The Heretic 1- a non believers take on Turntable building

Noob Technology

Industry Expert
Hello!

Presenting the Heretic 1 TT/TA, by Noob Technology!

we are excited to start this thread and start sharing with you some details on this project. We realize the ad above this forum is a bit scarce in details........

The Heretic 1 is a blank sheet of paper. At Noob Technology we started with the core question: how do we do this right and bring new experiences and values in the Audiophile area. We will spare you heated discussions and setbacks.......

So without further ado:

A fully automatic, active tangential tone arm.
The Tone Arm is 57 mm (2,2") long, and controlled by the most advanced sensor array in the TT/TA business.
The Tone Arm is held in a 55 cm (22") wide bridge, that moves back from the Platter, to allow record changes- handy!

It's back: Record Eccentricity Correction. -last practised by Nakamichi in the 80's- We feel that building a TT/TA combo to the highest technical standard and then slap a record on with an eccentricity of 0,2 mm (or worse) makes little sense. A copy of the original Nakamichi Dragon CT brochure is available on our website- http://www.noob-technology.com/nakamichi.html
A video:



The Platter is 10 kgs (22lbs) heavy, and is made from Record Quality Virgin Vinyl- in this way there are no acoustic reflections from the platter. The Platter is actually in 2 pieces, to accommodate the Record Eccentricity Correction function.

The Platter main bearing is completely outside of the Platter mass, increasing distance to the cartridge, and not connected to the record spindle!
The Platter drive is by stepper motors, 4 of them, as a Decoupled Direct Drive, combining the benefits of belt and direct drive TT's.
The super quiet motors run at platter speed, without any slippage via steel reinforced, toothed belts.

The Heretic 1 comes standard with a centre reflex clamp and stabilization ring- Heretic style!

The TT/TA has 3 fully independent plinths
Plinth material: pressed Bamboo
Weight: 50+kgs (110 lbs)
Dimensions 60x60x35 cm (24x24x14")

So, as you can see many unusual approaches to old problems. Making it all sing together is the main task.......

We are working hard to get everything ready for the December 1st launch date.
Visit our website: noob-technology.com for updates and newsletter link- apologies for the bare bones site- the focus is on the launch!

Will keep you posted on this and on the Turntable forum, next door!

Best.

Carl
 
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Lagonda

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Pictures or a direct link to the product, and not just a 35 year old description of a mediocre Nakamichi TT would be nice ;)
 

Noob Technology

Industry Expert
Hi Shuggie

thanks for asking
The effective mass of the tone arm is very important for the function of the cartridge
Even though the arm is short, we will make sure that this effective mass is set up to maximize the performance of the cartridge

Length and effective mass of the tone am are only loosely related
This article did wonders for me:

http://www.cartchunk.org/audiotopics/ToneArmMechanics.pdf

Thanks & best

Carl
 

Shuggie

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Sep 9, 2020
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The length of the arm and effective mass are very closely related! Effective mass is a function of total system inertia, and inertia is related to mass multiplied by the square of distance from the pivot (there is more to it than that, but the biggest factor is distance from the pivot). So, a very short arm tube will have to be massively heavy, to achieve effective mass in the range necessary to work with the best (usually low-ish compliance) moving coil cartridges. Calculating inertia explains why 12" variants of a tonearm are often (and correctly) quoted as having lower effective mass than shorter 9" versions of the same arm.
 

Shuggie

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Sep 9, 2020
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Indeed, and I got my thoughts a little tied up, for which I apologize. There are of course other considerations for very short tonearms (usually but not exclusively parallel trackers), and I will be interested to see how you deal with those. I presume your actively controlled tangential tracking design will deal with the common issue of wildly different vertical vs horizontal effective mass?

Just a thought - maybe someone should resurrect the old Sony Biotracer idea for tonearm control?
 

