E.A.T. - European Audio Team Forte Turntable

E.A.T. Forte Turntable

A massive machine that gets the best out of your vinyl. Separate Sub Chassis and a mass loaded turntable gives us the best of both worlds.

The design of the E.A.T. Forte turntable is based on a combination of two basic principles:

Separate Sub Chassis and a mass loaded turntable This gives us the best of both worlds. The chassis of the table is very heavy and mass-loaded using metal-filled sand. The feet are magnetic and act as a sub chassis to support the table.

Platter

The platter consists of two parts. The first part uses a soft alloy, the second part, a harder one. This reduces energy flow. The first part also incorporates the neodymium magnets. The platter weighs more than 20 kg (44 lbs). The diameter of the platter is 400 mm (15.75 1/2) (not the usual 300 mm [11.8 1/2]). Kinetic energy stored in such big platter turning at 33 RPM is an incredible 2460 Joules! This means that with the same weight you gain more moving mass on the platter. The platter also incorporates sorbothane damping to make it resonance free.

Vinyl Matt

The vinyl matt is made from recycled vinyl records creating a perfect interface for the record. A clamp holds the record on the vinyl matt.

Bearing Construction

The bearing is not standard but inverted with an oversized polished shaft. A ceramic ball is used on the top because it is very hard and inert. This, in combination with a Teflon plate as a bearing mirror, is also a good damping device. Teflon's accurate satin surface produces perfectly smooth movement without any rumble. The platter has a magnetic suspension using neodymium magnets. By increasing the distance from the bearing to the cartridge, the small neodymium magnets eliminate magnetic influence on the cartridge. Due to the magnets we can still move a large mass allowing the bearing to see virtually no pressure. This avoids rumble. (A mass loaded platter usually causes high levels of rumble.) The pressure of the bearing is adjustable. There are existing different philosophies about bearing pressure. With the Forte turntable you can adjust it according your preferences and taste.

Magnetic Feet

The table has large magnetic feet with a bearing and stabilization system. It guarantees close to 100% isolation from the floor and from airborne resonances. The magnetic bearing system allows us to use the extra silent Teflon-ceramic combination. Usually high pressure would cause the bearing to wear out over the time. This does not happen because of the very low pressure created by the use of the magnetic system.

Motor

The motor is a stand-alone, decoupled AC unit. It uses a sophisticated electronic circuit to create 100% clean AC. It is very heavy motor with lot of mass to reduce all the existing vibrations. Motor energy is absorbed by using a sandwich system of metal and MDF. We decided to use a "dual motor design" to eliminate noise in the motor. By using two relatively weak, but silent running motors, we achieve perfect torque.

Belt

Long belts usually have some amount of wobble. To avoid this we use a special silicon string. This movement is also absorbed by the bearing block and by the huge mass of the platter itself.

E.A.T. the Energy

The E.A.T. Forte turntable is all about eating energy.

• Energy from the ground is decoupled by magnetic feet.
• Energy from the air is decoupled from the heavy chassis that is made from MDF and filled metal sand.
• Energy from tone arm and cartridge is absorbed by using a heavy metal tone arm base isolated by sorbothane.
• Energy from the belt is captured by the mass of the platter and by the string itself.
• Energy from the motor is captured by the dual-motor design, the decoupled motor unit and the mass-loaded motor chassis.
• Energy of the bearing is caught by the ceramic ball, the Teflon plate and the magnetic bearing construction.