Description

Naturally, the experience gained over the last few years stood us in good stead for developing the Black Night, yet despite drawing on these experiences, the Black Night also incorporates many innovative features not seen before in this form. The Raven Black Night is a truly monumental turntable, as its sheer size and weight testify. Despite this, thanks to the proportions, colour and choice of materials, the design remains pleasing and harmonious.

In developing the Black Night, our aim was to build a turntable that could top even our own Raven AC in terms of subtlety, ease and silence. In this we have succeeded, and the results are seriously impressive. The Black Night portrays the music’s every detail with subtlety and stereo depth, whether it be human voice or instruments. Everywhere, you’ll discover nuances that had previously remained hidden. Attack and decay of transient notes are reproduced impressively. Thanks to the three-motor drive and the battery power supply, the Raven Black Night does its job with poise, serenity and composure, yet just like the other TW ACUSTIC turntables, it is highly dynamic, involving and rich in timbre.

The Raven Black Night is incredibly musical, its spatial presentation is so three-dimensional and tangible that the music is always reproduced with the utmost authenticity. As with the Raven AC, the Black Night also provides for the use of up to four tonearms. As an additional feature, we have developed an armboard that allows VTA to be safely and accurately adjusted during operation. This is achieved via a knurled thumbwheel, which allows adjustment to be precisely carried out without float.

Weight

Chassis 30 kg Platter: 20 kg Motor unit: 10 kg Motor control unit: 5 kg

Dimensions

470 mm x 420 mm (W x D) Motor 270 mm x 270 mm Total footprint: 790 mm x 420 mm (W x D)

Chassis construction

Material

60 mm aluminium, ceramic bead blasted and silk matt black anodised.

Inlet

25 mm of TW ACUSTIC’s proprietary Delrin-based compound, rigidly screwed to chassis. Feet and all other attachments are also ceramic bead blasted and silk matt black anodised aluminium.

Feet

Four, ceramic bead blasted and silk matt black anodised aluminium, designed and built by TW ACUSTIC featuring ball and spring suspension.

Platter construction

Material

40 mm copper in combination with 20 mm of our special compound let into and screwed together with the copper platter.

Bearing

Bronze bearing, 16 mm hard metal shaft with ball on top, running on a thrust washer of 'Material S ® (green)'. Bushing is machined exactly to fit the bearing with zero float, yet remains replaceable.

Motor

60 mm aluminium, ceramic bead blasted and silk matt black anodised, in identical shape to the Raven Black Night but 60% smaller. 4 height-adjustable feet on the outer corners. 3 motors arranged in an arrow formation, pointing towards the platter. Drive belt is guided through the drive pulleys and around the circumference of the platter.

Motor control unit

Two built-in power supplies - one is exclusively used to charge the batteries. In normal operation the motors run from the battery supply alone, controlled by a microcontroller. Switching between battery and mains supplies occurs automatically without interrupting operation, as does battery charging. A remaining charge indicator is included on the front panel. Battery complement: 20 x rechargeable AA cells. Run time on battery operation only: Approx. 20 hours.

Armboard

Up to four tonearms may be fitted.