The Acoustic Signature Invictus turntable and TA-9000 tonearm. Simply put, this ultra-expensive bit of Teutonic engineering is the best record player (by far) that I have heard in my home. And the difference between it and other rivals isn’t trivial or a matter of nuance.
Visionary "State of the Art“- engineering is coupled with advanced technologies. This is why the INVICTUS has that unique magic of opulence, sophistication, dynamism and quality. The INVICTUS turntable, which took no less than three years to develop, is the result of intensive research and development work at the ACOUSTIC SIGNATURE-Manufaktur. A total of 479 components, assembled individually and by hand, make up this incomparable turntable
Dimensions
800 mm x 1210 mm x 730 mm with stand
800 mm x 350 mm x 730 mm turntable only
Weight
turntable 143 kg / stand 168 kg / total 311 kg
Drive System
6 motor drive DSP controller
Speed range
33 1/3 RPM and 45 RPM, 78 RPM as option
Power adapter
Internal AC to DC power adapter (in Digital Motor Control DMC2+)
Input: 100 V to 260 V AC 50Hz
Optional: DC-Input 24 V via XLR 5 pin-connector
Bearing
High precision Tidorfolon-bearing
Chassis
Massive aluminum chassis with silencer sandwich plate
Platter
Platter in sandwich construction aluminium-brass-aluminum, with silencer technology, Ø 345 mm
Tone arm base
up to four tone arms, designed to fit to customers tone arm
Not too long ago TAS’ Paul Seydor reported that the TechDAS Air Force One turntable with Graham Phantom Elite tonearm produced a sound from LPs that was “not likely to be surpassed in our lifetime.” Well…beep, beep! Here comes a potential surpasser—and, checking my pulse, I think it’s still my lifetime. This incredibly massive (375 pounds of CNC-milled aluminum and brass, not including its 400-pound stand), six-motor, belt-driven, almost Mayan-looking objet du son from Gunther Frohnhoefer of Germany is not only the biggest, heaviest, and most imperturbable record player I have ever come across--you simply cannot make it feed back vibration, even by pounding on it with both hands while it is playing--it is also the most versatile (it accepts four tonearms) and the simplest to use (at least, once you’ve hoisted it onto a suitable support system). Unbelievably quiet in playback, in combination with the TA-9000 tonearm it tracks with the precision of a Westrex cutterhead, reproducing instruments and vocals with unparalleled three-dimensionality, solidity, color, detail, power, pace—all those good things—and turning the soundstage into a veritable diorama of a symphony orchestra, a string quartet, a jazz quintet, or a rock trio.