TT-Two Deluxe

What does this TT mean? It means TURNTABLE! What does this Two mean? It means TWO MOTORS! So what's the point to make turntable with two engines? Here is the review in HiFi Choice magazine.

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Audio Note AN-TT2 DeluxeTwin Engined


Audio Note has a range of new arms for its well established TT-2 turntable. Ed Selley finds out if two motors are better than one.
Audio Note is best known for its extensive range of valve amplifiers and digital products, but it has been producing turntables and vinyl accessories for many years. The current range consists of three turntables, three new tonearms and a range of moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges. Tested here is the middle of the range TT-2 (numerically at least, the TT-3 is an altogether different beast), with a brand new Arm One and IQII moving-magnet cartridge.


The TT-2 itself has been in production for some time in basic black for £1,290, but is now available in a £2,200 Deluxe version tested here with real-wood veneers. The unit is a full plinth-type design with a three point suspended chassis placed within it. Parts of this basic design date back a very long way and the TT-2 could be regarded as a heavily evolved Dunlop Systemdek in some regards.


Act in balance Where the TT-2 Deluxe differs from virtually every other deck on sale is in the use of a pair of AC motors to spin the acrylic platter instead of one. The motors are mounted on opposite sides of the spindle and the theory goes that the two motors act in balance to completely reduce oscillation at the spindle, which is passed on to the platter. This is a difficult engineering process because if there is any variation in the motors, instead of improving playback they will exaggerate the oscillation further. Audio Note pair-matches every set of motors to ensure they behave the same and pays close attention to the chassis design to ensure that the two motors work in harmony.


The £655 Arm One is all new and a welcome addition to the ranks of sensibly priced tonearms. It is part of a three-strong range and uses a single machined piece of aluminium for the arm wand and a second machined section to house the ‘captured unipivot’ bearings. The combination of ‘Rega-mount’ fi tting (still referred to as such, despite Rega not using it anymore) and an easily adjustable VTA means it should work well on a variety of decks. In this instance, our sample arrived mounted on the Deluxe with IQII cartridge in place and required no adjustments.


The £420 IQII is part of Audio Note’s moving-magnet cartridge range and is an uprated Goldring design that uses higher-quality copper coils and a diamond stylus to obtain a much improved performance over the stock model. Audio Note phono stages are generally moving-magnet designs and the IQ series precludes the need for an external step-up transformer to obtain the required levels of gain.


High standard After extracting the TT-2 Deluxe from its packaging, first impressions are good. At a price point where some very large and very shiny designs are available, the Audio Note can look a little sober by comparison, but the TT-2 has much to commend it. The fi t and finish is excellent and the veneering, in particular, is of a very high standard. The TT-2 is not an especially heavy design, but still feels solid and well constructed. The unit is also supplied with a Perspex cover which is always a welcome addition.


The suspension is locked into place with a transit screw and removing it will allow you to level up the suspension via the three bolts at the suspension mounts. String the belt across the two pulleys and set the platter and the deck is ready to go. With the recommended tracking weight on the cartridge, we found the deck was a little sensitive to footfall when placed on a rack, but switching to a wall shelf eliminated this, so would be the better option if available. With the noise of twice as many motors as usual to suppress, the TT-2 is also impressively quiet. If the TT-2 is a pleasant surprise, the Arm One is something of a revelation. This is an immaculately finished and well thought out unit that is as good as anything we have seen under £1,000. Changing cartridges is extremely simple and it seems able to cope with any cartridge it is likely to be partnered with. The cueing action and the general arm movement suggest the bearings are excellent as well.


Persuasive case With the suspension level and the output connected to the internal phono stage of an Audio Analogue Verdi Cento, the TT-2 makes a very persuasive case for itself. The first impression is of an extremely low-noise floor. With the deckearthed correctly, there is almost no background noise at any volume level and no hum whatsoever. The two motors allow the platter to spin up to speed almost instantly and the perceived pitch stability is excellent.
Sonically, the TT-2 is a muscular and powerful performer. It manages to sound effortless across a wide variety of music and is possessed of excellent pace and timing. Up tempo recordings are delivered with real urgency and this is underpinned with a tight and potent bass that starts and stops with aplomb and underpins the performance. Slower and calmer recordings still benefit from this innate timing without sounding forced or hurried.


