Description
Alva TT V2 is for people who want to listen to records at exceptional quality – without the need to choose or fit extra components. TT V2 comes with a bespoke designed cartridge pre-installed. It connects to pretty much any audio system too, thanks to a switchable integrated phono-stage. It even works wirelessly with high quality Bluetooth speaker systems.
The Alva TT V2 looks very similar to the original Alva TT, which in a nutshell is sleek and simple. The appearance reminds us of the look of the CX series products which have a rounded, floating appearance. The footprint that sits on your shelf is smaller than the plinth, which gives it that floating look just like CX. The bottom part of the plinth is a dark matte gray finish with a solid aluminum top plate. Three small silver buttons are on the left side for power and speed control with an elegantly embossed Cambridge logo on the right.
The Alva TT V2 is a manual turntable, which means you need to lower the tonearm using the cueing lever at the beginning and end of the record. The tonearm has tracking force and anti-skate adjustments. However, there is no way to adjust the tonearm height.
Learn More About Manual vs. Automatic Turntables
Cambridge Audio intentionally designed the Alva TT V2 to have an appearance that gives you the confidence that it’s easy to set up and put right to use. We love the minimalist appearance with its rounded corners and clean lines.
Build quality is very good, as we see with all of their gear. This is one stout turntable. The plinth without the platter weighs almost 16 pounds, and when you add the 5-pound platter, you are just shy of 21 pounds total. Cambridge Audio includes a nice set of audio interconnect cables and a ground wire with the turntable, which we felt would not really need to be upgraded compared to some products that come with throwaway cables. And in what has become their trademark back panel design, the labels are printed both right side up and upside down to make them easy to read when leaning over the top.
Features & Technology
The Alva TT V2 sits on four feet that have some damping characteristics and feel slightly squishy to the touch. As we said earlier, the plinth is quite beefy with its solid aluminum top plate and anti-resonant base.
The platter is made from Polyoxymethylene (POM), a high-tech engineering thermoplastic used in precision parts that require high stiffness and excellent dimensional stability. There is a metal insert in the center with a slight indentation for the record label. Like many turntables with a high-tech plastic-based platter, it is designed to be used without a mat. For those of you who like to roll your own sound by changing mats, you need to bear in mind the arm is not height-adjustable, so it’s best to stick with no mat.
.jpg)
Ultra-lightweight plinth
The Planar 10 is the third Rega turntable constructed using their latest technology the ultra-lightweight Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core (a material developed for the aerospace industry). This material is sandwiched between two layers of HPL (high-pressure laminate). HPL is exceptionally thin and extremely rigid. This new construction makes the new Planar 10 skeletal plinth 30% lighter than the original RP10 while offering increased rigidity over the previous model.
DB Technology (Double Brace Technology)
A super lightweight plinth combined with a ceramic top brace and phenolic resin bottom brace mounted specifically where the increased rigidity is required (between the tonearm mounting and the main hub bearing) forms a structurally sound, “stressed beam,” assembly. This rigid plinth design prevents energy absorption and unwanted resonances which will add unnatural distortions to the music. Equally, heavier mass can transfer more unwanted energy such as motor or bearing noise directly into the rotating record. The tonearm and cartridge must be able to read accurately, directly from the platter. This unique Rega double brace solution enables this. The use of braces instead of the complete skin allows increased thickness in these key areas while providing further weight reduction to the plinth which directly addresses the issue of mass absorption and unwanted energy transmission.
RB3000 tonearm
Rega is renowned for the quality of its tonearm bearing assemblies. In particular the accurate manufacturing of their bearing housing and bearing spindles. Technical characteristics such as "roundness" and "parallelity" are critical. Over the past three years, Rega has found a new manufacturing process that improves on all these characteristics resulting in a micron perfect bearing fit. The RB3000 is the first Rega arm to benefit from these improvements.
The entire tonearm structure is designed to have the minimum of mechanical joints while using the stiffest materials in all critical areas. The tolerance of the RB3000 tonearm is so tight that no adhesive is used at any point throughout the construction. Their latest low mass, precision-engineered, the vertical bearing assembly has been manufactured to further complement the inherent design philosophy of the Planar 10 turntable. The RB3000 tonearm uses Rega's advanced, preloaded zero tolerance bearing assembly adjusted to less than 1000th of a mm. This gives friction-free movement and zero levels of unwanted play. Simply put, friction-free bearings with no play enable ridges in the record groove of less than a micron to be read. The RB3000 also uses their latest award-winning, aluminum, Rega arm tube (each one of which is meticulously hand polished, keeping mass to an absolute minimum) which was redesigned to redistribute mass and further reduce stresses and resonances. This advanced design tube increases the stiffness and rigidity of the overall assembly whilst reducing stress on the bearings even further.
Hub Bearing assembly
The Planar 10 uses a new low mass central bearing assembly. A single piece of machined aluminum sub-platter and hardened tool steel spindle run inside a custom brass housing designed with improved mechanical integrity. The complete assembly is cleverly mounted within the chassis to eradicate unwanted potential energy being transferred or stored in the plinth.
Cutaway cross-section of Planar 10 bearing assembly.
Ceramic Platter
The P10 uses a custom ceramic, flywheel effect platter. The platter is produced from ceramic oxide powder which is compressed, fired and diamond cut to ensure perfect accuracy and flatness across the surface. The latest platter features a modified construction with improved coupling to the sub-platter.
24v Low noise motor assembly
The Planar 10 uses Rega's latest generation, 24v, synchronous, low vibration motor technology. Uniquely mounted using the highest level of coupling while retaining higher vibration isolation than any previous model, this new motor mounting technique (mounted from the bottom) has been taken directly from the ultimate Rega turntable, the Naiad. This unique mounting method removes all stress from the motor body whilst holding the drive pulley perfectly still. This enables better speed stability and accuracy from the turntable. The reduced vibration and more rigid mounting delivers superior drive from the new EBLT drive belts. Each motor is hand-tuned to match its own custom-matched PL10 PSU power supply before fitting to the turntable to optimize the anti-vibration circuit.
EBLT Drive Belts
For three years Rega has been researching and developing with chemists the use of a bespoke new rubber compound for drive belts. Using a specialized curing system, the new drive belt offers superior consistency of modulus (a constant representing the degree to which a substance has a particular property, especially elasticity). These new belts are manufactured on Rega designed, state of the art, super-accurate tools (inspired by working with the manufacturer of high-tech Formula 1 engine parts) which produce 'perfectly round' and 'dimensionally accurate' belts, critical for perfect speed stability.
PL10 PSU custom-matched advanced power supply.
The PL10 PSU offers the ultimate in motor control stability, convenient electronic speed change, advanced anti-vibration control, and user-adjustable electronic fine speed adjustment to ensure total accuracy and control over the life of the motor. Housed in Rega's latest custom-designed case, the PL10 PSU is dedicated to running our 24v, low noise motor as quietly and as accurately as possible. The speed and control of the motor is achieved by using a new DSP (Digital Signal Processing) generator built upon a high stability crystal. This device will divide the accurate square wave from the crystal to the exact frequency required to turn the platter at the selected speed. The DSP core will also generate a near perfect sinusoidal waveform to power the motor. Factory set vibration removal and fine speed adjustments are then made to the power supply to tune each motor for optimal performance.
Dust Cover
The outer frame of the previous model has now been removed and a new stylish, removable, single piece dustcover has been introduced further reducing the overall mass of the turntable.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.