discuss are the product of acoustic instruments. For the musical point of contact to be recognisable this must be so. The challenge presented by the 47 Labs system is to get beyond the idiosyncratic and particularist nature of the equipment to assess the extent to which its design and build philosophy achieve that suspension of disbelief Let's start at the deep end. The Flatfish, with its adherence to simplicity, minimalism and awkwardness creates an expectation of curiosity and confused anticipation. How will it perform given that it crosses so firmly against the `convenient' grain of most other CD players? In one word, faithfully Ry Cooder's jazz is a superb medley of blues, jazz and Cajun rhythms, and it's superbly recorded. The ability to render the human voice with all its tone colours is a core test of any reproducing system. The track `Nobody', apart from its changes in tempo, captures all the richness and timbre of the voice as it articulates its message. Here Ry Cooder is suspended in front of the listener and becomes another instrument contributing to the melody. Those of you who are familiar with Jennifer Warnes and Famous Blue Raincoat should try to get hold of The Hunter. Apart from being well produced, not one of the tracks disappoints. However `Some-where, Somebody' is a discrete blend of lead singer, male accompaniment, chorus and simple musical phrasing. The bass line provides a backcloth against which the melody is developed. For the tune to `work' it has to be presented with all its parts clearly articulated whilst at the same time ensuring that the lead voice maintains its position relative to the musical parts; sometimes dominant, sometimes as another instrument with equal weight. Here the 47 Labs system achieves this with a delicate balance, just as it portrays the tonal colour of Jennifer Warne's closemiked voice in `Lights of Louisiana'.

This ability to present the tonal colour of the human voice with tangible expression is a hallmark of the 47 Labs system which it carries over to the analogue source, more of which later.

There is certain music which relies for its dramatic impact on the spatial imaging of instruments and voices, particularly in early music consorts and chamber music, always assuming that the recording is able to capture the scale of the instruments and acoustic accurately. We have all heard the 20ft piano! 10ft will do.

One particular recording that demonstrates the importance of capturing the spatial cues and that is Fone's Daniel and the Lions, a liturgical piece which historically predates the separation of instrumental and drama into liturgy and the medieval passion plays which ultimately became Opera, and then popular musicals. In this piece the opening has the procession of instruments and singers proceeding from the back of the church towards the front, and then crossing to centre stage where the king Balthezar takes his throne. While I was listening to this, my Abyssinian cat (who is spatially far more acute than me) was sitting in a chair between, and in their plane of, the speakers, looked up and followed the procession round the church, her head moving as they came to stand behind where she was sitting. At that point there is a sharp and loud strike of the drum. The cat decided that she had had enough and scuttled out of the room! My only slight disappointment was that I would have wished for a little more gain to have really experienced the majesty of the Te Deum.

A well-recorded and presented example of Pagannini is always both fun and instructive to listen to. Clarity Recording's Witches Brew is a compilation of virtuoso violin pieces. The violinist is Eugene Fodor who captures the energy and verve whilst at the same time the accurate phrasing need to show Paganinni off to his best. In 'Le Stregth' (the Witches) the violinist is required to play it one half stop higher in E flat major and the need for additional pressure on the strings produces increased attack and brilliance. Just occasionally some the leading edges of the notes are lost, whether due to the recording or the CD player I am not sure, but given the quality of Pope recordings I am tempted to blame the CD player. One point worth mentioning is that the Quads captured the dramatic attack more vividly than the Ensembles. The sonority and detail in Rossini's Meses is portrayed with authority and focus, especially in the changes in timbre as the notes decay on the single string tuned to G flat.

All of the above is from the Flatfish and the Progression DAC together, but the Flatfish can be used as a stand-alone CD player. It is here that one can really appreciate what the Progression DAC does in the system. As a standalone, one bit player the presentation of music lost a lot of its presence. Almost inevitably, some of the inner detail and micro dynamics were absent, whilst at the same time the music became one dimensional with a flattened soundstage. As a performance it was nowhere near as believable compared to the Progression DAC. The 47 Labs. philosophy of less is more, as embodied in the filter free DAC would appear to be well founded. The fact that f could sit for a couple of days and actually listen to and enjoy my CDs, is not just a testimony to my perseverance but demonstrates that the Flatfish and Progression delivered a believable performance despite (or because of) the fact that it is not burdened with the latest additive technology.

If it wasn't for the fact that there is just some music I want and can only get on CD, I would have been more than content to just listen to vinyl played through the Phonocube. This diminutive piece of technology is the piece de resistance of the System. At just under 0,200 including power supply, the Phonocube is a serious commitment to analogue. At this price it has to stand up to some fierce competition as well as needing to push the performance envelope out to overcome a number of excellent phono-stages at significantly lower price points.

Most of the listening was done with my trusty Grasshopper III GLA, which I know well and have become used to; perhaps too much so. The Phonocube acts as a transparent bridge between the cartridge and the amplification stage. Nowhere has the character of the Grasshopper been revealed so ruthlessly as with the 4'7 Labs. There's a series of records produced in the mid to late late eighties by MCA on virgin vinyl with such artists as Albert Lee, Larry Carlton, Jerry Douglas etc. All are instrumental, cover a broad range of instruments and genre and are superbly produced. They are all characterised by enormous musical energy whether from a blues slide guitar, xylophone or snare drum. Listening to all six albums-for about four hours was a delight and it was easy to forget that the music was generated by only 25 watts; the large sound stage, attack and decay of the riffs, the positioning of the percussive interludes all combined to make for a memorable afternoon.