While the twin motor design is specifically intended to combat oscillation, like the multiple motor Voyd designs from the 80s and 90s (which Audio Note went on to build themselves), there is a sense that the twin motors also bring something to the sound as well. There is a pace and energy that the Audio Note has that adds considerably to the performance as a whole. There is also a technical argument that multiple pulleys would combat oscillation as effectively as multiple motors, but whether the deck would still possess this beguiling energy is unclear.
Further up the frequency range,the combination of deck, arm and cartridge combine to give an open and airy sound with strong tonality and good detail retrieval. The soundstage is not as wide as a Michell Gyrodec and even after extended running in, we found the IQII to be slightly bright, but not unworkably so and nothing that thoughtful phono stage matching wouldn’t accommodate.


Musicality is a difficult concept to pin down exactly, but the Audio Note has it in spades. It generally manages to get toes tapping and heads nodding and leave you enjoying the music rather than analysing it. This is not to say that there is any lack of detail or focus, but the presentation as a whole is more important than the constituent parts.


Vocals are generally excellent and there is a real sense of the space a recording was made in. Towards the end of our listening session, we substituted another moving-magnet cartridge in the form of a Clearaudio Virtuoso and not only was this simple to do (thanks to the Arm One), we found that the slight brightness was tamed without affecting the substantial low end and rhythmic ability, which are clearly innate to the deck and arm.


Musical enjoyment The TT-2 Deluxe is a very fine turntable and one that impressed us considerably. Due to its very distinctive design, Audio Note equipment can often work best in the context of an all-Audio Note system. While we don’t doubt that this turntable would sound excellent in this context, it works equally well outside of this as well. You could be one of the most passionate advocates of solid-state imaginable and still find the superb timing and wonderfully open presentation to your liking.


Separate to the entire package, the Arm One is a very welcome addition to the ranks of sub-£1,000 tonearms. This is a beautifully built and very well thought out design that should work well with a variety of cartridges and turntables.


There are many turntables at this price point that offer much more visual drama than the TT-2, but few of them can match it for sheer musical enjoyment. The Audio Note, therefore, is a winner.


LIKES: Powerful and engaging sound

DISLIKES: Sensitive to footfall; manual speed change only

WE SAY: A wonderful turntable with great sound and considerable flexibility, thanks to an excellent tonearm
PRODUCT: Audio Note TT-2Deluxe turntable(£2,200); Arm Onetonearm (£655);IQII- phono cartridge£420).

ORIGIN:UK/Austria

TYPE:Belt drive turntable

DIMENSIONS:(wxhxd)470x170x360mm

WEIGHT:4kg (approx)

FEATURES:• Twin motor beltdrive turntable• Three pointsuspension• Captured unipivottonearm• Choice of real woodveneers• Moving magnetcartridge with highquality copper coils,aluminium cantileverand diamond stylus

DISTRIBUTOR: Audio Note UK TELEPHONE: 01273 220 511 WEBSITE: audionote.co.uk

DISTRIBUTER SRBIJA TELEFON: +381 64 2468 685, WEBSAJT: http://www.audionote.rs/

Arm One - Audio Note

Unazad više godine Audio Note UK koristi modifikovanu verziju poznate ručke Rega 250. Ovogodišnje osveženje u proizvodnoj liniji firme Audio Note UK je potpuno novi dizajn gramofonske ručke - kao što je i do sada naziv ovog proizvoda je prosto Arm - ručka!

Ručke su numerisane brojevima One, Two i Three - još prostije i pamtljivije.

