With more substance to back up its style than you might have been anticipating, the EAT C-Dur Concrete / Jo No.8 combination is a seriously talented pairing in almost every respect.
Pros
- Brilliantly insightful, lavishly detailed sound
- Great powers of organisation and dynamism
- Makes a strong visual statement
Cons
- Sounds confined and lacking in scale
- Expensive to start with and can easily get more expensive still
- Could damage all but the most robust support
Key Features
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Review Price: £6499
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Tonearm 254mm carbon fibre/aluminium tonearm
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Record speeds Supports 33.3, 45 and 78rpm
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Cartridge High-output moving coil cartridge
Introduction
European Audio Team (or EAT, for brevity’s sake) has a striking proposition for you – one of its C-Dur turntables, but with a plinth made from cast concrete.
There’s no denying the visual drama of the C-Dur Concrete – but does it have the substantial performance to complement its substantial body? By testing it with its recommended cartridge attached, which is available at a discount if purchased at the same time as the turntable, I intend to find out…
Availability
(UK) £6499 plus £1999 for Jo No.8 cartridge unless purchased together – £8098 bundle price
(US) $7499 plus £2499 for Jo No.8 Cartridge – no bundle price available at time of writing
(EU) €7499 plus €2299 for Jo No.8 Cartridge – no bundle price available at time of writing
(AU) AU$12999 (estimated) plus AU$3999 (estimated) for Jo No.8 cartridge
(CA) Not yet confirmed
Design
- 32kg
- 170 x 496 x 396mm (HWD)
- Isolated on three height-adjustable aluminium feet
The clue’s in the name – the most remarkable thing about the design of the C-Dur Concrete is in the material it uses to form its plinth. Broadly speaking this is a design like any other turntable: it’s a rectangle with a circle on it. But the use of concrete delivers some visual drama, a helping of tactility, and the sort of kerb-weight that could spell ruination for wooden shelves.
The EAT is, at 170 x 496 x 396mm (HWD), a little larger than your regular turntable – but it’s still able to fit comfortably onto an equipment rack. The fact that it weighs 32kg once its hefty (5.2kg) platter is in place, though, coupled with the fact that it stands on three pointy aluminium feet, means that the equipment rack in question had better be able to support all that weight when it’s concentrated in three tiny little areas.
The chestnut body of the Jo No.8 cartridge only adds further visual interest, and the inevitable little flaws in the concrete casting only add to (rather than detract from) the overall aesthetic. The tonearm’s combination of highly polished aluminium and carbon fibre doesn’t do any harm in this respect, either. And in every department, the EAT is built and finished to the sort of standard the asking price demands.
Specification
- 254mm aluminium/carbon tonearm with high-output moving coil cartridge
- 33.3, 45 and 78 rpm with automatic speed change (up to a point)
- 5-pin DIN to stereo RCA connection
Don’t go thinking that EAT decided to build a concrete turntable and left it at that. The C-Dur Concrete (plus the Jo No.8 high-output moving coil cartridge) may be expensive, but it’s specified in a manner that justifies the asking price.
The drive system, for example, consists of a motor that’s isolated in a steel ring sunk into the concrete chassis itself – this ups the platter’s chances of turning in a stable and uniform manner. This arrangement also further reduces a resonance transfer number that’s already very low (thanks, in no small part, to all that concrete).
The motor has two points for connection to either of the two anti-static, polished drive belts that are supplied – one is quite broad and flat, and sits on the upper part of the motor where it facilitates 33.3 and 45rpm, while the other is the more usual ‘string’ shape and fits over the motor’s lower portion.
This is the belt you fit if you want the platter to turn at 78rpm. Two of the three buttons on the bottom of the surface of the plinth are for speed control (the other is a standby control) – with the broad belt fitted they give 33.3 or 45 rpm, but if you fit the narrower belt then the 45 control gives you 78rpm.
The platter is internally damped with TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) to add yet more density in an effort to deliver maximum rotational stability. An aluminium sub-platter weighing 900g isolates the platter even further from the motor. A bearing block with a polished stainless steel spindle supporting a main bearing consisting of an inverted ceramic ball adds another 1.8kg to the overall weight – it pairs with a Teflon plate, again specified to assist with rotational stability.
At 254mm, the pre-fitted C-Note tonearm is longer than the norm – but once you get an eyeful of the Jo No.8 high-output moving coil cartridge it needs support, you’ll understand why that’s a good thing. Large is too small a word to describe its 9.2 x 25.1 x 28.3mm (HWD) dimensions – but its high-end copper windings, boron cantilever and nude Shibata stylus go a long way to explaining its cost.
The tonearm’s aluminium-and-carbon-fibre construction is designed for optimum rigidity, and it’s internally damped with silicon grease for maximum resonance rejection. Its unipivot design is intend to ensure its cardan bearing is never overloaded, and the bearing itself is arranged for low resistance and high stability.
The output of the cartridge is carried by a semi-balanced 5-pin DIN cable that terminates in a couple of RCA connections. EAT will happily sell you an upgraded version (£175 for a fully balanced alternative or £499 for a silver-plated version) – and there’s another opportunity for further outlay if you decide to swap the bundled power supply for the company’s linear alternative.
