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Turntables above £2,000
Jump to turntables between £700 to £1,999
Audio Note TT1 Deluxe
The TT1 Deluxe is a little unusual alongside many modern turntables as it’s what I would call a classic enclosed box construction, this gives it an understated and arguably less flashy appearance than the more common skeletal designs offered by its competitors. Where it scores, apart from the fact it is a design that has been finessed over many years, is the superb quality of the finishes available.
Mechanically it’s a suspended sub chassis design, with the chassis hanging from three springs which can easily be adjusted for different tonearm weights. The acrylic platter is machined to feature the most mass at its extremities for greater flywheel effect and the TT1 features a single motor, unlike its bigger brothers.
The plywood plinth is available in a wide variety of superb finishes (as detailed below).
Speeds: 33.3 & 45rpm, manual change (optional electronic power supply available)
Armboard: Blank or Audio Note/Rega .
Lid: Included
Finishes, Standard: Black Ash, Cherry and Rosewood real wood veneers
Finishes, Premium: Gloss Black and White paint. Also available in a variety of other veneers as found on Audio Note speakers in both satin and gloss finishes.
Audio Note TT1 Deluxe excluding tonearm: £POA at manufacturers request
Optional upgrade:
Audio Note TT External PSU: £POA at manufacturers request (requires professional installation)
Audio Note TT2 Deluxe
The TT2 Deluxe is a twin motor turntable that features a suspended sub chassis and acrylic platter. The plywood plinth is available in a wide variety of superb finishes (as detailed below). As you’d expect of a turntable design with lots of torque available thanks to its two motors and relatively lightweight acrylic platter, the sound has great dynamics and drive, making it very engaging to listen to.
Speeds: 33.3 & 45rpm, manual change (optional electronic power supply available)
Armboard: Blank or Audio Note/Rega.
Lid: Included
Finishes, Standard: Black Ash, Cherry and Rosewood real wood veneers
Finishes, Premium: Gloss Black and White paint. Also available in a variety of other veneers as found on Audio Note speakers in both satin and gloss finishes.
Audio Note TT2 Deluxe excluding tonearm: £POA at manufacturers request
Optional upgrade:
Audio Note TT External PSU: £POA at manufacturers request (requires professional installation)
Michell Gyro SE
The Gyro SE (short for Spider Edition) is a suspended turntable which combines high suspended mass (11kg) with a low mass acrylic chassis. A free standing DC motor reduces noise transfer and is powered from an external power supply which is upgradeable with the HR power supply that uses the Never Connected technology.
The Gyro is a very neutral sounding deck that lets the character of the arm and cartridge dictate the tonality of sound, although it always has good solidity with well defined imaging. Speed and resolution are exceptional making this a highly entertaining deck that is as much fun to look at as to listen to.
Most commonly it is fitted with either Rega mount tonearm but armboards for almost all tonearms are available to order.
Armboard: standard options cut for Rega/Michell, Linn, SME and Moerch arms. Custom options available for an additional charge.
Lid: Not included, but various options available
Finishes: Black or silver
Michell Gyro SE: £3,500.00 excluding tonearm
Michell Gyro SE package with Michell T8 tonearm and Cusis E or E/H cartridge: £5,100.00
Michell Gyrodek mkV
This is the classic turntable that spawned the Gyro SE (featured above). It differs from the SE by having a full size plinth and a hinged dust cover. The SE arguably has a slight edge in terms of performance due to its lower mass and smaller surface area which reduces its susceptibility to acoustic borne feedback, however from a convenience point of view the full version easily wins for most people because of its conveniently hinged dust cover.
Armboard: standard options cut for Rega/Michell, Linn, SME and Moerch arms. Custom options available for an additional charge.
Lid: Included.
Finishes: Silver or Black
Michell GyroDec in Silver or black finish, excluding tonearm: £4,500.00
Michell Gyro package with Michell T8 tonearm and Cusis E or E/H cartridge: £6,000.00
Please note the record clamp is not included, but is available separately
Nottingham Analogue Hyper Space
The Hyper Space is an evolved version of the Space Deck featured elsewhere in this turntable section. It builds on the basic design by adding a complex multi-
The turntable base and plinth are finished in black as standard, but other many other RAL colours are available to special order.
Speeds: 33.3 & 45rpm, manual change
Armboard: Very wide variety available, suitable for most 9 to 12” tonearms
Lid: Not available
Finishes, Standard: Black
Finishes, Premium: Any RAL colour available for Plinth and Subchassis to special order, please enquire for pricing
Nottingham Analogue Hyperspace: £2,950.00 excluding tonearm
The Planar 10 may appear outwardly similar to the Planar 8, but almost every element has been tweaked and changed to make this into the current range topping Rega turntable. The most obvious visual differences are the platter and upper chassis brace (see picture below left) which are now made from an incredibly hard and stiff ceramic oxide. A new hub, bearing and drive system with sophisticated half width power supply result in very low mechanical noise.
