ZESTO ANDROS TÉSSERA PHONO STAGE

Zesto has released a new phono stage that has four separate phono inputs so it’s now possible to use four turntables, two turntables with two arms each, or one turntable with four tonearms. The new Andros Téssera was officially released at the just-concluded Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Colorado. Why are there four phono inputs? It’s a question we asked George Counnas, president and design engineer at Zesto. ‘ There are so many great specialised phono cartridges available today, I wanted to design a phono stage that was easy to use, while providing the necessary inputs to accommodate multiple tonearms and be able to save the settings when you switch between channels,’ he said. Counnas told Australian Hi-Fi Magazine that there were no solid-state devices anywhere in the signal path of the Andros Téssera, that all switching was done with reed relays, and that it had true transformer balanced outputs driven by dedicated valves. ‘ The Téssera is designed with 100 per cent tube circuitry and builds on the original Andros phono stage, but has a new circuit design that is partnered with significantly upgraded larger MC step-up transformers to capture the most delicate signals in the grooves,’ he said.

The Téssera has two completely independent dual mono channels that can accommodate one moving-magnet cartridge and one moving-coil cartridge per channel. There is a 12-position moving-coil load adjustment per channel that can be adjusted ‘on the fly’ without causing clicks or pops, so you can hear the changes, as well as save the settings when you switch between tonearms. There are four ground switches to help eliminate potential ground loops. As with all Zesto Audio products, the Andros Téssera is made entirely in the USA and retails in that country for $US12,000. It’s distributed in Australia by Deep Hz Audio.