Overview

New Allegri autotransformer passive preamplifier from Townshend Audio is designed to provide ultimate signal transparency in high-end high fidelity systems.

The Allegri Autotransformer Passive Stereo Preamplifier is a high fidelity line level control centre that selects 6 inputs, adjusts gain and provides two outputs. It is a cut down version of the amazing Townshend Audio Glastonbury Pre 1 Autotransformer Preamp.  The Allegri preamp has almost the same sound as the Glastonbury Pre 1, but with no remote control, mono, mute, -10dB, +1dB, balanced operation, or AC coupling.

At the heart of the preamplifier designs is Townshend Audio’s new 24-tap Fractal-Wire™ wound autotransformer with 80% nickel mu-metal laminations for ultimate performance. All internal signal connections are by Fractal-Wire ™. As the Allegri preamps are purely passive devices there is no mains-born noise degradation. This, when combined with Fractal-Wire ™, results in the most accurate, uncoloured and open-sounding preamplifier possible – with astonishing transparency and resolution of fine detail.

There are 6 RCA phono line level inputs and two sets of phono stereo outputs.

Input selection is by manual control using the rotary selector knob on the left of the fascia.

Volume control is by a 24-position rotary switch divided into suitably chosen increments to provide a control range from +4dB to -60 dB and then mute.

As the Allegri preamp is DC coupled, so it is important that there is no DC offset on an input as distortion may occur. With the volume control set at 0 dB, the signal is connected directly from the input to the output.

The bright anodised aluminium metal case of the Allegri preamp is connected to the internal star earthing point of the signal ground to prevent hum.

Description

After 40 years of research encompassing all styles of amplification – including discrete transistor (bipolar & FET), integrated circuit valve (tube) and digital – we have found that all active implementations inevitably cause a slight veiling, noise and detail loss. Furthermore all volume controls – potentiometers (carbon, plastic film and cermet), switched resistor, optical and digital – similarly cause varying degrees of veiling and detail loss. Conventional  transformer volume controls are excellent, but it is very difficult to achieve a flat frequency response at all volume settings due to the stray capacitance reacting with the unterminated coil sections. The claim that transformer controls allow for balanced operation is only partly true as the circuit cannot truly be balanced due to asymmetry in the configuration.

By far the best solution is the autotransformer control which provides virtually zero noise, optimum impedance matching and up to 4dB of gain. Add to this Townshend Audio’s radical new (and proprietary) Fractal-Wire™ and the results are truly astonishing. Sound is clear, powerful, engaging, amazingly smooth and highly detailed. When set at 0 dB gain, the input is connected directly to the output with a single wire, so there is nothing in the way to change the sound. When the autotransformer is removed from the circuit (in the 0 dB case) there is no change in the sound whatsoever. This leads us to the conclusion that the Allegri Pre is truly “The closest approach to a straight wire with gain”. Substitute transformers wound with regular copper, silver or even DCT copper wire and the sound degrades with the addition of the transformer. But not so with the Fractal-Wire™ wound autotransformer. It is acoustically invisible! When laminated with the best ultra-thin 80% nickel laminations Townshend Audio’s autotransformer is, we feel, the ideal high fidelity component.

Technical specifications

Frequency response

8Hz-100kHz +/1 0.1dB

Maximum signal level

4VRMS 8Hz

10VRMS 20Hz

Maximum DC offset

5mV  (For undistorted 8Hz).

Distortion

Less than 0.01% at 400Hz, 10V (2nd and 3rd harmonic only)

Impedance

Input impedance is dependent upon the load impedance and gain setting. So, with a power amplifier having 20kohm input impedance (typical):
At 0dB, input impedance is 20kohm
At -10dB (normal listening) input impedance is 200k

Inputs

6 pairs RCA phono sockets (gold plated)

2 Gold plated XLR sockets unbalanced

Pre 2 balanced

Outputs

1 pair RCA phono sockets (gold plated)

Power

15VDC 1A (remote control only)

Physical

Width                     127mm (5in)

Height                   45mm (1.8in)

Depth                    305mm (12in)

Weight                   1.5kg (3.3lb)

The 8th Annual Positive Feedback Online’s Writers’ Choice Awards for 2011 – The Best of the Best!

