For more than 25 years, the AVID Acutus has been regarded as one of the world’s finest turntables. A brainchild of Conrad Mas, who heads AVID HiFi to this day, the fundamental design of the Acutus has remained largely unchanged since its introduction in 1999: a heavy subchassis and 10kg platter hung from three sprung suspension turrets held in position by elastomeric bands and driven by an AC motor via twin rubber belts. Of course, the Acutus line of turntables and associated power supplies have undergone many refinements over the years.
The AVID Acutus and Blue Note vinyl
Versions and options
The Acutus is currently offered in four variants: the Acutus Reference Mono ($45,000), Acutus Reference ($32,500), Acutus Classic ($20,000), and Acutus Dark Iron ($13,000), the subject of this review (USD pricing; tonearm and cartridge not included). Generally, the four models share the same basic construction and specifications. The main difference between the top three models is their accompanying power supply units (PSUs), which become larger and more sophisticated as you ascend the Acutus line.
The Acutus Dark Iron employs the same DSP-enabled, speed-adjustable PSU as the Acutus Classic, but as its name suggests, it stands apart from its siblings in its aesthetics: it sheds the chrome mirror finish and puts on a dark-gray powder-coat finish instead. (AVID claims the mirrored finish reduces high-frequency energy stored within the platter, which lowers the noise floor, resulting in a cleaner soundstage and improved resolution.) The Dark Iron differs from the other models also in its use of a single-stage record clamp—the others use a dual-stage clamp—and a composite felt mat, not a resin mat.
Purchasers of the Acutus Dark Iron have the option to upgrade to the dual-stage clamp and resin mat, which increases the price to $17,000. The sample unit AVID supplied for this review had these upgrades. It also had the company’s top-of-the-line Nexus tonearm ($5495) and entry-level Ionic moving-coil cartridge ($3000). In this configuration, the Acutus Dark Iron differs from the Reference models only in its finish and PSU and is well positioned within the heavily contested 25K turntable market segment, competing against the likes of the Linn LP12, Michell Orbe, and Vertere SG-1.
(Note: in the following discussion, Acutus, in a general context, refers collectively to the Acutus line, that is, to any version; in the context of the audition, Acutus refers specifically to the Acutus Dark Iron.)
Design
Control and elimination of vibration is a core element of the Acutus design. To this end, a massive 10kg aluminum platter is used to which a 10mm aluminum disc is bolted, topped by a resin or, in the Dark Iron, felt-composite mat. This coupling of aluminum and composite, according to Mas, absorbs vertical vibrations and reflects lateral energy back into the record.
The Acutus turntable’s thick platter and bonded mat and the two clamp variants
Mas advocates clamping the record to the platter: it helps flatten out any warps that reduce tracking accuracy, and it channels unwanted vibrations through the spindle and into the subchassis below. His solution is a dual-stage clamp, a robust piece of engineering heavy enough to serve as a weapon.
Initially, I found this clamp to be a little fiddly. The Orbe clamp on my GyroDec and the SME clamps I had used had been somewhat easier to apply. I mentioned this to AVID, and the very next day Mas dispatched the single-stage clamp to me, forewarning that music playback may not be quite as resolved with it as with the dual-stage clamp. The single-stage clamp was easier to use, but since I wasn’t convinced I heard a difference in sound quality, and since by day two I was already getting comfortable with the dual-stage clamp, I continued to use it for the duration.
The Acutus features a platter bearing of the inverted design, marked by its low center of gravity. A single contact point—a tungsten carbide ball—is situated atop a long, tapered spindle that is press-fitted into the subchassis, where it engages a precisely matching sapphire piece. This unique coupling all but eliminates lateral platter movement and the rumble it typically generates. A self-lubricating inner sleeve near the bottom of the spindle prevents metal-to-metal contact between its upper part and the outer rotating shaft. The result is a silent, maintenance-free, durable bearing.