It’s a punchy £1349 if purchased on its own, and a slightly more palatable £1079 if you buy it at the same time as the turntable. EAT is satisfied the C-Dur Concrete’s AC generator (which uses the DC current from the power supply) supplies an almost entirely clean AC signal for the motor – but if noiseless is what you’re after then the linear power supply is what you need.
Performance
- Prodigiously detailed and revealing performer
- Spaces and silences never sounded so silent
- Far from the largest-scale listen this money can buy
If there’s a more revealing, more detailed, more forensically insightful turntable around at anything like this sort of money, I’ve yet to hear it. If a record player can be said to have a party-piece, the C-Dur Concrete’s is extracting every shred of information from the groove in your vinyl and handing it over in full. Every time.
There are alternative designs costing similar money, such as the Rega Planar 10 RB3000/Alpheta 3 and Technics’ SP-10R, that don’t scrimp when it comes to detail retrieval – but this EAT is more than a match for them.
No matter if it’s the queasy electronica of Thom Yorke’s Anima, the warmly analogue and acoustic stylings of Pentangle’s Cruel Sister or the very-difficult-to-adequately-describe sound of John Glacier’s Like a Ribbon, the C-Dur Concrete peers into the recording to an almost microscopic level and returns with the finest, most transient and most minor details. And then it contextualises them as if it was the most natural and simple thing in the world. Which, I hardly need emphasise, it is not.
And, what’s more, it keeps the silences and spaces in a recording as dark as dark can be. There are the things that happen in a recording, and there are the gaps between them – and the EAT makes the gaps as significant as the occurrences. The result is a high-contrast listen that never lets you doubt you’re getting the complete picture – and the turntable’s ability to reveal even small harmonic and tonal variations is deeply impressive too.
This attention to detail is apparent throughout the frequency range, from the deep, textured and endlessly varied low end to the bright, substantial treble. In between, the C-Dur Concrete communicates explicitly and articulately, so the three very different voices on the LPs mentioned above are delivered with all their character and all their attitude intact, in with a strong flavour of their technique and motivation included for good measure. The frequency range hangs together in a natural and unforced manner, with no area given undue prominence and no area underplayed.
The soundstage the EAT generates is well-organised and consistent, and the considerable dynamic headroom it displays means that big shifts in volume or intensity are tracked without any audible stress. Its tonal balance is nicely neutral, and its powers of rhythmic expression are impressive even by the prevailing standards of upmarket record players.
Problems, then, are very few – but the one shortcoming the C-Dur Concrete demonstrates is far from insignificant. Despite the fact that it creates a controlled, easy-to-understand soundstage, the stage itself always sounds confined and small-scale – the turntable’s presentation never escapes the space between the loudspeakers that are producing it. When compared to the expansive, almost immersive sound that any number of price-comparable rivals are capable of creating, this tight and modestly proportioned alternative can’t help but disappoint.
Should you buy it?
You want a turntable that looks, as well as sounds, the money’s-worth
Some very credible turntable brands try to make a virtue out of stripping back the visual appeal in favour of concentrating on the performance. EAT, it seems fair to say, is not one of those brands.
You’re expecting a real sense of scale from your sound
The C-Dur Concrete gets much more right than it gets wrong – but its pocket-sized presentation is at odds with its big, bold looks
Final Thoughts
I thought the C-Dur Concrete would be a triumph of style over substance, that it would be nothing more than a design exercise intended to lure in customers with more money (and greater aesthetic considerations) than sense.
Happily, I was wrong – this is a record player with a stack of sonic talents as long as your arm. Its audio issues are few – but where it’s off the pace, it’s off the pace quite fundamentally. Which means it’s hard to find it a space on those shortest of shortlists…
Trusted Score
How we test
I positioned the EAT C-Dur Concrete on the top shelf of my Blok Stax 2G equipment rack, and connected its supplied 5-pin DIN / stereo RCA semi-balanced cable to a Chord Huei phono stage.
This, in turn, was connected to a Naim Uniti Star acting as a pre-amp and which was itself joined to a Cambridge Audio Edge W stereo power amplifier. The amplifier drove a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 Signature standmounters bolted to their bespoke FS-600 S3 stands.
And this arrangement spent well over a week taking centre stage in my listening space, while I searched in vain for a slice of vinyl that contained some small detail the turntable might overlook. Fat chance.
- Tested for more than a week
- Tested with real world use
FAQs
No, the C-Dur Concrete is the colour of concrete. The MDF version of the C-Dur is available in a couple of different finishes, though.
Absolutely not, although it’s the cartridge EAT recommends (and you get a £400 discount off the asking price if you buy it at the same time as the turntable).
Up to a point. Fit the broader drive-belt and switching between 33.3 and 45 needs just a button-press, but if you want to listen to 78s you’ll have to change the belt.
And hide all that lovely concrete? Of course it doesn’t.
Full Specs
| EAT C-Dur Concrete Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £6499 |
| USA RRP | $7499 |
| EU RRP | €7499 |
| AUD RRP | AU$1299 |
| Manufacturer | EAT |
| Size (Dimensions) | 496 x 396 x 170 MM |
| Weight | 32 KG |
| Release Date | 2024 |
| Turntable Type | Belt Drive |
| Speeds (rpm) | 33.3, 45 |
| Cartridge | EAT Jo No.8 moving coil |
| Connectivity | Semi-balanced 5-pin DIN, stereo RCA |