AMG Viella Forte
German engineering acumen and machining excellence—acknowledged and admired worldwide—are nowhere to be seen on AMG’s flagship Viella Forte turntable and new 12JT tonearm. That’s because, while what’s on the surface is cosmetically and mechanically well-turned, the design features and precision engineering that set AMG’s turntables and tonearms apart are inside and hidden from view.
Nothing about this turntable’s mechanical design—or the tonearm’s—can be described as “off the shelf” or “standard fare.” That’s been true since 2009, when the company, which was founded by the late Werner Roeschlau, who passed away in late February 2013 at age 62, developed its first turntable. For more than a decade before it produced its own, the company had been manufacturing precision parts for other turntable companies, as well as for the aerospace industry.
The first Viella, the V12—a mass-loaded, nondecoupled, belt-driven design—debuted at High End Munich 2010 under the Roeschlau-Lorenzi family name. Julian Lorenzi—Roeschlau’s son, himself a trained mechanical engineer—was, along with other machinists at the Bavarian factory, involved in the design. After hearing and seeing the turntable at High End Munich 2011, Musical Surroundings’ Garth Leerer and his German partner met with father and son. They soon formed AMG: Analog Manufaktur Germany.
The AMG V12 debuted at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and was later shown at that year’s High End Munich. When Roeschlau passed away unexpectedly a year later, Julian, who had already been overseeing AMG’s factory production and the company’s day-to-day operations, was well-prepared to become AMG’s managing director. Shortly thereafter, he flew to America and delivered a V12 to me. My review appeared in Stereophile Vol.36 No.8 (August 2013). That ’table, with the 12J2 arm, cost $16,500.
The forceful, insistent delivery makes you want to play records of every musical genre and revel in the luxuriousness of the presentation.
An evolutionary Forte
The Viella Forte
