Raven Black Night


First sneak pic of the new reference turntable from TW Acustic.

I can't see any belt from the pic. The copper platter reminds me of some heavy weight Micro Seiki from bygone years.

http://www.i-fidelity.net/uploads/pics/ran.jpg
jaspert
yesterday I had a look and listen to the new Raven. I was disappointed. At the shop there they had 3 Raven turn tables. The new Black night, AC and One.

The Black Night and AC were demonstrated using the Raven Acustic phono pre,
Lyra pre amp,
tri TRV-M300SE 300B mono block amps
Klips klipschorn speakers.

I spoke with several people and no one liked the speakers and neither did I. So they killed what could have been a great introduction of a good looking product.

The Raven One was hooked up to:
T+A V 10 integrated valve amp
Goldenote (used to be blue note) Pamphili phono pre
Isophon Vescova speakers with diamond tweeters

Now this sounded a lot better to my ears this set really made some music. It is always difficult to judge a set during a show. People were talking, laughing etc. But what I could hear made me smile. Now if only they wouldn't have down-firing port I much prefer a rear or even front port.

I even bought a new LP Countdown to extinction by megadeath a recording taken from the original master tape. Now lets hear if that €55 is well spend.
How soon? I'll be there in May but Jeff told me it wouldn't be there by then. It's out of my budget anyway but there was some indication that some features of the Black Night may eventually be available for the AC(custom feet, VTA adjustable armboards)but no idea when.
According to the (German) LP magazine (3/09) the platter
is 'all copper' and the price 29.000 Euro. The review
will be in the next edition. Sorry! (for the price that is).

Cheers
Yes, the full Black Night is pricey. I wonder though if even the battery powered-rechargable motor controller might be an option on the lower priced units. I'm sure TW has no interest in becoming the German equivalent of VPI but if some of these new features were available as upgrades, the whole line might get better and be available to many more people.