Cambridge Audio is celebrating its 50th anniversary in fashion. The British firm, recognized for delivering excessive worth in high-end audio, has launched a slate of recent merchandise promising that “great British sound.” Perhaps none is extra interesting than Cambridge Audio’s new Alva TT turntable.
The Alva TT—named for the inventor of the document participant, Thomas Alva Edison—is a perfect bridge between the analog and digital audio worlds. This is a finely crafted turntable with an audiophile pedigree that may additionally stream your favourite vinyl data to any wi-fi audio system that helps Bluetooth. It’s an audio part that can please everybody from the vinyl purist to the hipster.
Alva TT characteristic set
The Alva TT is superbly designed, with a tapered backside, charcoal grey and silver end, and a smoked mud cowl that permits it to mix into any decor as a press release piece.
Setting up a high-end turntable might be daunting, however that’s not the case right here. Cambridge Audio says it targeted on making high-performance vinyl playback accessible to all, and the corporate has succeeded in spades.
The Alva TT is de facto three merchandise in a single: A high-end, direct drive turntable; a transferring coil (MC) and transferring magnet (MM) phono preamp; and a high-res Bluetooth music streamer that helps Qualcomm’s aptX HD codec.
The Alva TT is a direct-drive turntable
The Alva TT’s base is machined from a strong block of MDF (medium density fiberboard). MDF is commonly utilized in speaker cupboards due to its density, sturdiness, and skill to deaden vibrations. The high of the turntable’s base sports activities a 6mm sheet of painted machined aluminum. The Cambridge Audio brand and logotype are superbly stamped within the decrease proper nook.
The Cambridge Audio brand and logotype are stamped on the turntable’s base.
The Alva TT comes commonplace with a Polyoxymethelyne (POM) platter. The platter is the platform that vinyl data spin on, and its composition has a major sonic influence on vinyl playback. Stiffer and extra uniform supplies enhance bass, sound stage, and dynamics. Cambridge Audio says that POM is a high-tech engineering thermoplastic utilized in precision components that require excessive stiffness and dimensional stability.
The platter is sort of precisely the scale of an ordinary LP, however the edges of the platter are beveled so you may carry off a document with ease.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGThe Alva TT’s platter has a beveled edge.
A consultant from Cambridge Audio informed me that the tonearm is a tapered, one-piece cast-aluminum tube, with no joins between the headshell and pivot. This design provides extraordinarily low friction whereas monitoring, permitting the cartridge to retrieve the utmost quantity of element. The cartridge itself is an uncovered cantilever design, which cuts down on undesirable resonance and vibration that may be the draw back of enclosed designs.
A direct-drive motor exactly mounted to the turntable’s aluminum high plate is on the coronary heart of the Alva TT. If you’re not aware of turntable design, direct-drive fashions typically supply quicker begin and cease occasions, extra constant velocity, and glorious torque in contrast with belt-drive fashions. This means you may merely energy up the Alva TT and begin spinning your music, with out ready for the platter to rise up to hurry, as you’d with a belt-drive turntable. You additionally gained’t want to fret about attaching a belt to the turntable motor, altering the belt place if it’s good to go between 33 1/3- and 45 rpm data, or changing the belt when it inevitably wears out.
Belt-drive turntables have their advantages, too, in fact. One of the most important is that the motor that the belt is connected to might be mounted to the aspect of the platter, the place its vibration is much less more likely to be transferred to the platter, from the platter to your document, and—in the end—to the stylus, the place it should present itself as a low-level rumble within the background. To isolate the Alva TT’s platter from motor vibration, Cambridge Audio added foam dampening pads to the underside of the bottom. The heavy platter additionally helps in that effort.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGA small LED glows to tell you of the platter’s present rotational velocity.
The Alva TT’s excellent efficiency is actually the sum of its components: With the turntable’s MDF base, the load of its POM platter, its medium torque direct-drive motor, and its precision one-piece tonearm design, Cambridge Audio has finished an impressive job of creating a just about maintenance-free turntable. The firm’s choice of high-grade supplies enabled it additionally keep away from the drawbacks related to lesser-quality direct-drive turntables.
