Our eagerly awaited new Rega RP10 has now arrived!
We are currently running it in but initial impressions are very encouraging. It's every bit as good, if not even better, than our memory of the demo model played to us by Rob from Rega.
The resolution from this superbly engineered turntable is simply stunning. Phone or email us to book a demonstration and bring along some of your favourite albums. We're sure you will be impressed!
We love the Rega RP8 turntable so were excited to hear the new top of the range RP10 when Rob from Rega brought it here and demonstrated it to us.
We certainly weren't disappointed! Rega have taken the brilliant skeletal construction of the RP8 and refined and enhanced an already impressive turntable massively with the RP10.
The stunning new RB2000 tonearm is beautifully hand polished to minimise weight and has ultra high tolerance paired bearings to maximise detail retrieval. Fitted with the Rega Apheta MC cartridge it was clear that much more information was being extracted from the record groove.
The RP10's custom ceramic flywheel effect platter looks striking and is diamond cut to ensure absolute accuracy and flatness.
In addition the RP10 has a high performance power supply. Absolute speed accuracy is maintained by a new DSP signal generator utilising a high stability crystal. Each power supply is factory tuned to minimise vibration and optimise motor performance. The custom casework matches the Rega Aria MM/MC phono pre-amp which is the ideal partner for this superb record spinner.
It may be a cliche but, listening to some of my well played albums, owned for several decades, and, at times, played on far lesser record players, I was amazed at how involving and unscathed they sounded.
Anyone imagining that vinyl belongs in the past should come and listen to the RP10 when our demo model arrives very soon. If £3598.00 (with Apheta) or £2998.00 (without cartridge) is too rich Rega turntables start at £230.00 with the RP1 (with Carbon cartridge) so there is one to suit every budget.
Go on, dig out your favourite album and blow the dust off it. Give us a call and come in for a proper listen, the way we all used to play music. Sit down, put your feet up and hear an album all the way through, both sides, a proper record sleeve in your hands with artwork to admire and artist info you can actually read!
We are delighted to have the opportunity to show you the amazing JVC DLA-X700 home cinema projector in our demonstration room. JVC have produced our favourite projectors for a long time but we have been completely bowled over by the image quality from the DLA-X700. Brightness, black level and contrast are superb, even in non-blackout conditions, but most impressive is the totally natural filmic quality of the picture. Even the harshest home cinema critic is immediately totally immersed in the movie with no image flaws to distract from pure enjoyment.
We are very lucky to have the chance to show you this awesome projector but we have it on loan for one week only so don't miss this great opportunity. Just phone or email now to book a demo, or call in if you are passing. Don't forget to bring your favourite movie on Blu-ray or DVD. The price for the JVC DLA-X700 is £6995.00 but we are sure you will see why.
We have been mightily impressed by the picture quality of the Epson EH-TW200 since it recently became our projector of choice in the demonstration room here. The image is very crisp and detailed. A very high contrast ratio of 120,000:1 and maximum 2000 lumens output guarantee a brilliant dynamic image to really bring your favourite movies to life.
This smart and discrete projector is not only Full HD 1080p but 3D too with one pair of RF active shutter glasses included. Just 3 minutes charging of these glasses gives up to 40 hours of 3D viewing!
An optical zoom ratio of 2.1 and optical lens shift makes set up and room placement a doddle.
And the cherry on top? A 3 year lamp warranty and all this stunning performance for just £1899.00! An absolute bargain!
Don't take our word for it though. Give us a call to arrange a demo, bring your favourite film, settle down on our comfy sofa, and prepare to be impressed! You'll have to bring your own pop corn but we will supply tea or coffee!
See you soon,
Alan and John
The eagerly awaited and much anticipated Rega Saturn-R CD player has just arrived at Audio T in Chandlers Ford!
This full width Rega product is housed in high quality and satisfyingly heavy metal casework. It is far more than just a CD player. In fact it is effectively two products packaged as one: a high quality CD transport with improved power supply, and other tweaks, plus a fully independent and upgraded DAC.