Noob Technology

Industry Expert
Hi Shuggie- no worries here

The idea is to "tame" the record, so the tone arm has less compromises pressed upon it.
The tonearm will have nearly or no vertical movement due to de reflex clamp and the stabilization ring. This will reduce the impact of the vertical eff mass. The tone arm eff mass is between 15-16 grams and we can spend/swap a little mass to ease cartridge azimuth alignment if needed because of the small spaces

The active control is only in the horizontal plane-sorry

The Biotracer- I had to look this one up....thx


best

Carl
 
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spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Good luck on your new project. I run a Trans Fi Audio Terminator T3Pro low pressure air bearing LT arm.

Armwand is carbon fibre, 12cm length in total, 7.5cm from unipivot points to stylus, weighs just grams.
 

XV-1

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Hi Carl. How did you come up with the name Noob?. From a pure marketing point of view, each time I see Noob I think of boobs :eek:;) I am sure I am not the only one.

BTW - really look forward to the table thou - love DD
 

Lagonda

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Hi Carl. How did you come up with the name Noob?. From a pure marketing point of view, each time I see Noob I think of boobs :eek:;) I am sure I am not the only one.

BTW - really look forward to the table thou - love DD
The rendering in the turntable section is not exactly DD :oops:
 

XV-1

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May 24, 2010
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The rendering in the turntable section is not exactly DD :oops:

will be interesting what decoupled direct drive actually means in practice.:)
 

Noob Technology

Industry Expert
Hi Carl. How did you come up with the name Noob?. From a pure marketing point of view, each time I see Noob I think of boobs :eek:;) I am sure I am not the only one.

BTW - really look forward to the table thou - love DD


Hi XV1

There are many descriptions of a Noob, many (most) unflattering, but boob is not one of them- sounds like a Freudian thing;);)
A Noob is a newbie, but also self minded, pig headed, has difficulty accepting established practices and advice- and this is the nice one!- hahah

To make sure we don't go completely off the wall, we consult with Aalt Jouk van den Hul, the renowned Dutch producer and inventor of the Van Den Hul cartridges

We hope to share more soon
Enjoy DD!- I know..

Best,

Carl
 
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Noob Technology

Industry Expert
will be interesting what decoupled direct drive actually means in practice.:)

Hi again

when we run the 4 motors in ultra quiet mode, you almost need to touch the axle to make sure its turning- you hear only the ball bearings in the motors itself.
There is a 400% power surplus in the motors
The start up of the platter is programmed for quick speed up, but also avoiding peak loads, especially for the first RPM's and approach to 33.3

Because there is no angular pull on the platter bearing, there is less "grind" of the static and rotating parts of the bearing
This angular pull can be significant in a belt drive TT,: getting a 10 kgs platter to move from a small drive pulley needs quite some tension, otherwise it will slip forever.
As the platter mass is speeding up, the stretching and contracting of the belt destabilizes the RPM until it settles

With reinforced toothed belts there can be no slippage. The belts are only 150 mm long (closed) and the tension on the belts is low and fully balanced- see also TT forum posting for pic and text


Best,

Carl
 
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Noob Technology

Industry Expert
Sound a lot like a Goldmund Studio with a T3F arm, but shorter.

Hi Jhellow

Most significantly we use a different control system for the TA's position, which will greatly improve tracking accuracy- and it should by any given progress in technology-but we add some "special sauce" which should give the current competition a run for their money;):cool:

Because of the short TA, the "bridge" that holds the TA completely straddles the record during play and moves motorized along tracks backward to enable changing the record- handy!

BTW a Rabco SL 8 arm, which I believe is similar (?) quotes a 1/6 of a degree tracking angle deviation. at an estimated 20 cm (8") length this translates to a 0.058 mm or 58 micron control span- impressive! (total +and -)

Best,

Carl
 
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spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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E. England
Hi Carl. How did you come up with the name Noob?. From a pure marketing point of view, each time I see Noob I think of boobs :eek:;) I am sure I am not the only one.

BTW - really look forward to the table thou - love DD
XV, Schiit Audio remind me of something I can't quite place.
 
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