Тонармы — Auris Audio Hawk 24k Gold

The Hawk 24k Gold is a 12 inch tonearm from Auris Audio, the Serbian company founded by Milomir Trosic, in a gold-plated version of its Hawk arm. The Hawk was developed together with the precision engineer Slobodan Petrovic, known as Hawk, through the Tangenta Hawk project of 2021. The Hawk 24k Gold is priced at EUR 15,499, above the Hawk 10 inch Silver at EUR 4,999, the Hawk 12 inch Black at EUR 5,499 and the Hawk 12 inch Silver at EUR 4,949.

Key specs that matter

The arm wand is a conical tube made from American walnut, and the brass mechanisms are plated in 24 carat gold. Overhang is adjustable from 13 to 17 mm. The arm weighs 1,860 g. It runs on eight ball bearings, two of which are in the anti-skating mechanism, and the anti-skating unit can be removed easily. VTA can be adjusted over 10 mm and azimuth by ±3 degrees, and the counterweight adjusts in steps as fine as 0.001 g. The arm is terminated with gold-plated RCA or WBT silver connectors.

Engineering and use context

A wooden arm tube combines stiffness with internal damping, so vibrations travelling from the cartridge along the tube are absorbed in the material rather than reflected. The conical shape makes the tube wider at the pivot and narrower at the headshell, which moves stiffness towards the bearing and reduces mass near the cartridge, and it avoids a constant cross-section that would favour a single resonance. The long effective length reduces the tracking angle error across the record compared with a 9 inch arm, since the arc the stylus follows is flatter. Gold plating on the brass parts protects them from corrosion and gives the arm its appearance, while brass itself adds mass and damping at the bearing assembly. Eight ball bearings support the movement of the arm, and the removable anti-skating mechanism allows the arm to be used with or without anti-skating correction. The fine counterweight adjustment makes it possible to set tracking force very precisely, and the VTA and azimuth adjustments cover different cartridge heights and alignments.

Pairing

The Hawk 24k Gold needs a turntable with an armboard for an arm of this length, and its high mass suits heavy decks with rigid arm mounts. Output goes through RCA or WBT connectors to the phono stage.

Alternatives

The Auris Audio Hawk 12 inch Silver uses the same Hawk platform without the gold plating at about a third of the price.