After debuting the world’s first hi-res wireless turntable in 2019 — an advanced deck with the ability to stream 24-bit/48kHz audio to amps and speakers — Cambridge Audio has spent the last two years back at the drawing board, tweaking and improving the design to deliver an even more capable Bluetooth turntable lineup for 2022 with the Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 & Alva ST models.
Both models feature a state-of-the-art Bluetooth aptX HD audio codec that allows for switchable hi-res wireless streaming, a built-in phono stage with a switchable phono pre-amp, vibration-absorbing EVA foam lining the top of each table’s MDF, and a preinstalled high-output MC cartridge suspended from a new tonearm design with a detachable die-cast aluminum headshell that makes swapping out styluses or cartridges a breeze. While both turntables look incredibly similar from the outside, there are quite a few noteworthy elements that separate the two that mostly lay beneath the surface, with the Alva ST being a belt-driven model with a 645.3-gram die-cast aluminum platter and the more high-end second-generation Alva TT V2 sporting a direct-drive setup with a top plate that’s been hewn from 6mm aluminum plate and a 2,200-gram platter that’s crafted from Polyoxymethylene — an advanced, semi-crystalline thermoplastic that’s typically reserved for precision engineering applications.
Slated for a release in the coming weeks, the Cambridge Audio Alva ST and Alva TT V2 turntables are priced at $999 and $1,999, respectively. The release has also seen the audio brand drop the MSRP of the first-gen Alva TT table down to $1,199 — a $500 discount over its original price.