A turntable is essentially a measuring device that probes minute undulations in a groove 0.04mm to 0.08mm wide. Any unintended relative movement between the tonearm and bearing, however small, results in corruption or loss in the audio signal. The Acutus tonearm bearings, like its platter bearing, are precision manufactured to extremely fine tolerances to ensure rigid coupling to the tonearm and allow near-frictionless movement in the desired directions—and in no other. One of the reasons high-end turntables such as the Acutus are so expensive is that precision engineering and the exotic materials it involves are inherently costly.
The Acutus subchassis consists of a heavy one-piece aluminum casting shaped for maximum rigidity where most needed. A coating of damping material is applied to the subchassis to dissipate vibrations passed from the record through the bearing. This material is designed to provide even damping across the frequency range to ensure neutrality.
The heavy Acutus subchassis
The Acutus features an adjustable sprung suspension tuned by default to an oscillation frequency of 2.5Hz, deliberately far from the audioband, at which frequencies the suspension is essentially rigid. The unusually slow oscillation was something I immediately noticed when I first encountered the Acutus. Most turntables are tuned to a much higher oscillation frequency. The Linn LP12, for example, bounces at 6Hz, and my Michell GyroDec is similar.
A key element of setting up most sprung turntables, including my GyroDec, is the tuning of each supporting spring to the same optimum frequency. Oscillation frequency is affected by the weight of the tonearm and cartridge, and suspension springs are made adjustable to compensate for that. This is a time-consuming, fiddly exercise. I still haven’t managed to dial in the suspension tuning on my GyroDec perfectly.
This exercise is unnecessary with the Acutus. Lateral elastomeric bands (essentially large O-rings) connect the sub-chassis to the main chassis, ensuring pistonic motion of the suspension system. One of Mas’s party tricks is to press down on the record clamp of an Acutus while it is playing and then to quickly let go; despite the ensuing vigorous bounce, the stylus continues to track the groove without skipping at all. It’s a genuinely jaw-dropping demonstration of how well engineered the suspension system is. I’ve never seen any other turntable that is capable of such a feat. The Acutus suspension system is one of its greatest strengths. It, and that of the SME Model 60, represent the state of the art in turntable-suspension design. Nothing else comes close.
The heavyweight platter spins up surprisingly quickly
The heavy, fully decoupled motor of the Acutus is mounted in a recess at its base lined with a damping rubber material. This AC synchronous motor has unusually high power and torque (ten times as powerful as conventional motors, according to AVID), which allows the heavy platter to spin up to speed surprisingly quickly. Twin round-section drive belts are employed, which, AVID claims, don’t subject the platter to speed fluctuations as flat belts do when the suspension moves.
Power supply, tonearm, and cartridge
The high-quality power supply that accompanies each of the Acutus models uses DSP technology to generate an accurate feed for the AC motor and offers fine tuning of speed. The PSU’s aluminum casework is machined to exemplary fit and finish and exhibits the same design language seen across AVID’s electronics line. The controls are straightforward: a power button and speed buttons for 33⅓ and 45 rpm, with corresponding LED indicators. Speed adjustment mode is entered by pressing and holding the two speed buttons. Then push the 33 button to decrease speed and the 45 one to increase it.
The AVID Acutus with its power supply
The Acutus Dark Iron review sample AVID provided came with the company’s flagship tonearm, the Nexus, as mentioned. This tonearm is made of an ultra-rigid Grade-9 titanium and is designed to resist torsion and bending. The nondetachable headshell is hewn from a solid billet of aluminum machined to mate perfectly with the armtube. The arm is fitted with high-specification ball bearings and incorporates high-precision bearing shafts to ensure minimal friction and precise movement. In use, the arm felt free of play and very smooth, but it did have one mildly annoying quirk. I have had tonearms from Linn, Rega, and SME and have developed the habit of flicking the cueing lever down in a single rapid movement. The tonearm and cueing lever on the SME Series IV I now use respond with a graciously slow and steady descent. Flicking the lever in this manner on the Nexus would frequently cause the arm to stop halfway down, requiring me to go back to the cueing lever and help it along to the end of its travel arc. It is frustrating to put on a record and sit down, only to have to get up again a moment later to carry the cueing procedure to completion; but in all fairness, it’s my lax cueing technique that is to blame, not any flaw in the mechanism.