The new RB3000 tonearm is prefitted, making setup a breeze, and it’s a thing of beauty, being incredibly well finished with exceptionally low friction bearings and newly designed bias assembly. A thermoformed acrylic ‘lid’ is included to keep dust off the platter and arm when its not in use.
The result of all this attention to detail is a sound that can really wow you with its delicacy, with a lightness of touch that is particularly noticeable on acoustic instruments. Recording s are rendered not with some predetermined fake sound stage but with a real sense of spaciousness that varies from recording to recording, exactly as they should. Over its predecessor the timing is markedly superior too, and whilst I do feel there is a little shift in character between the frequency extremes it is not intrusive, there’s a touch of softness to the lowest bass and a slightly recessed mid, but dissecting these aspects somewhat misses the point, this is clearly a highly focused and distinctive turntable and clearly demonstrates what taking the Rega philosophy of rigidity (for the platter and brace) and low mass (of the plinth) to extremes has to offer.
Above left: shown with power supply, Above right shown with platter removed
There are various cartridge options are available, see pricing below:
Finishes: Polaris Grey or White
Rega Planar 10 (no cartridge): £3,960.00
Rega Planar 10 with Apheta 3 MC cartridge: £4,950.00
Rega Planar 10 with Aphelion 2 MC cartridge: £6,840.00
The Signature 10 is a turntable and tonearm combination from Project, and it’s a real tour de force of their technical capabilities.
Weighing in at over 22kg, and arriving in an impressive wooden crate, it is actually a remarkably straightforward deck to setup once its been heaved into position. This deck does not have conventional suspension, instead is uses multiple levels of magnetic decoupling -
The plinth is available in three different high gloss finishes, Olive (as pictured above), Mahogany and black, underneath it’s made from wood and is mass loaded with metal inserts. The massive platter weighs just over 10kg, is internally damped with a thermoplastic elastomer and is topped with an integral vinyl mat. It sits on a ceramic topped inverted bearing, and the magnetic repulsion system reduces wear. A substantial record weight is also supplied and it’s clear that the deck has been designed around it, as it is beneficial to the sound, and thankfully it’s a joy to use and can be added whilst the platter is spinning. Electronic speed switching of 33.3 and 45rpm is controlled by buttons on the top of the plinth.
Apart from the massive platter, the thing that grabs you on first glance is the tonearm. It’s a thing of real beauty, and it’s a wonder how Project can produce it for the price. Based around a unipivot design, but with the stability of a conventional tonearm, this 10” long arm is one of the nicest to set up I’ve ever experienced -
All of this technical prowess is for nothing if it doesn’t sound special, but thankfully it does. Most obviously the sound is big, smooth and powerful. Surface noise is exceptionally low, and the music appears out of an extremely black background -
All of this performance and finish is available at a price that I’d have never guessed was possible, and I think it makes the Signature 10 something of a steal.
A package price including the Ortofon Cadenza Black is also available, which gives a substantial saving over the individual prices (price detailed below).
The Signature now comes complete with an RS Uni TT power supply, a very high quality linear power supply which was previously an optional extra.
Cover: Optional extra, the Project Cover-
Speeds: 33.3 and 45rpm electronic switched
Standard Finishes: Olive (pictured below left), Mahogany (below middle), Gloss black (below right) and Palisander
Optional extra finish: Walnut Burl in Satin or High gloss +£1,000
Project Signature 10 turntable including tonearm: £4,999.00
Project Signature 10 turntable including tonearm, with Pro-
Project Signature 10 turntable including tonearm, ordered with any Ortofon Cadenza MC cartridges and get 30% off the cartridge price
Helius Designs have been making tonearms since 1982, but the new Alexia is their very first turntable design, and what a debut it is. Those familiar with Helius products will probably not be that surprised that this is a rather radical design, and shows what can be done if you think outside the box.
Perhaps the most immediately exciting aspect is the suspension system, which uses a double wishbone setup tuned to 2Hz and results in the best bounce I have ever seen on a turntable -
Also somewhat unusually, the low noise motor is mounted directly to the suspended part of the chassis, so there is no resulting wow when the suspension moves as the distance between the two is rigidly fixed. The motor is controlled by a power supply that uses an optical encoder underneath the platter to correct the speed 270 times per second, ensuring the speed remains constant almost regardless of load. A flat belt drives the perimeter of the platter, which spins on a very low friction ruby ball bearing.
As you’d expect it’s designed predominately to accept Helius tonearms, with the arm base rotatable to accept either 9” or 10” variants. The acrylic pieces which cover the black metal work of the plinth are available in either black or clear, the example picture above is the black acrylic version.