The Alva TT comes with all the things it’s good to rise up and working proper out of the field, together with high-quality RCA cables.
The Alva TT has a built-in phono stage
The Alva TT is not going to solely get you up and working shortly, it’s additionally designed to demystify and simplify the electronics wanted to hearken to vinyl. The typical turntable requires a particular sort of preamplifier—often called a phono stage—to spice up the sign output from its cartridge to a degree that an amplifier, A/V receiver, or a set of self-powered audio system can work with. Cambridge Audio constructed a phono stage proper into the Alva TT.
What’s extra, the Alva TT’s phono stage auto-senses whether or not you might have a high-output transferring coil (MC) cartridge or a transferring magnet (MM) cartridge mounted to its tone arm (the turntable comes with the latter, however I’ll get deeper into that later). Should you favor a special MC or MM cartridge (from third-party favorites akin to Ortofon, Clearaudio, Sumiko, or Dynavector), you may merely plug it in with out worrying about flipping any switches on the turntable.
Stream your vinyl in high-res with aptX HD
The Alva TT’s most unusual characteristic might be its potential to stream music in excessive decision through Bluetooth to any system that helps Qualcomm’s aptX HD codec (as much as 24-bit/48kHz decision). I’m not conscious of one other turntable in the marketplace that’s able to this. If the system you’re streaming to doesn’t help aptX HD, the turntable will routinely negotiate the following highest-quality codec obtainable.
Pairing headphones, Bluetooth audio system, or a Bluetooth-capable stereo system is straightforward. Simply press the Bluetooth pairing button on the again of the Alva TT for about three seconds (till its LED begins to blink), put the receiving system into pairing mode, and voila! The two units are paired.
I efficiently paired the Alva TT with Cambridge Audio’s Yoyo (L) Bluetooth speaker, in addition to its Edge A built-in amplifier; Denon’s AVR-X8500H receiver; Bowers & Wilkins’ PX headphones; and Astell&Kern’s XB10 Bluetooth headphone amplifier throughout my evaluation.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGA rear view of the Alva TT, exhibiting its Bluetooth paring button.
The blue LED on the Alva TT’s rear panel let’s if you’re efficiently paired with a tool. A fast-flashing blue mild lets the Alva is in pairing mode. Slow flashing lets it’s trying to find the final paired system. Long solid-flashing intervals means you might be related to an aptX or aptX HD supply, and a strong mild means you might be related through Bluetooth to a non-aptX HD system. I discovered the sunshine to be overly vivid; fortunately, Cambridge Audio provides you the choice to change it off.
If your dwelling house is tight, you may put an Alva TT just about wherever in your room and stream music to your favourite audio system or headphones. You might additionally join the Alva TT to your predominant sound system and set up a wi-fi connection to a secondary system or speaker. Many individuals will decide to hearken to the Alva TT on wi-fi headphones, which is among the methods I evaluated it.
Cambridge AudioFront and rear view of the Cambridge Audio Alva TT turntable.
It was such a cool sensation to spin vinyl to a wi-fi vacation spot. Because the Bluetooth module is unbiased, you may spin up some vinyl on the Alva TT, decide up a pair of wi-fi headphones, and revel in wi-fi vinyl bliss with out ever needing to energy up your predominant system or audio system. It’s an ideal answer for late-night bliss while you don’t need to disturb the remainder of the family. Needless to say, the Alva TT’s Bluetooth over aptX HD sounded superb by means of the headphones I attempted.
Bluetooth vary labored as marketed. I received roughly 33 toes or so of wi-fi freedom with no drops or hiccups. Once I received behind thick partitions or past that distance, nonetheless, the sign began to undergo.
As cool because the characteristic is, there are just a few points to concentrate on. First, the conversion of the analog vinyl sign to digital, and the following compression and transmission of the aptX HD- (or aptX-) encoded audio stream, introduces noticeable latency. Even although aptX and aptX HD are low-latency codecs, I seen someplace within the neighborhood of a 3/4-of-a second delay. Consequently, you may’t use the Bluetooth characteristic for multi-room vinyl streaming otherwise you’ll hear an echo.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGI efficiently paired the Alva TT with all kinds of Bluetooth-enabled tools. Here, the Alva TT is streaming vinyl over the air to a Denon AVR-X8500H receiver.