The DAC section is well endowed with socketry including a fully asynchronous USB input and is capable of 192Khz - 24 bit resolution.
The CD player and DAC are both fully, and independently, controllable by the logical and clear controls of the included Solaris remote handset.
The Rega Apollo Saturn-R is a fantastic product in its own right and the ideal partner for the superb Elicit-R integrated amplifier. This pairing offer outstanding sound quality and punch way above their price point of £1598.00 each, giving more expensive products some serious competition.
Anyone looking for a thoroughly musical CD player and DAC need look no further than the Saturn-R. Add an Elicit-R and a pair of Rega or PMC speakers and you'll have a system which will have you playing more and more music at home and leaving the TV switched off.
Just give us a few days to warm up and run in our demo Saturn-R and give us a ring (get it it?) to arrange a demonstration. We're sure you will love what you hear!
Yesterday we had the honour of being the first Audio T store to take a look and listen to the new SONOS Play 1.
It was apparent, handling these small but perfectly formed speakers, that no corners had been cut in their construction. They have a reassuringly solid, well engineered feel to them and, as is the norm for SONOS products, a superb finish. Black and white versions are available as with the other SONOS Play models.
The sound quality certainly didn't disappoint either. The specially developed long throw drive units enable the compact enclosures to punch out surprisingly deep bass and the overall sound is remarkably crisp, open and detailed.
A single Play 1 sounds very impressive but connecting a pair in stereo mode produces simply stunning results. At £169.00 each the SONOS Play 1 is a real Hi-Fi bargain and a pair for £338.00 is a great alternative to a single Play 5, especially if stereo imaging is a priority.
We are really looking forward to the imminent arrival of our first shipment of Play 1's. We'll have a pair on demonstration ans as soon we have unboxed them you can pop in for a look and a listen.
Just to make them even more tempting as Christmas approaches a FREE Bridge will be supplied with any Play 1, 2 or 3 purchased before December 31st 2013, or while stocks last.
For anyone still thinking about setting up a SONOS wireless system, all you need now is a Play 1 and a Bridge so why not take advantage of the offer and save £39.00! It's a bargain!
Fresh from the editing suite 'Audio T Southampton The Movie' has now had it's world premiere and is available for all to view here and on our store page.
We would like to extend our thanks to local marketing and design agency bandv for being so generous with their time and expertise, without which our store video would have been a far more amateur affair.
Special thanks go to Phil Le Cheminant who single handedly directed, filmed, produced and edited the video.
Credit also to Phil Sayer for providing a professional voice over, and to Sarah Harley and Richard Neale for their starring roles as our customers.
Many thanks to everyone involved.
Now you've seen the movie do come and see us on location soon!
Alan and John
As if the excitement of our forthcoming movie isn't enough we have more thrilling news!
We are very much looking forward to the arrival of the new Focal Aria 906 and 926 speakers.
We had the pleasure of listening to these superb speakers recently and immediately knew that we had to have them! The Focal Electra range have been long term favourites of ours, so much so that both of us use them at home, and it's great to see similar elegance and build quality at more affordable price points with these new Aria models. The hi-tech drive units incorporating flax are a revelation too. The sound is fast, very transparent and totally involving.
Follow the link below for a positive appraisal of the Aria 926. We totally concur with Andrew Everard's description of these 'gloriously enjoyable speakers'.
We'll let you know as soon as the new Focals arrive here so you can bring in your favourite tunes and judge for yourselves. See you soon. Read the latest review of the Focal Aria from Andrew Everard here
Yes folks, coming to a display device near you very soon is this years must see film!
Audio T Southampton The Movie!
Director Phil now has all the film in the can and is busy in the editing suite creating a cinematic epic!
Tune in again soon for the premiere of this milestone movie. You won't want to miss it, so don't blink!
Although our movie will be a true epic, you may be glad to know that it will be slightly shorter than Ben Hur or Gladiator.....
Every now and then we put together a combination of products in the store and are reminded of how the sum of the parts is even greater than the merits of the individual components.
