NY Audio Show 2014

Townshend Audio World Debut of Excalibur 2 Tonearm At New York Audio Show 2014

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 27, 2014

In the Wes Bender Audio room the new Townshend Audio Rock 7 Mk2 turntable with PVC platter costing $3900 made its American debut. Add $1900 for the new Merlin power supply and motor. Another $7200 gets you the new Excalibur 2 tone arm, which had its world debut at The New York Audio Show 2014. Because of the integral damping trough, the arm is not yet available as as separate product.

COMMENTS
Zardoz's picture
Submitted by Zardoz on Sun, 2014-09-28 15:52

to put a $7000 arm on a $4000 table? I would thinks so, but wondered how you felt about it.

Good listening,
Z

thomoz's picture
Submitted by thomoz on Mon, 2014-09-29 01:37

I would like to read the theory behind and a sonically descriptive review of that arm and damping mechanism!

cgh's picture
Submitted by cgh on Mon, 2014-09-29 08:09

...it completely. On the website they have graphs of damped versus "typical turntable, undamped". It is a relatively simple measurement to show damped versus undamped on the same TT with the same test signals. Using some mechanical mechanism to park one resonant mode far enough away from another mode to prevent coupling is fairly common in a number of disciplines, but I'm curious how audible these couplings are in common TT designs. The graphs on the site seem to indicate that the trough attenuates ~16dB. Seems like a large number.

eastwes's picture
Submitted by eastwes on Thu, 2014-10-02 12:26

Michael,
Thanks for mentioning the Rock 7 in your report of the NY Audio Show. We're disappointed that you weren't able to stop by to actually hear the system but it was great none the less to see you there! Turning to the comments regarding the unique damping trough implemented in the Townshend Rock 7's design; the physics are actually quite simple and the design has been around since the 1960s. Damping the vibrations created by the stylus tracking a record groove at the cartridge end of the tonearm should make obvious sense to anyone who knows how a cartridge / stylus works! Sonically, the difference between using the trough and not is enormous and constitutes a significant improvement in playback performance (with eerily quiet blacker backgrounds, improved soundstage width and depth and truly startling transients and dynamics). 6-time grammy winning engineer Marc Aubort payed us a visit and after listening through several tracks commented to me that our room had the best transient speed and attack of the show. I didn't get an opportunity to visit other rooms, but there's not doubt the combination of the Townshend Rock 7 turntable with Transfiguration Phoenix cartridge along with an all Zesto tube electronics system (Andros 1.2 phono stage, Leto line stage, BIA-120 class A amplifier) driving Marten's new Getz 2 speakers (wired with an all Waveform Fidelity "loom") with everything sitting on Stillpoints ESS racks and accessories, made for a system with great dynamic impact, clarity and musicality. We're looking forward to Michael reviewing the Rock 7 sooner than later too!

Cheers!

Wes

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