For me the reproduction of the human voice at low volumes is a real challenge for any audio system. To produce the micro dynamics and tonal shifts through an extended note whilst at the same time portraying the dynamic contrasts creates the feeling of actually being there. I will avoid identifying the third bearing binding on the right of the stage in the opening track of Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Sessions. Rather I will comment on the raw projection of Margo Timin's voice as it traces the melody line and how she creates that haunting effect in 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' with its ponderous bass and haunting bottleneck slide guitar. The Phonocube captured her ability to shade her voice even at low volumes. One ought to mention `Nobody' the evocative track on Jazz by Ry Cooder, here the analogue version lifted his voice to another level, revealing how it was miked and projected into the space in front of the listener.

Likewise Muddy Waters' Folk Singer demonstrates the Phonocube's consistent ability to capture the tonal character of well-recorded vocal tracks. Muddy Water's expressive vocal ability was portrayed with an uncanny realism and without the exaggeration that can disturb the correct balance of voice and instruments. I haven't really talked about the quality of the bass. I've never really seen the point of discussing disconnected aspects of the audio spectrum, on their own and in isolation from either a particular performance or piece of music. The 47 Labs. System has further confirmed that view, so lets look quickly at some orchestral pieces that demand the ability to portray appropriate soundstage with believable instrumental positioning. The underlying bass tones underpinning the second movement in The Pines of Rome created just the right brooding menace in the catacombs, whist the lyrical energy of Mussorgsky's Night on a Bald Mountain was a vivid example of the system's ability to present dynamic detail with aplomb'. I think that the only limitation here was that there was a hint of strain on the most demanding of passages, where either the 50w version of the Gaincard or a more sensitive Speaker might have pushed the performance envelope out that little bit further.

Most of the listening was done with the Grasshopper III GLA, but towards the end of the session I had the opportunity to introduce the Miyabi which is the subject of its own review. Sufficient to say that that cartridge's coherence and smoothness was captured in spades and, significantly, the control and quality of the bass lines in orchestral passages was exemplary. Because of the way the Phonocube works there was more than sufficient gain to drive the Profysias to appropriate levels without strain, despite its lower output than the Grasshopper (See the Miyabi review on page 86 issue 11 for more on this). Careful matching of cartridge output and internal impedance is going to be just as critical as loudspeaker sensitivity if you want to get the best out of the 47 Labs.

This review has been, in many ways, a journey of personal exploration into what is for me, the new world of low powered solid state amplification. The 47 Labs designs present a complete and no compromise gestalt of stark simplicity and purity, refusing to include operational irrelevancies at any cost - apart from money that is. The demands made on the prospective purchaser are conflicting. Certainly the 25w Gaincard can drive medium sensitivity speakers (90+dB) and with careful cartridge matching superb results will be obtained. For some, especially those using a lot of CD, the 50w Gaincard will offer a larger choice of loudspeakers, but for me there is something musically right about the smaller Gaincard that my previous ownership of huge (and hugely expensive) electronics has all too often failed to deliver. I feel at last that I've reached a spiritual watershed, and that means that the search for that elusive perfect speaker has got to be worth the effort. (You can't expect me to give up my acquisitive tendencies overnight!) You might have to work up to it but the 47 Labs. is well worth the effort. So live dangerously: Ignore the bigger and more complex kit on the dealer's floor; try not to be seduced by the latest audio technobabble, and most difficult of all; leave your audio baggage at home. It's a liberating experience I can tell you.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Gaincard amplifier (4706)
Power output: 25W/80hms
Input Impedance: 22K ohms (Unbalanced)
Dimensions(W x H x D): 170 x 40 x 100 mm
Price: UK£1,495

Power Humpty (4700)
Dimensions (W x D): 130 x 195 mm
Price: UK£1,495

Flatfish CD Player/ transport (4713)
Digital outputs: 2 Coaxial (RCA) outputs Analog output: 1 Unbalanced (RCA) output
Dimensions (WxHxD) 170 x 60 x 245 mm
Price £2,995

Progression DAC (4705)
Sampling Frequency: 32kH, 44kH, 48kH Output Voltage: 2.1v
Digital input: 1x Coaxial
Analog output: I pr Unbalanced
Dimensions (W x H x D) 60 x 70 x 162 mm
Price: UK£2,195

Power Dumpty (4799)
Price: UK£1,495

Cable System OTA Kit (4708)
Cable 50m 0.4mm OFC copper Stratos wire
Plugs 12 pairs machined soft plastic RCA plugs
Price: UK£495

Input Chooser (4707)
Inputs: 4 Unbalanced
Outputs: 2 Unbalanced
Dimensions (W x H x D): 170 x 40 x 100 mm
Price: £695

System Price: £14,055

UK Contact:
Midland Audio Exchange
Tel. (44)(0)1562 822236
E-mail. sales@midlandaudiox-change.co.uk
Net. www.midlandaudiox-change.co.uk

UK Distributor:
Net. www.sakurasystems.com

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