We've been big fans of the PMC Fact 8 since we first heard them over three years ago. The elegant and beautifully crafted cabinets enhance any domestic environment. Even the most die hard hifi-phobics are won over by the aesthetics of these beauties.
This is not just a case of 'nice cabinet, shame about the sound' though; far from it. The Fact 8 carves a solid three dimensional image out of the air with effortless ease. The transparency of the sound has to be heard to be believed with the splendid cabinets effectively disappearing.
The other essential ingredient to this spell-binding performance is our Bryston system. No surprise that it gels with the PMC speakers, as PMC distribute Bryston in the UK, and design their speakers using Bryston amplification, but the BCD-1 CD player, BP26 pre-amplifier and 4BSST power amplfier really make the Fact 8's sing!
The Fact 8 is an efficient design utilising PMC's Advance Transmission Line which does not need huge power to generate real low end extension but driving them with the 2 x 300 watts of the 4BSST adds a whole extra dimension of control and ease to the sound making the combination totally magical!
Please feel free to share this magic with us. Give us a call to book a listen and come along with your favourite CDs or LPs. 'When the spell is broken' by Richard Thompson seems appropriate, or maybe 'Witchcraft' by Frank Sinatra.... you choose.
Much like buses, you wait for a new Audiolab product to appear then two arrive at once!
Here are the new Q-DAC and M-PWR before we unwrapped them.
The M-PWR is opened first, showing how it is well protected in foam packaging and complete with instruction manual and separately boxed power lead.
We soon have the power amplifier fully revealed in all it's glory. It's a compact and solidly engineered piece of equipment, reassuringly weighty.
Now we want to see the Q-DAC so we carefully open the outer box.
The Q-DAC is similarly well packaged and comes with user manual and power supply with integral mains lead and multi pin plug for connection to the Q-DAC power supply input.
The Q-DAC is now out of it's box revealing the same clean functional design as the M-PWR and the higher specification M-DAC. The alloy casework and front panel have a reassuring feel of quality about them.
The Q-DAC and M-PWR make a handsome pair!
A peek around the back reveals a comprehensive set of sockets, mostly gold plated. The Q-DAC has a 192KHz coaxial digital input and asynchronous USB socket also supporting 192kHz 24 bit files plus 96kHz 24 bit optical input. Like it's big brother, the M-DAC, the Q-DAC has a Class A output stage and headphone amplifier so should give a warm, involving sound.
M-PWR produces 40W into an 8 ohm load and has XLR inputs for optimum connection to M-DAC as well as RCA sockets for connection to Q-DAC, etc.
Right, now it's time for some music! We will report back on these products once they are fully run in and warmed up. The Q-DAC is £399.00 and M-PWR is £499.00 so look like being great value for a compact high spec DAC pre-power combination.
Tune in again soon for our thoughts once we've had a listen!
Yesterday we spent a very enjoyable day as guests of The Chord Company at their factory near Amesbury.
I must admit that the rare event of early morning sunshine yesterday was suggesting a visit to the seaside more than the thought of spending a day in a factory. The usual traffic chaos on the M3 didn't help either but we soon arrived at The Millsway Centre and were warmly greeted by Chord's cable guru Nigel Finn. It was immediately obvious that Chord Company House was a great place to work, light and spacious and everyone there was welcoming, relaxed and enthusiastic and any desire to escape to the beach instantly dissipated.
Matt, our friendly Chord representative, guided us around the factory and we saw the care and skill which goes into assembling Chord interconnects and cables. This was soon to become even more apparent as we were next given the opportunity to make some interconnects ourselves, ably assisted by Mike. The time consuming attention to detail in the construction of Chord products was highlighted by our attempts to assemble leads. It's safe to say that customer orders would take somewhat longer if we were the in production instead of the highly skilled Chord team! Thanks to Mike and the rest of the team for correcting any errors in our work and for turning our attempts into useable products!
