As with all Wilson Benesch products, the housing of the TESSELLATE Ti-S is designed with a focus on high rigidity, low mass, and excellent resonance control. Therefore, a housing without perfectly parallel surfaces was constructed, featuring a tessellated lattice structure manufactured through selective laser sintering of titanium powder. The design of the internal structures, like the titanium components of the tonearm, was based on biomimetic principles, such as those used to develop the bones of a starling. The tessellated lattice structure of the sides creates a semi-open housing that significantly influences the sound less than a closed one. The housing surface that makes contact with the headshell also features a lattice structure. Since even seemingly flat surfaces are not perfectly even, contact is established only at various microscopically small points. Ideally, this connection should be mechanically stable and acoustically damped, but in this case, it is not, allowing reflected resonance energy to travel back to the cartridge's generator. During cartridge mounting, a thin layer of viscoelastic adhesive is applied to the headshell. As the mounting screws are tightened, this adhesive flows into the hexagonal grid, forming precisely shaped polymer cushions. This creates, firstly, a large, continuous contact surface instead of microscopically small contact points. Secondly, the viscoelastic material converts vibrational energy at the interface into heat, preventing it from being reflected back to the cartridge. Thirdly, once the adhesive has cured, the cartridge and headshell behave as a single unit: micro-movements between them cease.

But that's not all: The cartridge isn't simply screwed into the headshell with two Allen screws and washers, as is usually the case. Instead, Wilson Benesch includes a fin. This is a titanium arc with a tessellated lattice structure, which is, of course, also manufactured using selective laser sintering to achieve maximum rigidity with minimal mass. The wide base of the fin distributes the clamping forces evenly across the interface between the cartridge and tonearm. Wilson Benesch sees the fin not merely as a mounting component, but as an integral part of the resonance control system. While the white paper offers further insights into the special properties and Poisson's ratio of cork, I'll leave it at that with the technical features of the Prime Meridian system described so far. It should be clear that Wilson Benesch has thoroughly examined all aspects of vinyl playback and developed a wealth of innovative solutions. The Wilson Benesch system is unlike any turntable that has previously visited my listening room.

Immediately after setting up the turntable, while Christina, Craig, and Luke Milnes were still present, I put on Art Farmer and Jim Hall's Big Blues out of habit, and after the first few bars, I was certain I was going to have a lot of fun with the Prime Meridian system. I hadn't even sat down in the listening chair yet. Nevertheless, the transient response immediately captivated me; the Wilson Benesch cartridge played with pinpoint accuracy, there were no tonal anomalies, and even listening almost casually, the wealth of detail and the precise rendering of the musical events were striking. On the other hand, it was already becoming clear that describing the sound wouldn't be easy: you certainly wouldn't be satisfied with the simple statement, "I've never heard my LPs sound as good as with the Prime Meridian system." I postponed solving the problem for the time being, refrained from playing any familiar test records, and used the high-tech machine exclusively for enjoying music with my wife that evening.