AUDIO DEVA fuorisalone2016 ATMO SFERA
Racconto fotografico di Raphael Bet
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Audio Deva giradischi Atmo Sfera
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The “ATMO SFERA” Revolutionary Turntable Interview Questions from the Designer
Introductory interview questions You are a team of Italian engineers and Atmo Sfera is truly a revolutionary piece of art which will go a long way to revive the vinyl industry. First would you tell us about your team at Audio Deva. Your technical skills and work achievements. Our readers and customers are interested to know more about the Italian craftsmanship capable of creating such an awesome turntable. «I’m a seasoned electronic designer with a graduation in electronics and communications and a degree in sciences and have been working for about 32 years in the industrial automation field (before) and now in the field of EMC assessment and test. My university curriculum and my past experience with some industrial Firms (agricultural engineering and harbor cranes) gave me also a background knowledge in mechanics. I’m a seasoned audiophile, also; the first hi-fi turntable I bought in 1972 was the historical AR Turntable, really a masterpiece in hi-fi history. Now I’m listening to the vinyl recorded music (no CD allowed in my premises) with a sort of hi-fi gizmo, that occupies about a quarter of a cubic meter of room space and is -obviously- platterless. Why do an electronic designer is so fond of design ? Maybe we, in Italy, acquire the taste for the nice shape by the breast of our mothers. I remember, when I was sixteen, that strongly requested – as a gift for my birthday – the Componible Storage Unit by Anna Castelli Ferrieri (and also names as Castiglioni, Munari, Zanuso, Bellini, Noorda and so on were not unknown to me)».
I have seen and written about many turntables but I must confess Atmo Sfera is unique. Would you please tell me the philosophy behind this new innovation? The design is undoubtedly revolutionary, but our readers are curious about the technique behind it and in what way by purchasing Atmo Sfera they are able to get higher sound quality from their greatly cherished Vinyl records? «The Atmo Sfera Turntable is designed primarily for being a beautiful piece of design and is fully designed around a small circle (the design originator), with the diameter of an LP label. This give to Atmo Sfera a shape directly related to its function. The result of such design harmony is a fascinating mixture of old and new that cannot leave anyone indifferent. The “music” in itself doesn’t exist in nature, it is a fully sensorial experience, like recognizing a beautiful shape with the eye. The only difference between enjoying music and enjoying a design masterpiece is the speed of informations that reach the brain. Atmo Sfera try to mix this two different but conceptually similar sensations in a unique experience; it is not an audiophile turntable, but rather a sensation enhancer».
Platterless Secret If you read all turntable reviews one of the features that the manufacturers emphasize is that by introducing a heavier platter the quality of sound is enhanced. However in your design a completely new concept is presented. Would
you explain this for us? You have called it the, “platterless secret.” «As previously stated we didn’t create a platterless turntable for the sake of the platterless design, but the creation of the platterless design was a side effect of creating a beautiful turntable. When we had the first idea of Atmo Sfera, the first problem also occurred: how to guarantee a rotation free of wow & flutter, the annoying “meeow” that plagues some reputed turntables with a low platter mass. The secret is simple and is the following: “To create a turntable in which the pair of Complex conjugate poles of the mechanical rotating system are as close as possible to the Real axis” This statement is meaningless for all the people, I bet, except for the few electrical or mechanical engineers that are reading this interview, so I will do an example. Imagine to have two different driving belts for your turntable : the first made of rectified silicone rubber, similar to those used in many British turntables, the second belt made by a rubberband used for closing small packets. Should an audiophile choose one of them for his turntable, the audiophile will choose the rectified silicone rubber belt without any doubt. I chose, instead, the rubberband, because it helped me to get the “Complex conjugate poles closer to the Real axis”. It’s not a joke, I really tested the rectified silicone etc. against a rubberband and the rubberband performed better in my design, from a point of view of W&F ratio, according to the theory and to the step response analysis.
Using this kind of approach to the problem, no matter how low the turntable weight is (within reasonable limits); you will get excellent results with light rotating elements and no heavy mass. An heavy turntable mass doesn’t guarantee at all high performances». It is obvious that by eliminating the conventional platter you have diminished the energy feedback to the record. However how have you secured the record on your silver dome? Is it stable and solid enough not to resonate with the tonearm on it? This is one of the most frequently asked questions by our customers. «The silver dome (the record clamp) is secured by a threaded insert to the turntable shaft and its weight is about half of the weight of the rotating part. The resonances occur in all turntables, even in the most expensive ones; the secret of a good sounding turntable is to exploit those resonances in a manner in which their damage to the sound is minimum. The worst method to do that is “to damp” the record or the turntable platter. Damping is a magic word, for the average audiophile, but damping actually means spreading the energy of the resonances all around the audio spectrum, with horrible results. My experience in EMC field taught me a lot about managing of resonance and I learned that damping is not the only chance».
