HP: This is claimed to be the first and only arm in the world that uses Kevlar. Why this particular material?

J.S. First of all, because in theory it seems to be a perfect material for this purpose. Light, stiff, energy absorbing. After all, not only bulletproof vests are made of it, but also loudspeaker diaphragms.

R.S. So if all these properties predispose Kevlar to be used in the production of arm tubes, why didn’t anyone but us think of it. Well, the whole problem lies in the technological process of creating such a conical tube, after all, Kevlar is a fabric. It’s very easy to just buy an aluminum, carbon or whatever material or competitor is using. One made of Kevlar has to be made by oneself and it is an extremely complicated process, time-consuming and requiring watchmaker precision.

HP: How did those first arms come about?

J.S. As I mentioned, the choice of Kevlar was certainly not obvious, because so far no one has used it in mass production of arms. I knew perfectly well the properties of Kevlar, which I have already mentioned, but I did not know how this fabric would be processed, what its real effect on the sound would be and how it would behave over time. Design work on the arm lasted almost 2 years. As a supporter of the unipivot construction, which despite its apparent simplicity (the devil is in the details), I consider to be the most perfect, so I knew from the beginning that it was what I wanted to base on. The rest of the construction and materials obviously had to follow our philosophy of combining alloys and metals with different sonic properties into one perfect composition.

R.S. Yes, J. Sikora’s philosophy is extremely important here. None of our products were created in isolation from it. Of course, it’s about striving for sonic perfection, but also about using my father’s vast knowledge in the field of metals and alloys, which he gained during many years of work in the metallurgical industry. There is no ready recipe for the perfect composition of e.g. bronze, brass, aluminum, or their proportions. There is also no clear and precise information on the impact of these materials on the sound. Everything is based on many hours of experimentation and a tedious, but also fascinating, pursuit of perfection.

HP: And how were these arms received?

J.S. The first reactions were extremely positive and probably even exceeded our wildest expectations. The initial distance to the innovative use of Kevlar very quickly turned into an avalanche of positive reviews and prestigious awards that Robert probably remembers and can name.

R.S. There were actually a lot of them. I will not list them all here, but it started off strong as the tonearm was nominated for the International HiFi Press Award in the “Best Arm in the World” category at the Rocky Mountain Audiofest in the USA, then others followed.

HP: What are the end-user benefits of your design decisions?

J.S. Thanks to the assumptions adopted at the beginning, the user receives an arm that, due to its exceptional design simplicity, is very easy to calibrate and extremely user-friendly in everyday use. The user can easily change all the necessary settings, i.e. attenuation, anti-skating, azimuth or VTA, which can be easily adjusted while listening to music. Unipivot bearing and the materials used (kevlar, bronze and other metals), unlike bearing arms or made of wood, make the parameters of our turntable arms unchanged over time. The user will enjoy reliability and great sound for many years.

R.S. To what my father said, I would like to add, or maybe emphasize, the role of those, in my opinion, the most characteristic design decisions that determine the uniqueness of the KV12 tonearms. The first is, of course, the use of Kevlar and what it offers to the arm tube construction: lightness, stiffness and at the same time internal damping in a range that no other material simply can offer. The second is the proprietary VTA smooth adjustment mechanism, built on the model of a photographic lens with two trapezoidal threads, whose precision and ease of use during listening will be invaluable for users who value the impact of this parameter on sound regulation.

 HP: How is the construction of the new KV Max Zirconium series different from the KV12?

 J.S. If I had to say in short, I’d say almost everything. We took the best of the KV12 tonearm design and introduced many improvements. An important element of the arm has changed. We have a new, lighter and at the same time stiffer Kevlar tube, improved tube filling, new zirconia-based bearing. Aluminum elements have been replaced with two types of bronze. We’ve also improved the VTA and the accuracy of the azimuth adjustment, even the counterweight has been improved, making the adjustment even more precise. The wiring of the arm has also changed.

 R.S. To all the technical aspects that my father mentioned, I will add only purely practical issues. Due to its technical solutions, the standard KV12 arm was slightly higher than most arms on the market. In the case of mounting this tonearm on any J.Sikora turntable, it was not a problem. However, it was a bit of a hassle to adapt to some turntables from other manufacturers. While working on the new project, the father managed to keep all the most important assumptions of the KV12 class, improve them, and at the same time reduce the mounting height and make the KV Max a universal tonearm that can be mounted in virtually any turntable available on the market.