After an excellent lunch provided by Chord we spent the afternoon in their excellent demonstration room with Matt taking us through most of the Chord interconnects and speaker cables with differences being clearly demonstrated between products all the way through the range. Highlights were the new Chord Signature Digital Tuned Aray (£400 for a 1m RCA-RCA) which was a revelation and the newly released Epic Reference speaker cable (£125 per mono metre) also sounded fantastic, open, coherent and transparent. Everything sounded great at it's price point but we were reminded how much really good cables can transform a system, turning hi-fi sound into real music. The better the cables got the more the speakers and hi-fi disappeared allowing the music to fill the room unhindered. Once we'd reached the dizzy heights of Sarum Tuned Aray mains cables, Sarum Tuned Aray digital interconnects, analogue interconnects and speaker cables the music was a solid three dimensional presence in the room. It would be churlish to talk about price at this stage but for those who can afford it and want to experience the full emotional impact of music in their home Chord Sarum Tuned Aray is the way to achieve it.
We had a fantastic day at The Chord Company and would like to thank everyone there for making us so welcome and making it such an enjoyable experience, and, to top it all, the sun was still shining when we headed home!
The ex-demonstration TXP65VT50 has now found a new home but we still have two amazing opportunities left to grab yourself a superb Panasonic TV at an unbelievable saving! We only have one of each of these stunning screens left and they are both priced to make room for new models at the insane price £999.00!
Above is Panasonic's flagship 42" LED TV TXL42WT50B with active 3D and wi-fi.
This screen was a top of the range model and priced at £1649.00. One chance only to save a stonking £650!
And below...
Panasonic TXP50GT50B 50" Full HD 3D plasma TV. We've always been fans of the natural picture quality, unbeatable contrast and black levels of plasma screens. This is one of the best and a snip at £999.00 - a huge £400 saving on the original price of £1399.00!
The icing on the cake for both of these TVs is the free 5 year warranty included even at these crazy prices!
P.S. The blue line appearing to split the screen in two is merely reflection from the camera flash, so nothing to worry about!
To make room for the imminent arrivals of new models we are offering our demonstration Panasonic TXP65VT50B plasma TV for the unbelievably low price of £1999.95, just half the original list price of £3999.95!
This TV offers stunning picture quality on a 65" screen suitably imposing to complement the best home cinema systems. As it is wall mounted in our demonstration room it has had an easy life, being safely out of reach of little fingers! It has only had occasional use for booked home cinema demonstrations and comes complete with box, manual, remote and all accessories. We also include a free five year warranty for complete peace of mind.
We only have one of these fantastic plasma TVs at this crazy unrepeatable price so be quick as it won't be here for long! Please note that, at this price, the sale of this screen would be for collection only.
We've just taken delivery of this new compact two box hi-fi system from Pioneer and our first impressions are very positive. It looks elegant and understated with brushed aluminium front panels and is well equipped with the separate CD player incorporating a WMA MP3 WAV USB input for iPod/iPhone connection and a 192kHz 32 bit DAC. The receiver is no slouch either pumping out 75 watts into 4 ohms from it's class D stereo amplifier. There's a DAB/FM RDS tuner and optical and coaxial digital inputs, ideal for TV or STB connection, as well as two analogue inputs to complete the comprehensive set of facilities on offer. All this for £399.95! Just add a pair of Monitor Audio BX1 or BX2 for a great compact system ideal for a smaller room or as a second system for kitchen, dining room or bedroom.
Why not pop in and take a look at the Pioneer XC-P01DAB or give us a call to book a demonstration.
We haven't had Naim's amazing DAC-V1 and NAP100 for long but they have already stunned us with a sense of scale far greater than the diminutive footprint would indicate.
The DAC-V1 combines an asynchronous USB DAC with S/PDIF inputs and a high quality volume control and headphone amplifier. It's the ideal way to turn a computer into a music source good enough to satisfy even the most critical audiophile. It's great on it's own driving a top notch pair of headphones or the addition of the matching NAP100 power amplifier will make a stunning pre-power combination. The 50w per channel amp has all the dynamics, timing and clarity that Naim owners have come to expect.