Telo ručke je izradjeno od jednog komada aluminijuma koji je iznutra blago sužavan od jednog kraja ka drugom - to povećava čvrstoću a smanjuje težinu. Drugi komad aluminijuma se koristi da nosi ležište sa lagerom koji drži u jednoj tački.


Ručka za gramofon koristi istu geometriju i navoje na osovini kao i Rega pa samim tim može da se uglavi na bilo koji gramofon. Podešavanje VTA je u merama od 0,25mm uz pomoć veoma jednostavnog markera.

Na prvo slušanje ono što se najviše ističe u zvuku koji daje ova ručka je brzina prenosa visokih tonova koji se reprodukuju sa neverovatnom preciznošću, ali bez uticaja na prirodnost.


Mnoge ručke koje imaju osobinu da visoke tonove prikazuju tačno i precizno to čine na pomalo veštački način. Zvuk ručke Audio Note je veoma fokusiran i čvrst, uvek drži kontrolu nad svim delovima spektra ali ne pritiska muziku.

Tehnički gledano ručka nikad ne zakazuje, sve što može da se prigovori je da ponekad prst nije u potpunoj kontroli mehanizma za podizanje - kao da će poluga da ispadne. Ali sve u svemu u svom cenovnom rangu nema slične ručke koja na tako dobar način kombinuje preciznost, brzinu i muzikalnost.

Ručke se isporučuju kao srebrne ili crne. Jedina razlika je unutrašnje ožičenje - Arm One ima bakarni kabl AN-E, Arm Two srebrni kabl AN-V a Arm Three srebrni kabl AN-Vx.

Audio pojačala - standardi

Vikipedija piše da sa tehnološkog gledišta postoji pet standarda – klasa audio pojačivača. To su klase A, B, AB, C i D.

Ukratko, tehnološko pitanje je protok struje kroz pojačivač – elektronsku lampu ili tranzistor.

Klasa A ima neprekinut, linearni protok struje od uključivanja do isključivanja. Zbog toga ima veliku potrošnju električne energije, jako se greje i potreban je na kraju zvučnik veoma velike osetljivosti da pročita pojačanje.

Za svrhe veoma kvalitetnih pojačanja dobrih snimaka putem elektronske lampe koristi se izraz SINGLE END – jedan izlaz. Ovo jasno govori da postoji jedan ulaz struje i jedan izlaz ka zvučniku. Donja slika jasno pokazuje da pojačivač jednostavno linearno kopira ulazni signal, frekvencije na gore i na dole.

Pojačalo klasa A - single end

Koje su tehnološke i posebno zvučne prednosti pojačivača u ovoj klasi? Najveća prednost je jednostavnost izrade i jasno preslikavanje ulaznog signala. To je ono što se odmah čuje nakon što se bilo koja vrsta muzike preslušava na ovakvom pojačalu!

Klasa B za razliku od gore objašnjenog ulazni signal pojačava samo u jednoj polovini, iznad frekvencije 0.

Audio pojačalo - klasa B

Budući da ovaj princip ne rešava celokupan spektar zvučnog signala, uvek se kombinuje par ovakvih pojačivača da bi se izvršilo i pojačanje donjeg dela signala, ispod frekvencije 0. Zbog tog mešanja se u praksi zove puš-pul – push-pull! U prevodu guraj- vuci!! To u praksi izgleda ovako.

Audio pojačalo klase B - push/pull

Ovo uparivanje dva pojačivača daje veliku iskorišćenost signala, ali prilikom ponovnog spajanja dva dela signala ima problem sa sudaranjem dela zvučnih frekvencija koje su blizu jedna drugoj – tako se i zovu crossover distortion.

Ovaj problem se rešava time što se svaki od pojačivača osposobljava da vrši i mali deo pojačanja svog suprotnog para. To se onda zove klasa AB, za to je potrebna mala tehnička korekcija – bias, ali rezultati se isplate!

