RMAF 2010

Composer and artist Joel Durand (left, who in his free time designs beautiful tonearms) and TTWeights’ Larry Denham flank the mightily impressive Black Onyx turntable ($15,000).

At one point during a demo, Denham banged the crap out of the Onyx’s center weight—while a record was playing!—and the turntable didn’t miss a beat. It was absolutely impervious to Denham’s attack. And Denham is a pretty big dude.

The high-mass platter uses five layers of decoupling, and each component is CNC-machined. Three speed options are selectable via a cool, industrial switch box. Denham selected 45RPM and counted not even two seconds before the massive platter was up to speed. For all of the specs and info on the technology, which was way over my head, visit the TTWeights site.

The Black Onyx turntable uses Durand's Talea tonearm, which features an armwand crafted from Bolivian Rosewood and offers on-the-fly azimuth adjustment. Talea tonearms are handmade in Seattle, WA.