The Plinth and the supporting feet: The triangular Aluminum plinth looks great; could
you explain in what way does it reduce vibration. It would be very interesting for our readers to know in what way does an Aluminum plinth competes with a fiberboard (MDF) material used in some other turntables.
audio band. We are testing now a new isolator made of silicone rubber, in two different Shore grades».
«The triangular shape of the plinth was chosen because it’s simpler to manage for me at a modal analysis and because “looks great” as you said. I’m not an expert of modal analysis (my fault) so I requested the help of a finite element simulation software and - for the tests in the real world- of a three-axis accelerometer and an HP35665A Dynamic Signal Analyzer.
The carbon fiber, gimbal mount 228mm Arm differs greatly with conventional tonearms in shape, please tell us about the technique behind the pipe form design of the tonearm.
The aluminium is best than MFD -according to mebecause has a pretty isotropic structure, with respect to MDF that is only an inconsistent agglomerate of wooden powder, glued together. The behavior of the aluminium is fully predictable, the behavior of MDF is not. The secret of seasoned engineers is to work, as much as possible, in a linear and predictable environment... In Atmo Sfera we use some alloys of high quality aluminium and give them up to four different surface treatments; this is high level craftmanship, not industry». In what way is the spherical tri-feet of the plinth dampen the vibration? «The first version of the damping feet has a spring with two rubber gaskets and a rubber terminal in each foot, the elastic constant of the spring being calculated approximately for a resonance outside the
The Tonearm:
«The ideal tonearm has a structure of maximum stiffness, from the headshell to the pivot. The most silly invention in the hi-fi history -according to me- was the invention of the standard EIA headshell, because it breaks the ideal stiffness of the whole chain. We used carbon fiber because it has a really good Young module (i.e. is really stiff) ; the high diameter of the tonearm wand adds rigidity to the structure. Carbon fiber is lighter than aluminium so a carbon fiber tonearm has a mass that fits well with the cartridges we are planning to install on this turntable. The headshell is glued to the wand by a special epoxy resin, in order to create a single body structure and has only two threaded holes for the fixing screw, another useful addition to the total stiffness». As this is a platterless turntable and there is only air as the support cushion under the record. Would you explain the adjustment mechanism of the tonearm so that it rests with the exact necessary pressure on the record? In what way have you created this stability which is essential for higher sound quality? Obviously you agree with me that in a platterless design
adjusting this pressure is much more vital in comparison with conventional turntables. «No, I don’t think that adjusting stylus pressure on a platterless turntable could be trickier with respect to a conventional turntable and I will explain why (in a simple manner). The decoding of the stereo signal from a magnetic cartridge has a matrix structure: the right-left movement decodes L+R signal (sum of signals); the up-down movement decodes L-R signal (difference of signals) so is vital for a stereo cartridge not only a right-left motion, but also a up-down motion. Without a correct up-down motion the cartridge simply cannot reconstruct the stereo image! If a platterless turntable has any problem in stylus pressure and hence it doesn’t reproduce the correct up-down stylus movement, it will have for sure some restraints in decoding a correct stereo sound; I’m going platterless, on my turntable, since 2006 and one of the advantages of such approach is a stereo image carved into space! Atmo Sfera has a pretty good stereo imaging also». Considering that the record does not rest on a platter our customers are curious that in what way your design prevents bending of some lighter vinyl records under the weight of the tonearm? Surely if this happens the needle will track at an angle greatly affecting the sound quality. «The working weight of the cartridge is 2 gram, so even a light commercial record cannot be bend by the weight of the cartridge itself, when the record clamp is applied.
You must not fear any damage to your (warped) record or to your cartridge from a bending of the stylus within the limits of the elastic suspension of the cartridge. A average 300 mm diameter platter doesn’t guarantee at all that the needle will not bend when tracking warped record». Surely you are aware that the tonearm of quality turntables include setting controls for the tracking angle, antiskip and changeable counter-weight. Does the tonearm of Atmo Sfera incorporate these features? «I disagree with the first two points. The tonearm must be designed for the minimum distortion, so the tracking angle must be set during the design procedure and cannot be altered. Our tonearm (227 mm effective length) has a tracking angle set at about 21,8° ; with these design parameters we get a worst case distortion (due to errors in geometry) of about 0,8% One degree of variation in such figure almost doubles the distortion and one degree error is easy to made for an inexperienced vinyl lover. So we decided to force the cartridge installation using only two threaded holes for the cartridge mount. In my opinion the anti-skip device is completely useless in a tonearm, because we are living in a 3-D world and not in Flatland. The anti-skip theory (?) is based on the assumption that force vectors develop only on a plane (the record plane). This is not so. The same statements I used for explaining stylus pressure and the decoding of the stereo signal apply here (consistency of the stereo image).
