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EAT E-Flat (r4roo)EAT revives an old idea from NAD in theWelcome the E-Flat belt-drive turntableReview:'Ken Kessler Lab: Paul Mil ler

he wife of Pro-Ject's CEO HeinzLichtenegger, Jozefina, is one ofthe gutsiest individuals in hi-f itoday. Not only does she insist

1980s, but wi th a modern execut ion.with i ts, er, f lat carbon f ibre tonearm

that the turntables under her EAT Fort6banner are high-end, while hubby's Pro-Jectconcentrate5 on the affprdable. she's had'the sheer guts to revive a much revi ledform. Flat tonearms are as old as hi-f i i tself ,the E-Flat 's arm fol lowing Connoisseur'sCS1, the wooden Crace C-714, an earlyCrado, the back half of the 'hinged'Dynavector DV-507 and many others.Jozefina and the team at Pro-ject havere-opened the f lat arm's coff in.

E-Flat 's interpretat ion, though, owesmore to the ultra-f lat arm of the NAD51 20 turntable, launche.d in late 1983,than to the above ' f lat-sos' of the 1 950s-1970s. The main dif ference is the material.The E-Flat uses Kevlar. aramids and othercarbon-f ibre types that had found their wayinto myriad arms going backto Inf inity 'sBlack Widow of the 1970s. The E-Flat arm,though, is a slab rather than a tube.

KEVIJAR AND UNIPTVOT DESIGNIt 's worth dlsmissing any flashbacks -if you're old enough to remember 1983- to the fracas that ensued when NADintroduced its f lat arm [see boxout]. Theuse of Kevlar can change the rules, as anywho have tried to bend a Wilson Benescharm tube wil l tell you. Equally, thanksto full access to Pro-ject's 20-years-plusof experience, the E-Flat is the productof a mature manufacturer despite EAT'scomparative youth of around a *cade.The anticipated virtues of the arm shouldbe attributable to, in EAT's words: 'nohollow tube to suffer the inevitable echoeffects or ringing; greater stiffness... theE-Flat tonearm's performance is truly quietand incredibly fast. '

Another example of Jozefina's gutsinessis opting for a unipivot, which remains a

RIGIIT: Unlike its siblings, the E-Flat hides itstwo motom and belt,visible onlywith outerplatter removed. Assembly is straightforward,but care is needed with the tonearm

contentious bearing typ€. I would ventureto say that amongst hq,r(_core analogue-ists, it's as divisive a topic as vafves versustransistors are for ampli f ier purists. Butthose who love such classics as the variousDeccas and Ultracrafts wil l need noconvincing of the merits of unipivots. Theflatness, well , that 's another story entirely.

I t 's not just the unusual tonearm,though, that dist inguishes the E-Flatfrom the Fort6 and Fort6 S. Armnotwithstanding, this turntable is verymuch of the Fort6 family. l t possesses anover-sized, 33cm, cri t ical ly damped platter,a highly-pol ished rectangular woodenplinth, soft-touch controls, damped feet,plenty of Sorbothane damping in cri t icalareas and a massive record clamp, l ike i tsdearer sibl ings. Crucial to the family genepool is the signature combination of twomotors with, on this occasion, one belt.

Where the E-Flat changes direct ion isin hiding them under the platter. Withthe f lagship Fort6, the motors reside in anoutboard chassis. The less costly Fort6 Suses a single-piece pl inth, but the pul leys

and belts are sti l l exposed. By positioningthem under the platter, the E-Flat lookscleaner - both more modern and yetresolutely retro. lt could pass for a mid-1970s Denon or Micro-Seiki direct-drive.

EAT describes the new arm as 'Ultra-flat,ultra-l ight and ultra-rigid'- all desirablequalit ies if realised [see Lab Report, p28].It measures 10in, and is supported bythe aforementioned unipivot bearing,terminating with a fully adjustablecounterweight decoupled by Sorbothane.The unipivot system is produced fromcomponents with 'especially hard metalsurfaces', while any fearof instabil ity orunwanted motion should be assuaged bythe high mass of the unipivot housing andthe presence of two metal guides.

II{TERCIIANGE FACILflYCartridge fanatics - those who keepa multitude for various record.labels.gen,res or original cutting head types - wil lappreciate that the carbon-fibre arm canbe changed by the user to suit specificrequirements, with l ighter or heavier

, -26 | www.hifinews.co.uk i JANUARY 2012

%/

versions avai lable to ensure the correctsetting of dlfferent arm/cartridge resonantfrequencies. Another benefi t is that thearm's f latness and shal low side-view makelevel l ing i t a breeze. The arm also featureseasy-to-adjust anti-skating, and i ts cueinglever is nicely damped.

