The Kairos
“It never gets stressed or confused even on the most complex and dynamic material. A great strength is the ease with which you can listen into the recording and hear subtle elements. Natural, open, unflappable. Very easy to fine tune VTF, SRA and azimuth.”
(Simon, Customer)
“It makes truly extraordinary music.”
(Paul, Customer)
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The Kairos™ was introduced for the first time at the 2014 High-End Audio show in Munich (Germany), then was presented to the US customers at T.H.E. Show at Newport Beach (May 30-June 1, 2014). See our section News for more details on these shows.
The Kairos™ offers all the adjustments needed to explore its full potential: VTA is adjusted with a convenient threaded collar which raises or lowers the whole bearing assembly; the VTF can be modified in fine increments; and, as in the case with the Talea™, the azimuth can be very easily adjusted on-the-fly, by turning a screw located under the main plate. Anti-skating is of course available, and can be defeated with a simple operation.
For the first time in our tonearms, we offer with the Kairos™ the option to use your own cable if you feel inclined to, and we introduce a unique feature to that effect: a DIN plug integrated in the base of the arm, to minimize the transmission of vibrations to the phono cable. The arm is sold without cable, but we offer separately a dedicated phono cable (DIN-RCA or DIN-XLR), developed specially for the Kairos™.
Faithful to our usual design philosophy, the Kairos™ is based on the simplest design and the greatest attention to the types of materials involved in the assembly, so as to guarantee maximum quality of reproduction. The result of an extensive period of development, the armwand is made of a specially developed blend of composite materials. We are delighted to offer this technology, and are confident in the tonearm’s abilities to deliver far beyond its price point.
For more information, contact your local dealer.
Here it is mounted on the EMT 948 turntable (we make a special armboard and mounting base for the Kairos on this turntable). You can read about it here:
Photo courtesy of David Robinson
Specifications
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Effective length: 263 mm (10.35”)
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Pivot-spindle distance: 247.37 mm (Loefgren A geometry).
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Overhang: 15.66 mm (Please see our page on cartridge alignment here)
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Offset angle: 20.81 degrees.
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Cartridge mount: 1/2”
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Mounting on the plinth/armboard is done with 2 x 10-24 (or M4) screws (for metal armboards) or 4 x #8 wood screws (for wood armboards).
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If you want to make sure that the Kairos™ will fit on your turntable, you can download a mounting template here (scroll to “Kairos™ Mounting Templates”)
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Weight of the whole assembly: ca. 1.1 lbs (.770 kg)
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Bearing: Unipivot, Swiss-made non-corrosive, non-magnetic stainless steel pivot in a sapphire jewel. The center of mass of the tonearm is in the same plane as the bearing, thus ensuring an ideal dynamic balance, without the need for the outrigger weights commonly found on other unipivot systems
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VTA: fine adjustment with a threaded collar. Maximum range: 15 mm.
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Azimuth: adjustable on the fly. We discuss the question of azimuth setting here
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Anti-skating mechanism can be disabled if desired
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Counterweights: 130 g, 95 g, 60 g; with additional fine adjust weight to allow adjustment of VTF in small increments (typically +/- 0.1 g). The Kairos™ is a medium mass tonearm, and the combination of counterweights provided with it allows use of most cartridges currently available. The Kairos™ has been successfully tested with cartridges from 5 to 15 grams, with compliance from 8 to 20 µm/Mn
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DIN connector inside the arm base.
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Jig to set the pivot-to-spindle distance provided; no need for a ruler, the jig places the tonearm exactly in the right position
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Arc protractor included
Like the Telos™ and the Talea™, the Kairos™ is a medium-mass tonearm that can be used with most modern cartridges on the market.
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We offer a DIN-RCA (or DIN-XLR) phono cable, developed specifically for the Kairos™
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MSRP:
Kairos: $6,950
Phono cable:
$1,850 in DIN-RCA, 4’ configuration
$2,200 in DIN-RCA, 5’ configuration
DIN-XLR: additional fee
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Like all Durand Tonearms products, the Kairos™ is entirely made and assembled by hand in the USA.
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Please note that our invoice will state full price paid, regardless of where it is sent. Durand Tonearms will not misrepresent your tonearm’s value for customs purposes. Please do not ask us to do so.