Turn on Channel Six, the President comes on the news
Says, “I got no satisfaction, that’s why I sing the blues
His wife say “Don’t get crazy, Lord, you know what to do
Crank up that old Victrola, put on your rocking shoes
– Bob Weir
Some time back I wrote a little piece that featured some high end CD players. I thought I would revisit that concept, but this time with the real deal… turntables. So hang on for a look into the expensive world of exotic record players
The phonograph was another Edison invention, one dating back to 1887. The first commercially available ‘cylinders’ came out in 1889. Disks somewhat like we know today also came out in the late 1800’s, but the Edison style cylinders were able to compete until the 1920’s. It was at this time that disks became the favoured medium. In recent years (as current as 2019) various artists have released limited issue recordings on cylinders. Interestingly enough the cylindrical format has certain sound reproduction advantages over a disk. It was manufacturability for mass markets that caused disks to come out on top.
At one time there were hundreds if not thousands of vinyl manufacturers but today there are only about 50 record pressing plants worldwide.
By 1928 78 rpm became the recording standard. Prior to this records were recorded anywhere from 60 – 130 rpm. It’s unclear exactly why 78 became the agreed upon standard other than most recordings of the time were somewhere close to this number. The 78 rpm format was great for sound quality, but not so great for playing time.
The late 1940’s brought about two new formats and a technology improvement. Namely; 33-1/3 rpm, 45 rpm, and the microgroove. The biggest advantages being that a lot more sound could be packed onto a single disk. Oh, and by the way there were some other goofy speeds out there like 16-2/3 rpm.
The term hi-fi has been around since the 1920’s. Stereophonic or ‘Stereo’ was invented in in 1931, but not really available commercially until 1957, but surprisingly it wasn’t until the late 1960’s that stereo records overtook ‘Mono’ records. In the early 1970’s the industry experimented with ‘Quad’ but it never really was all that adopted or successful.
Okay… I can hear the readers grumbling… come on grandad, enough of the ancient history lesson, get on with it; the cool stuff…
High-end turntables are indeed some of the coolest and sexiest looking stuff you can imagine. What’s even more amazing is the sheer number of manufacturers out there, especially considering the price tags. But to be fair some of these beauties come in very low production volumes. Like 25 units ever made. Or perhaps only 1. So good luck in ever trying to buy one. Luxury. And my friends, luxury is expensive…
4 feet tall, 485 pounds, the platter is in a gimbal for stabilization, contactless magnetic drive and a proprietary power supply providing the cleanest of signals. Driven by triple double synchronous motors (wow I guess) 180 separate components (so much for minimalism) 17 produced.
This turntable is constructed “using one entire tree that was dried for at least 20 years.” From an acoustic perspective, the turntable features an axel-shaft assembly made of steel, bronze, and ceramics.It has an optimized platter made out of wood to reduce airborne vibrations, The outer chassis has no cylindrical or flat surfaces in order to avoid any standing waves. Wiring and cables are made of silver. And get this… it’s battery powered for clean linear power.
Very similar to the Artus FMD, yet even more expensive, and chrome plated. It can handle two 12-inch tonearms at once. Like the Artus there is a sub-platter that is decoupled from the top platter by 10 (count em) Neodymium magnets. The power supply rests on one of the 20mm glass shelves below the main unit.
Only 25 Reference II turntables have ever been crafted. Handcrafted that is, in Geneva. Switzerland. Aluminum and steel construction. The motor has been vibration-shielded by over 15 kg of brass, wiring insulated with Teflon, and a liquid nitrogen-rectified belt, with a speed accuracy of .01%. The platter alone weighed in at over over 15 kg also and was claimed to be concentric to .005cm. The sub-chassis weighs 30 kg.
German engineering, what else? It sports a solid Corian chassis weighing more than 50 kg and the whole unit sits on air suspension feet, which can be independently adjusted via stepper motors and monitored using lasers. The platter comes in at around 20 kg and uses Neodyn magnetic disks, whilst the speed is measured via a pulse ring at over 24,000 times per revolution. There is a built-in miniature camera allows music listeners to carefully examine the grooves of their records, (of course there is) along with the cartridge and stylus, during playback.
And in the honorable mention category just because it is so affordable for the rest of us, and it happens to be made in Huntingdon, where I have spent a lot of time, I present to you…
Twin Belt Drive | 33.3 and 45.0 RPM | Platter mass 10.0 Kg | Tonearms: nStd. cut for SME (adapters to order) | Motor: Hand built 24v 140mNm ac synchronous | Power supply: DSP Vari-SPeed control unit 1Kva | Net weight 19.0 kg turntable only | 20.1 kg psu only
So there you have it. A glimpse into the high octane world of ‘Ultra-Fi’. Not for the faint of heart (or bank account)
They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast
700 little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz
But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell
“C’est la vie,” say the old folks, “it goes to show you never can tell”
– Chuck Berry
P.S. You might have noticed that some of these turntables don’t come with tone-arms and certainly not with cartridges. That will be a whole other article…