Derenville DAE-01 digital controlled Pabst DC motor
Pris:  ca. 4.840 Euro (including German VAT)
Manufacturer: AVDesignHaus, Germany  http://www.avdesignhaus.de/

 

DAE-1 motor

What makes a good motor and what must it do?

 Derenville DAE-01 will do almost anything you can imagine and then a little more. No matter if you have a very good record player or you have made your own, this motor will make it better. Off course this is only true if you have a record player driven by a rubber band / tape or a thread. Direct Drives are not considered here.

 My DIY version of the Platine Verdier called “The Monster” has for the last 10 years been driven by af DC motor from the German company ASW. They are known for among other nice products the big  Raven deck.

 

DAE-1 manufacturing

The first time i saw the company AV Designhaus was back in 2015. Rainer Horstmann is the man behind the company, which among a lot af recordplayers and arms make the Derenville DAE-01 motor. They call it “The intelligent motor". I sent a mail to Rainer and he was kind to answer med with lot of information abolut his products. My German was brushed up and I ordred one of the first motor from the production line.

This Is for sure really “High End” territory. At the same time there is a lot of innovation and use of modern digital technology. The motors software is easily programmed by coupling to your PC using the enclosed USB cable. At this point several will give up as this is a far way from a simple plug and play motor. Another thing is the price which could buy you a complete set up with record player, amps and speakers.

AV Designhaus manufacture manye very advance hifi products. In fact the DAE-01 motor is the most “budget friendly” in their range. The make a lot of very big record player complee with tangential tracking arms. In tact they make nothing less that the worlds mot expensive record player which among other thing has a laser guided tangential arm and its own in build electron microscope to control the set up of the cartridge. I knew about this very expensive player, but did nok know that Rainer Horstmann was the man behind. This top model uses two motors like the DAE-01. The price is approx. 450.000 Euro. A new version of the tangentilal arm was shown at the 2015 High End 2016 in Munic. It is laser guided with a precision of 0,001 mm and looks like a really advanced product. The price will be 78.000 Euro! The also have the DTT-01 tangential arm at 46.000 Euro.

At the High End the Derenville DAE-01 motor was used to drive a 60 kg platter in the German deck "Sprocket". See the picture at the bottom of the page.

 
Software and programming of the motor  

 DAE-1 arrives in a solid lines box complete with PSU, manual and USB cable, as well as at CD with the software called ”MoDoMania”. Software and manual (German or English) can also be downloaded from their website. From the start you must be aware, that the motor will turn when you connect the external PSU. The display will show 33,33, if this is the speed you select. But as long as you have not done the proper programming for YOUR record player, the speed is wrong.

The 33,33 as well as the other display indications are fixed and locked to the speed you chose. You may well change the speed up and down on the +/- buttons, but this is a pitch adjustement. The speed will change back when you turn of the motor or select another speed.

The correct speeds must be programmed via your PC and the MoDoMania software.

 MoDoMania was installed on my PC and then the problems started! Well … a bit my own fault, but also the enclosed manual. My Geman is fairly good (The Manual is now also in English) but stille there were a few things i did not understand. Rainer Horstmann was quick and sent me a new much more complete manual which helped. First of all you must see to that the motor and your PC are connected, before you open the program. Anyway MoDoMania will make it quite clear if there is no motor connected. On the screen you have to open several windows to se what it is alle aboult and to have an overview of the possibilities. 

The DAE-1 has three memories to be used with three different size platters, or with three arms and cartridges. The memories are called “Nd-1 / Nd-2/ ND-3” (ND = Nadel = Needle). This because the software will count the hours each memory has been running. This way you can make the tree speeds the same but se for how many ours your cartridge has been used.

In my case I set the memories to run with rubber belt / tape / thread, as each was a little different.

 
The MoDoMania Startsoftware.

The picture on the left shows how the computerscreeen will look when all the windows are open.

At this screen shot you see all the 4 possible speeds (incl. 16 ¾). At each speed you see a larger number indicating the number of pulses sent to the motor. This number can be adjusted up/down with the buttons or the small slider. At the same time you check the real speed of your platter with a stroboscope or as I did it with a record and the Feickert Adjust+ software.

