The Dark Lantern

A Brief History And Some Insights

David Leo (Dave) Whittaker started building his Aura Turntable in Auckland, New Zealand in 1984. He wanted to successfully build an audiophile quality record player and, being an avid experimenter, he wanted it to be versatile, easy to use and to be able to easily accommodate more than one tonearm and cartridge.

The initial Aura concept was conceived with the following in mind:

• A simple mechanical design.
• High mass in order to be less prone to vibration excitation.
• Low mass platter to minimise energy storage, but damped at the same time.
• High rotational mass to assist pitch accuracy & stability.
• Tonearm mounting, substitution and cartridge alignment to be easy & quick.
• Provision for up to 3 tonearms.
• Motor to be physically removed from the main player.
• Constrained Layer Damping to be applied to key structural parts.

So, the resultant design was high mass with a semi-rigid suspension. The platter is cast in aluminium alloy and stress-relieved before machining. “Aluminium was chosen… because it is a very fast material in transmitting sound or vibration”. In the early days, the platter was laboriously fabricated from stainless steel/steel. An acrylic mat was originally supplied, then later a very thin fibre type mat was found to give better subjective results. An acrylic record clamp of Dave’s own design, was included. The platter underside had layers of bituminous damping applied and then filled (light foam initially, later with Plaster of Paris).


(Later model Aura shown above.)

The platter is described as a ‘stabilised uni-pivot’. That is, the platter spins on a self-centreing, tungsten carbide ‘pivot pin’ running on a ion nitrided thrust pad. This is positioned high up under the platter just below the record dowel for low centre-of-gravity and good stability. A lower small Teflon bush, running in oil, is installed to stabilise the platter. This needs only minimal three-point contact, resulting in “less noise from the friction inevitable in any sleeve bearing” and eliminating one of the two bearing bushes normally found in turntable bearings.


(Later model Aura, exploded view)

Below the platter is a ‘flywheel’ with peripheral hanging weights, whose function is to increase rotational mass/inertia and help maintain speed stability. This ‘flywheel’ assembly is cleverly ‘decoupled’ from the record platter, a loose fit, held by gravity only on top of a polymer support ring – engineering advice and subjective listening tests led to this configuration. The platter and the flywheel together weigh around 20kgs.

A constrained-layer damped baseplate-sandwich assembly (steel plate, damping sheet, 10mm black acrylic) supports a stainless steel main bearing shaft on a combination of Sorbothane hemispheres or pucks or air-balls and springs. (“We attempted to mount the turntable on a solid base but subjective results were poor.”) Three cone feet support the whole platter unit and are adjustable for level and tonearm mass. The top of the baseplate is mirrored for visual effect.



Tonearms and armboards are attached simply and quickly via a single large cap screw to 50mm diameter solid steel armboard pillars. Up to three such arm pillars can be installed. Armboards can thus be readily rotated to set tonearm mounting distance during cartridge alignment. Armboards were originally supplied in 20mm acrylic (black or clear), but wood was sometimes found to be sonically preferable.

The motor is a completely separate high speed (2,700 max rpm) DC servo controlled unit. Motor and regulator-controller electronics are housed (and shielded) within a steel cylinder. Drive belts were originally simply round neoprene twin belts, sourced from Michell in the UK. (In the later years, 6mm mylar drive tape was fitted & later, low-stretch US-sourced polyurethane belts were standard.)


(Late model Aura with Graham tonearm.)

From around 1990, the Whittakers spent approximately two years residing in Brisbane, Australia. Dave continued to manufacture the Aura there and it was distributed at that time via a Melbourne dealer. A few 78rpm-capable Auras were made for enthusiasts. Apart from a number of years hiatus when Dave and Trudy were building a new house in Auckland, the Aura was produced in small batches right up until Dave’s death in 2006.

Another little-known, lighter-weight version of the Aura was also available. Christened the Aura Da Capo, this was essentially an Aura without the hanging flywheel assembly.




(Aura Da Capo's)

It was in 1990 that Stereophile reviewed the Aura turntable and pronounced the Aura-SME V combination to be “borderline Class A performance for significantly less than a Goldmund or a Versa”.


(Aura with clear acrylic armboard, Kuzma Stogi Reference arm.)

From that time however, Dave did not rest on his laurels. He believed that “there have been ongoing improvements resulting in an enhanced standard of reproduction”.

There were experiments with battery-power, drive belts and dual motors. A redesigned motor controller circuit had been commissioned. New platter mats were trialled and a sticky rubber one was the last one offered. A more “modern” chrome plated version appeared. The original platter-bearing design remained unchanged however.


(Dual motor Aura with intermediate flywheel and polyurethane belts)

By 2002-2003 Dave introduced the ‘intermediate flywheel’ for the motor pulley drive. From my auditioning during prototyping around that time, the Intermediate Flywheel feature (the larger ones especially) bestowed a significant sonic advancement – better low frequency pitch which also enhanced upper range clarity. The final iterations of the Aura turntable all had various versions of the Intermediate Flywheel. (At that time, I think only the VPI HR-X turntable incorporated a flywheel of this type.)


(Updated Aura with Intermediate Flywheel, 1/4" tape drive.)

The effect of the flywheel did not appear to be due simply to further decoupling or additional mass. It is well understood now I believe, that stylus-groove drag (in dynamic passages especially) minutely effects platter rotation and therefore pitch (micro wow and flutter). Motor servo controllers most likely have difficulty dealing with such micro-level variations and tend to be always “playing catch-up” with the signal. From a Physics standpoint, higher Rotational Inertia and/or Angular Momentum seems to be the beneficial factor. Angular Momentum is proportional to speed of rotation(rpm) x diameter x mass. The platter is relatively low speed (33/45rpm) but large in diameter and mass. Utilising capstan gearing, the Aura Intermediate Flywheels (steel or brass), were spun at much higher speed than the platter and when tightly coupled via polyurethane or tape belts, contributed audibly to the rotational inertia and stability of the platter. The motor capstan itself (which is also designed as a brass mini-flywheel) is decoupled, driving the flywheel/platter via a flat rubber belt.



Footnote: The above was extracted partly from Dave’s “Notes on the Construction of the Aura Turntable” and informed by many conversations and communications with Dave in the later years and also from my knowledge of my own Aura turntable. As can be seen, there were many variations and there will undoubtedly be plenty of Aura detail that I am not aware of, particularly in the earlier years.


(Dave’s listening room with Beveridge electrostatic and Wharfedale Airedale loudspeakers. Subwoofers were concealed behind the corner paneling.)

As all his acquaintances will attest, Dave Whittaker was gregarious and always hospitable. Many, if not most, of the Auras made, reside overseas in Asia, Europe, USA. I'll be pleased to receive any comments or interesting information from Aura owners, former users and/or Dave’s audio acquaintances.