Scheu Analog Slate Turntable System (Hi-Fi+)
Even without looking at the name, you know this is German through and through. Just the first look at the turntable convinces you that you are in the presence of Big German Audio of the first water. It’s big, bold and just the right side of sensible. And the arm looks like a magic wand... of course it’s German.
Scheu Analog is a Berlin-based company. Originally started some 20 years ago by Thomas Scheu, the company transferred to his wife Ulla when Thomas passed away in late 2004. He left a legacy of solid turntables, arms and cartridges.Of which Das Laufwerk (Laufwerkis German for ‘drive-mechanism’)turntable is the top of the tree.Well, two tops of the tree; there’sa Laufwerk No 1, which uses twolayers of acrylic and stainless steel columns to achieve a high mass design, and the No 2. This abandonsthe layered design and just goes for inert high mass in the shape of a dirty great triangle of acrylic. It’s not that commonly known outside of the UK, but Scheu has taken this to the logical extreme, the high mass acrylic base becoming ahealthy chunk of slate.
It uses an inverted bearing made of extremely hard ball- bearing steel, witha white ceramic ball resting on the top of the spindle. This is identical to the design laid down by Thomas Scheu in the still current Premier turntable. However, the bearing chamber in the Laufwerk has an additional grade of damping and resonance built into the system by mass-loading the bearing chamber with lead shot. Although, because of RoHS, I suspect ‘lead’ is an euphemism for something less intrinsically leaddy.
Scheu considers the Laufwerk Slate a special edition of the No 2 deck and with good reason – the fundamentals are identical,only the mass and material of the chassis differs.However, Ivan at UK distributor Cool Gales thinks the change in material changes the performance significantly enough to warrant it being a standalone turntable in its own right, and as the Scheu decks are hand-built, it’s not a big deal. Whatever the chassis material, the rest of the deck remains functionally identical. It uses the same 80mm thick, 7.5kg acrylic platter (which you can get in both smoked or clear finish), a fully isolated off- board DC motor power supply (Cool Gales recommends a length of fishing line as a belt, although rubberised belts are available), and adjustable feet. It’s very easy to level, thanks in part to an optional £100 record clamp, which also features a spirit level on the top (Linn users need not apply – it’s massy enough to throw off the suspension). The tonearm sits on top of one of the levelling towers, and that means up to three arms can be used at the same time. As standard these come in acrylic, but bronze armboards are special orders.