AVID’s entry-level moving-coil cartridge, the Ionic ($3000), completed the package. The Ionic shares the same aluminum body of the two cartridges above it in the line and incorporates the same coil and magnet assembly. A long, nude aluminum cantilever protrudes from the Ionic, terminating in an elliptical diamond stylus. (You may want to use the slip-on cover when the cleaners come in.) One aspect of the Ionic’s design that I particularly liked was its straight sides, like on my old Audio Technica AT-F5 cartridge. This makes alignment and cueing a breeze.
The AVID Ionic cartridge
I’m old enough to remember the launch of the Acutus, when the firm seemed to come from nowhere with this incredible turntable. I tried to arrange for a review in Hi-Fi News & Record Review, for whom I was a regular contributor, but to no avail. AVID was highly circumspect about whom to trust its inaugural product for review to, which is perfectly understandable: a single negative review can be enough to sink an emerging small firm.
I was delighted to have encountered no such unease this time around and to see how AVID has gone from strength to strength over the past 25 years. AVID is one of the few British audio brands capable of providing a complete system: a source, an amplifier, and speakers. It has a beautiful new state-of-the-art factory in Cambridgeshire and the capability to manufacture and cut metal in-house. This is no mere assembly operation relying on outsourced parts. AVID’s engineering capabilities are genuinely world-class. This is the kind of turntable that engineering legend Isambard Kingdom Brunel might have built—it’s overengineered in the same way that Victorian cast-iron railway bridges are. Like the Bentley Blower and Lotus Elan, it is British engineering at its best. I couldn’t wait to fire up the Dark Iron beast and discover its true nature.
Setup and listening impressions
I used three phono stages with the Acutus: the AVID Pulsus two-box phono stage, my Trichord Dino MK3, and the PS Audio Stellar. High-quality Chord Company Epic X interconnects linked my Naim NAC 82 preamplifier with the phono stage in use. The recommended loading for the Ionic cartridge is 100 Ohms, which proved optimal. The rest of the system comprised my Naim Audio NAC 82 preamplifier, Naim NAP 250 power amplifier and HiCap PSU, and ATC SCM40 passive loudspeakers.
The AVID Acutus takes its place alongside a GyroDec/SME-IV/Lyra Kleos SL—a fetching pair
From the moment I dropped the needle into the lead-in groove of Tanita Tikaram’s Ancient Heart (WEA 243877-1), I was astonished at the complete absence of rumble and near absence of surface noise. Mine is a much-loved original pressing that I have played on many different turntables. On the Acutus, it was noticeably quieter than I have heard it sound on any other deck. Later, with pristine new vinyl on the platter, the background was so dark I could have easily mistaken the source for digital.
The opening salvo of acoustic drums on Tanita’s “Good Tradition” hit with such explosive power and depth I feared for my plasterwork. The sound was weighty and full, and it had great bass extension and incisive midrange and highs that revealed Tikaram’s deep vocal timbre in its full richness. All of this was presented on an expansive soundstage of considerable depth and width. The brass section projected into the room with great gusto and dynamics, and the whole track swung with tremendous momentum and timing. I loved it! This classic album was one of my favorites in my student days. With the glorious, fiery presentation of the Acutus it was so enjoyable that I sat and listened to it from beginning to end.
I was pleased to note that when the music became more subdued on the following track, “Cathedral Song,” the Acutus matched the mood perfectly, delivering this tender song subtly, sensitively. The opening acoustic guitar was simply delicious, and the brushed drums and keys sounded detailed and refined farther back, precisely where they should be. This is a beautiful album. Listening to it on the Acutus in a darkened room lit softly by candlelight with a glass of whisky in hand made for a mesmerizing experience.
