Turntable Reviews

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Spin DoctorTurntable Reviews
Spin Doctor #5: Vertere DG-1S record player & Playing 7" Records the Right Way
Michael Trei  |  Sep 21, 2023  |  7 comments
I have found that turntable designers typically fall into one of two camps. First are what I call the obsessive machinists. These are the people with impressive manufacturing chops and a sharp eye for fine detail and precision. For them, making a better turntable usually involves taking what we already know and simply doing it better.

Whether it's a thicker chassis, more powerful motor, more precise bearing, more effective isolation system, or something else, the emphasis is always on stepping things up a notch or two, rather than reinventing the wheel. This obsession can result in some impressive 'tables—some of the most impressive in the world, with awesome attention to detail. But are they the best sounding?

The other camp is what I call the deep thinkers. They approach the task of playing a record from a theoretical perspective and leverage their knowledge of physics to come up with fresh and innovative designs. The results may look unconventional, or even odd at first glance, but when such lateral thinking clicks, it can really push the boundaries of what's possible.

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Analog CornerPhono Preamp ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #255: Kuzma Stabi M turntable, Audio Tekne TEA-8695 and Xactive Argo phono preamplifiers
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 10, 2023  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2016  |  0 comments
Do good things come in small packages, or is bigger better? Your call. But regarding the products they've sent my way for review this month, designers Franc Kuzma, Kiyoaki Imai, and Velissarios Georgiadis are all in the latter camp. Kuzma's Stabi M, designed to accommodate the 14" version of his 4Point tonearm, is a massive turntable with a big footprint. Imai's Audio Tekne TEA-8695 tubed phono preamplifier has 11 Permalloy core transformers and weighs nearly 100lb. And although it uses just four signal-path tubes and a pair of rectifier tubes, Georgiadis's Xactive Argo phono preamplifier fills the full width, height, and depth of a Harmonic Resolution System shelf—and not because it's a big but mostly empty housing.
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Audacious AudioTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
SME 60 record player
Michael Trei  |  Jul 20, 2023  |  7 comments
Creating a new flagship model is never an easy task for an audio company. A good designer will have already incorporated all his or her best ideas into the prior flagship. For a follow-up, you typically get a scaled-up version of what came before, incorporating the kind of improvements a bigger budget will allow.

SME's history is well-documented. The company started out, in 1946, as an engineering company for hire. In 1959, after a few years supplying parts for the scale modeling and various other high-tech industries, company founder Alastair Robertson-Aikman wanted a better tonearm for his personal use. He leveraged the capabilities of his small engineering company to create what eventually became the legendary 3009 and 3012 tonearms. The reputation of the new arms spread quickly, and from the mid-1960s through the 1970s, SME dominated the high-end tonearm market. SME's corporate slogan was The Best Pick-Up Arm in the World, and few people at the time would have challenged that claim.

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Analog CornerTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #256: Acoustic Signature Ascona Mk.2 turntable, TA-9000 tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 14, 2023  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2016  |  33 comments
I recently posted to AnalogPlanet.com's YouTube channel a video that compares VPI's Prime turntable and JMW 3D-printed tonearm ($3995) with Continuum Audio Labs' Caliburn turntable (ca $150,000 with arm and stand, discontinued) fitted with the Swedish Analog Technologies arm ($28,000). Both played "Braziljah," a snazzy track from the New Zion Trio's latest album, Sunshine Seas (LP, RareNoise RNR065LP), featuring guest Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista.

The Prime was fitted with a Lyra Helikon SL cartridge (ca $2500, discontinued), driving a reasonably priced phono preamplifier: the Audio Alchemy PPA-1 ($1795, currently under review for AnalogPlanet). Accompanying the Continuum Caliburn and SAT arm were Audio-Technica's AT-ART1000 cartridge ($5000), and Ypsilon's MC-16L step-up transformer ($6200) and VPS-100 Silver phono preamplifier ($65,000)—total cost, more than I paid for my first house, in 1992.

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Brilliant CornersPhono Cartridge ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Brilliant Corners #5: High Water Sound; TW-Acustic Raven GT2 turntable; Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua & Miyajima Shilabe phono cartridges
Alex Halberstadt  |  Jul 06, 2023  |  8 comments
"New York is an ugly city, a dirty city," John Steinbeck wrote in 1953. "But there is one thing about it—once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough." Decades later, the novelist's insight about this appalling, incomparable city still feels true. New Yorkers love to complain about the summers, with their wafting miasma of hot garbage and urine; about the superannuated subway system, which only sometimes resembles a psilocybin trip gone really wrong; about the purgatorial agony of finding an apartment; about the affronts of existing shoulder-to-shoulder with the stupendously rich. . .

What I'm getting around to saying is that easily the best part of living here is the people. One of them is Jeffrey Catalano, who has been a drummer, painter, DJ, and construction worker and today runs a hi-fi business, High Water Sound, from a loft in a former sail-making factory on Water Street in Manhattan's financial district.

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Tonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
VPI Avenger Direct Turntable & 12" FatBoy tonearm
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 01, 2023  |  6 comments
Founded in 1978, VPI Industries appears to be one of the most successful turntable manufacturers in the world—certainly in the US. The New Jersey–based company sells turntables, tonearms, cartridges, record clamps, plinths, record cleaning machines, and a phono preamp. But that's not all. The company offers VPI-branded pillows, candles, mugs, stickers, T-shirts, and a tell-all company history, 40 Years on the Record.

