Cambridge Audio is best known for its capable and often award-winning range of electronics, but in recent years its reach has expanded into the turntable market. The company currently makes two models, with the Alva TT as the top of the range. This new V2 variant marks a gentle but thoughtful evolution over the original we tested in 2019.
Construction & Features
The main changes for the Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 are a new tonearm with a detachable headshell and the ability to enable and disable both the built-in phono stage and the Bluetooth module. The new tonearm replaces the Rega-based design of the previous generation and makes it easier to change cartridges when needed. The decision to make both the Bluetooth and phono stages switchable comes in response to customer feedback on the previous generation. The rest of the Alva is unchanged, and therefore no worse.
This is a stylish and well-built product that tries to combine the performance of the purist offering at this level – hello Rega Planar 6 – with a useful set of features that those designs usually ignore. The built-in phono stage is a big problem here. It immediately makes the Alva TT V2 a more versatile product than most others at this price and makes it easier to integrate the deck into a wider range of systems.
Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 technical specifications
Type Direct drive
Change of speed Electric
Phono stage? Yes
bluetooth? Yes, aptX HD
Tonearm? Yes, detachable headshell
Cartridge included? Yes
Dimensions (hwd) 14x44x37cm
The Alva TT V2’s phono module is based on Cambridge’s excellent Duo, which bodes well given the rave reviews it got when we tested it. Apart from that, the inclusion of a phono stage means one less box in the system and the consequent loss of a couple of interconnects – who would object?
The inclusion of aptX HD Bluetooth is also important. It opens up the deck for use with wireless headphones and speakers. While we understand that Bluetooth, even the aptX HD variety, won’t sound as good as a wired connection, the Alva TT V2 can be used with equipment and in locations that wouldn’t normally be practical. We think Cambridge Audio deserves credit for its foresight in specifying this deck.
Elsewhere we are on familiar territory. This remains a direct drive deck at a price where most rivals are belt driven. While such a design presents challenges, it also offers potential benefits in terms of speed stability and fast start-up times. The plateau is quite sturdy and is made of polyoxymethylene (an engineering plastic), while the sturdy plinth is reinforced with a smart aluminum top plate. Other than some soft feet there’s no obvious form of suspension, so it would make sense to put the Alva TT V2 on a stiff, low-resonance mount positioned well away from the speakers. A dedicated wall shelf would be a good move if your listening room has a floating wood floor.
The new arm feels precise to use and provides support for Cambridge’s high-output Alva MC moving coil cartridge. High output is a pretty vague term, so let’s put some numbers on it. The Alva MC is claimed to have an output of 2mV@1kHz, which is about four times that of conventional but good moving coil alternatives such as Ortofon’s Award-winning Quintet Blue. A typical moving magnet, by comparison, would have about 5-6mV@1kHz output.
Sound
We use the Alva TT V2 in both our reference system of Cyrus Phono Signature/PSX-R2 phono stage, Burmester 088/911 Mk III amplifier and ATC SCM50 speakers, as well as a more price compatible setup of Naim SuperNait 3 and KEF LS50 Meta speakers, and it performs well.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. This deck is not a thrill machine. If you’re looking for the last word in rhythmic drive and dynamic expression, you’ll get more of that from the similarly priced Rega Planar 6/Ania combo. It’s not that the Cambridge deck is particularly flawed in these areas, more that it exhibits a certain restraint that robs the sound of those last few degrees of excitement. Accept this and you will like a lot here.
This Cambridge Audio package sounds smooth and full. It has a considered way of presenting music that makes it easy to relax and get lost in the tunes. We listen to a wide variety of music in our time with the Alva TT V2, including that of Beethoven 6th Symphony on the way to Michael Jackson’s Bad and Bruce Springsteen’s Born to run, and the turntable makes the trip worth it. It digs up a good amount of detail and presents it in a cohesive and musically convincing way. Dynamic punch is a little muffled, but the presentation has a decent amount of power and the ability to keep up with a large number of musical parts without losing its grip on the whole. Soon we find ourselves simply enjoying the results.
Tonally there’s a degree of excessive richness in the bass, something that diminishes when we switch to our reference Cyrus phono stage – and just a hint of peakiness right at the top, but none of it goes so far as to be irksome. We like the stability of the stereo image and the lack of confusion when the music gets busy.
The built-in phono stage is decent. It is relatively quiet and can resolve many details. That it doesn’t match the tight bass of the Cyrus Phono Signature is entirely forgivable, as the Cyrus phono stage costs about as much as this whole Cambridge package, and that’s before you factor in the external PSX-R2 power supply from the Cyrus.
We’re less forgiving about the Alva TT V2’s Bluetooth performance. It starts with pairing, a process made frustrating by the lack of a display on the deck, and continues with a performance that sounds mushy and (overly) compressed with our Mark Levinson No.5909 headphones. To make matters worse, we occasionally get clicks suggesting that the connection is not stable. We’re only a few feet from the Alva TT V2, so distance isn’t the issue.
When we try to isolate the problem by using a pair of Apple AirPods Max, we discover that there is a compatibility issue between them and the turntable, which means that the headphone volume control is not working and the sound is at maximum volume. Not good. Given that we’ve used the Apple headphones with many devices without any problem, we’re inclined to point the finger at the Cambridge deck. The company has a lot of experience in this area, so we hope that the solution is just a software upgrade.
Pronunciation
Potential Bluetooth issues aside, there’s a lot to enjoy here. The Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 is well made and a joy to use, delivering a user experience that has plenty of appeal. There are certainly more entertaining decks at this level, but few make the joy of listening to records so accessible.
TO SCORE
MORE:
Read our review of the Rega Planar 6/Ania
Also consider the Clearaudio Concept MM
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