Na kraju ovog dela ostaje pitanje, zašto se prave pojačala u klasi AB ako su SINGLE END tako tehnički, tehnološki i zvučno superiorna? Odgovor je samo jedan, cena izrade klase A je zbog mnogih faktora veoma visoka! Pošto se kod pojačanja signala preko elektronske lampe radi o čistom pojačanju napona struje, onda nije lako napraviti transormator za takve visoke napone!

O preostalim klasama C i D ne vredi trošiti mnogo reči ukoliko mislimo na pojačivače koji verno reprodukuju snimljeni zvuk. Jedni se koriste za radio stanice a drugi za pojačanje dubokih tonova.

Ovaj tekst je veoma jednostavno objašnjenje tehnologije i standarda – više podataka, uključujući i tehničke možete pronaći na WIKIPEDIA.

Ovaj blog će se dakle baviti uredjajima koji tehnički spadaju u kategoriju A i u kategoriju AB, odnosno u sistem SINGLE END i PUSH-PULL.

CES Las Vegas

Las Vegas je jedinstveni grad na svetu, onda je svaka manifestacija koja se u njemu održava takodje jedinstvena.

Tradicija se ne prekida - za 7 dana počinje CES Las Vegas 2011!

Firma Audio Note UK izlaže i na ovom sajmu od 6. do 9.januara, kao i na nizu prethodnih!

Evo nekoliko fotografija sa prethodna dva, 2009. i 2010.







- Prepoznatljiv dizajn, sveden do krajnosti, zahvalan za osnovnu funkcionalnost ... ali iznenadjenje dolazi po uključivanju uredjaja. Zvuk koji izlazi iz uredjaja napravljenih od srebrnih žica u kritičnim segmentima je neverovatno precizan i kontrastan.

Ako vas zanima šta je sve bilo na dosadašnjim CES sajmovima pogledajte veb prezentaciju na adresi.

Audio Note ovaj sajam koristi da predstavi vrhunsku kombinaciju CD transporta i DAC konvertera nivoa Pet - Five. Izgleda da će reprodukcija iz standardnog CD formata (Red Book) biti nanovo napisana nakon ovog sajma.


Po završetku sajma ćemo postaviti informacije i nove slike.

REVOX B750

ReVox uredjaji su ime za sebe. Zaslužuju da se o njima piše i na ovom mestu. Ovog puta pisaćemo o uredjaju koji se nalazi na dnu police - ReVox B750 MkII.


Najveći broj audiofila poznaje firmu ReVox po magnetofonima za kućnu i profesionalnu upotrebu koji su se proizvodili od kraja četrdesetih godina prošlog veka pa sve do vremena kad je digitalno snimanje potpuno potislo do tada dominantne magnetne trake. Magnetofoni za komecijalnu upotrebu su prodavani pod oznakama A i B.

A sad o glavnoj zvezdi - integrisano pojačalo B750!

Nedavno mi je do ruku došao uredjaj proizveden daleke 1978. godine. To je integrisano pojačalo sa oznakom MkII - verzija br. 2 originalnog modela iz 1977. godine. Serijski broj proizvoda je 0178973 - veoma lepo čitljivo na zadnjoj strani pored utičnice za struju.



Dizajn firme ReVox je bio jedinstven i neponovljiv. Čiste linije, kontrole logično rasporedjene, gornja linija sa znakom firme od aluminijuma - preklop na dva federa sa obe strane.

Zadnji deo je klasični primer tehnologije tog vremena - utičnice za ulaze su standardni činč, ali utičnice za povezivanje zvučnika su za ogoljeni kabl sa pritiskačem.


Prednji deo ima jasno podeljen desnu i levu stranu - desno su kontrole jačine, basa, visokih tonova, balansa i izbor zvučnika.


Sa leve strane su selektori ulaza - dva ulaza za magnetofon! Tu je dugme koje je u ta vremena bilo popularno - LOUDNESS za slušanje sa zvučnicima slabe osetljivosti, tu su filteri visokih i niskih frekvencija i preklopnik za uključivanje i isključivanje.




