Vinyl LP Turntable Lust Page
Seen here is the Voyd turntable made in
the UK. Maybe i should say was the Voyd, now Audio Note turntable. The folks
at Audio Note now make this great three motor, spring suspension, precision cut acrylic
platter turntable. By using three motors, the effective mass of the acrylic platter
is in excess of 75kg! The bearing is an ultra-high precision unit consisting of a
CNC machined brass housing with two phosphor bronze inserts to provide the optimum
impedance to energy paths. My ears tell me this table has the boogie factor of the
Linn LP12 with the precision of the Goldmund Reference turntable. My vote for one of
the world's best tables available today.
Audio Note UK Ltd.
Unit C
Peacock Industrial Estate
Lyon Close 125-127
Davigdor Road
Hove BN3 1SG
Website: www.audionote.co.uk
From the folks who love their carbon
fibre tonearms, Wilson Benesch also makes great turntables as well. Seen here is
their top-of-the-line table from 1996. Using a suspended subchassis also comprised
of carbon fibre too! The drive train is a quartz referenced power supply featuring
an electronic clutch mechanism. The motor is a high quality hysteresis type.
Of course all of this is beautifully wrapped in an outer wood finish. All of this is
a testimony as to why turntables are sexy. Amen!
Wilson Benesch
Unit 2
Fall Bank Industrial Estate
Dodworth
Barnsley S75 3LS
England
Website: www.wilson-benesch.com
The new Clearaudio Master Reference
turntable uses three resonant layers (1 motor, 1 bearing, 1 tonearm) to reduce air and
floorborne vibrations. Up to three tonearms can be used as well for
all you tonearm freaks out there (and you know who you are!). Going one
step beyond virtually all other turntables, the Master Reference also uses not one, but
three extremely impressive high precision motors (just like my personal reference VOYD
turntable). These three motors are powered by the all new Clearaudio Master
Reference Power Supply which monitors each motors' movement to keep ultra-precise speed
stability at either 33 1/3 or 45 rpm. Clearaudio's usual ultra-precision inverted
bearing is used for smooth spinning operation. This is no wimpy unit and weighs in
at around 30kg!
Clearaudio Germany
Website: www.clearaudio.de
Leave it to the great folks at Graham to
come up with another great improvement to their tonearm. Their model 2.0 tonearm is
claimed to offer increased dynamics, bass extension and solidity, plus expanded
soundstaging over their previous model 1.5. The main pivot housing uses tungsten
while the VTA adjustment system now has two scales. One is the vertical while the
other is a vernier scale on the adjusting knob. This allows repeatable changes in VTA of
0.0005", in addition to the vertical reference. In fact you can adjust the VTA during
play with no adverse effects on performance! Their 2nd generation ceramic arm wand
incorporates ceramic material, and the finish is electrocoated over a metallic substrate
embedded in the ceramic surface. The signal wires are totally shielded from headshell to
the output on the bottom of the tonearm with the shielding being continued throughout our
output cables and junction boxes.
Graham Engineering, Inc.
6 Kimball Court
Suite 113
Woburn, MA 01803
Website: www.graham-engineering.com
Yes, it is none other then the famed
Goldmund Reference turntable with T3F tonearm. Introduced in 1982, this
"state-of-the-art" turntable of it's time used computer controlled motor speed
regulation to insure accuracy within a claimed .01%! In fact there was even a
resetable readout for letting you know how many hours you had on your current cartridge!
The total production was limited to 300 turntables while my guess is that about
1,000 T3F tonearms exist today. i like fixing/tweaking this table as there is much
to tweak and great improvements in the way it reproduces music is enhanced as a result.
For those who enjoy jazz and classical music, this is among some of the great
turntables out there.
Goldmund
2 Chemin de la Graviere
CH - 1227 Geneva
Switzerland
Website: www.goldmund.com
Benz Micro is know for their high quality
phono cartridges. Seen here is their Glider (left) and Ruby 2 (right). The
Glider and Ruby are moving coil type cartridges which are precisely assembled by hand.
The Glider uses a solid aluminum base so that the moving coil-cantilever assembly
is free of body resonances. Both cartridges use the micro-line stylus with face bonded
shank, tapped mounting holes, and special generator damping materials.
USA Distribution by
Musical Surroundings
5856 College Avenue
Suite 146
Oakland, CA 94618
Website: www.musicalsurroundings.com
The La Luce is a direct coupled, suspension-free design by Judith
Spotheim-Koreneef. A precision machined two inch acrylic platter's mass is further
increased by the imbedding of steel weights inside. All the major components of this
turntable are machined from a solid billets of acrylic, brass, and stainless steel.
A stand alone synchronous AC motor has belt grooves for turning the platter 33 1/3 or 45
rpm speeds.
US Distributor, Cardas Audio, LTD.
480 Eleventh Street, South East
Bandon, Oregon 97411
Website: www.cardas.com
Seen here is the Micro Seiki SX8000
turntable. Using a very large motor structure for precise speed control this table
can also accommodate two tonearms. Amazingly precise parts and high build quality
insures it's owner many years of musical enjoyment.
Linn, a company that needs no
introduction to those who love vinyl, has been offing the LP12 turntable for a long time.
Though i haven't yet received a good high-resolution photo of the LP12 (and i have
tried), seen here is their Ekos tonearm. First introduced in 1988, this tonearm is
another Linn classic! The pivot to stylus length is 229mm and of course uses the
standard Linn mounting.
Linn Products Limited
Floors Road, Waterfoot
G76 OEP, Scotland UK
Website: www.linn.co.uk
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