The Vertere DG-1 is as close as you're going to get to plug and play in a high-end, high-performance record player, and yet packed with innovations.
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In case you thought the motor's only job was to make sure the record rotates at the right speed, think again: as the only source of energy for the signal generated by the cartridge and fed out to the amplifier, it's arguably the most important part of any record player. The DG-1's 24-pole Precision Synchronous motor is individually tuned to minimise noise, uses an offboard power supply, and is controlled by circuitry derived from that developed for the flagship RG-1 Reference Motor Drive.
For the DG-1, the advanced electrics have been designed down to a single microprocessor PCB, which is both addressable for precision setting during manufacture and programmable for future upgrades. Copper/stainless steel shielding protects it from unwanted interference. Drive to the platter is via a precision machined aluminium alloy pulley on the motor and a bespoke silicon rubber drive belt for smoothness and durability, while electronic speed change, via a switch to the rear of the plinth top-plate, adds to the ease of use and removes any need for belt-handling.
Like the pulley, the platter itself is also precision-machined alloy, to the top of which is bonded a PETG record interface mat. On the underside a cork/Neoprene/nitrile bonded disc controls platter resonance. The platter rotates on a highly polished stainless steel spindle, which rides in a main bearing housing using a super precision tungsten carbide ball, avoiding the need for complex regimes of lubrication, while still retaining the smoothness of rotation essential for the accurate playback of records.
That's another example of the many ways in which the elements of this record player have been simplified to optimise performance. The DG-1 tonearm is uniquely Vertere, and differs from established thinking in its use of a flat profile in place of the usual tube. The DG-1's three-layer, non-resonant tonearm beam uses a flexible PCB sandwiched into the arm itself to carry signal from the cartridge to the output terminals. Like the tonearm, the DG-1 plinth is a sandwich construction, using non-resonant cast acrylic to form the main plinth and the sub-plinth for a clean and sophisticated look. ■
