TW-Acustic Raven

Scroll down a bit here in the analogue discussion section, see TW Acustic Raven One owners, also more in the archives...

I have heard the Raven One a couple of times with Dynavector arms, and at the latest RMAF with a Ortofon 309D with a Koetsu Jade, and was blown away by how good that combo was. I am sure the Phantom would be even better, but it goes to show you how good that little table is, with a less expensive arm like the Ortofon AS series arms.

TW makes great stuff and I have been a happy owner of a Raven AC for over two years now.

IMO it is the best bang for buck out there for new tables.

There is a new contender to the Raven ranks.

The word on the street is the Fickert table which shares the same platter construction is actually an even better turntable than the Raven!

In Europe the Fickert is gaining quite a reputation for its sound quality and TW Acoustic is quite concerned about how well Fickert is doing with his new Twin.

There is a lot of "story" about the Raven and its magnificent platter material, it turns out that this platter material was found by the Raven's designer he did not make it up, it was an alloy from a commercial manufacturer.

Dr. Fickert has studied all aspects of the turntable, arm and cartridge interactions and his acclaimed cartridge set up tools bare the fact that he is one of the most astute and knowledgeable designers of analog out there.

The precision motor drive on the Fickert is equally remarkable and the twin compares with the three motor Raven yet is far less expensive.

I looked at both table lines and my next table is going to be the Fickert, do the research and you will find that out.

I am not saying the Raven isn't a great table, however, the Fickert is also a remarkable table and the price differential is quite large. I can get a Fickert with a superb arm and cartidge for the price of a fully blown Raven!

i am a owner a raven one with the ortofon 12 inch and i have never owned a TT anywhere near this price point, but in the last 6 years since i have got back into vinyl i have owned a music hall 5- music hall 7- both sounded dead to me and then i bought a thorns 135 that is basically the same as 124 but with out the clutch and strobe and it has finicky speed issues so then- i got off Craig s list a thorns 115 which was highly regarded in 1980 and its sounds clear and good as long as you don't walk across the room because because it weighs about a pound and its squirrely and so then last tt i bought off the bay was a Leno 75 that the seller said was rebuilt blah blah and i read all this stuff online about how great lencos are so i bid top and won this pretty machine where the music goes from flat to sharp back to flat back to sharp back to flat in other word the speed is screwy.
as you can tell i got no biddness owning vintage but i have an ear and i have to tell you that my raven one floats my boat big time it so SECURE and SURE AND STEADY like the atomic clock.

i run a Decca jubilee that could be a disaster on an insecure machine.
its amazing.
i have never gotten to this place with music before.
last night i put on a record i first bought in 1974- Neil young ON THE BEACH and it transported me- BUT not back into time- but into the room where the music was played.
IT WAS SO ACTUAL.
you gotta think that this process of dragging a pin through a plastic grove then up some wires to get music out is a delicate of a process as walking across town with a cigarette ash.you would need a steady hand.

I would like to hear more about this Fickert table, as I have not heard of it. Does this manufacturer have a website? The TW-Acustic Raven Two is at the top of my focus list. I like the idea of a table that can take two arms, but does not take up a great deal of space. However, as I contemplate this significant investment, I am torn with a bias toward more "stable" U.S. companies, such as VPI and Basis, which have maintained a presence in this market for so many years. I wonder what would happen if, say eight years down the road, a problem arises with the TW-Acustic...how would I get the thing fixed...on the other hand, given superb engineering, maybe the reason to buy TW-Acustic is that it will not break, even eight years down the road...well, I don't see these pop up on audiogon very often...