Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Sort By: Post DateTitle Publish Date
Review: Adam Smith, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Jan 17, 2025  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2025
hfnoutstandingThe latest addition to Pro-Ject’s X line of turntables features a crystal-clear acrylic plinth and comes equipped with a new 10in alloy tonearm and ‘balanced’ MM cartridge

While some companies look to completely re-brand in the face of changing attitudes, it’s reassuring to see others persuade us of technological advancements in more familiar fashion. So, at the opposite end of the spectrum from the reborn Jaguar automotive brand, you get Pro-Ject Audio Systems being as evangelical as ever in its quest to steer all vinylistas towards balanced operation.

Review: Ken Kessler, Lab: Paul Miller  |  May 09, 2024
hfnoutstandingArtisanship and innovation meet in this precision-engineered turntable/arm combo that brings 21st century know-how to bear on a pre-Millennium turntable technology

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. After decades of being dismissive of idler- or rim-drive turntables, if not downright hostile towards them, I have had my ears opened by Reed's Muse 1C. A previous owner of a Thorens TD 124 [HFN Jun '59] and a Garrard 401 [HFN Dec '65], I never considered them to be as rumble-free nor as quiet as direct-drive or belt-drive turntables. The Lithuanian-designed and built Muse 1C, at £9998 without arm, the least expensive model in a range of three, has changed all that.

Steve Harris & Paul Miller  |  Aug 01, 2009
Actually, there is nothing new about the turntable, or indeed the arm reviewed here. What is new, and rather exciting, is the completion of the P9 package with Rega’s long-awaited Apheta MC cartridge and the just-released Ios moving-coil phono stage. On paper, this is the best the company has to offer. A key feature of the P9 is the ceramic platter, as hard as ruby or sapphire, which first appeared on the preceding Planar 9 in 1997.
Review: David Price, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Feb 01, 2018
hfnoutstanding.pngThe latest in a long line of 'affordable audiophile' turntables from a highly popular UK brand, the Planar 2 offers easy set-up, good looks and a taste of serious hi-fi sound

The 1970s were something of a high watermark for the vinyl format. Bolstered by Mike Oldfield's smash hit Tubular Bells, 1975 saw the highest ever LP sales in the UK, and this drove demand for turntables. At the time, the budget king was Garrard's rudimentary SP25, but soon the Japanese gifted us the fine Pioneer PL-12D, a deck that really raised the performance bar.

Paul Miller  |  Nov 16, 2011
The latest version of the budget classic features additional bracing and a revised tonearm Rega’s philosophy is that while the plinth has to be as rigid as possible, it also should be as light as possible. And seeking to maximise the plinth’s rigidity between tonearm and main bearing, a phenolic stiffening brace is added. On the RP3, the brace visible on top of the plinth is complemented by a second one below, forming a stressed beam assembly. The actual plinth is a piece of special light furniture board, finished to a very high standard by something akin to a printing process.
Hi-Fi News Staff  |  Jan 09, 2015
Rega’s RP8 turntable uses what it calls ‘Double Brace Technology’. Here stiffening braces above and below the plinth provide rigidity between the turntable main bearing and the arm mounting. Thanks to this, Rega’s Roy Gandy was able to envisage a plinth construction that would be much lighter than in previous designs, so in the RP8 the plinth has given way to a very light skeletal chassis. From a functional point of view, the RP8 on its skeletal chassis is complete in itself but Rega has added a separate outer frame, using the same foam-sandwich construction, to support a dust cover.
Review: David Price, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Jan 14, 2020
hfnvintageOne of many distinctive mid-priced turntables to surface in the 1980s, this dinky deck enjoyed its 15 minutes of fame, but then refused to go away. How will it sound today?

If we could warp back to 1984 we would find a hi-fi scene dramatically different to how it is now. Vinyl may have been in the autumn of its life as a mass music format, but it still dominated. With CD very much in its infancy, the LP was the only practical way serious music lovers could hear their prized albums.

Review: Adam Smith, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Dec 23, 2021
hfncommendedLaunched as part of a series including a CD transport and two amplifiers – one with onboard streaming – the Attessa turntable completes Roksan's most stylish offering

There are a few announcements guaranteed to make an audio fan sit up and take notice, one being the unveiling of a new turntable from Roksan. After all, the company burst onto the scene in 1985 with the Xerxes – a deck that is still going strong 36 years later in '20 Plus' guise [HFN Dec '11]. However, the new deck in question is the £995 Attessa turntable, and it forms part of a completely new Roksan range.

