Description
Apollo utilizes two of Brinkmann’s proprietary, hand-built Sinus™ Belt Drive Motors placed at 180-degrees from each other, straddling the massive platter. While the benefits of multiple motors—increased torque, reduced “Cogging” effect and lower stress on each motor—are well-known, overcoming the potential problems of dual motor design required a great deal of ingenuity. Not only is Apollo Helmut’s first multi-motor turntable, it is also the first ‘table for which he developed a digital speed controller. Helmut has always considered speed control the “Secret Sauce” of turntable design and this unprecedented digital controller is his masterpiece. In addition to synchronizing the two motors, Apollo’s digital control is more accurate than analog equivalents and will never require calibration; at the same time, Brinkmann’s techniques for “Soft” motor control, painstakingly refined over more than 40 years of turntable design, further distance Apollo’s speed controller from those of all other turntables.
Based on Brinkmann’s third-generation RöNt power supply technology, Apollo’s bespoke supply employs the proprietary BZ 34 “Tube Rectifier Simulator” developed for RoNt. Semiconductors replace the RoNt’s tubes and the Apollo units also have a higher output current, enabling two motors to optimally driven. A fully discrete, mechanically and electrically separated power source with a dedicated transformer supplies the bearing heater and platter light.
Apollo’s Industrial Design, authored by Gryphon’s Soren Slebo, combines visual beauty with ideal rigidity and resonance control. Exploiting the strengths of constrained layer damping, Apollo’s chassis is based on a laminated “sandwich” construction of anodized aluminum, Kerrock, and “Smart Stack,” a damping compound patented by Denmark’s MENETA Group. Apollo’s considerable mass rests upon 4 solid, adjustable spikes. The motors are entirely decoupled from the structure, each mounted on its own, optimized subchassis.
