At Audio Advice, we have really grown to love the EAT turntables from the European Audio Team. They are built like tanks, sound fantastic, and are just flat out beautiful! These precision made tables have become some of our best selling turntables in the high performance arena. The C-Major and C-Sharp turntables are our most popular tables from EAT.

We thought it would be fun to go over the similarities and differences to help you decide which one might be best for your system.

EAT offers some great packages on phono cartridges with these two tables. You can save some serious money getting their package over buying the table and cartridge separately. If you do not have a high performance cartridge already, we highly recommend that you go with one of their combos. For the C Sharp, you can choose an Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil or EAT’s own JO5 moving coil. You’ll save $500 going this way! For the C Major, you have the same choices, with the addition of the Ortofon Quintet Blue moving coil. You’ll save $500 on the Black or JO5, and $250 on the Blue.

With our turntable comparisons, we like to start from the bottom and work up, so we will stick to our standard for these two.

Isolation Feet

EAT makes use of a damping material called TPE, which stands for thermoplastic elastomer. It is used in several places on these tables, starting with the feet. Both the C Sharp and C Major have identical feet. We love the fact that these are adjustable, which enables you to get your turntable perfectly level. By using only three feet, leveling is much easier and the table has a very solid feel once it is level.

Subchassis

On both tables the subchassis is made of a carbon fiber material. TPE is once again used to help isolate it from the main chassis. There is more mass overall in the C Sharp, and even if you account for the difference in platter weight, the C Sharp is 5 pounds heavier than the C Major.

Platter Bearing

The C Major uses a conventional bearing well with a thrust plate at the bottom. The C Sharp uses an inverted ceramic ball bearing. The base for the bearing spindle on the C Sharp is a 1.5 pound mass point that damps out vibration.

Platter

Both tables have very substantial platters. The C Major and C Sharp have aluminum platters with a TPE layer inserted for extra damping. On each platter, there is more mass on the edge to give it a better flywheel effect. This improves speed stability. The C Major platter is 12.2” in diameter and weighs in at 4 pounds. The C Sharp’s platter is 13.6” and is 10 pounds. Obviously, the huge increase in platter weight results in an improvement in speed stability with the C Sharp.

Mat

Recycled vinyl is used for the mat on both tables.

Clamp

You’ll get a nice clamp with either table. The clamp for the C Major uses a collet to lock to the spindle. When you go to the C Sharp, the clamp is slightly heavier and screws directly on to the spindle. We find this to be really handy when we need to take that heavy 10 pound platter off the C Sharp.

Motor

The C Sharp and C Major use a synchronous motor. Due to the heavier weight of the C Sharp’s platter, its motor has more torque. The C Major has 8 TPE isolation points where as the C Sharp has 10.

Speed Control

The C Major has an internal AC generator providing power to the motor. To change from 33 to 45, you have to remove the platter and move the belt to the 45 pulley. The C Sharp has an external motor power supply. This is an upgraded AC generator and makes changing speeds as simple as pushing a button on the outboard power supply.

Belt

The C Major uses a flat rubber belt, which is pretty typical among most turntables. The C Sharp has a finely machined round belt. A round belt has less surface contact and drag with the platter which gives better speed stability.

Tonearm

We really like the tonearm on both of these turntables. Both are a true example of precision engineering. They are as adjustable as any we have seen, which is great if you like to fiddle around with different phono cartridges. Both have adjustable azimuth and VTA (height). Both allow you to also adjust the height of the cueing mechanism. TPE is used once again in the rear counterweight on both of the C-Note arms. The arm itself is a combination of aluminum and carbon fiber and is just beautiful to look at. The bearing system used by both is a unique blending of a conventional Cardan type bearing with a unipivot. The proof of this is in how well both of these arms support the cartridge. So what’s different? Basically, the C Sharp has a 10” arm and the C Major has a 9” arm. The longer the tonearm, the less tracking angle error possible, so in this regard, the C Sharp does track the record better.

Cables

The C Major has conventional RCA cables and the C Sharp has a DIN type cable. EAT tells us the internal wiring of these cables is identical. The good news is, it is easy to upgrade either one!

Dustcover

The C Major comes with the dust cover included. The dust cover is an option on the C Sharp.

Which Turntable is Right for You?

The C Major is a great table in its class and will cost you about $1,000 less than the C Sharp with the same cartridge. It has great bass impact and excellent speed stability. We also love its clean appearance.

Moving up to the C Sharp is just another world. Bass impact and dynamics improve, the soundstage gets wider, but the big kicker is how much quieter the grooves become. The background noise you commonly hear on vinyl is just gone. The added speed stability also adds to that “you are there” at a live concert feeling too.

If you opt for the Ortofon or JO5 on either table, you’ll want a great phono preamp to get everything out of your system.

When choosing, bear in mind that the sound begins with your turntable. You only hear what it extracts from the grooves. What has really been interesting here at Audio Advice is the typical reaction of our customers who have moved from a table in the $1,000-$2,000 to the C Sharp. They usually can not believe how much more they hear from the same records they have heard before.