TW-Acustic Raven Black Night
The Raven Black Night marries a silent, black backdrop with organic scale, deep bass and finely resolved dynamics. Fidelity Magazine found its triple-motor, high-inertia design delivered expansive staging, clean instrumental separation and compelling musical presence, while battery power and extensive tonearm adjustment make this a formidable foundation for a reference analogue system.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
94/100
Build Quality
94/100
Features Usability
89/100
Value for Money
85/100
Pros
Expansive, organic and richly detailed sound with precise imaging, deep bass and powerful dynamic expression.
Battery-powered triple-motor drive and high-inertia platter deliver exceptional smoothness and a notably quiet background.
Smooth on-the-fly tonearm-height adjustment and support for multiple tonearms offer serious setup flexibility.
Substantial aluminium, copper and POM construction with a precision bronze bearing inspires confidence.
Cons
Its roughly €26,950–€29,500 price makes it a major reference-system investment.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 94/100
Fidelity Magazine found an exceptionally expansive, organic and richly detailed presentation, combining very high resolution with warmth and musical force. The review also highlights a notably quiet backdrop, strong dynamic expression and an arm design that makes precise setup unusually easy.
Overall Sound
96/100
The reviewer describes the Raven Black Night as clearly superior across the audiophile disciplines, with the musical enjoyment rising "right up to the ceiling." Instruments are rendered cleanly and naturally in a spacious, layered soundstage, while deep bass, fine vocal detail, dynamic authority and emotional engagement remain intact.
Speed Stability
92/100
Its triple-motor drive and high-inertia platter are said to produce enormous smoothness, with less corrective intervention required from the motor control. The adjustable motor distance and belt tension also give the owner a means to fine-tune the drive's presentation.
Tonearm Performance
94/100
The reviewer calls the on-the-fly tonearm-height adjustment a particular highlight, praising its smooth and comfortable operation. In listening, the arm and deck were credited with letting the cartridge track both the finest detail and large dynamic shifts without apparent restraint.
Noise Isolation
94/100
Battery-powered operation isolates the motor electronics from mains-borne interference, and the reviewer hears the benefit as a particularly black background. Very small ambient details and the scale of the recorded concert hall remain clearly audible before musical events begin.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
94/100
The Black Night uses a 30 kg solid-aluminium chassis with a precision-fit POM insert, a roughly 20 kg copper-and-POM platter, and a high-precision bronze bearing. Its substantial construction is complemented by a carefully executed triple-motor assembly and purpose-designed suspended feet.
Features Usability
89/100
This is a highly adjustable high-end deck rather than a plug-and-play record player. Useful ownership touches include smooth on-the-fly VTA adjustment, variable belt tension through motor-position adjustment, battery operation with automatic charging and changeover, a charge indicator, and provision for up to four tonearms.
Value for Money
85/100
At roughly €26,950–€29,500, the Raven Black Night is a major investment, and the review notes that it costs about 3.7 times as much as its smaller sibling. Fidelity Magazine is emphatic about its performance, but does not directly assess whether that premium is competitive against similarly priced alternatives.
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Specifications
- Weight
- Chassis 30 kg Platter: 20 kg Motor unit: 10 kg Motor control unit: 5 kg
- Dimensions
- 470 mm x 420 mm (W x D) Motor 270 mm x 270 mm Total footprint: 790 mm x 420 mm (W x D)
- Chassis construction
- Material: 60 mm aluminium, ceramic bead blasted and silk matt black anodised. Inlet: 25 mm of TW ACUSTIC’s proprietary Delrin-based compound, rigidly screwed to chassis. Feet and all other attachments are also ceramic bead blasted and silk matt black anodised aluminium.
- Feet
- Four, ceramic bead blasted and silk matt black anodised aluminium, designed and built by TW ACUSTIC featuring ball and spring suspension.
- Platter construction
- Material: 40 mm copper in combination with 20 mm of our special compound let into and screwed together with the copper platter.
- Bearing
- Bronze bearing, 16 mm hard metal shaft with ball on top, running on a thrust washer of 'Material S ® (green)'.
- Motor
- 60 mm aluminium, ceramic bead blasted and silk matt black anodised, in identical shape to the Raven Black Night but 60% smaller. 4 height-adjustable feet on the outer corners. 3 motors arranged in an arrow formation, pointing towards the platter. Drive belt is guided through the drive pulleys and around the circumference of the platter.
- Motor control unit
- Two built-in power supplies - one is exclusively used to charge the batteries. In normal operation the motors run from the battery supply alone, controlled by a microcontroller. Switching between battery and mains supplies occurs automatically without interrupting operation, as does battery charging. A remaining charge indicator is included on the front panel. Battery complement: 20 x rechargeable AA cells. Run time on battery operation only: Approx. 20 hours.
- Armboard
- Up to four tonearms may be fitted.
Manufacturer's Description — TW-Acustic
Naturally, the experience gained over the last few years stood us in good stead for developing the Black Night, yet despite drawing on these experiences, the Black Night also incorporates many innovative features not seen before in this form. The Raven Black Night is a truly monumental turntable, as its sheer size and weight testify. Despite this, thanks to the proportions, colour and choice of materials, the design remains pleasing and harmonious.
In developing the Black Night, our aim was to build a turntable that could top even our own Raven AC in terms of subtlety, ease and silence. In this we have succeeded, and the results are seriously impressive. The Black Night portrays the music’s every detail with subtlety and stereo depth, whether it be human voice or instruments. Everywhere, you’ll discover nuances that had previously remained hidden. Attack and decay of transient notes are reproduced impressively. Thanks to the three-motor drive and the battery power supply, the Raven Black Night does its job with poise, serenity and composure, yet just like the other TW ACUSTIC turntables, it is highly dynamic, involving and rich in timbre.
The Raven Black Night is incredibly musical, its spatial presentation is so three-dimensional and tangible that the music is always reproduced with the utmost authenticity. As with the Raven AC, the Black Night also provides for the use of up to four tonearms. As an additional feature, we have developed an armboard that allows VTA to be safely and accurately adjusted during operation. This is achieved via a knurled thumbwheel, which allows adjustment to be precisely carried out without float.
Verified Dealers
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Authorized dealers for TW-Acustic Raven Black Night
- Analogue Seduction — online and in-store — Whittlesey, England, United Kingdom (website)
- AURA HIFI — in-store — Stadtbezirke II, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany (website)
- Echo Audio — online and in-store — Portland, Oregon, United States (website)
- gestalt FINE AUDIO — in-store — Nashville, Tennessee, United States (website)
- Maestro Audio — in-store — Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv District, Israel (website)
- SelectAudio — in-store — Flimby, England (website)
- Sievking Sound — in-store — Findorff, Bremen, Germany (website)
- United Home Audio — in-store — Washington, Virginia, United States (website)