Analog Gear News

SME debuted a new "Flagship" turntable at an event held March 25th, 2022 at the company's Steyning, West Sussex U.K. headquarters and in the legendary listening room of the company's founder, the late Alastair Robertson-Aikman. When I asked CEO Stuart McNeilis if yet another factory tour was necessary, he said "you be the judge". The answer was "yes" as new owner Ajay Shirke has made considerable investments in SME including new CNC machines, a brand new state of the art plating facility and a new tolerance measuring system that produces even greater machining tolerances than the already legendary SME precision.

Following 5 years of R&D Franc Kuzma today introduced his latest creation, the SAFIR 9 tonearm. The conical arm tube is fabricated from sapphire— "the first implementation of the precious stone" for this application.

Sumiko today debuted the Wellfleet, a new high performance moving magnet cartridge featuring a nude elliptical stylus.

Toneoptic founder and graphic arts designer Fabian Geyrhalter decided "It is time to rethink how we store and select records". He's come up with a unique, patent pending design and hired "the best designer, engineer and advisors (from Frank Gehry Partners, Boeing Aircraft and Cambridge Audio amongst others)" to execute the concept.

Romanel, Switzerland – Wednesday 24th November 2021—Nagra celebrates 70 years with a limited edition Reference Anniversary Turntable. According to the press release, the new turntable is the result of four year’s worth of R&D by a team of designers and engineers in the fields of applied physics, mechanical and electronic engineering and material science.

Fender the guitar company announced on September 21st the release of this limited edition "The Fender x Mo-Fi PrecisionDeck" turntable created in association with Mo-Fi. The Fender Custom Shop's principal Master Builder Yuriy Shiskov crafted the shape using the same swamp ash wood used in the iconic Fender Precision Bass guitar.

Thorens today announced two new turntables: the TD1500 and the TD403. The 1500 takes its design cues from the iconic TD 150 introduced in 1965 that according to Thorens's press release featured for the first time in a mass produced turntable a spring suspended sub-chassis with a flat belt driven inner platter. However, the AR-XA introduced in 1961 had this design feature and sold 100s of 1000s so must be considered "mass produced". The TD403 is the "big brother" of the recently introduced TD 402.