With the turntable’s bold, blazing performance on the previous track still fresh in my mind, I couldn’t resist playing one of my favorite jazz albums: Big Band Spectacular! by the Syd Lawrence Orchestra (Chasing the Dragon VALDC002). I’ve been a Glenn Miller fan all my life, an affinity I contracted from my father, who was a huge fan of the jazz trombonist. (I fondly recall him cranking up the big-band classics on his Technics system, hollering “Pennsylvania 6-5000.”) The originals aren’t particularly well recorded, so a big part of the enjoyment of listening to this wonderful recording is hearing these fabulous big-band tunes in true audiophile quality. “In the Mood” sounded utterly fantastic. The band was imaged almost life-size, extending beyond my listening-room’s boundaries, its brass section projecting forth with visceral, searing dynamics. The drummer on this recording is an absolute master of his art, contributing accenting beats when called for and keeping time with the precision of an atomic clock. The Acutus conveyed all this brilliantly, delivering a gloriously rich and involving presentation.
Chasing the Dragon’s Big Band Spectacular! was explosive on the Acutus
In many ways, the Acutus reminded me of the SME Model 60 (which I reviewed in December 2022). It offers the same inky-black backgrounds—indeed, if anything, the Acutus is even quieter—and the same powerful, controlled presentation with a bottomless bass extension. Considering that the Model 60 turntable and Series VA tonearm sell for $75,789 in standard finish, compared to $22,495 for the Dark Iron and Nexus tonearm package I was sent for review, that is very impressive. Where the SME surpassed the Acutus was in its shattering dynamics and its utter transparency and clarity in the upper frequency range. As a motor platform, the Acutus is extraordinary, and I suspect that with a better cartridge than the one supplied by AVID, its performance would have been much closer to that of the SME in these respects. The Ionic did excel in lending depth to the soundstage, however. On record after record, I marveled at the three-dimensionality of the presentation.
I turned next to the opening track, “Clear the Path,” from Cara Dillon’s most recent, exquisite LP Coming Home (Charcoal Records 5052442024910), a superbly recorded album of (mostly) piano and vocals. I don’t know what it is about Irish female singers, but something primal touches my soul every time they open their mouths. I had the good fortune to see Cara Dillon and her husband live recently; her wonderfully mellifluous voice is as sublime live as it is on her records. On Coming Home, the Acutus presented Dillon’s voice with all the emotion and sense of longing that permeates her live performance. It rendered the grand piano with lifelike timbre. This is the kind of record that sends shivers up your spine and makes you contemplate what matters most in life: home, family, music, art, the magic of an ancient forest, the majesty of an expansive landscape.
A focus on what matters
The 1962 Classics for Pleasure recording (CFP40022) of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sir Adrian Boult, was pronounced by Gramophone magazine as perhaps the definitive recording of this much-loved work. In the ninth variation, “Nimrod,” in particular, the Acutus rendered the LPO’s strings with such rich timbre and gravitas, it sounded utterly majestic. This is where heavyweight turntables like the Acutus shine: digging deep into the recording and rendering it full-bodied, full scale, with force and momentum that sweeps the listener along on a wave of emotion.
Of the three phono stages I used during the audition, the standout performer was decidedly the PS Audio Stellar, the most expensive of the three. The other two, the AVID Pulsus and Trichord Dino Mk3, sounded comparable to each other in detail and had similar quality of presentation. Cartridge loading and gain can be set by dip switches on both units, which allows them to accommodate a wide variety of cartridges. But neither had quite the gravitas and sheer slam of the PS Audio Stellar phono stage, and neither could match its level of adjustability, a continuous range of cartridge loadings of between 1 and 1000 Ohms. And only the PS Audio Stellar offers full remote control. Still, I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the Pulsus phono stage to anyone assembling an AVID system. It is a superb performer that complements the Acutus and its accompanying PSU extremely well, sonically and aesthetically.
The ability to fully convey the emotional content of music is what differentiates the very best audio products from the rest. It’s what turns a recording into a performance. The closer sound reproduction is to the original performance in sound and emotional impact, the more rewarding the experience. With the Acutus I heard none of the brittleness of digital, even at high volume, none of that searing stridency that so often seems to blight digital playback of strings and orchestra. I heard the sweet tone of strings and I sensed the musical power of a magnificent orchestra and the acoustic space it was in.
