Pierre Lurne Audiomeca Mephisto 2




This very interesting Mephisto2 is a super cool player from one of the most specialized  company from France. In some circles, Audiomeca is considered the king of transports. This company became famous thanks to the turntable production. But I used to have many contacts with the Mephisto One,  I myself - like it a lot. How does The Two compare ?
Well, mechanically it is totally different concept. The one had CDM9 mechanism from Philips, the TWO has a sanyo mechanism. The one is a top loader with a lift up lid, the two - has a sliding cover. The one has integrated puck, the two - loose puck that has to be put on manually.  The one has s/pdif output, the two - has s/pdif. aes/ebu and i2s. So far so good.

Under the cover - the news are disappointing. The Sanyo mechanism is not on haal magnetic rails, it is a simple mechanism, a'la shigaraki clone. Nothing impressive.
The electronics consists of the regular Sanyo PCB from some stock cheap player. The PCB is absolutely stock and plain. It contains all control electronics - the micro controller, the servo, the receiver demodulator and (probably) the DAC too.   The caps and parts ate low end, nothing has been upgraded.
The Audiomeca player has a separate PSU unit. Unfortunately - inside we find a very cheap and small transformer with just about 30 VA of power and simple CRC filter. I would say - this is the same PSU as was originally deployed in that cheap sanyo they hacked.
So is there any value ? Well, there is an Audiomeca PCB added to the system which contains three quartz oscillators, probably - for three sampling frequencies: 44,4; 98 and 192 Khz.  I did not understand all of the extra circuitry - but I would say - nothing exceptional.
The small plus I can give to Mephisto 2 for the mechanical construction. On one hand - the body is made of thin cheap steel press, so it might ring like a bell. On the other hand - they suspended the mechanism on some rubber cushions. So it is a bell with a cushion.  HMmmmm, my reaction is a mixed bag.


mephisto2




Pierre Lurne Mephisto

















Visually - the player is simply stunning ! It screams  HIGH END  and also I AM NOT A SHANLING. Very nice indeed.

The ergonomy is okay - there are the most needed buttons on the front, and the remote gets 2 points out of 10. It is the sanyo stock remote.

Can we compare it to the real deal Teac ? With its serious VRDS mechanism with Sony Kss151A laser, with heavy tank like body, with impeccable high end electronics and big ego (sorry - I meant FAME).

Lets try.

We tried the most intimate recordings of the collection - Holly Cole's Temptation. I heard beautiful rattles,  clean picture, details easy to follow, etc. I did not have the usual goose bumps. Holly was remote, distant and COLD. I mean the sound was great but not intimate anymore.

Back to the TEAC X25  (Trichord4, Audiotuning chip upgrade.)  Holly moved closer, I could almost smell her perfumes. There was an aura of studio reverb around her, the recording was intimate, private, engaging. The difference is really subtle but I report what I thought.  The stock Mephisto 2 does not cut for me the very important aspect of music, it is cold like a computer.

We decided to try and mod the Mephisto - maybe os-con the sanyo PCB, upgrade the shameless power supply and maybe - steal the signal before it is manipulated. The signal did NOT come from the source chip intact. Lurne tried to "improve it" to justify his high price and his sonic genius signature. Unfortunately - the result is far from excellent..

Is the Mephisto for sale ? By all means - not. Before giving up - I will upgrade main PCB to full OS-CON status (capacitors) and I will build a large power supply for it, disposing of that crappy one. Finally - we will use i2s output to connect Audio Note DAC as soon as I find the proper plug fro Mephisto's i2s. The i2s difference should offset easily all the minuscule differences present today on S/PDIF signal.

Here is the story of the Mephisto 1  - the older brother of the TWO.

On one test we tried to compare it directly with the Mephisto 1 - read HERE