The outcome of all this attention to detail is an open and fast sound, seemingly thriving on complex rhythms, yet never dictating the apparent pace of the performance (as many similarly exciting decks often can do). The whole sound is wonderfully pure, and tonally free from obvious character. The space around instruments is beautifully resolved, such is the overall cleanliness of its presentation. What it is not, and you could perhaps be forgiven for thinking it could be based on the above description, is in any way soulless or lacking in musicality. Its natural drive and rhythmicality ensure that it remains constantly entertaining and involving whatever you’re spinning.
Armboards: Rega & Helius fittings available as standard. Please ask regarding other tonearm fittings.
Finishes Black with either clear or black acrylic trim
Helius Alexia turntable: £4,464.00 excluding tonearm
Nottingham Analogue Dais
The Dais is a beautifully manufactured and rather substantial turntable, yet one that cleverly manages to hide its bulk, looking far less imposing than one would ever expect given its component parts. A variety of arm boards are available to suit almost all models of tonearms, and the deck can even support two tonearms if required.
This is a difficult turntable to describe simply because it doesn’t seem to add much character at all. Its an exceptionally stable, quiet design which allows the sound great scale and solidity without falling into the trap of ever sounding slow or congested. Like all of the Nottingham Analogue turntables we feel its sound is tonally neutral and it simply gets out of the way allowing the cartridge and record to define the character of sound heard. This deck bears comparison to designs costing many times its purchase price and is very highly recommended.
This turntable can now be ordered either with the gunmetal silver platter (as pictured here) or with a black version. The base is now solid gloss black as standard, but many other RAL colours can be specified by special order.
You can see the turntable in component form above, the parts are detailed below:
1). Dust cover ‘LP’
2). Spun iron platter with a mass of over 20kg, carefully manufactured to ensure their are no air pockets inside. Its also fitted with 4 damping rings to the perimeter which reduce resonance.
3). 25mm thick Graphite ‘mat’
4). Free standing motor housing
5). Plinth with cut out for motor
6). Turntable main structure including substantial oil pumping bearing, and in this instance fitted with AceSpace 12” tonearm. Ultimately It can be run with two tonearms if required, of either 9” or 12” length
7). Wave Mechanic power supply (also included, but not shown here, are a strobe disc and Zapper for fine speed adjustment), this is a special version designed specifically for this turntable.
Nottingham Analogue Dais turntable excluding tonearm: £5,200.00
Michell Orbe SE
The Orbe is the logical progression from the Gyrodek, it features many developments to raise performance. These are numerous but include a substantial 60mm thick vinyl loaded platter with integral screw down record clamp, a dual layer chassis separated by spikes. An external power supply which uses the ‘never connected’ technology is combined with a motor with tacho feedback to ensure speed regulation. The subchassis itself is heavily damped to reduce resonance's and further increase mass.
Sonically it elevates the Gyro sound by extending much deeper into the bass, having greater stability and blacker backgrounds which allows even more detail to be retrieved.
Finishes: Black or Silver
Armboard: standard options cut for Rega/Michell, Linn, SME and Moerch arms. Custom options available for an additional charge.
Lid: Not included, but various options available
Michell Orbe SE: £5,500.00 excluding tonearm
Michell Orbe SE Package including Tecnoarm 2 and Cusis S cartridge: £8,000.
Michell Orbe
In the same way there is a spider edition and standard version of Gyrodek, so there is with the Orbe. The cased version has a full size plinth and hinged dustcover, but all other specifications are the same as the Orbe SE version featured above.
Finishes: Black or Silver
Armboard: standard options cut for Rega/Michell, Linn, SME and Moerch arms. Custom options available for an additional charge.
Lid: Included
Michell Orbe £6,500.00 excluding tonearm
Michell Orbe Package including Tecnoarm 2 and Cusis S cartridge: £9,000.
Audio Note TT-
The TT-
The base is a solid mdf plinth (available in a variety of finishes) with three motor housings mounted on top, forming a triangle. These housings enclose large AC motors and are made from Steel to reduce magnetic radiation. The motors themselves are substantial Papst AC designs which when working together produce massive torque that then drives the lightweight Acrylic platter assembly.
The reason for this three motor arrangement is predominantly to deal with something dubbed ‘dynamic wow’. This is a phenomenon where the rotational speed of the platter is fractionally reduced when the modulation of the grooves on the LP changes (particularly on loud and complex passages in music), it’s a seemingly subtle but musically very important problem as it undermines the feeling of rightness, control and composure of the performance.
Most turntable designers use high mass platters to store the rotational energy, a flywheel in effect, but here the same goal is achieved by flipping the problem on its head with low rotational platter mass and held in a vice like grip by gobs of torque being transferred by a tautly tensioned drive belt. This means the platter very quickly returns to the correct speed whatever the load.
It is a very elegant suspended design, the triangle array of motors helps keep the suspension centred, as well as reducing sideways pull on the bearing as found on almost all other turntable designs.
