RMAF 2010

I had been aware of TTWeight’s line of beautifully crafted, heavy-duty phono accessories—center weights and clamps, outer rings, and mats—and while I knew that TTWeight’s Larry Denham also designed turntables, it wasn’t until seeing them in person that I fully understood the extent to which Denham has gone in perfecting his designs. Turntables aren’t just a hobby or side project for Denham.

Listen to Denham speak, and you’ll hear a man with a clear vision and the knowledge and skill to bring that vision to life. It was a joy to hear him talk, though most of what I heard—specifications and observations and descriptions of trial and error and design philosophy—was well beyond my comprehension. You soon get the sense that this is all too easy for Denham. After all, he’s used to precision engineering—his background in the aerospace industry, where even minor errors cannot be tolerated, has provided him with lots to draw from.

Denham dove into turntable design with the cost-no-object Christine, “the angel of music” ($57,500). He took what he learned from designing Christine and trickled it down, first to the Onyx ($15,000), and now to the lovely Gem, seen here, which might be a bargain at $4800.

Driving the massive TTWeights 'tables were some gorgeous tube amplifiers from ALLNIC (short for "all nickel" because all of the company's amps use output transformers made of 78% nickel core permalloy): the 60Wpc T2000 integrated ($8500) and the H3000 phono stage ($10,900). ALLNIC amplifiers are represented in the US by Hammertone Audio.