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Bluenote Belvedere TT - Opinions


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Hi all

 

Has anyone out there owned or heard one of these turntables?  Italian company now called Gold note.  I gather the model is about 10 years old and retailed for about $4950 without arm.  They look the goods but are they a good TT for the price?  And are they fussy to set-up.  Thinking of buying second hand to upgrade from my modded P5 but unlikely to be able to try it out first.

 

Cheers

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I know nothing.......(in Private Schultz's voice!:P) but here's a pic for those who are curious:Bluenote-Belvedere.jpg.3b031693e7d2f4a5e249b227fdb7b1da.jpgLooks pretty cool!:thumb: Here's some info about the Bluenote company from TNT:

"Bluenote sell over 500 turntables a year, and have a range that goes from Rega levels up to serious high-end kit.

But Bluenote were a find for one other very important reason. Not only do they make turntables, but arms and cartridges too. There are two ways of looking at this - that possibly here is a company weakened by not specialising, or a company that can optimise its turntable by producing a complete matched front end. When I tell you that this product list extends to phono stages, amps and speakers then you'll see that this is the only high-end company outside Audionote UK, Linn and Roksan that can provide a groove to room chain - impressive .Interesting too that all the others are British..."  Worthy of consideration......:)

Edited by stevoz
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I've owned Bluenote speakers before, absolutely brilliant. If you hunt around on the net you can find reviews on some of their turntables, they are always impressive. If you don't buy this, let me know where it is, I'll take it.

 

When Bluenote decided to break into the US market, they had problems with trademark, presumably because of Bluenote Records. A name change resulted in them being known as Goldnote. Most of their stuff is very high end.

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Being Italian, the styling is right on point. The new Mediterraneo as a Prime example. Although Wyndhams carry this brand I have, sadly, yet to experience one....

Edited by Grizzly
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I'm really thinking about doing this.  No one has said don't touch it with a barge pole.  If I get it I will report back.

 

Just 24 parts and 17 steps for assembly, and that's prior to attaching a tonearm - bit more than the Rega!

 

 

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Yes, I've had to do the same thing with a S.A.M. Aldebaran turntable out of Croatia. Nothing but user reviews to go from. Sure looking forward to receiving it though.

 

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Yes, it's one like this.

 

I'll be looking to install a Fidelity Research FR64S on it to run my Ortofon SPU Classic G Mk2 and Fidelity Research FR-7 carts. Undecided on a low mass arm for high compliance carts though. [emoji52]

 

It's a big, massy table. I'm expecting great things of it and an absolute steal at $2,300 shipped :)

 

My Ariston RD110 SL with Fidelity Research FR24 Mk2 tonearm will be retired to make way for it [emoji4]

53fcde18ce4b0477c450cabc4c8beb44.jpg994556f0b2012b9de63f671efc9324e1.jpg

 

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A good 40kgs apparently ;)

I'll assemble what I can and hopefully Geoff at Aurealis will be happy to set it up for me. I just realised I posted pictures of the Reference rather than the Aldebaran.

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  • 2 weeks later...

BlueNote Belvedere Update

 

Purchased secondhand from a friend in Perth (rrp $4950 without arm, about 8 years old) including a substantial dustcover.  Arrived 7th June.

 

Assembly (slow and steady) took me a couple of hours including transferring my Rega RB700 arm with Garrott P87 cart over from my Groovertracer-modded P5.  I didn’t need to remove and reset the cart, which saved a lot of time.  The seller had sent me photos of the disassembly during boxing up which helped immensely.

 

The tonearm is held by a single grub screw through the back of the collar which makes setting the arm height very easy.  The base of the Rega arm has 3 protruding sections for screwing to Rega plinths and it was easy to place small items of various size (bits of Lego) to hold the arm in place prior to tightening (much playing around with VTA has been done since setup – more on that later).

 

With the rear of the arm set quite high, I couldn’t wait any longer and had to have a listen.  Wanting success I put on one of my best sounding records – Patricia Barber’s Modern Cool, track “You and the Night and the Music.”  Big smile on the face immediately.  Refined sound, beautifully poised, no background noise and much more open than what I was used to.  Similar sensation in a way to when I first installed the Groovetracer sub-platter and platter to the P5 but I would guess at another 2 levels above that (that being a single level).

 

It was now quite late at night so more listening had to resume the next day.

 

Since that time I have done a lot of listening and am very happy with the sound.  I haven’t heard too many high end analogue front ends to be honest even prior to hearing this one back in WA a couple of years ago so unfortunately it is hard for me to make comparisons.

 

I borrowed a Dr Feickert protractor and VTF gauge off a local SNAer and found the cart to be properly aligned already (no change from the P5).  I have played with the VTA extensively and have found that it makes little difference to the tonal balance and soundstage – maybe the cart is not overly sensitive to these adjustments – or it could be my cloth ears.

 

Design-wise it looks really great to me.  The photos don’t do it justice.  Beautifully made and well looked after by the previous owner.  The motor has much more grunt than the Rega.  It is a sprung TT with very hard springs.  Changing to 45rpm is manual - I haven’t tried this as yet.  Visually the RB700 arm matches well with the same silver and black colours of the TT.

 

So all in all, very happy indeed:thumb:

 

 

 

 

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I told you that you wouldn't like it, now sell it to me! :D

 

I had a very good feeling that you would be impressed, Goldnote (Bluenote) make some great gear. As I said earlier, I owned a pair of their speakers, and have auditioned some of their other creations. It has always impressed me greatly. The brand is one of the great unheard in this country, and deserves much more attention. It generally punches way above it's weight in terms of cost. I think people would do well to consider them.

 

Congrats of the successful acquisition. 

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