The weight regulation in the Atmo Sfera Tonearm is dependent from the length of the end stub of the tonearm and the position of an internal screw, accessible by a screwdriver from the tonearm end. The total settings amounts to 3 grams (0,3 grams fine; 2,7 grams coarse regulation). The applied counterweight allows the user to install stereo cartridges with the weight ranging from 5 grams to 5,7 grams (some AudioTechnica, Ortofon, Grado models).
bucks. From the audiophile point of view: AudioTechnica AT95E is a little jewel. The tonearm stiffness and its constraints in the mounting of a cartridge (fixed holes and so on) reduce the distortion caused by a defective geometry of the tonearm settings and reduce the muddiness created by a wobbling EIA headshell as well, unveiling the cartridge potential».
The Motor If the user wants to install heavier cartridges, we can supply a more lengthy counterweight».
The Cartridge Why have you installed the Audio Technica AT 95 E MM Cartridge for your new innovative turntable? Wouldn’t have been better to choose a higher shelf cartridge? Of course Audio Technica is a brand to trust and rely on, however we are interested to know on what technical basis you have chosen this cartridge model? «The Atmo Sfera Turntable it isn’t an audiophile product; it is, instead, a design product. We had in mind to create a beautiful turntable, very simple to use and to service. The AudioTechnica cartridge (but we also tried the Ortofon cartridges with excellent results) is a world renowned product, sold everywhere on the Earth. Suppose you break your cartridge stylus in Osaka, or in Philippines, or in Vienna; we simply cannot mail you a new replacement stylus from 10,000 Km apart. Better you go out, in the nearest hifi shop of your hometown and purchase the spare part for a few
The small, low torque, bipolar 12V motor is exceptional in its smooth vibration free spin. Would you please explain the technique behind the design, quality of the components and its durability? «The motor is an industrial motor, of mass production, sold directly from the factory (chinese but with european ownership) and -this is important- with ISO certification. We will try to purchase all electronic component from suppliers with ISO certification, as well, in order to keep a quality control on such vital parts». Reducing vibration in any turntable especially between the motor and the plinth has always been one of the chaltledlenges for designers. Would you explain to us in what way the suspension system in Atmo Sfera solves this problem? For example in Orbit the motor is decoupled from the plinth with a unique robber suspension system. How is this done in Atmo Sfera?
«The vibration reduction is twofold. First: the Atmo Sfera motor generates few vibrations because is very small. Second: the Atmo Sfera motor is powered by a very pure sinusoidal wave, synthesized from a microcontroller and amplified by a Class A/B amplifier; in addition the motor is decoupled by two rubber gasket made from the best pure rubber we could find on the local market. A curio: we tried a Class D amplifier for the motor power, for the sake of a low consumption but we found that a Class A/B amplifier makes Atmo Sfera sound better. This is not due to radiated EMC or whatsoever... Please note: some turntable Firms sell their own synthesized generators for their turntables as an addon at a retail price ranging from 300 to 400 euros; with Atmo Sfera you will get the same item with no additional cost». One of the outstanding features of your new design is the Ergal Shaft. Would you please explain the innovative aspects of it? «We needed some sort of cool material for the turntable details; Ergal looked fine for us (design reason). The turntable shaft must have an extra hardened surface for resisting to continue spinning without ovalize. Ergal, per se is not a hard material, but Ergal with a surface treatment creates aluminium oxide, one of the toughest material on the Earth (technical reason)».
Audiophile Test Results Would you please present us with the statistical data concerning the Audiophile Testing of the Atmo Sfera and in what way do they compete with conventional turntables, in particular the Pro-JectDebut Carbon and Orbit turntables? It would be useful to know the comparative test results on the following features: - Wow & Flutter - Rumble - Anti-Skate «We would be interested to know about the kind of tests carried out on the final version of the product. For example tests such as; bearing noise, signal-tonoise ratio, high frequency response tests, motor consistency tests and component quality tests. We made a lot of measurements during the development of Atmo Sfera, so we are perfectly confident in our product. We are refining some design details and as soon as we will end that development phase, we will publish all measurements».
Raphael Bet Appena nata, apro gli occhi, sprofondo, nella notte eterna. Una scintilla, cado nella fiamma, tu mi hai levato dalle tenebre. Nata in Italia. Assistente e fotografa a Pavia per un quotidiano nazionale, workshop alla Fnac con Kent Kobersteen, Alexandra Boulat, Mimmo Jodice, Machiel Botman. Consegue il Master di Reportage presso l’Accademia di fotografia John Kaverdash di Milano con docente Sandro Iovine.
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