Проигрыватели виниловых дисков — AVID Acutus Dark Iron

The Acutus Dark Iron is a belt-drive turntable from AVID HiFi of Britain, announced on 1 May 2024 and presented at High End Munich that year as the company's first new turntable in six years. It takes over from the Acutus Dark Limited Edition, and its glittering dark iron finish replaces the chrome plating of earlier Acutus decks, a change that removes a labour-intensive process and lowers cost. The US launch price was USD 13,000 for the base deck and USD 17,000 with the resin mat and clamp upgrades.

Key specs that matter

Two round-section belts link the platter to a 24 V AC synchronous motor with 140 mNm of torque. Speeds are 33.3 and 45.0 rpm, both adjustable via an outboard DSP speed controller that accepts 100 to 240 V mains at 50 or 60 Hz and draws no more than 20 W. The aluminium platter weighs 10 kg and carries a 10 mm aluminium damping disc. The deck is 460 x 400 x 210 mm overall, stands on a 410 x 360 mm footprint and weighs 19 kg, while the external supply measures 250 x 215 x 95 mm and weighs 3.5 kg.

Engineering and use context

Compared with older Acutus models, the key update is an integrated motor mounting, which keeps the belts correctly aligned when the deck is levelled and so avoids speed errors caused by a shifted pulley. The subchassis is a one-piece multi-fold aluminium casting coated with damping material, suspended on three springs tuned to 2.5 Hz vertically and 4.5 Hz laterally. The inverted bearing places a tungsten carbide ball against a sapphire jewel within a stainless steel shaft fitted with a self-lubricating sleeve, eliminating side play and requiring no maintenance. The power supply generates its own frequency digitally, allowing fine speed trimming, and its 80 VA mains transformer lets it work as a full amplifier driving the twin coils of the motor. A felt composite mat comes as standard, with a precision-machined resin mat and a record clamp sold as options.

Pairing

The arm board follows the SME template, and adapters allow one or two tonearms, with the suspension accepting up to 3 kg of arm weight in total. Among AVID's own arms, the Altus V2 is light enough to sit well inside that limit. The small supply box can sit on a shelf apart from the deck.

Alternatives

The AVID Acutus Reference Mono shares the chassis and platter but adds a chrome finish and a 52 kg dual-mono supply with separate amplifiers for each motor coil.