 HP: What is the biggest advantage of the KV Max Zirconium arms in your opinion?

 J.S. As the KV Max is my “child”, I cannot point to one of its greatest advantages. It is the whole set of features, technological solutions and nuances that make the KV Max what it is, that is, in my opinion, a finished work and an audio component that will give its users a lot of pleasure and satisfaction.

 R.S. Yes I agree. Let reviewers and users themselves indicate the greatest advantage of this arm. For each of them, it may concern a completely different aspect – sonic, visual or usable.

 HP: Your previous arm was only available as a 12”. Are the new arms also only available in the 12” version and what are the advantages of this length?

 J.S. Yes, the previous arm was only twelve inches. In the new series, we assumed that the arms will be available as 9- and 12-inch. In my opinion, these two lengths are optimal, although who knows, maybe in the future there will also be a 14-inch arm. Both arms, thanks to the use of Kevlar and a special filling, are extremely stiff and light. The 9” tonearm reproduces exceptionally fast and contoured bass with lots of detail in all ranges of sound, and the 12” (apart from the obvious advantages of less stylus tracking errors) brings precision to the next level and allows extraordinary insight into the nuances of recordings.

 R.S. I will add just as a curiosity, with the original assumption was to simply add the KV9 tonearm to our existing catalog. Despite the very high recognition and popularity of the regular KV twelve, some markets (especially the American one) demanded a Kevlar nine. My father, however, was as ambitious as ever and couldn’t “just” make a nine-inch arm based on an existing twelve-inch arm. He decided to do everything from scratch, refine every aspect better, squeeze the maximum potential out of this arm. When he finished, it turned out that we could not introduce the new nine to the existing catalog, because in literally every element it surpasses the existing KV12. We decided to create, based on these solutions, also a completely new 12-inch tonearm. This is how a new tonearms line was created, and calling it KV Max seemed obvious in this situation.

 HP: What are the disadvantages of longer arms from a design perspective?

 J.S. The Kevlar tubes in our arms are cone-shaped, so the problem is to make a longer tube of the right diameter, without losing stiffness, and to properly dampen it. In the case of other arms, this problem does not occur, because the longer arm is just a longer aluminum, wood or carbon fiber tube.

 R.S. Yes exactly. For other manufacturers, it’s just a bit more or less aluminum tube or wood to cut. For us, it was a completely new technological process to be implemented.

 HP: What were the challenges of the new project?

 J.S. The biggest problems are caused by Kevlar, from which the arm tube is made. Contrary to appearances, Kevlar is quite a difficult material in terms of processing – the fabric frays during cutting. We had to develop special machining procedures. Although we draw on the experience gained during the production of KV12 arms, we had to make new dies for rolling and cutting the aramid fabric adapted to the production of the latest arms, we also had to choose the resins, their temperature and the method of application. We had to develop a new filling of the tubes and a way of filling them. Unfortunately, despite the careful development of technology, a significant percentage of products that do not meet very high requirements and do not pass strict quality controls is still a problem. In short, we have a lot of waste. Another element in the Zirconium Series tonearms, with which we had a lot of work and problems, is the bearing – we make it from very hard zirconium oxide. Its processing is complicated, and an additional difficulty is that it is not electrically conductive, so the new arms had to develop a method of mass conduction. Another challenge was the selection of materials for the production of arms. In order to obtain the best sound qualities, we used, among others, two types of bronze.

 R.S. From my more general perspective, the biggest challenge was trying to create a tonearm better than the regular KV12, which turned out to be such a market success. The arm that, in the unanimous opinion of the reviewers, knocked on the door with the inscription “the best arms in the world”, crossed this door and settled in good company. “A class” rating from Stereophile, product of the year according to several other industry magazines, awards, nominations and, above all, very satisfied customers… How to make a better product? Do not tell people that it is new, so it is better, but realistically distance the perfect predecessor. This, in my opinion, was the biggest challenge. However, with each day of the implementation of this project, new ideas, implementation and numerous auditions, we became more and more sure that we succeeded. Today, no one has any doubts about it.

 Full interview: Not Boring by HiFi PiG, #1 2023

Not Boring Magazine