Проигрыватели виниловых дисков — European Audio Team (EAT) FORTE

The Forte is a turntable from European Audio Team, known as E.A.T., a company that also designs the phono stages and tonearms used with its decks. The Forte is built around two principles, mass loading and a separate sub-chassis, applied in a design that places the motor unit in its own decoupled chassis beside the main plinth. It is supplied with a factory-fitted E.A.T. tonearm.

Key specs that matter

Speeds are 33.33 and 45.11 rpm with electronic selection, speed variance of 0.09% and wow and flutter of 0.008%. Signal-to-noise is -73 dB. The platter is 400 mm in diameter, larger than the usual 300 mm, weighs more than 20 kg and stores about 2460 J of kinetic energy at 33 rpm. Drive is by belt from two AC motors in a separate unit. Power consumption is 2 W from an outboard 16 V/1000 mA AC supply. The complete deck measures 700 x 250 x 440 mm and weighs 65 kg.

Engineering and use context

E.A.T. describes the design as a system for absorbing energy from every source. The main chassis is MDF filled with metal sand, which damps vibration carried through the air. Large magnetic feet with their own stabilisation act as a sub-chassis and decouple the deck from the surface below. The platter is built from two alloys, a soft one and a hard one, to limit the flow of energy through it, and the soft part carries neodymium magnets that lift most of the platter's weight off the bearing. This lets the bearing use a ceramic ball running on a Teflon plate, a quiet combination that would normally wear quickly under such a load, and bearing pressure is adjustable. A layer of vinyl melted onto the top provides the record surface, with TPE damping below. Instead of a flat belt, a thin silicone string drives the platter, avoiding the wobble of long belts. The motor unit uses a circuit that regenerates clean AC, and its dual motors and mass-loaded housing absorb their own vibration. The tonearm base is heavy metal isolated with sorbothane.

Pairing

Because of its mass, the platter takes longer than a lightweight design to reach speed after start-up. A shelf or platform able to carry the full weight and width of the deck is essential. Low-output moving-coil cartridges and a phono stage with adjustable MC loading are the usual partners at this level, and E.A.T. offers its own E-Glo phono stages.

Alternatives

E.A.T.'s Forte S is the single-chassis version with a 55 cm footprint and both AC motors built into the plinth.