Nagra Announces Reference Turntable

All Image Credit: Nagra

High-end Swiss manufacturer Nagra has just added a new turntable to its reference line of luxury audio products. The Nagra Reference joins the limited edition Reference Anniversary model released several years ago, both carrying that premium price tag! With only 70 being manufactured, it will be “first come, first served”. The turntable comes with its own excellent tonearm but for those wanting to experiment it maybe ordered with various arm board options to accommodate most tonearms.

The Reference turntable system employs a heavy, phenolic damped, CNC machined, aerospace grade aluminum platter featuring an Alcantara surface that is said to provide “an ideal platter-vinyl interface”.

Supporting the massive platter is a sub-platter that is machined from high strength aluminum and has a phenolic interlayer applied on its top surface to aid with resonance decoupling. This sub-platter is supported by a shaft/bearing system using a machined brass adapter and shaft/bearing housing made from spheroidal graphite iron. The main shaft is machined from induction hardened steel and runs within shaft bushings machined of sintered bronze which are high temperature/pressure impregnated with oil for maintenance-free operation. This shaft is then supported on stacked carbide balls which have been polished to the highest grade possible.

The Reference turntables main chassis and sub-chassis are made from large plates of aircraft grade aluminum and phenolic that have been precisely CNC machined to form a low resonance, high rigidity, layered structure of aluminum/phenolic/aluminum, all preventing sound coloration from the system’s mechanical parts. This massive structure is then supported by a unique suspension system that combines both mechanical and hydraulic principals. The substantial suspension pillars employ both a spring mechanism and a highly viscous fluid contained in a “diver/chamber” configuration which, when combined, provide suspension and supports displacement in three dimensions.

The platter is belt-driven via a multi-motor drive system, that weighs in at 1.2 kg/24.6 lb. It uses dual high precision, Swiss made, decoupled, brushless DC motors. Speed stability is maintained using a high precision quartz reference. The speed only being actively calibrated and adjusted during an initial 20 second window and only after an accelerometer signals that the floating chassis is stable. During vinyl playback the motors run in closed loop mode so no active speed control is employed. This technique eliminates associated ill effects of active control such as “cogging” and other impacts on image stability and pitch. An easy to read Modulometer and associated controls on the turntable’s front control panel makes speed selection, calibration and pitch control simple.

The Reference turntable was designed as a complete system and as such comes with it own matching tonearm composed of dual concentric carbon fiber including an intermediary layer of wood. The result is 10.5″ single piece tonearm with fixed headshell, that is ultra rigid and provides an extremely low resonance platform for both the cartridge connection and bearing mounting, eliminating additional electrical and mechanical connections. The tonearm’s bearing is a simple, extremely precise, CNC machined, hardened steel cone captured in a resonance isolating, silicone damped, ultra high density polyethylene receiving cup. The tonearm’s traditional counterweight is supplemented by a low hung, saddle shaped weight that is said to provide stability while minimizing the tonearm’s effective mass. Internal wiring is achieved using Ohno Continuous Casting (OCC) copper cable. Besides tracking weight adjustment, geometry adjustments include; VTA “on the fly”, cartridge azimuth and bias.

Finally, the turntable’s external linear power supply is housed in an HD sized chassis and features an oversized medical grade transformer and ultra low noise regulators providing a quiet, stable supply to the massive super-cap drive unit.