The Townshend Rock 7 Turntable has been my reference for over a year now, well before it started receiving attention in the U.S. audio press and mentions at many audiophile shows. I’ve sat down to write a review of this turntable several times over the last year, but I was forced to stop due to continuing changes in my reference system, involving the turntable or other components. Each change resulted in better and better sound enabled by the transparency of the Rock 7. A full review is forthcoming but I didn’t want to wait another year before giving this special turntable the recognition it deserves. The Rock 7 ranks with other turntables that cost $10K or more yet has a list price of about $3000 (without tonearm). Think of all the extra LPs you could buy for this difference! The Rock 7 has a unique suspension system that effectively isolates the turntable from outside disturbances, but its most noteworthy feature is the amazing “trough”, filled with damping fluid, that the tonearm headshell floats in. Damping provided by the trough smooths the bass response and controls other resonances in the cartridge/tonearm system that muddy the sound. Music through the Rock 7 emanates from a dead silent background and the action of the trough sharpens transients and lifts veils that otherwise obscure inner detail. The result is that music literally explodes from the groove and provides a sense of musical flow that I was never aware of before. Whether you have a $100 cartridge or a $5000 cartridge the Rock 7 will get the best out of it. It requires some tinkering to sound its best but worth the effort. Highest recommendation!

 by Dave Robertson

Source: http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue58/awards2011.htm

“Rafael Todes introduces a turntable with ingenius solutions”

[see full review]

November, 2011 — Rafael Todes

Source: Opera Now

To extend high-frequency reproduction to 100kHz seems batty, but says Jimmy Hughes, Townshend’s Super Tweeter is supersonic

The case for subwoofers is fairly easy to make. Most loudspeakers are limited in terms of size and this leads to restricted bass depth. Very few can reproduce frequencies much deeper than 30Hz (and many don’t even get that far), so there’s an obvious need for something to reproduce those lower octaves.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, virtually all modem speakers can reproduce high frequencies well beyond the range of human hearing-reckoned to be about 20kHz. Alas, few listeners the wrong side of 20 can hear as high as 20kHz. As for those of us the wrong side of 50 -well, we’re lucky if we can hear up to 15kHz! It gets worse. With most of us listening to music from CD, bandwidth is limited to about 19kHz. So, why invest in super tweeters that extend the upper frequencies out beyond 30kHz, when the recordings themselves have no high frequencies to exploit this and our ears can’t hear that high anyway?

The logic of the above seems irrefutable. Yet regardless of such ‘logic’, Townshend Maximum Super Tweeters are capable of having a profound effect on sound quality-and not necessarily in ways you might expect or predict. They’re Ribbon designs that behave like a subwoofer for the treble-influencing the sound in strange ways. Now you might expect a set of super tweeters to increase sharpness and give the sound greater upper-frequency immediacy and impact. This it does, but-and here’s where it gets a bit scary-you also notice improvements in apparent bass depth, along with increased lower-frequency tightness and control. Amazing! Subjectively, it’s akin to the way a good subwoofer makes the treble seems smoother and more ‘airy’, increasing the impression of 30 spacious depth and tonal richness. Although you’re only bolstering the lowest frequencies, the improvement seems to come in the midband and treble areas.

In much the same way, a good super tweeter seems to give you a tighter; cleaner bass, with reduced boom and overhang. Yet, turn off your main speakers and listen only to what ti1e super tweeter’s are doing-the noises they’re actually making -and it seems incredible that it could be making this sort of difference. One of the key aspects of getting great results from a subwoofer is-don’t have it up too loud. When you first get a sub, there’s a tendency to adjust it so its contribution is ‘obvious’. But paradoxically, subs produce their most profound effects when their presence is subliminal. You should only notice a sub when it’s switched off.

It’s exactly the same with a super tweeter; you need very little. Indeed, it’s been our experience (going back more than twenty years) that the less you have, the more profound the overall effect on sound quality becomes. We always use our Townshend Super Tweeters with them set to ’1′, and often wish there was a lower setting.

Discretion pays

The question is -how and why do super tweeters (and subs) contribute so much, yet (apparently) seem to do so little? In our view, it’s to do with being able to move air at sub-sonic and supersonic frequencies, making it easier for frequencies in the audible range to couple-better to the air. By setting the air in motion at extremely high or low frequencies, you help the drive units to move the air in the middle-frequency areas where the bulk of the sound is. Imagine a sharp blade trying to cut through something stiff. If you were to vibrate it at supersonic frequencies, it would cut more efficiently.

For this reason, you don’t actually have to ‘hear’ the contribution made by your super tweeters to notice the effect they have on the overall sound. Indeed, if the contribution is too strong, the result is counter-productive – the sound becomes messy and harsh, with excessive high-frequency emphasis. When a super tweeter seamlessly integrates, you get a focused quality of sound that has an innate clarity, while also displaying a spacious airy quality that creates holographic 3D ‘out of the boxes’ stereo imagery. Transients have increased attack, yet the treble itself is effortlessly smooth and open. Given that most loudspeakers are more obviously deficient at the extreme low-frequency end of the spectrum, a good subwoofer probably gives you a bigger bang for your buck. But a super tweeter like Townshend’s Maximum is likewise capable of adding an extra dimension that has to be heard to be believed.

Townshend Maximum Super Tweeters are capable of having a profound effect on sound quality -and not necessarily in ways you might expect or predict

A hi·fi enthusiast for four decades, Jimmy’s knowledge of system-matching and record-collecting are unmatched in the industry.

