Turntable Reviews

Modern turntables are a paradox. The ever-evolving technology beneath their sleek exteriors fascinates me. The high-end turntable market these days can feel less like a haven for music lovers and more like a brutalist arms race in pursuit of maximum audio extraction.

Yet, it's not all about performance. Many new 'tables are adorned with outlandish, purely cosmetic flourishes that cause me to chuckle. Some super-bling record players, with their jutting angles and industrial menace, evoke the chrome carcass of the Battlestar Galactica, a testament to mechanical might. Others are even more menacing, channeling the mirror-finish abyss of Darth Vader's helmet, gleaming with a promise of sonic domination—but is that an invitation or a threat?

Setting aside those cosmetic affectations, it's a war, and the enemy—well, the main enemy anyway—is vibrations, which may seem strange considering that vibrations are the whole point of the endeavor. Some designers (the Davids) strip their turntables bare, believing that agility is the best bet in the face of sonic tremors (footnote 1). Others, the Goliaths, wield armored fortresses of steel and iron, attacking the problem with overwhelming force. Still others, the renegades and rebels, forge a separate path, with methods as unusual as their aesthetics.

A history of vibrations in the Black Forest
Elektromesstechnik (EMT), founded in 1940 by Wilhelm Franz in Berlin, started by crafting measurement equipment for broadcast companies. By the 1950s, they'd entered the hi-fi field and partnered with Ortofon, offering EMT turntables with Ortofon cartridges.

In 1956, "Gerätewerk Lahr" was established in Germany's Black Forest, becoming the sole production facility for EMT products. This move coincided with the immense success of the EMT 927 and 930 turntables, which by 1959 were used in broadcast studios worldwide. This flourishing market fueled Franz's vision, leading to the creation of an EMT cartridge factory. This resulted in the popular EMT O-Series of Ortofon-made mono cartridges.

1965: EMT launches the TSD 15 (Tondose Stereo Diamant, 15 microns) cartridge, used in broadcast studios worldwide.

1966: EMT's Gerätewerk Lahr assumes production of Thorens turntables, which previously were made in Switzerland.

1968: EMT introduces the original 928 turntable, the company's only belt drive, said to be based on the Thorens TD 125, which was built in the same factory; Thorens and EMT also shared an R&D department.

1977: EMT produces the XSD cartridge with van den Hul diamond profile.

1989: EMT is sold to the Belgian Barco group. Cartridge manufacture remains in the Black Forest, in Mahlberg, Germany.

2006: EMT introduces the Jubilee Series of MC cartridges; the JSD 5 and JSD 6 feature an aluminum body, gold magnet parts, and a highly polished stylus in either Gyger S "multiradius" or Super Fine Line profile, respectively.

2009: A new chapter begins as engineer and watchmaker Micha Huber, inventor of the Thales tonearm, takes over EMT. Production of EMT cartridges shifted to Huber's HiFiction AG facility in Switzerland.

2021: EMT releases the Model 128 phono preamplifier, which boasts a "unique micro-tube design."

2022: EMT introduces the 928 II turntable with battery power supply and new tonearms including the 9" 909-HI and the 12" 912-HI. "All new products combine the long EMT tradition in building turntables with modern engineering and manufacturing," the company says.

For an audiophile, stumbling upon an original EMT 927 broadcast turntable is humbling. These machines are marvels of analog engineering, marrying exquisite, bulletproof design with pioneering technology. Today they may be relics of a bygone era, but, subjectively at least, these 1950s turntables surpass much of today's equipment in build quality and design acumen and certainly in stature. Outfitted in the earliest years with Ortofon tonearms, they were matched at the factory with EMT's own 929 and 997 "banana" arms, favored by, among others, the late Art Dudley. The original banana arms were produced for decades, updated in 2008, and finally discontinued in 2018 when the supply of NOS parts dried up. Discovering an original EMT product in the wild, working or not, is like discovering an unlocked portal to a golden age of audio.

The EMT 928 II turntable, which emulates the above-mentioned 928 (which Huber says was made for the portable broadcast market) costs $9995 without a tonearm. Adding the 9" EMT 909-HI arm (a modern take on the 929 with a fixed-in-place headshell) takes the price to $14,995, $1000 less than if the products are purchased separately. An adapter allows the outboard use of 12" EMT tonearms. MoFi, EMT's US distributor, supplied an EMT JSD Pure Black cartridge ($4495) for this review. Packaging the Pure Black with the 928 II and 909-HI brings the price to $17,995.