The AVID Nexus tonearm
While a better cartridge would likely have revealed more detail and musical nuance, at no time did I feel that something was really amiss. So think of the Acutus as an outstanding package overall; just keep in mind that it can be better still with a more capable cartridge.
Conclusion
Make no mistake, the AVID Acutus Dark Iron is a superb turntable. With the platter and clamp upgrades, at a relatively small additional cost, you will unleash its full potential and have a turntable that offers much of the performance of the top-tier Acutus Reference models at a more affordable price. For AVID, vibration control is everything, and the robust engineering it took to achieve this is plainly reflected in the robust construction of the Acutus. It is built like a battleship, rigged with a seaworthy suspension—one of the best in the industry. In some way, the gray-and-black finish of the Acutus Dark Iron seems to reinforce this impression; more so than the chrome decks.
An unfortunate flaw of my listening room is its ancient floorboards: even walking across the room sends the tonearm of my GyroDec bounding across the record like a gazelle. The Acutus was far more resilient to footsteps but didn’t quite reach the staggering level of isolation of the SME Model 60, which proved as immune to footsteps as Stonehenge itself.
Built like a battleship—the side-rear view of the Acutus Dark Iron
The motor platform and tonearm of the Acutus are utterly superb, and the combination is solid. They are both so good that they demand a top-flight phono cartridge to realize their full potential, as stressed above. The tonearm may lack the jewellike beauty of the top SME tonearms, but it is extremely well engineered and supremely rigid and inert.
Sonically, the Acutus proved capable of rendering the power and majesty of everything I threw at it with commanding control. Its control of bass and overall articulation in the lower registers was near state of the art in vinyl playback. Again, fine detail in the upper reaches of the frequency range would be better resolved with a better cartridge. The Acutus Dark Iron is one of the finest vinyl spinners money can buy for under £30,000, one that will deliver a lifetime of musical pleasure.
. . . Jonathan Gorse
jonathan@soundstage.com
Associated Equipment
- Turntable: Michell GyroDec turntable with SME Series IV tonearm and Lyra Kleos SL cartridge
- Phono preamplifiers: Trichord Research Dino Mk 3 with Never Connected Dino+ power supply, PS Audio Stellar phono stage
- Streaming DAC: Naim Audio NDX 2
- CD player: Naim CDI
- Preamplifier: Naim NAC 82
- Power amplifier: Naim NAP 250
- Power supply: Naim HiCap
- Loudspeakers: ATC SCM40
- Power: dedicated 100A mains spur feeding two Graham’s medical-grade and six-gang power blocks, Naim Hydra, Naim Power-Line Lite
- Cabling: Chord Company Sarum T loudspeaker cables, Naim NAC A5 loudspeaker cables, Naim interconnects on most Naim amplification; Chord Co. Sarum T Super ARAY XLR, Chord Co. SignatureX Tuned ARAY DIN-RCA, Chord Co. SignatureX RCA-XLR, Chord Co. EpicX ARAY RCA. Chord Co. EpicX ARAY interconnects for phono stages, Vertere Redline RCA-XLR between HiCap and NAP250, QED interconnects for secondary sources
AVID HiFI Acutus Dark Iron turntable, Nexus tonearm, and Ionic cartridge
Prices: Dark Iron turntable, with matt and clamp upgrade: $17,000; Nexus tonearm: $5495; Ionic cartridge: $3000
Warranty: Five years, after registration
AVID HiFi Ltd.
1 Kym Road
Kimbolton
Huntingdon
PE28 0LW
United Kingdom
Website: www.avidhifi.com
North American distributor:
Focal Naim America
313 Rue Marion
Repentigny, Quebec J5Z 4W8
Canada
Phone: 1-800-663-9352 (USA), 1-866-271-5689 (Canada)
Website: www.focalnaimamerica.com
