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AMG Viella V12 Turntable Review

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Also read the Five Things that the Beatnik learned or remembered while reviewing the AMG “V12” turntable.

AMG Viella Turntable

If someone told me that they had just bought a AMG V12, I’d want to know when I could take it for a spin, but by spin I would mean around the block. In this case, the outstanding Bavarian engineering has been applied to wonderful new turntable, in the first turntable effort for the AMG brand. Werner Roeschlau, designer and driving force behind AMG, works with his son and other master machinists at their Bavarian factory located north of Munich. Before building his own turntable and tonearms some of his most notable work was on the Brinkman turntables. I guess everyone dreams of doing it for themselves one day. The AMG Viella V12 is a non-decoupled, mass-loaded, belt-driven design with a very special twelve-inch tonearm.

This is the first turntable I have used in which almost the entire turntable and tonearm were made of high-grade aluminum. All the machining is done in house at Werner Roeschlau’s factory. He combines the latest Computer Aided Design and CNC machines with “classic analog” tools including custom lathes and drill presses. Their factory has been manufacturing key, precision parts for some of the world’s most highly regarded turntables for over a decade. This expertise in the design and manufacture of turntables led to the AMG line, with the Viella 12 “V12” being their first product.

AMG Viella V12 Turntable

Description

Visually, I find the Viella V12 very pleasing, as it has a subtle beauty. I find it hard to understand how AMG manage to take what is basically one huge black, metal platter and turn it into something so aesthetically satisfying. It sits in the same spot where my beautiful Shindo 301 usually sits, and almost everyone who has come by comments on how nice it looks.

The table is designed around a platter with a decoupled spindle. It is of a two-piece construction that is CNC machined in-house using aircraft grade aluminum. The platter is strikingly massive, weighing in at a hefty twenty four and a half pounds, and nearly four inches tall. It also uses a very impressive, weighted rim for enhanced flywheel effect and has a built-in mat; well, I’ll call it a mat for lack of a better word, it’s really an integrated top layer of PVC designed to work with their clamp. There is also a stainless steel sub-platter that interfaces with the main platter. The platter clamp is what AMG refers to as a true reflex style, anodized aluminum with an inverted threaded attachment to decouple the spindle.

Similar to the platter, the V12‘s plinth, of which “platform” might be a more apt description, is CNC in-house machined using 25mm aircraft grade aluminum. It has three adjustable and retractable steel-copper spikes in aluminum feet. Just a word to the wise: While it is easy to level, this can only be done with the platter removed. Like the arm, it has a built-in spirit level. The plinth can be purchased in just its black aluminum, but all the tables I have seen have had one of the optional hardwood trims. The trim really makes them beautiful, and you can add it later. The bearing is a hardened 16mm axle bearing, CNC machined, ground, and lapped. It has double sealed, hydro-dynamically lubricated radial bearings with axial bearings featuring static lubrication. I’m no expert on bearings of any kind, but I know this is the most impressive looking bearing I have seen on a turntable.

The motor is a Lorenzi 2-pulse, low-speed brushless, precision 24v DC motor with auxiliary reluctance moment, sintered bronze bearings, cured and polished axis; and a heavy flywheel. The motor housing is acoustically decoupled from plinth via five rubber/metal mounts. The speed choices are 33.3, 45, and 78 speeds with electronic touch buttons for changing the speed and for speed adjustments. The motor has an outboard power supply with transformers made for specified mains voltage and a detachable ICE power cord. the motor has a stainless steel weighted and polished drive-belt pulley and turns the platter by use of a precision made rubber belt. Though mounted right on the plinth, the tonearm mounting board is a detachable high mass mounting board that comes pre-drilled for AMG and Graham tonearms.

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AMG-Viella-5

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