TT Speed Control/ Phoenix Roadrunner and Eagle Review

I’ll start by saying that I have absolutely no affiliation with Phoenix Eng, have only spoken with them for customer support and am purely posting to share my direct personal experience.

I own a Basis 2800 TT which I’ve been very happy with but as an audio enthusiast I’m generally considering or open to upgrades, hoping to refine my systems sound and get the most out of it. 

Using a KAB strobe and testing the Basis, it was very far off the mark speed wise. The Basis speed controller, the Syncrowave (speed control +) costs about 5k new, way more than I was ready to spend. I’ve had the VPI SDS, when I owned a Classic 3 and thought it provided a significant improvement, so figured I would try to get something going on the Basis.

While the SDS and Walker seem to be the most popular and available choices, I continued to poke around.  I found some images of the internals of the Walker and was quite surprised at the seemingly low build quality in relation to the price. It also took a few minutes to let idea sink in that these units did nothing to adjust speed in real time.

More research led me to the Phoenix Eng. site and their products, Roadrunner Tachometer and Eagle PSU (Power Supply Unit). For those unfamiliar with these products, the Eagle PSU apparently creates a super stable current flow to the TT motor so it can maximize it’s design potential without inconsistent power fluctuations interfering. There’s a very cool Youtube vid showing the stability of the sine wave. In my understanding the Roadrunner works by sending a signal from a small sensor on the plinth that tracks the real time rpms of the platter by detecting a tiny magnet that is mounted on the underside of the platter to the RR (Roadrunner) unit. The RR then assesses the rpms and when tethered to the Eagle adjusts current and speed to bring the platter into perfect speed within .005 rpms/min. .005!!! The Roadrunner and Eagle controller box are very small, about the size of a deck of cards, and the Eagle transformer about 2"x4"x8", nicely designed and easy on the eye.

For some reason the first Eagle I received was not working for me and I wound up contacting Phoenix directly and talking and working with Bill, who I believe is the owner, engineer etc. He spent a good 45 minutes on the phone with me and when we couldn’t get things up and running he arranged an exchange and express mailed it to me the next day. Class act.

I believe that the Phoenix units will not work with a motor that has any type of speed control chip built into to it (definitely double check with Phoenix if you want to make sure), and I made a call to Basis to confirm that their motors do not. 

Unlike every other speed control that I’ve checked out, where you set a speed and hope for the best, this real time, on the fly calibration insures proper speed at the beginning, middle and end of the lp, eliminates issues around stylus drag, belt tension, lp weight and energy fluctuations from outlets.

Seeing the speed lock in at 33.333 is a thing of beauty, and while there is some drift, it’s minute, always staying within the .005rpm/min. design parameter. 

The sound improvement is quite obvious to my ear. I’m aware of the psychological tendency to like what you’ve just spent money on and want to believe it’s helping, but I really do like these products and they are really are helping :)
Seriously, bass, soundstage, imaging, reduction in sibilance, are all improved. The music sounds better.

In my opinion there are some extremely minor issues with aesthetics of the rpm sensor that affixes to the plinth, purely visual, and just a matter of taste. 
I wish there was a way to have the display either go blank after a fixed period of time or have the option to manually turn it off, which I do not believe is a feature at this point.

For anyone considering a speed control solution, these are extremely worthy candidates being very well designed, doing exactly what they’re supposed to do and doing it flawlessly, decent looking and good value for the money. For me an easy 8.5/10.

Hope this can be of help.