John Darko
Despite outselling CDs by roughly 8 million units in the first half of 2023, the number of vinyl LPs sold in the USA is down 1.8% from last year. It’s a similar story in Germany where the number of vinyl LPs sold in 2022 was 4.3 million, down from 2021’s peak of 4.5 million.
Could the vinyl resurgence be beginning to soften? With the USA’s vinyl revenue up 1.3% in the same Q1-Q2 period, it doesn’t take a maths whizz to work out that the price of new vinyl has increased. Perhaps higher pricing is pressing the breaks on demand? Or perhaps it’s the sluggish economy that’s dragging the chain. Or maybe it’s a direct result of the pandemic ending and people spending more money on outdoor pursuits? Complaints of over-tourism in many European hotspots certainly speak to that.
And yet high-end turntable manufacturers remain bullish about vinyl. This month, we’ve seen new models announced by Technics, U-Turn and Denon. And in the last two weeks, three new luxury plattenspieler have been unveiled by three storied European manufacturers. Rather than afford each one its own news post, we’re rolling them into one.
In descending price order…
Teased at various hi-fi shows around the world in 2023, Rega‘s new Naia is soon to go on sale. It’s a low-mass design whose skeletal plinth is made of “Graphene-impregnated Carbon Fibre and a Tancast 8 foam core” to host a “ZTA Zirconium toughened alumina (ceramic) central bearing” upon which spins a resonance-controlled ceramic platter. Those low mass principles extend to the aluminium feet and the one-piece ‘RB’ titanium tonearm. The British manufacturer also asserts that the outboard power supply, which offers speed adjustment between 33rpm and 45rpm, is “Reference class”. Price? €12,899 without a cartridge or €15,999 with a factory-fitted Aphelion 2.
Musical Fidelity‘s new turntable swings in the opposite direction, toward a high-mass design where, according to designer Heinz Lichtenegger of Pro-Ject, “the base idea was to combine the inert mass of metal alloys with zero resonating acrylics.” The new M8x TT is based on Musical Fidelity’s M1 turntable of yore and is a far more visually imposing proposition than the Rega. The ‘hand-polished’ double acrylic chassis is designed not to pass resonances onto the aluminium platter upon which the record is weighted down by the supplied puck and read by a cartridge fitted to the 10″ aluminium tonearm. Unlike the Rega, the M8x TT allows for full adjustment of azimuth and VTA, puts balanced XLR outputs next to the RCA sockets and its feet are height adjustable. Price? €8995. No cartridge is supplied.
Now we hop from Austria (where the M8x TT was designed) to Germany where we find Thorens putting a new tonearm on its TD1600 and TD1601 turntables. Both decks feature electronically controlled motors and speed selection comes via push buttons mounted to the plinth — but only the TD1601 features auto shut-off and a motorised tonearm drop/lift. Like the Rega and the Musical Fidelity, these are belt-driven designs. Unlike the Rega and the Musical Fidelity, Thorens’ turntables feature a sprung sub-chassis mounted to the plinth with conical springs to better isolate the tonearm mount from the spinning platter, its synchronous AC motor and even airborne vibrations. And it’s the tonearm now fitted to the TD1600 and TD1601 that forms the business end of what’s new in 2023: the new TP160 is a J-shaped 9-inch tonearm with SME headshell connection and whose movement is guided by a cutting bearing (reportedly a first for Thorens). Adjustable VTA and azimuth come along for the ride. As do balanced XLR outputs. The 16V power supply is an outboard brick. Pricing on the TD1600 says hello at €3499, the TD1601 at €3999. Your choice of walnut or black.
We’ll end with a PSA: the plural of vinyl is vinyl (and not ‘vinyls’).