Design
Consider the tonearm first. The EMT 909-HI "follows the design of the EMT 929/997, but all the structure and bearing technology is completely new, with 100% machined parts," Huber explained in an email. "The preciseness and rigidity are on a much higher level now."

The static-balance 909-HI is assembled from more than 150 parts. The armtube, base ring, and headshell are made of aluminum. The cueing lever is stainless steel. The counterweight, which has an engraved weight scale, is made of brass. "A specific alloy called 'German silver' is used for all parts that are exposed to mechanical abrasion," a press release stated, "such as the rear shaft and the connection for the EMT Tondose." (footnote 2)

"Your tonearm features a unique mechanism for coupling the counterweight to the rear end of the tonearm," the user manual states. Carved into the tonearm's tail is a spiral groove, like a screw or bolt with a very course pitch. Rotating the counterweight moves it closer to or farther away from the pivot. Inside the counterweight is a spring-loaded pin, which holds the counterweight in place once you've found the right position. This allows for "quick linear positioning as well as precise and backlash-free adjustment."

Among the most crucial parts of any tonearm are the bearings. "The new tonearm features a unique bearing technology. It consists of two ball-bearings per axis, made of hardened stainless-steel. The arrangement of these bearings in combination with the bearing shaft is made in such a way that any positional or size tolerance has no impact on the breakaway torque. This bearing technology reduces friction and play to an absolute minimum, which is what makes this tonearm sound so dynamic. Other benefits include the contactless magnetic skating compensation device and bent armtubes, machined with elaborate tooling for the narrowest tolerances possible."

The EMT 928 II and 909-HI manuals were exemplary: clear, informative, logically illustrated, and spiral-bound for ease of viewing. This made setup a cinch, especially mounting the cartridge.

The pre-installed 909-HI tonearm required adjustment for antiskate (using Huber's contactless magnetic system), vertical tracking force (VTF) with the 909's counterweight scale—confirmed with my Riverstone Audio gauge—and vertical tracking angle (VTA). Adjusting VTA involved loosening a grub screw in the tonearm shaft with a supplied 2mm hex key, then using a finger-adjustable ring, also on the tonearm assembly base, to raise or lower the arm to the desired height. I measured and adjusted overhang using my Feickert Universal Protractor. Azimuth was fine, but it can be adjusted with two grub screws on the headshell. This well-built, retro-looking tonearm proved easy to set up and a pleasure to handle.

The belt-drive EMT 928 II looks different from any other turntable I can think of. A sleek 50lb, its sharply beveled right front corner gives it a bold, aerodynamic look like an F1 racer about to blast off. It measures 18.75" wide, 5" high, and 12.5" deep; that height includes the platter and tonearm, though you can buy the 928 II without the latter. With its sharp lines and significant weight, the 928 II would overwhelm any pretzel-thin record spinner in a sumo wrestling match. But in contrast to most gargantuan superdecks, which rely on layers of metal for damping and isolation, the 928 II is machined from a single billet of aluminum. Consequently, it is dense, heavy, strong, and compact. The 928 II's compact design and dense materials give it a feeling of tremendous solidity and mass even before you try to lift it.

"The plinth and platter are machined from a cast aluminum block," said Huber. "Cast material is more relaxed and has higher damping properties than other [materials]. Aluminum resonates on a narrow bandwidth, so we can damp the specific resonance frequency with the inlay mat for the platter and the feet for the plinth."

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Footnote 1: Rega's Roy Gandy famously called turntables "vibration measuring machines" and produced turntables so light that they could not absorb or hold much vibrational energy. Framed this way, the goal is to "measure" the right vibrations while banishing the wrong ones.

Footnote 2: Huber is apparently referring to the 909 tonearm—the one not followed by "-HI," which has a collet connection for EMT Tondose "pickup heads." The 909-HI I received has a built-in headshell, intended for standard four-pin cartridges. Collet connectors compatible with SME and Ortofon A are also available.—Jim Austin