Distinguished and most respected reviewer Martin Colloms of Hi Fi Critic magazine awarded the Glastonbury Pre1 preamplifier an unprecedented 195 points.  This is the highest mark ever for any product since the introduction of the MC scoring system some 30 years ago. This indicates just how impressed Martin is with the Glastonbury Pre 1.

“It’s fairly easy to make a general purpose active pre-amp, yet surprisingly difficult to make an excellent one”

Sound

“There was no doubt at all about its exceptional musical ability. Ironically, rather than representing a specific ‘improvement’ in sound quality on the part of the Glastonbury Pre 1, this is more of an aspersion on the vast majority of control units, which are nothing like as truthful as this, to put it mildly. On my comprehensive scale, this control unit, as supplied in single-ended form, reached an exemplary 195 points for overall sound quality”…

“To be truthful I found it difficult to lay a finger on its aural performance. Bass lines seemed deeper, more visceral and tactile, more dynamic, and more expressively detailed than usual. The mid was very neutral, highly transparent and well-focused, with very natural high level sounds and most revealing and detailed low level sounds. The high treble was very slightly distant, a really small effect, but remained of excellent quality. Complex material was rendered with impressive differentiation and separation, with very natural and believable instrumental tone colours. It clearly had very good rhythm, and sounded most uncontrived, non-electronic, almost perfectly natural if I can put it that way. Stereo image width, focus and depth were all exemplary.”

Measurements

Most results are so perfect as to not be worth relating…

Conclusion

“Max Townshend has painstakingly exploited auto-transformer technology to deliver a most truthful and non-invasive passive line controller, combining expertise in transformer design, materials technology and advanced conductors. This is one of the most accurate and neutral line controllers made, and at present defines the state of the control art.”

Townshend Audio Rock 7 Turntable receives Golden Ear award from The Absolute Sound magazine.

“The latest incarnation of Townshend’s unique ideas of turntable design, including damping of the arm at the front end via a trough of damping fluid, offers truly remarkable performance at a rational price. With its silent background, stability, neutrality, and purity, and control of the arm in a way not otherwise available, the sound is reminiscent of mastertape or even live mike feed. And the front-of-the-arm damping also gives extraordinary bass. Combine it with the Moerch DP-8 anisotropic tonearm (one of my Golden Ear Awards of 2010), and you will hear all the bass and all the rest, that is really on your records. The Rock 7 is a triumph of engineering insight, with performance at the very top level but at a moderate price. (Reviewed in Issue 209)”

Robert E. Greene, 2011.

Glastonbury Pre 1 gets a “flipping glorious” review from J. Kennedy in Hi-Fi+

 Jason Kennedy, writing for issue 81 of Hi Fi Plus, August 2011, finds that the Townshend Audio Glastonbury Pre 1 Preamplifier delivers; “power“, “solidity” and “sheer transparency…There are very few preamplifiers around that are as resolute as this passive device“.

When the Glastonbury Pre 1 was heard on the fully integrated Townshend system, comprising the vibration isolated Glastonbury Tor speakers; Rock V turntable with Excalibur 3 arm and TA Cables, Kennedy says of the system “as a whole, is pretty extraordinary in its resolving powers“

Kennedy suspects that the preamp “has as much to do with that as any other part. It’s uncompromisingly revealing in seemingly all respects and is uncannily open whilst avoiding the subtle hallmark that electricity seems to leave on virtually all active preamps” although Kennedy explains that this might be something that some actually enjoy as it tends to imbue the music with a certain:  “extra energy that some consider to be lacking in passive devices, however this controller proves that you can have your cake and eat it”.

Kennedy finds “The Glastonbury delivers as much grunt and energy as a powered preamp, dynamics are as wide if not wider than can be achieved with active devices and there is a sense of hearing the pure energy from the recording rather than that energy with the subtle reinforcement that even the highest quality electronics impart“.

Kennedy also observed that; “Bass lines are, to coin a phrase, flippin’ glorious” and, in summary,  “…..it is the most revealing preamplifier I’ve used.”

To listen to the Glastonbury Pre 1 in the new complete Townshend Audio Reference system, please contact us for a demonstration at our Hampton Court venue, where you can hear for yourself your favourite recordings in High Fidelity like you’ve never heard them before.

NEW ARMPLATE for ROCK 7

Fully adjustable armplate for all arms

The six screws supporting the plate allow for exact VTA (height) setting as well as azimuth and tilt. The three grub screws, accessible from above, adjust height and tilt and the three screws tightened from below, lock the armplate to the turntable chassis.

The removable sub plate allows for the arm to be attached and adjusted whilst away from the turntable. Precise overhang is adjusted by the two horizontal screws which keep the cartridge alignment when the arm is removed. The armplate is locked securely in place with the two clamp bars and their associated clamping screws. The plate suits all Rock 7 turntables. Plates are available for Excalibur, Rega, SME, Helius, Jelco, Funk and Linn. Other plates to order.