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Turntables from £500 to £999
The TT5 is the latest generation of turntables from Edwards Audio. It features the remarkable new EA5 tonearm (close up pictured below) which is a contained uni pivot design which combines low friction with good stability, making it a pleasure to use, and it’s ingredients are arguably far beyond what would normally be seen at this price level. RCA sockets on the rear allow different interconnects to be used, but it is supplied with a decent nquality thick and well screened cable in the box.
The solid 18mm thick mdf plinth is available in various satin paint finishes and mounted to it are the 24v AC motor (an external wall wart power supply is included) and 18mm brass bearing housing. The pulley and sub platter are both machined from aluminium, and the platter is a machined 11m thick frosted acrylic platter.
Sonically the TT5 is open and airy, with great pace and a toe tapping sound that draws you into the music. It’s remarkably neutral for a deck at this price level too.
Speeds: 33.3 & 45rpm, manual change
Cartridge: Not included
Lid: Included
Finishes: Satin Black, White or Red
Edwards Audio TT5 turntable & arm combination: £549.95
Rega Planar 3
The Iconic Planar 3 name is back for 2016 as the replacement for the very popular RP3. The changes over its predecessor are numerous and include a high gloss acrylic laminated plinth with improved bracing, an upgraded bearing assembly, new sub and glass glass platters, even newly designed feet.
Arguably the most important ingredient has also changed, the tonearm, always the stand out feature on Rega decks and this time it is no exception. The RB330 tonearm features a new bearing housing which allows lower friction in both horizontal and vertical movements, and it’s naturally combined with their trademark excellent one piece cast arm tube.
As with the previous model the turntable can easily be upgraded with the external TT-
Speeds: 33.3 & 45rpm, manual change
Cartridge: See pricing below
Lid: Included
Finishes: Black, Red or White.
Rega Planar 3 turntable excluding cartridge: £579.00
Rega Planar 3 with Rega Elys 2 cartridge package price: £649.00
Project 1 Xpression Carbon UKX
The 1 Expression Carbon is the latest in a long line of Expression turntables. The high gloss plinth (which is finished in a rather lovely dark red called Bordeaux, dark blue or black) houses a suspended AC motor and quality bearing assembly. On top there’s a an acrylic platter (the pictures will be updated shortly) and a cork mat is included, although it doesn’t have to be used. The tonearm is the latest generation of the Carbon tonearm, which they claim is their stiffest yet and features an oversized support for the bearing assembly.
Speed change (33 and 45rpm) is performed in the time honoured fashion of lifting off the platter and moving the belt. The turntable can also be used with 78 rpm records by buying an optional pulley kit and stylus.
The cartridge is a new model, which for the time being at least, is exclusively available on the 1 Expression Carbon. It is based upon the Ortofon 2M red and features silver wound coils and a translucent grey housing.
You need to be a bit patient with this deck, straight out of the box the sound is rather too bright, but once the cartridge has a dozen on more sides on it then it calms down considerably. The result is a colourful and entertaining performance that doesn’t fail to make your foot tap, with plenty of bite and attack when required, along with decent warmth and weight to underpin the fast top end.
Speeds: 33.3 & 45rpm, manual change (can also play 33.3 & 78rpm with the addition of the 78rpm pulley kit)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M Silver
Lid: Included
Finishes: Bordeaux (as pictured here), Midnight Blue and Gloss Black
Project 1 Expression Carbon turntable: £599.00
Pro-
The X1 offers a great combination of features, style and performance. Based around a thick mdf plinth which is finished in three great finishes, it combines the convenience of electronic speed switching with performance niceties of a thick acrylic platter and carbon fibre wrapped aluminium tonearm tube. It is packaged with the Ortofon made Pick-
Speeds: 33.3, 45 & 78rpm, electronic speed change
Cartridge: Pro-
Lid: Included
Finishes: Gloss Black, gloss white and satin waxed real Walnut veneer
Project X1 turntable: £699.00
The TT6 is a seriously impressive turntable from Edwards Audio. The specification list leaves few stones unturned-
Perhaps where it’s particularly impressive however is the tonearm. This contained uni pivot design combines low friction with good stability and features an incredibly lightweight, low resonance and stiff pultruded (i.e. pulled and not woven) carbon fibre arm tube. I can well imagine many other manufacturers charging as much for this quality of tonearm as this entire turntable costs, the quality is exceptional.
The TT6 combines an open airy sound with great authority -
Few turntable at anywhere near this price level combine such a toe tapping performance with this level of refinement and resolution. The attack and decay of notes is very faithful and when this is combined with accurate timing the ultimate musicality on display becomes utterly engrossing. There’s no obvious tonal aberrations either, it seems remarkably low on colouration
The TT6 is a breath of fresh air at this price point impressive and comes highly recommended.
Speeds: 33.3 & 45rpm, manual change
Cartridge: Not included
Lid: Included
Finishes: Satin Black, White, Red
Edwards Audio TT6 turntable without cartridge: £769.95
Michell TecnoDec
The TecnoDec is the entry level Michell Turntable. It shares a lot of design elements with the more expensive Gyro SE, including a free standing DC motor (pictured below left), an acrylic/vinyl composite platter and oil pumping inverted bearing making it something of a bargain. As you’d expect from Michell it is beautifully engineered and very easy to setup and use thanks to its lack of suspension. The deck can be upgraded by the use of the Michell HR power supply (please see the power supply page for more details). The armboard (pictured below right) is a Rega cut and will accept both the original single point and newer 3 point fixings, and can be supplied with or without a range of tonearms, as priced below.
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To celebrate their 25th anniversary, Pro-
As can be seen in the picture above, the plinth is made from two pieces, the lower contains the motor and 6 Thermoplastic Elastomer TPE) balls that the ‘suspended’ chassis sit upon.
The platter is machined from an Aluminium Alloy and is internally damped with more TPE. The sub platter runs on a low noise/friction Teflon lined bearing.
The 9” tonearm is an all new model, featuring an aluminium tapered tube clad in Carbon Fibre, resulting in a very stiff, low resonance and low mass design. The bearings are made from Zircon, a gemstone which should provide a very low friction. To top it all off is a factory fitted Ortofon 2M silver MM cartridge as standard.
Dimensions (W x H x D): 460 x 131 x 351mm (lid closed)
Weight: 10.2kg (net)
Speed change: Manual 33.3 & 45rpm
Lid: included
Finishes: Eucalyptus, Rosenut or Walnut (as pictured) finishes
Project The Classic turntable package with 2M Silver MM cartridge: £949.00
Project The Classic turntable package with Pick-
Pro-
The X2 is, as the name suggest closely related to the X1 turntable. The main changes between the two models is that the X2 features a thicker plinth and platter, a different cartridge and another finish choice (detailed below).
Speeds: 33.3, 45 & 78rpm, electronic speed change
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M Silver MM cartridge Pre fitted
Lid: Included
Finishes: Gloss Black, Satin black, gloss white and satin waxed real Walnut veneer
Project X2 turntable: £999.00
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