RMAF 2016

In this video you will see a Pear Blue Captain John Handy turntable as well as a new motor controller from Pear Audio (imported by Audio Skies) that's said to improve the performance of all of Pear Audio's hand-crafted Blue turntables. The $1995 controller also lets you switch speeds at the push of a button. Also, Swiss-made Thales introduces an upgrade to the TTT-2's drive system as well as a newly machined platter that makes easier, removing a record.

However, the big news in this video is the hand-crafted Montrose turntable from Richmond, Virginia's Fern & Roby, headed by audio enthusiast Christopher Hildebrand. The company's main business is hand-crafted furniture that features cast iron frame supports produced at a local foundry.

More recently, as you'll see in the video, Mr. Hildebrand got into vinyl after realizing he wasn't getting much satisfaction from MP3s. The result is two turntables: the more costly Tredegar turntable, featuring a cast chassis, and the Montrose Heirloom turntable on display and playing at RMAF 2016.

The company has also designed and manufactured a unipivot tone arm and the Maverick phono preamplifier. Finding this beautiful turntable was, for me, one of the show's highlights.