Above: platter removed so the sub chassis is more easily visible
The suspended sub chassis is made from aluminium and the arm mass is balanced with two counterweights, and this assembly hangs on three springs. This results in a very stable system, requiring minimal setup for a suspended design and provides a well controlled vertical bounce.
There are four power supply options, called the PSU1, PSU2, PSU3 and PSU4. All create a sine wave to run the motors with the minimal impact from the mains power supply, and all offer switching between 33.3 and 45rpm. The PSU1, despite being the ‘entry level’ model, features a very high quality specification including Audio Note tantalum resistors and their own electrolytic capacitors. The PSU2 is very similar in design, with some tweaks in the power supply regulation, clock line and output stage.
The PSU3 is quite a different beast, seethe pictures it features a very advanced design with digital and analogue generators for the sine wave and a discrete output stage, amongst many other refinements.
More details about the range topping PSU4 coming soon.
The power supplies can be purchased on their own, so you can easily upgrade from one model to another at any time.
Above: From left to right, The PSU1, PSU2 and PSU3 (click to enlarge)
Speeds: 33.3 and 45 rpm electronically switched
Standard Finishes: Satin white with Aluminium metal work or Satin Black with black metal work
Optional Premium Finishes: Gloss white with Aluminium metal work or Gloss Black with black metal work
Power Supply Fascia finishes: Brushed Silver Aluminium or Gloss Black Acrylic
Lid: None (but designs are available for custom acrylic fabricators to build)
Audio Note TT-
Pro-
The Signature is closely related to the Signature 10 shown further up this page, so I will try not to cover too many of its similarities, instead concentrating on what makes the full Signature the ultimate expression of what Project can do. The differences come from the use of a 12” tonearm (up from 10”) tonearm, further lowering tracing errors. Two motors, via two belts are used to drive a single, magnetically cushioned flywheel, which in turn drives the platter with a perimeter belt. This provides more torque as well as a further reduction of vibration. A colour touch screen enables easy control of speed switching and fine speed adjustment.
Speeds: 33.3 and 45rpm electronically switched, supplied with RS Uni-
Standard Finishes: High Gloss Olive, Mahogany and Black.
Optional extra finish: Walnut Burl in Satin or High gloss +£1,000
Project Signature 12 turntable including tonearm in standard finishes: £8,499.00
Project Signature 12 turntable including tonearm in standard finishes and Pro-
Project Signature 12 turntable including tonearm with any Ortofon Cadenza cartridge and get 30% off the cartridge price
Nottingham Analogue Anna Log
The Anna Log is made from an aged Oak or Sapele ‘log’ (hence the name) that forms (for want of a better term) its chassis. This is a stunningly attractive and beautifully built turntable which like most Nottingham Analogue turntables can support two tonearms.
Nottingham Analogue Anna Log: £9,450.00 excluding tonearm
Nottingham Analogue Deco
The 60kg Deco is the ultimate Nottingham Analogue turntable, a design where budgetary constraints were removed, resulting in a no compromise deck of superlative quality. Every aspect of the deck, from each material choice, the way each surface interacts and damps with its neighbour to its size and shape was chosen to balance or prevent resonance. Just looking at the curved sides of the platter, chosen to reduce resonance's at any particular frequency shows the levels of care and attention invested in this deck. Unusually for a modern Nottingham Analogue turntable it has suspension that can be activated or bypassed, depending upon the owners situation and preference.
The Deco is a strictly limited edition, price is available on application but will be over £20,000 for all versions.
Audio Note TT-
New models coming soon.
The text below and pictures relate to the previous versions, and will be updated as more details become available
The TT3 Reference is a stunning and quite beautiful tour de force of a high end turntable. It’s difficult to know quite where to start describing this deck, but ultimately the most striking thing about the design is the use of 3 motors, much like the Voyd Reference which it evolved from, but taken to an even greater extreme.
For a start, each of the massive motors used has a power output equivalent to almost 2 BHP. Naturally these motors require a serious amount of current and this comes from three massive power supplies -
The platter is made from Lexan, an incredibly tough material that is both lightweight and inert, the hugely powerful motors give a platter mass inertia equivalent of well over half a ton, with none of the problems of energy storage of a high mass platter or the problems of engineering a bearing that is able to support that kind of mass without considerable wear or noise.
The deck is made from aircraft grade aluminium and suspended upon springs with counterweights on the out riggers to ensure the system stays in balance and a system resonance of 2.4 Hz is maintained. Thanks to the balanced nature of this design, setup is both quick and easy.
The deck can support up to two tonearms, with a choice of either Audio Note or Rega arm cuts only.
The metal work is available in black or silver and the chassis can be finished either in black piano lacquer or any of the veneers used in the Audio Note loudspeaker range.
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