Audio Note TT2 Turntable/ TT-2 Deluxe 

About Audio Note Turntables

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.

Audio Note TT-2 Turntable

The Audio Note TT2 is based on the award winning Dunlop Systemdeck IIX. Audio Note have taken its basic design and improved on it in a number of areas.

The Audio Note TT2 has a fully floating, three point, level-adjustable suspended sub-chassis that isolates the platter and arm from the outer chassis, motor, and shelf or support.

The Audio Note TT2 platter and sub-platter are individually machined from a single block of acrylic. The platter has a label-sized recess on its top to accommodate the record’s label and a wider recess on the bottom, providing clearance for the pulley system. One of the reasons that acrylic is used is that it has some similar properties to vinyl itself so that when a record is placed on top of it, it acts like a mechanical extension of the record. Therefore, with this kind of platter, no mat should be used.

Audio Note TT-2 Deluxe Turntable

Where the Audio Note 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.

Audio Note TT-2/Deluxe Reviews

“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.

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.”

To read the rest of the review about the Audio Note TT-2, click here