The USB input will handle audio files up to 24bit/384kHz resolution and the OLED display can show incoming bit rates and undertake bit perfect checks on ripped music. Adding a Unitiserve hard disk server would complete a fantastic three box Naim system.
We are already taking orders on these hi-fi jewels from the first lucky customers to hear them. At £1250 for the DAC-V1 and just £650 for the NAP100 they won't break the bank either whilst providing world class performance for years to come.
We were very sad to hear that two long established Hi-Fi outlets, Movement Audio in Poole and Salisbury Hi-Fi, have recently ceased trading. Real Hi-FI is a passion which is close to all of our hearts so the loss of two local specialist stores is bad news.
Our Hi-Fi store here in Chandlers Ford first opened in 1969 and has been fully focused on great music reproduction ever since. We are proud to stock the best of British product such as Arcam, B&W, Cyrus, PMC, Rega and our local world class Hi-Fi manufacturer Naim Audio, amongst many other UK and worldwide brands.
We are well positioned for easy access from all directions, via the A31 and M27 from Dorset and the A36 from Wiltshire, M3 and A34 from all points North and the M27 from the East.
John and I have almost 40 years HiFi and Home Cinema experience between us and would be very happy to welcome you in store and show you the fantastic products we stock and play you some great music in the comfort of our demonstration room, tea or coffee provided.
The new Rega turntables are amazing if you want to bring in some of your favourite vinyl for a spin, especially the awesome RP8, and Naim's comprehensive range of music streaming products open up a whole new world of easily accessible audiophile sounds from sources ranging from iPad, USB memory stick, to network storage device and internet radio.
Please phone us for a chat about your current system and discuss your future requirements and we will be more than happy to pick up where Movement Audio and Salisbury Hi-Fi sadly had to finish.
As a thank you for travelling that bit further to see us please quote offer code MOSA0001 for 10% welcome discount on your first purchase from Audio T Southampton. (*Excludes existing clearance and special offers and installation products).
We look forward to speaking to you and seeing you soon,
Alan and John
The new arrival in store today is the small but beautifully formed Arcam rBlink.
The latest in Arcam's series of compact DAC products, the rBlink is an audiophile performance Bluetooth RF audio receiver and high quality digital to analogue converter.
The rBlink improves sound quality and provides the added convenience of streaming your music from any device that supports Bluetooth.
The rBlink enables Bluetooth enabled devices to be connected to your Hi-Fi system via the twin RCA outputs. It also has a SPDIF coaxial digital output and comes complete with everything required to get it working: power supply, aerial and stereo interconnect, although an upgrade to a Chord Crimson would be a good upgrade.
It's a doddle to set up, sounds great and adds so much extra flexibility to any hi-fi for a very reasonable price of £159.95. Why not call in and take a look and a listen?
A few weeks ago Rob from Rega brought in a sample of Rega's new flagship turntable, the amazing RP8.
This remarkable product is a no compromise design incorporating all the lessons learned over 40 years of turntable design and manufacture. Rega have always done things their way rather than following any trends and every aspect of this fantastic record player has been subjected to detailed and thorough design and testing, based on sound engineering principles. It sounded stunning on the selection of prized old vinyl I brought for Rob to play to me. Even albums I thought I knew inside out after decades of ownership revealed levels of detail I'd never heard previously.
Rather than me explaining the design and features I'll leave it to those who know the RP8 best, Rega themselves:
The Rega RP8 skeletal turntable.
Rega is delighted to announce the launch of the much awaited RP8 turntable. A turntable which takes Rega’s design philosophy further than ever before. A radical new plinth using custom designed materials, a new tonearm bearing assembly, 24v low volt-age motor controlled by a hand tuned electronic power supply and a custom version of our Planar 9 engineered hub bearing assembly. These are just some of the features of this amazing new turntable designed to extract more music from your vinyl than ever before.
The Evolution of Revolution
Evolution is a well proven and documented process in many areas of our lives. This applies in particular to design engineers and machines. Over the past forty years our cars have become more reliable and economical whilst we take for granted the reliability and speed of modern aircraft. Rega is no exception to evolution. Rega’s experience and previous achievements allow us to continually develop and produce better products.
