Also, Rik's design had to be complete with feet, plinth, motor, bearing, platter and arm. Many of the budget decks use wood composite like MDF which is easy to work and has good sonic properties. It is easily cut to a desired shape at tight tolerance and suitably dense to even be suitable for a platter. But Rik wanted a material better at eliminating unwanted vibrations. There was only one that checked all the boxes for cost, easy machining and vibration resistance. Hello acrylic. Acrylic or polymethylmethacrylate is a transparent thermoplastic homopolymer known more commonly by its trade name plexiglass. In the Takumi TT Level 2.1, the 430mm x 32mm slab of acrylic is 20mm thick.
Acrylic is very adept at reducing the transmission of vibrations due to its viscoelastic properties. In a turntable, many parts generate vibrations. Others are susceptible to them. The motor and bearing are its sources, the arm with cartridge sensitive to those tiny shakes. For Rik's turntable, the plinth material just had to be acrylic. With the desired characteristics, this material was equally suitable for the platter. To isolate the plinth from your shelf or furniture, three adjustable aluminum feet mount to it with a rubber inlay.
The acrylic platter sits on an aluminum sub platter to which the spindle is affixed. At the bottom of the spindle sits the platter bearing of ceramic shaft in a bronze race. As the Takumi TT Level 2.1 is a complete system, a tone is arm included. That's a 9" thin-walled titanium wand for enough stiffness whilst being lightweight at the same time. The head shell is fixed to the arm.
A tone arm also needs a bearing. There are several options and Rik went for the cardanic type thus two bearings, one for vertical, one for horizontal movement working together. One of the advantages of this type is that even warped LPs will play without problems.
To top things off, the Takumi comes with a detachable dust cover.
What would a turntable be without a cartridge? A car without tyres. To make the choice easier, Rik Stoet offers an Ortofon 2M Red as standard. This MM cartridge can be upgraded to an Ortofon Quintet Bronze for a surcharge. For review we received two Takumi TT Level 2.1 turntables. One came with a black high-gloss plinth already assembled and fitted with an Ortofon Quintet Bronze. The other was a still boxed unit with clear plinth and an Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge mounted to the head shell. Stoet ships all of his turntables with the desired cartridge type mounted and adjusted. There's no need for a newbie to go through any arm-and-cartridge jiggling and juggling.