Secondly, the person guide’s part on Bluetooth is just some sentences, however it didn’t take me lengthy to find that the Alva TT can keep in mind only one Bluetooth pairing at a time. With different Bluetooth units I’ve reviewed, you may usually cycle between two, 4, and even eight paired units by urgent the Bluetooth button on the unit. Not right here. Cambridge Audio confirmed that the Alva can pair with only one Bluetooth system at a time.
If you need to change Bluetooth units, it’s good to pair the brand new system from scratch. The undeniable fact that I can’t pair a number of units with the Alva TT is a missed alternative in my e-book. Cambridge ought to have offered for at the very least two or three totally different Bluetooth companions. There can be no companion cellular app with the Alva to handle your Bluetooth connections. Every time you need to swap from a Buetooth speaker to Bluetooth headphones, for instance, you’ll must re-pair the system in query over again.
Setting up the Alva TT is a breeze
I’m a agency believer within the distinctive, ritualistic expertise turntables supply: Unpacking the album, admiring the paintings, studying the liner notes, inserting the vinyl on the turntable, dusting the document off, and cueing it up. The Alva TT delivers the perfect of that have whereas eliminating a number of the tedious duties a vinyl lover can do with out.
Even those that have by no means arrange a turntable earlier than might be up and working in mere minutes, as there are simply two components that the top person wants to put in on the Alva TT: The platter and the mud cowl.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGThe Alva TT comes with a moving-coil cartridge pre-mounted, so it’s able to play proper out of the field (it’s also possible to swap cartridges if in case you have a favourite).
Cambridge Audio pre-installs its personal high-output MC cartridge to the Alva TT’s tonearm, so there aren’t any wires to hook up and also you don’t must verify the needle’s alignment. Should something ever occur to the cartridge, Cambridge Audio provides this identical cartridge for buy ($499.99).
Theo Nicolakis / IDGThe Alva comes with all the things you want within the field.
The most intricate setup process (and it isn’t difficult) is balancing the tonearm. To make the method easy and straightforward, Cambridge Audio features a fundamental stylus stress gauge from Ortofon. It’s advantageous to get you up and working in a jiffy, however I’d recommend investing in a higher-quality gauge, such because the Shure SFG-2 Stylus Force Gauge or one of many many digital meters obtainable. If you have an interest in diving deeper into turntable setup, Michael Fremer’s “Practical Guide to Turntable Set-up” DVD is a traditional.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGMeasuring stylus pressure with the included Ortofon tracking-force gauge.
I like what Cambridge Audio has finished with the labels on the rear panel. The labels are readable if you’re trying straight on or (as many usually do) trying the wrong way up from the highest. This made connecting cables to the precise outputs a bit of cake.
Critical listening with the Alva TT
Cambridge Audio was gracious sufficient to ship alongside the corporate’s attractive new Edge A integrated amplifier for me to pair with the Alva TT. The Edge A is among the different items Cambridge has launched for its 50th anniversary celebration.
I paired the amp with a set RBH Sound’s astounding SVTR Tower Reference speakers. I used Cambridge Audio’s provided interconnects and Kimber Cable 8TC speaker cables. The electronics have been related to a Bryston BIT20 power conditioner.
For Bluetooth testing, I examined the Alva with apX HD suitable gear: A pair of Bowers & Wilkins PX headphones and an Astell&Kern AK XB10 Bluetooth headphone amp related to Focal Clear and Bowers & Wilkins P9 Signature wired headphones.
The Alva TT is nothing wanting a terrific turntable, distinguishing itself as a persistently heat and easy performer with good element and determination. If there’s a draw back, there have been occasions the place I longed for a bit extra “oomph” out of the Alva TT’s backside finish.
Theo Nicolakis / IDGI performed various LPs from my private assortment on the Alva TT.