Andrew Simpson and Paul Miller  |  Dec 16, 2011
Roksan's iconic vinyl spinner remains one of the most forward-thinking decks on the market and the latest version now comes with a raft of considered upgrades Back in the early 1980s if you were serious about vinyl replay and had the money, the obvious contenders to splash your cash on were Linn’s LP12, followed by rivals such as Michell’s space-age GyroDec or the left-field Pink Triangle. Despite drastically different looks, all three decks were essentially attempts to take the late Edgar Villchur’s ground-breaking three-point sprung suspension design to the next level. Then, in 1985, Roksan came onto the scene with the Xerxes, which promptly turned this perceived wisdom on its head. As Tufan Hashemi, Roksan Audio’s Managing Director, explained: ‘We argued that using a suspended or floating surface to support a record could not allow it to be accurately read, as the record itself would be floating.
Review: Adam Smith, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Oct 20, 2022
hfnoutstandingJapan is home to more boutique cartridge brands than any other hi-fi territory, and the Harmony, brainchild of vinyl addict Yasuo Ozawa, is a product of this artisanship

According to the dictionary placed at my elbow, the definition of 'harmony' is 'the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions'. That, and the obvious association with the world of music, probably explains why it's appeared in the name of more than a few domestic and pro-audio brands and products over the years. This particular celebration of 'Harmony' comes in the form of Shelter's flagship moving-coil cartridge which, at £4300, is far from the costliest pick-up on the high-end scene.

Review: David Price, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Apr 24, 2019
hfnoutstandingWith its aluminium-plated boron cantilever and precision elliptical diamond stylus, this hand-built Japanese moving-coil cartridge is a rare yet special thing to behold

All things considered, 1986 was an unlikely time to launch a high-end phono cartridge brand, and all the more so considering it happened in Japan. When I moved to Tokyo four years after Yasuo Ozawa started Shelter, what the Japanese call 'Analog Disc' was almost as dead as the proverbial Monty Python parrot. True, you could slum it around the seedier sides of downtown Shimokitazawa and Asagaya and find an isolated second-hand record shop, but the only news in town was the shiny new Compact Disc.

Review: Adam Smith, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Feb 03, 2025  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2025
hfncommendedSkyanalog’s mid-range G series is refreshed with MKII models boasting lower downforces and impedance, with little impact to output or tracking. We test the entry model...

It was tempting to kick off this review comparing cartridge manufacturer Skyanalog with its fellow Chinese brand BYD, which uses the tagline ‘the biggest car brand you’ve never heard of’. Sadly, Skyanalog’s UK distributor, Sound Design Distribution (SDD), beat us to the punchline by splashing ‘Possibly the most successful cartridge manufacturer you’ve never heard of’ across its webpage.

Review: Ken Kessler, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Nov 21, 2024
hfnoutstandingIs this the largest cartridge manufacturer we've never heard of? Stepping out of the OEM shadows to unveil its own-brand MCs, Skyanalog looks set to be a major disruptor

Two things struck me when PM said we'd be reviewing a cartridge from a new manufacturer. The first thought, from my glass-half-empty side, was: do we really need another? But the second was: this must be proof that the vinyl revival is substantial enough to warrant it. When told that the company was planning a 25th anniversary model, my curiosity about Skyanalog was truly piqued. 'New' it most certainly isn't.

Paul Miller  |  Nov 16, 2011
The latest improvements to a long-standing classic are subtle but extremely effective After launching the turntable range 20 years ago with the Model 30/2, SME founder Alastair Robertson-Aikman followed it with a lighter version called the Model 20 – thinner in upper chassis and subchassis plates, with a smaller, thinner platter and other reductions in mass. In 2006 SME released the 20 in a widened version that would accept a 12in arm. It was a huge success, so the Model 30/12 appeared to equal acclaim [HFN Mar ’09]. In the interim, the external power supply had been upgraded, and was made common to all models, while 2010 saw the introduction of a new black platter mat material.
Review: Adam Smith, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Feb 06, 2023
hfnoutstandingSME's flagship Model 60 turntable was more than an aspirational torch-bearer for the UK brand – it set the tone for revisions that will trickle down through the entire range

Every hi-fi era has its buzzwords, and while variations on the theme of 'digital' and 'high-res' have permeated our collective consciousness over the past few decades, the 2020s have so far proved thick with references to 'trickle-down technology'. Brands have always launched flagship products to showcase technologies that eventually 'trickle-down' to middle and entry-level ranges, but nowadays there's almost an expectation that this osmosis of tech will happen swiftly, and wholesale.

Pages

X