EAT (European Audio Team) is a manufacturer of analogue audio equipment, including turntables, cartridges, phono stages and vacuum tubes/valves. The company’s founder and CEO is Jozefina Lichtenegger, who is married to Heinz Lichtenegger, the boss of Pro-Ject, the world’s largest manufacturer of ‘Hifi quality’ turntables.

The two companies are separate but share a close working relationship; EAT products are designed and built by a specialist team within the Pro-Ject factory. In terms of design ethos, the distinction between EAT and Pro-Ject is akin to that between Porsche and Volkswagen. These two new creations take EAT’s upmarket product concepts into more affordable territory.

EAT Prelude Turntable

Prelude is EAT’s first turntable below £1000, with a simple, elegant design drawing on elements from the company’s more costly decks. Six layers of piano lacquer and a low-profile, heavyweight aluminium platter are joined by a purpose-made carbon-fibre tonearm. It comes ready-to-play with a factory-set Ortofon 2M Red phono cartridge.

To reach the price target, there have had to be compromises, but the basic principles remain the same. EAT say that only a heavy-weight platter can give you the correct speed and precision. EAT use a low tolerance (0.01) polished stainless steel bearing in a soft bronze bushing, to ensure a silent and smooth movement. This is the same base material as in their high-end designs. Supplied with the turntable is a pre-fitted Ortofon 2M Red cartridge as well as an acrylic lid for protection from dust. The EAT Prelude turntable is available from March at a UK RRP of £999 (inc. dust cover, tonearm and Ortofon 2M Red cartridge). Prelude is also available with the EAT iconic green motor and belt.

EAT E-Glo Petit Phonostage

E-Glo Petit is the latest,and smallest, of three EAT E-Glo valve-based phono preamplifiers, it has a hybrid design and a specially designed power supply which enables the tubes to stay “hot” at all times. The power supply is designed to be regulated and well filtrated for better performance of the complete package. It uses low noise J-FET type 2SK209 transistors, in a quad-setup.

E-Glo Petit has a distinctive appearance with aluminium and wood casing, tactile switches and dials and two 12AX7 valves protruding from the top plate, protected by aluminium discs.

The EAT E-Glo Petit phono stage is available now at a UK RRP of £1249.

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