And talk about turntables! From the entry-level $1499 Cliffwood to the top-of-the-line $104,000 Vanquish (found under the website's "VPI Luxury" page, accompanied by the adage, "Settle for Nothing but Extravagant"), VPI is clearly and rightfully proud of its analog achievements.

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Gramophone DreamsTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Gramophone Dreams #73: PTP Audio Solid9 Turntable, Sorane SA-1.2 Tonearm
Herb Reichert  |  May 31, 2023  |  22 comments
I wish that all who love LP playback as much as I do could hear a Thorens TD 124 or Garrard 301 or EMT 930 in their systems, but those products are subject to the vagaries of supply and demand: They are rare and pricey.—Art Dudley
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Analog CornerTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #259: Audio Union Döhmann Helix 1 turntable and Schröder CB tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 10, 2023  |  First Published: Mar 10, 2017  |  7 comments
The ability to fine-tune a vinyl playback system is part of what makes it possible to combine an archaic technology with modern thinking and materials to create musical magic, and take listeners to new heights of ecstatic musical pleasure. It's why so many young people are tuning in to vinyl, and helps explain why just today, as I write this, it was announced in the UK that, for the first time, revenues from sales of vinyl exceeded those from downloads.
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Turntable Reviews
Luxman PD-151 MARK II Record Player
Michael Trei  |  Feb 24, 2023  |  1 comments
Luxman occupies an unusual place in the hi-fi world. While many of the brands chasing ultimate performance will battle it out in the bleeding-edge design stakes, Luxman makes what I like to call luxury equipment. Everything they produce is beautiful, not just to the ear, but also to the eye and hand. Their design aesthetic keeps one foot firmly planted in the style of classic audio equipment from decades past—for example, many of their amplifiers have tone controls and big power meters, features reminiscent of topflight gear from 40 years ago—while the other foot is up to date with the latest technology...

The PD-151 MkII record player ($5695) is an excellent example.

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Turntable Reviews
AMG Giro MK II turntable
Michael Trei  |  Nov 29, 2022  |  42 comments
Three decades ago, I had a boss who insisted I drive a Mercedes-Benz as a company car. Tough gig, you might be thinking, but there was solid reasoning behind this extravagance: He wanted the people representing his company to look successful, so it was three-pointed star cars for all, at a time when a Mercedes was more exclusive than it is today.
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Turntable Reviews
Technics SL-1200G turntable
Alex Halberstadt  |  Nov 23, 2022  |  22 comments
People tend to believe that things are what they appear to be. This turned out to be the case in 2016, when Panasonic introduced the limited-edition Technics SL-1200GAE turntable. It appeared almost identical to an SL-1200—arguably the best-selling and most loved record player series of all time, discontinued in 2010 after more than 30 years—but it cost a whopping $4000. The similar model designation didn't help stem the griping that Panasonic had made a "fancy" version of their legendary DJ turntable at six times the price of the original.
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Turntable Reviews
Pure Fidelity Harmony Record Player
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 17, 2022  |  9 comments
When scouring the labyrinthine halls of big audio shows for products to review in Stereophile, I use three main markers to determine which rooms to visit: a must-hear designation from Editor Jim Austin; a company or brand whose products always light my fire; and systems fellow Stereophile correspondents have described, in a text or an in-person conversation, as worth checking out. Other times, though, I just follow my nose.
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Analog CornerPhono Preamp ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #263: Zesto Andros Téssera phono preamp & Acoustic Signature Ascona turntable and TA-9000 tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 02, 2022  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2017  |  0 comments
Maybe you've seen the widely circulated New Yorker cartoon: Two guys stand in front of a nicely drawn, tubed audio system, under which are shelves full of LPs. One guy says, "The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience."
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Turntable Reviews
Music Hall Stealth record player
Herb Reichert  |  Sep 29, 2022  |  6 comments
The earliest direct-drive record player I've discovered is Garrard's Model 201 from 1930. It only played 78s. In their advertising, Garrard claimed the 201 was the world's first "transcription turntable." It employed Garrard's latest in a line of what they called "prestige" motors: an AC-induction "Super Motor." Garrard described the 201's platter as "plush covered" and said it was "popular with HiFi enthusiasts and used by the BBC." The 201 was superseded by the 201A, which rotated at both 78 and 33 1/3 rpm. The venerable Garrard 301 that followed was an idler-drive design.
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Analog CornerTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #267: Reed Muse 3C turntable & Reed 3P tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 12, 2022  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2017  |  0 comments
The Reed 3P tonearm, which I reviewed in my April 2016 column, was an impressive piece of imaginative engineering and manufacturing prowess. I asked Reed's importer, Axiss Audio, if I could hold on to the 3P—I was already planning to review Reed's Muse 3C turntable. I'm glad I did—the 3P ($5000) and 3C ($15,000) make an outstanding combination. (When the only complaint you have about a turntable is that the cable from its power jack to the power supply isn't long enough to reach the floor, you can be sure you're going to write a very positive review.)
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