Quartz-Locked Speed Control
The Conductor
Quartz-locked speed control, standard on every Encore and Harmony.
Steady rotation is where everything begins.
Small, momentary changes in platter speed blur timing and pitch. The Conductor prevents them. It is a quartz-locked speed controller that holds the platter to within ±0.003% and feeds the motor a clean 12 V AC sine wave, generated rather than taken from the wall.
Two versions exist. The Conductor ships with the Encore and the Harmony. The Conductor SE, our flagship speed controller, ships with the Symphony and the Allegro, and is an upgrade for any Encore or Harmony.
The story
Born of a shortage.
Our first speed controller, the Maestro, was made for us in Germany. When the pandemic disrupted its supply, we designed our own, and we design and build it in British Columbia. The Conductor was a substantial improvement on the Maestro, enough that it gave the Harmony a new name: the Harmony Mk2.
Made for one motor
A motor and its controller, as a pair.
Every motor has a speed at which it runs most smoothly, in the way a car engine has an ideal range of revs. We studied ours to find it, sized our pulley so that the motor turns at that speed at 33⅓ and 45 rpm, and shaped the Conductor’s signal to hold it there. The motor is a custom 12 V AC synchronous motor, made for us in the Netherlands specifically for turntables. Tuned this closely to its controller, it might as well have been made in our own workshop. The two are designed as a pair, the way hardware and software can be.
The engineering
01
Quartz-locked to ±0.003%.
A quartz crystal reference with microprocessor control holds the speed steady, regardless of temperature or the state of your mains supply.
02
Precision pitch trim.
Adjustment of ±5% in 0.2% steps, with separate trims for 33⅓ and 45 rpm and a centre detent that returns to the factory setting.
03
Calibrated to your turntable.
Every turntable leaves our bench running at exactly 33⅓ and 45 rpm, with the speed adjusters at twelve o’clock.
04
Clean power, held in reserve.
The drive is fully isolated from household mains, delivered through a high-current dual H-bridge from a linear dual-rail supply. Its 25-watt transformer is far larger than the motor needs, so the drive never works near its limit.
05
A pure 12 V AC sine wave.
Generated from the quartz oscillator rather than filtered from the wall, for the custom 12 V AC synchronous motor made for us in the Netherlands.
06
Soft start, electronic speed change.
The motor is brought up to speed gently every time, sparing the belt and bearing. On and off, and 33 or 45, are buttons on the front panel: no moving the belt, no lifting the platter.
07
The path to the SE.
The Conductor SE, our flagship speed controller, upgrades the transformer, power supply, filtering, processor and DACs within the same chassis and controls. Standard on the Symphony and the Allegro; an upgrade for any Encore or Harmony. Meet the SE ›
"If you're like me and already own a Mk1 variant, I'd say the jump to the Mk2 with the Conductor is an easy and immediately rewarded decision."Michael Johnson, Tracking Angle · on the Conductor, from the Horizon Mk2 review
Dimensions & finishes.
Meet the Conductor SE.
The same controls, with upgraded electronics throughout. Standard on the Symphony and the Allegro, and available to every Encore and Harmony owner, including owners of an original Maestro.
