The first, rather lengthy article about Wilson Benesch' Prime Meridian system dealt solely with the turntable unit, consisting of the OMEGA Drive, ALPHA Drive, the FrACTal damping system in which the motor and tonearm are mounted, and the R1 Rack. Now, in addition to introducing the tonearm and cartridge, we finally turn to the sound of the turntable.

The fact that the Prime Meridian system's turntable is driven by a motor with one and a half times the diameter of a long-playing record -the largest drive ever used in a turntable - is the reason I devoted so much space to the technical description. Furthermore, it should be clear that Craig Milnes and his team fundamentally questioned all supposed certainties regarding record reproduction and developed their own scientifically sound solutions - regardless of the resulting costs.

This also applies, of course, to the tonearm, which in the company's own terminology is called the GRAVITON® Ti Armwand and, despite its many innovations, appears quite familiar. This is certainly due to the fact that one of the first two Wilson Benesch components was the A.C.T. One tonearm. Even back in the early 1990s, it was manufactured from a carbon fibre composite – an absolute novelty in the hi-fi and high-end sector. At that time, measurements and listening tests had already revealed that the fibre orientation, material damping, and structural geometry significantly influenced resonance control and energy transfer. In its final form, the carbon fibre composite arm possessed an exceptionally favourable stiffness-to-mass ratio combined with outstanding damping properties.

From September 2017 to August 2021, Wilson Benesch participated in the EU-funded SSUCHY project - "Sustainable Structural and Multifunctional Biocomposites from Hybrid Natural Fibres and bio-based polymers" - along with 16 other manufacturers, universities, and research institutes from seven countries. The Femto Institute in Besançon contributed insights at the molecular level into the resonance behaviour of composite materials. These insights revealed that for the A.C.T. One, the hyperbolic curve of the arm represents the optimal geometry: it offers no material redundancy, and its diameter decreases with increasing distance from the pivot point. The 0/90-degree fibre orientation in the carbon fibre fabric also ensures maximum torsional stiffness and increases the surface area. This increases the fibre length and thus the path that the energy to be dissipated must travel. In this process, it encounters countless fibres arranged at 90-degree angles. At the intersections, this energy is damped and can be dissipated. Thus, the right-angled alignment of the fibres guarantees excellent damping. Finally, the one-piece construction of tonearm tube and headshell avoids discontinuities in the technical structure that can occur, for example, with a removable, screwed-on headshell. These discontinuities create a reflective boundary for the energy dissipated via the tonearm tube.