The RP8 represents probably the biggest step forward in the evolution of Roy Gandy’s turntable design philosophies. Low mass, high rigidity plinths combined with electronically controlled low vibration motors, high flywheel effect platters and lower mass higher stability tonearms.
The RP8 is the first of our new “skeletal” design turntables offering groundbreaking levels of performance and amazing value for money.
The RP8 will also be available with its perfect partner, the Apheta moving coil cartridge, factory fitted as a package option.
TTPSU power supply
The compact TT-PSU uses a high stability, crystal locked, low distortion sine wave generator. This, along with an efficient drive amplifier fed from a stabilised DC power supply, generates a 24V AC balanced signal of less than 0.05% distortion, which is completely un-affected by any changes in the mains/line voltage and conditions. This then drives the improved Rega anti-vibration circuit built into the RP8 motor PCB.
RB808Tonearm
The RB808 tonearm is packed with new features pushing the boundaries of tonearm design. As with all Rega tonearms each one is meticulously hand built by a team of highly skilled technicians. The RB808 has improved bearings and a tightened spindle fit tolerance over previous models (each bearing is individually selected to find the perfect match for the chosen spindle). This is a proven method of increasing the amount of detail retrieved from the record surface.
A brand new low mass precision engineered vertical bearing assembly has been manufac-tured to further compliment the inherent design philosophy of the RP8 turntable. The RB808 uses the latest Rega arm tube. Completely redesigned to redistribute mass, further reduce stresses and resonances. This advanced design tube increases the stiffness and rigidity of the overall assembly using CAD design to blend the multiple varying tapers. Externally we have fitted a bespoke Rega designed low capacitance phono cable. Which uses an advanced phono plug assembly. This has only two parts to minimise joints and incorporates a twist and clamp design locking the plug to the terminal. The design increases connectivity and ensures the signal path is kept as clean as possible.
Magnesium and Phenolic - Dual bracing
A super lightweight plinth combined with a double brace mounted specifically where the increased rigidity is required (between the tonearm mounting and the main hub bearing) forms a structurally sound “stressed beam” assembly. This design prevents energy absorption and unwanted resonances which will add un-natural distortions to the music. The RP8 takes our double brace technology to the next level. Not content with an unprecedented stiffness to mass ratio, Rega have obsessively reduced any resonant properties by using two different materials for the new stressed beam. The top layer is magnesium and the bottom layer is pheno-lic (two of the lightest and stiffest materials available). Incorporating two different materials into the brace structure lowers their ability to pick up unwanted airborne vibrations. Simply put, different materials have different natural resonances. By using two different materials together they decrease the natural frequency of each other by self damping.
Super flywheel effect triple layer glass platter
The new RP8 three piece laminated glass platter is the result of a collaboration with a small, emerging, young British glass engineering company. As a general rule the only part of a turntable that requires extra mass is the turntable platter in order to achieve constant rotational speed. However a heavier platter creates more problems for the main bearing design so again an ideal compromise creates the best solution. Practically this means keeping as much of the mass to the outside rim of the glass platter to create more flywheel effect but keeping the inside of the platter as light as possible without sacrificing stiffness. The RP6 was the first Rega turntable to use a precision engineered glass ring laminated to the outside using modern CNC techniques to ensure concentricity. The RP8 takes it one step further by laminating three rings together to produce the RP8 super flywheel effect glass platter - an engineering triumph !