Here the defailt values are indicated. When you adjust for the 33,33 speed the 3 other will be programmet automatically. If you wish to overrule this it is of course possible but I did not find this necessary.

 In the lower picture you see the motors dynamic behavior. In other words how quick it will react to change of speed and start up. A quick start with a heavy platter will make unnecessary steress on the drivebelt or thread. The soft curves indicates a slow start with larger power. This function is marked ”Acc.” – Acceleration. In this way you can set the motor to a ”soft” start.

Wit the “Brk.” Function you can control if the motor should break down the speed of the platter when you turn the power off. You will typically make a quick stop with a light platter and a more slowly drop in speed with a heavy one.

The function "Gain" set how much power the will use to turn the platter. You will not need the same power with a light platter as with the 40 lbs platter I use. 

 In the picture on the right side you see the controls for display and buttons on the motor unit. Here you can adjust the light intensity of the display and the time until damping of the light after the motor is activated. You can also control the delay or reaction time of the buttons. The function "Ausschaltverhalter" (turn of behavior) is something quite special. You can set the motor to run ie. 5 seconds each day or once a week. The running time and intervals you decide. This function is for very heavy platters where the bearing will be lubricated each time the motor runs, and at the same time the ball bearing will rest at a different spot. This will also be good to a rubber belt where the tension point will be moved at not sit at the same spot for a long time when you are on a holiday.

 All the above adjustment can then be stored in one of the three memories.  In the screen shot you see only the first memory “ND-1”.

 Here a wow & flutter measurement using reel to reel tape to drive the platter. This is done with Feickert Adjust+ Pro, but i think the result tells more about the reference platter than the recordplayer / motor combination.

While i write these pages the Derenville DAE-01 has been running flawlessly for two months. I got the best result using at thin thread to drive the heavy platter. This Is a very stron aramid thread used in bows. I will think you can find similar in shops or websites selling sports equipment.

But what about the sound quality - if any? Compared with my old very good motor i very difficult. Anyway i very quickly got used to the handling and the tight coltrolled reproduction of the DAE-1. It is a bit more powerfull and with a better control of the heavy platter. The daylly handling and control is much easier and the platter starts without any help be a small push from the hand. I takes only about 1.5 turn of the platter to reach the correct speed. My old mtor could not do that. 

 
Servocontroll

DAE-01 is prepared for servo controll or "feed-back" from the platter. As i write this the servo option is not quite ready, but when it is, i will write about it here. As you can see from the picture there is a small connecotr on the motor house which will be conneted to a sensor that reads lines at the underside of the platter. 
 

At the far left the DAE-01 with thread - the motor stands still. The display indicates "nd 2". memeory 2. Notice that there are indication for 4 different speeds, including the rare 16 rpm.

At the lef the motor is running. The display now shows 33,33. Pushing  "+" or "-" vil change the speed up and down in very small steps, which will be indicated in the display. When the motor is stopped the 33,33 returns.

Here your see the USB connection and the connector to the future servo control. 

Conclusion

DAE-01 for sure is a SUPER motor!  I still have things to investigate in the very impressive programming, but i'm pretty sure that everything will operat as intended. The motor runs stable, noiceless and all works as it should at this preice. With the upcoming servo senser ther will be a posibillity for even more stabiliy. This will show when tim comes. (Asked november 2018 - stille no servo!).

The price is high - VERY high - but to the best of my knowledge the ar nothing comparable ont he market. In other words a really high-end procuct tor the connaisseurs. .

LAST NEWS! Rainer Horstmann just informed med, that theren now is  a smaller version  DAE-01 L.This will have onlye two speeds  33,33 and 45. The casing is a bit smaller and there are only two memorybanks. The progamming is done directly on the motor with pressing of the buttons. The Pabs enigne and the controllen eleectronics is the same as on the DAE-01. Prce will be around 3.470 Euro incl. german VAT.

  

 
At the High End exhibion in Münich i saw this big recordplayer called  "The Sprocket". It is fitted with a Derenville tangential tracking arm and the driving force is supplied by the Derenville DAE-01 motor. 

The platterweight is 60 kg - 120 lbs!