Although offered with a dedicatedmoving-coi l cartr idge for another f 1000,we looked at the E-Flat strictly as anarm/turntable combination. I tr ied i twith Koets+and Air-Tight MCs, feedingthe Audio Research PH5 phono stage,REF5 preampli f ier and Quad l l-eightymonoblocks, driving Wil ion Audio Sophia3s. Al l wir ing was YTER.

Having played with and/or heard somany Fort6s over the past two years, I hadno doubt that the deck i tself would bethe least 'new' of the elements to assess. Ialready knew, for example, that the single-chassis Fort6 S had successful ly maintaineda good 95% of the double-chassis Fort6'sperformance. Merely posit ioning the belt,pul leys and motors under the platter wouldhardly upset the tr ickle-down path. Themain chal lenge would be the arm's effect.

I t must be stated here - and I hope thatother reviewers will be as forthcomingabout their own biases - that I have noissues with unipivots. My standard remains

the SME Series V but I have l ived with somany unipivots that i t would be deceitfulnot to state one's posit ion. 5o, I have, inthis case, no axe to grind, etc.

iA,

u/ swEET TREBLEAside from the init ially daunting set-up ofan arm/turntable that arrives in pieces,I was deeply relieved to hear nothingthat could undermine Mrs Lichtenegger'sconfidence in her new tonearm. No ringing,microphony or smearing assailed my ears. lfanything, I was hearing a sweet treble thatgave up only the tiniesttraces of hyper-detail inits path to luscious, l iquidhighs. A bout with a fewearly Byrds LPs, all janglyRickenbacker and thoseCrosby/Clark/McGuinnharmonies sealed it.

By starting with 'The

'Those bottom

ABOVE: Like the other Forteq the E-Flatis gorgeous in a 1 980s manner and has asubstantial fee[ the interface mat is made fromrecycledvirryl LB

performance. Equally del icious was thecrisp, staccato drumming from MichaelClarke, one of rock's more under-ratedwizards. Though sl ightly buried in the mixof Al l I Reatly Want To Do', i t lends supporti f in an almost invisible manner. You don'tfocus on i t . l t 's simply there.

The EAT kept it in perfect proportion, atthe same time allowingthe voices to mesh withthe weave of 300-threadEgyptian cotton sheets,and the guitars tosoar with a clarity thatdefies any accusationsone migfit level at aflat arm if conditioned

octaves! Godbless oversized

platters'

Unlike the rigid Kevlar of the E-Flat's tonearm, NAD's suPer'thin flat arm was

Bells Of Rhymney'the bar was raisedso high that it could only go downhil lfrom there - or so I thought. lt 's classic,undiluted Byrds, opening with theaforementioned jangly chords, supportedby Cene Clark's tambourine and McCuinn-led harmonies from the opening bars. TheE-Flat traced every groove to perfection,not a hint of sibilance marrinq the

to think it must resonate. I was revell ingin the barrelhouse/honky'tonk pianoand bottleneck guitar on the later Byrds''You're Sti l l On My Mind', when it occurredto me that I needed to hear something'bigger', si lkier. And what better than thefashionable-again Doris Day? Easily oneof the greatest warblers ever to cover astandard, her lush take of'Let's Face TheMusic And Dance' provided an orchestrain a deliciously restrained mood. The voicehas texture and breathiness so subtle thatany inferior system can mask them. Not sothrough the E-Flat. Ms Day was so close youcould imagine the warmth of... well, let 'sshow our own form of restraint here. '

Muted brass, a delicate piano stage left- one cannot avoid the term 'silky'. And therhythmic flow! A slight change in temPo2m 15s into this masterpiece qatches youunaware, the shift handled with aplomb.And it worked in mono, with the hoary oldadvertiser's fave, Bobby Darin's 'BesideThe Sea', showing a depth and solidity g

cut from circuit board material, and was the subiect of much documentationfrom designer Jili Janda at the Tesla Research Institute in Prague and NAD'sthen-Director of Research, Bjorn-Erik Edvardsen. lt was devilishly clever, oneneat detail being that the tonearm's wires were circuit tracks. The technologypurported to neutralise resonance by means of a reverse wave, a product ofthe arm's flexibility, fluid damping and a sPrung weight. Unfortunately - andthis is an indictment of audiophilic prejudice - the arm didn't stand a chance: itwas quickly pooh-pooh'd as 'the floppy tonearm'. Regardless of how the 51 2Osounded (many thought it was a fine package for the price|, NAD soon replacedthe flat arm with a conventional tube, such was the venom treaped upon it.