Skeletal plinth design with polyolefin foam core
Controversially Rega has always researched methods of producing light but stiff and rigid plinths. The technology is simple: unwanted noise at microscopic levels is developed by the turntable motor and main bearing. The plinth can also pick up airborne vibration from the music. From the beginning in the 1970’s Rega pioneered the use of a stressed skin structure for the plinth. This uses two layers of phenolic resin with a lightweight particle or fibre board sandwiched between the skins. This technique has been used in many applications where stiff, light structures are needed such as an aircraft wing or a Formula 1 chassis. The current increase in interest in turntables has allowed Rega to research and develop higher technology structures for the customer who is happy pay a little more for higher sound quality. The all new RP8 turntable utilises a unique new stressed skin structure produced from thin phenolic skins sandwiching a featherweight nitrogen expanded, closed cell, polyolefin foam core. This material has been developed exclusively for Rega over a three year period. The RP8 plinth is 7 times lighter than the weight of the original Planar 3 plinth. Rega has added even more stiffness in the crucial area between the arm and the main bearing.
De-coupled outer frame and dust cover
A common problem for many skeletal design turntables is the inability to incorporate an effective dust cover into the design. We have constructed an outer frame that minimises contact between the inner and outer plinth. The only points of contact are three location devices on the feet which centralises the inner and outer plinths perfectly. This makes set-up extremely easy and allows the use of a dust cover. The RP8 can be used without the outer frame if so desired.
Turntable design & mythology
Today there are many approaches to Hi-Fi design which follow established and informed engineering or electronic principles. Amplifier and loudspeaker design has been well documented over the years with excellent technical publications. These subjects have been based on tried and tested acoustic criteria and many computer software programs now exist that enable a near amateur to design a passable working loudspeaker based on known acoustic and mathematical parameters.
Enter turntable design: When it comes to turntable design we are limited to a few poorly informed articles describing only very limited aspects of design. This is a subject full of mythology. Designers propose theories that counter the basic laws of physics, use terminology that doesn’t actually exist in the engineering world, build products that are more like beautiful sculptures than acoustic reproduction machines and sell items costing tens of thousands of pounds that hardly function as intended and often fail to work at all.
For instance a very common myth is “the heavier the better” concept. Turntable bases weighing tens of kilograms are not uncommon. The reality is that the base actually needs to be as light as possible to prevent unwanted bearing and motor noise being transferred to the turntable or record. Platters also fall under a similar myth with many platter designs becoming so heavy that it is impossible to design a correctly functioning bearing (and some so light that anyone can hear the speed inconsistency). The turntable platter itself needs to be of enough weight to spin at a constant speed within the confines of the chosen bearing and motor drive system.
Many amateur designers in any field choose one component in a design and try to achieve an extreme in size, weight and quality. They believe that by taking one theory to its extreme the design will become “perfect”. The reality of all engineering, design (and life) is that perfection is not possible. Based on this reality, Rega’s goal has always been to optimise a mixture of numerous “correct compromises” thus bringing the designer nearer to the unachievable goal of perfection.
24V Low noise motor
The motor is a high specification, 24V twin phase synchronous unit which has the anti vibration circuit hand tuned to each motor and is controlled by Rega's unique and innovative TTPSU power supply. The motor drives the CNC machined pulley and sub platter/hub-bearing assembly via the belt drive.
I'm delighted to say that we now have our own demonstration RP8 available for you to listen to. Give us a call to arrange a demonstration and bring in a few of your favourite LPs and prepare to give your ears a treat!
Arcam have released the Sonlink to provide a sonic boost to Sonos sytems!
This compact high quality DAC is designed as the ideal partner to the Sonos Connect (ZP90). Not only does it take the already great performance of the Sonos Connect to a whole new level by de-jittering the digital output and converting it to analogue via Arcam's high resolution DAC but, as you can see, it is also styled to perfectly match the Sonos casework!
All necessary audio leads are included, with a flying coaxial digital lead to connect to the Sonos output.
The upper casework is shaped to allow seamless positioning of the Sonos Connect.
We are delighted to say that we have received our first shipment of this exciting new product, which will take your Sonos system to a new level of sound quality. It's a fantastic upgrade for the many Sonos Connect owners, and at a very reasonable price of £184.95.
Come on in and have a listen.
At Audio T we're always excited to share with you our thoughts and musings on the latest and greatest Hi-Fi and home audio! Our blog features news and reviews from individual stores and occasional blogs from HQ; select your nearest store from the list below to find out what they've been up to.
