Fortissimo S | without tonearm

EAT used the Forte-S turntable as a basis for the new and upgraded Fortissimo-S. Eschewing the sleek designs of some of its competitors, the Fortissimo-S takes the mass-loading route without straying down the path followed by some manufacturers where mass equates with massively ugly. The newly designed platter has twelve peripheral brass inserts and a central brass hub for increased platter weight (22kg), rotational inertia and speed stability.

The oversized (400mm/16” in diameter) platter is a two-part construction incorporating both hard and soft alloys and Sorbothane damping to inhibit resonance, while opposed neodymium magnets allow users to tune the bearing load, balancing noise from the main bearing against vertical stability and mechanical grounding. The bearing is an inverted design, mounted in a massive chrome-alloy block designed to provide both stability and energy dissipation.

The shaft surface is treated with Movic low-friction coating, a NASA-developed, Graphene-based material that reduces friction levels by a factor of six over the previous version. The shaft itself is tipped with a ceramic ball.

The outboard power supply for the belt-drive motor integrates gracefully with the main unit, eliminating that “all belt and suspenders” look, with the belt itself constructed from silicon string said to reduce rotational variation and "wobble.