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We could of course rephrase that last statement by saying that the Raven does not fully realize one aspect and misses the other on purpose. Yet for me the restraint necessary to hit upon the golden means was a big asset. It allows for personal sound shaping with other things like the cartridge, phono stage, support platform etc. Backgrounds were not as black as with my personal reference in this regard, the Transrotor Argos. I even think that the Acutus Reference showed deeper blacker more velvety backgrounds. Instrumental shapes with the Raven were not as crystallized as with these two. But there’s a reason why some people prefer white wine, others red. The overall character of this sound was so good and so well-balanced that it would be a crime not to audition the system of Raven One + TW Raven 10.5 arm at home. It makes for a gorgeous sound.
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ƒo.Q – record mat and puck once more: I wrote about the Japanese company ƒo.Q in our September editorial. From them we received a record mat and puck for review made from highly processed materials designed to dampen vibrations. Because the Raven One comes equipped with a mat made from carbon fiber glued to thin felt, it begged to be compared. There was no surprise. With the Japanese mat the sound was warmer, the emphasis on the midrange. This was clearly demonstrated on Frank Sinatra’s The Voice which sometimes sounds a bit thin but not this time. The voice instead was powerful and saturated yet clear. One small minus of this presentation was lower treble resolution. With T-W’s stock M-LP-Carbomat that arrived bundled with the turntable the cymbals on Clifford Brown’s "Georges Dilemma" were slightly crisper and had stronger attacks. On the other hand the whole was more attractive and deeply hued with the ƒo.Q. With this accessory cartridges other than the Shilabe could be very successful.
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Description: The Raven One turntable is 470mm wide, 400mm deep and weighs 21kg. It’s thus quite compact but heavy. Its plinth is shaped such as to minimize uncontrollable vibrations. We thus end up with a plinth the shape and size of the platter and two extensions for tone arm and motor. The company fabricates all major parts with CNC machines to claimed tolerances better than 1/100th mm. Surfaces are attractively finished then anodized black. The inverted bearing’s pin is made from hardened steel and attached to a big ring (apparently also made from steel) which mounts to the plinth. The bearing sleeve sits inside the tall heavy platter. Thomas Woschnick does not reveal what it’s made from exactly but part of it is clearly Teflon. The entire affair is supported on three aluminum cones.
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The motor mounts to the side enclosed in a big heavy box. On its drive axis we get collared steel and torque transfers to platter via a flat belt that’s fabricated by Woschnick from a proprietary material. Many other companies buy these belts from TW-Acustic in fact. Here there is no sub platter so the belt drives the main platter directly. More expensive models from this firm add a copper interface which supposedly adds splendid mechanical properties. Here it is not included but the company does include a special M-LP-Carbonmat (the company also has a CD mat) made from woven carbon fibers glued to felt. This can be placed two ways but for me the best sound was achieved by placing it felt down.
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The turntable can be equipped with two tone arms and three motors. The tone arm support can also be made from bronze. The stock one is aluminum as is the remainder of the turntable. This arm board mounts to the turntable via single screw and supports tone arms from 9” to 12”. The motor controller gets situated next to the motor. It’s quite large but does not interfere much. There are buttons for selecting 33.3 and 45rpm, a power switch and two dip switches for fine-tuning speeds. This module connects to the turntable with a long shielded umbilical terminated in DIN plugs.
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The Raven TW 10.5 tone arm is a gimbaled construction with Cardanic bearing. The constant diameter arm tube is aluminum. The pin for the counterweight is made from stainless steel as is the counterweight itself which screws on with a tight thread to allow for very precise balancing of the arm. Actually there are three interchangeable counterweights in total that arrive in a small suitcase which also contains a very nice jig to assist arm setup. Cartridges may weigh from 4 to 20g. The tone arm is equipped with VTA adjustment which may be engaged on the fly though not easily. It’s a big flat part with a notched edge.
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The head shell allows for azimuth changes, the lift is hydraulic but there’s no lock to protect the arm in the rest position so some care is required. The tone arm column is stainless steel again. The internal wiring is cold-crimped from the gold-plated pins in the head shell to the quality Neutrik RCA on the other end. Those connectors have retractable collars to first make contact at ground just like studio-grade XLRs. This protects the electronics from possible damage when the hot pin connects first.
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The anti-skating mechanism is interesting too. This is a magnetic system used by Clearaudio and Rega as well but here it looks nicer and also can be adjusted more precisely. The tone arm arrives with a well-written manual. Both table and arm represent solid effort and look impressive, mysterious and respect-inducing like their namesake Raven.
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opinia @ highfidelity.pl
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Technical data for TW10.5 (according to manufacturer):
Effective length: 267mm
Overhang: 15.8mm
Offset angle: 20.5°
Geometry: Loefgren B on IEC
Zero points: 70mm and 117mm
Mass: 500g
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