Za kraj još nekoliko fotografija uredjaja izbliza i dva tri linka do mesta na internetu gde se može pronaći mnogo informacija o firmi, vlasniku firme g. Willi Studeru, uredjajima, serijama proizvoda i trenutnom ponudom.



Dakle podaci o firmi na adresi - http://www.studerundrevox.de/ ...

stranica za Facebook profilu - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Das-Studer-und-Revox-Infoportal/152582541435651?v=info#!/pages/Das-Studer-und-Revox-Infoportal/152582541435651?v=wall

i ponuda polovnih i repariranih uredjaja na adresi - http://www.revox-bandmaschine.de/aktuelle_angebote.htm

Zavisno od stanja i tržišta ovi uredjaji se mogu pronaći od nekoliko stotina evra do više od hiljadu američkih dolara!

Opera Consonance Droplet

Regardless of the fact that Audio Note sign is marked on the first page, we consider this the right place to present extremely nice product from another company we distribute.

In fact, it is a Chinese company with similar scope of products - tube amplifiers, cd players, turntables. The base of the company is in Beijing, and the name is Opera Consonance.


Therefore here we present - Droplet product line and very nice mode of High End CD player.
The mark of this product is 3.1.



It is absolutely clear that manufacturer paid close attention to the design aspects of the audio product. Cover is made of brushed aluminium, the hole for the cd is opened by hand - no motors to move the tray. You have to get up from the bed and change the cd!



But the designer did not stop with just producing nice and attractive product.

The body of the player is made in sandwich structure - the tray is fixed to the bottom chassis. Complete machine is shock-proof and stable - it will be not easy to move it around.

Technical specifications are also remarkable - it uses reading chip of 24 bits and sampling frequency of 768kHz. Quite remarkable taking into consideration that regular sampling - reading frequency of standard CD is 44,1kHz.

Interior design is clean and simple. Soldering is done with high precision, internal electric parts are of high quality.

With this sophisticated reading capabilities any CD can be "read" easily and precisely! No mistakes!

The back side of the machine is also very simple - digital out and audio connections for amplifier! Enough!

Audio Note presentation

VinylCd had a public presentation in Jazz Club "Ptica" on June 26th, 2010. The Club is well known in Belgrade for live jazz music on Saturdays and Sundays.

Therefore it was quite unusual to promote HiFi products in the area of Cafe. Club itself is a converted private villa in the narrow and short Šantićeva street in Belgrade downtown. It actually consist of 4 rooms on the groundfloor and big tucked yard. Club owner put brown bricks on the ground thus enabling to be used throughout the year.

The weather was changable - afternoon was quiet and warm, then suddenly changed to drizzling shower in the evening.

Inside the premises the stand was offered to put the equipment on. For the sake of the first presentation the setup was ready - Audio Note system Zero.

The playback system itself consisted of CD transport CDT Zero, Digital to Analog Converter DAC 0.1x and Integrated Amplifier I Zero.

This is how it looked on the stage ... the lights were put down and the simple blue display on the CD Transport showed track number and the time elapsed. The stand for the products was created from the old hand sewing machine with foot-pedal, and a very interesting wall poster on the back created additional atmosphere

The final product in the audio line was prepaired for Audio Note loudspeaker, model AN-K/Lx. Although created for small rooms and compact space, K proved to be able to demonstrate precise and clear sound at pleasant and low levels. It was evident that the quality of recording and production is a vital part of a good music peace.

And as for the music, selected jazz pieces were put - attention was drawn to Dave Brubeck and his famous Time Out (Columbia Legacy) - Blue Ronto A La Turk, Take Five, Thre To Get Ready ... Too conventional? Could be, but the same pieces played on the live concert (Avis Autovermietung Gift CD) showed real enthusiasm of the author. Compared to the studio recording the live event proved how much Dave liked these pieces.

Guests are like all guests - wishfull! One of the guest was a huge fan of Led Zepellin group, so for him selected pieces from Remastered compilation from 1997. He said he was satisfied ... next time he will bring live LZ concert recording.