MEITNER AT-2

PLATTERLESS TURNTABLE

AT-2 prototype
For decades, the phonograph record has proven itself an amazing source of musical satisfaction and diversity of selection. As our understanding of turntables, tonearms and phono cartridges has advanced, so have the results achieved from those same recordings that we thought we had heard at their best.

The history of the record has been one of discovery; of musical satisfaction that increases with each new development in playback technology.

Even today we cannot be certain that we have unlocked all the treasures stored in the record groove.
The AT-2 Record Playing System features "platterless playback". The platter is replaced by a metal flywheel with knife-edge machinings to support the record beneath the label area. The playing surface of the record couples to air on top and bottom.

Turntable designers have made enhancements to platters and mats through the years. As far as they have evolved, however, platters and mats are left with one fundamental problem. The point at which the record contacts the mat or platter is an energy interface that vibrations, traveling at high velocities, must traverse. These vibrations will not be completely absorbed by the interfacing surface, and a significant portion of the energy will be "mirrored" back into the record. Because most of the energy is generated by the cartridge stylus, this is the area to receive most of the reflected energy. The result is a form of distortion read by the stylus and incorporated into the music signal.

Overlooked by most, the twelve inch diameter of the typical record makes it an increasingly ideal half-wave coupler of acoustic energy from the lower mid-range up, and improving as the frequency rises. The record naturally dissipates vibrations, particularly at the levels and frequencies that they occur, to air. Thus air becomes the absorbent "platter", the only substance that does not give energy back to the record. The reproduction of music is open, dynamic, remarkably natural. The AT-2 has become a collector's item.

Owner's Manual

For more information please contact John Wright at (403) 968-1400 or email john@museatex.com