IANUARY 2012 | ranvw.hifinews.co.uk i 27

ABO\IE; No challenge to those wfio know unipivots, but read the instructions whensetting it up; exposed wires, though, tend to detract from the look ofthe arm

EATE-FLAT (r41oo)Comparisons with EATS costlier Fort6 5 design [HF / Dec '1 O]are instructive because the 'shape' of the E-Flat's wow andflutter spectrum [Craph 1, below] is very similar albeit a mere0.0 1 % further adrift in both low and high-rate speed variations.The absolute speed of the E"Flat is better adjusted, however,with our sample running imperceptibly -0.1% slow. EAT knowshow to design a decently over-sized bearing and the E-Flat isno exception, the deck boasting a low -70.7d8 rumble, a mere0,7d8 behind the Fort6 S but exhibiting some unusual modes at40HZ and 80Hz - a feature of the twin Virtual 24-Dole' motorsperhaps? Either wa)4 this is a beautifully appointed deck.

EAfs flat Kevlar tonearm is not as rigid in every plane asthe material's reputation might suggest and as the breaks at125Hz,29OHz and 510H2 on the cumulative decaywaterfall[Craph 2, below] clearly indicate. This characteristic spectrumwas returned from the arm whether the impulse was applied tothe top or side of the Kelvar sheet or, indeed, the alloy unipivotbearing housing. Clearly this 'springboard' does exhibit bending(flexing) and higher frequency torsional (twisting) modes, butthey are evidently high-Q and rapidly damped. The freedomfrom clutter above i kHz is certainly very impressive. Finally,

' as the tonearm wiring is exfernal (stuck to its underbelly withScotch tape), the ensemble is potentially susceptible to humand noise although, as here, figures as low as -62.2d8 can beachieved (re. 5cm/sec) thanks to the huge platter screening thetwo motors beneath. Readers may view a full QC Suite reportfor the EAT E-Flat turntable and tonearm by navigating to vrww,hifinews.com and clicking on the red'download'button. PM

that makes you forgetforgive itssingle-channel status. The crashing,smashing drum attacks from 1m 29sonward reveal a punch, power andforce that wil l jolt you from anyreverie the first minute created.

Drum lust led me to WarrenZevon's 'Werewolves Of London'(though it 's hard not to picture TomCruise and his Color Of Money poolcue acrobatics when hearing thissong). The opening, courtesy of MickFleetwood and John McVie. let thediminutive Sophia 3s strut their stuff,coming off l ike the audio equivalentof James Cagney - a bantam thatperforms way above its weight,the clamour of the keyboards, thesolid rhythm section coalescing intoa glorious whole, yet acting as aplatform for Zevon's sly vocals.

ANOTHER KIND OF POOIJAnd so it went, LP to LB JoeWalsh's 'L i fe 's Been Good' churningwith a force that elicits the mostembarrassing of air-guitar moves.His voice, fed through whateveroddball processing was used backdn1978, is recognised for the weary,jaded rock-star bleat that suits thelyrical content. Underscoring itis a quasi-reggae beat, f lashes ofelectricity tangling with syntheticnotes so rich in their artif ice that it 'sas if 'unplugged' never arrived twodecades later,

Aah. those bottom octaves! Codbless oversized platters, big, fatfeet and whatever stew comorisesSorbothane. Rich, dark, l iquid, withplenty of mass - you felt as if you

were l istening from the bottom ofthe swimming pool immortalised onthe sleeve. The exponential decay ofthe notes, the sizzle of the cymbals,the tinkle of the piano combinedto paint a sonic picture worthy ofWalsh's storytell ing skil ls.

A different emotion motivatedLynyrd Skynyrd's'Sweet HomeAlabama', as (regionally) patriotic asong as rock ever yielded, showingwhat this much-mourned Southernband felt about their home state.Somehow, I can't imagine a songlike'Sweet Home Huddersfield'or somesuch delivering the samemajesty... The power of thepercussive attacks, the massedvocals, the relentless guitar assaultpossessed every element of sheerenergy needed to convey what is asanthemic a song as one could wantto hear - if an Alabamian. cD

Guilty admission: I was notexpecting to fall in love withthe E-Flat, even though I f ind itssiblings so enjoyable. The armconcerned me, but I was provenwrong: this deck is magnificent,representing far better valuethan something sell ing for f4100deserves to do. The sound, thelooks, the build quality and finish- the only thing I can fault is thethin Styrofoam packing! With itsE-Flat, EAT has truly come of age.

Sound 0uatity: 85%

ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiEffiffi'*

ABOVE: Wow and flutter re. 3 1 50Hz tone at 5cm /sec (plotted t150Hz, 5Hz per minor division). Wow isvery low and flutter, though complex, is also low

ABOVE: Cumulative tonearm resonant decav'o '

spectrum, illustrating various bearing, pillar and 'tubrvibration modes spanning 100H2-1 0kHz over 4omsec

E]

B

El*

Turntable speed error at 33.33rpm

Rumble (silent groove, DIN B wtd|

Rumble ( through bear ing. DIN B wtd)

Hum & Noise (unwtd, fel. to 5cmi sec)

28 | www.hifinews.co.uk I JANUARY 2012