Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

One might ask what was in the water in Scotland in the mid/late 1970s, as a swell of capable turntable designs hailed from the country. Names like Ariston, Fons, STD, Source and Linn laid the foundations for high-quality vinyl replay alongside another popular manufacturer of the day, Dunlop, with its range of Systemdek models.

It hasn't taken long for solid diamond cantilevers to become a thing. EAT's Jo N°10 is the fifth moving-coil cartridge we've reviewed – including models from Ortofon [HFN Oct '19 & Mar '22] and DS Audio [HFN Feb '21] – that is so-equipped, distinguishing it from its predecessor siblings, the Jo N°5 [HFN Dec '18] and Jo N°8 [HFN Dec '19]. At £6999, however, the Jo N°10 represents quite a price hike from those latter models, selling for £999 and £1999, respectively. This suggests there's plenty of scope for EAT to develop interim models and fill the gap.

Updating or replacing any iconic design is not without risk, so when Michell Engineering announced that production of its famous GyroDec and Gyro SE turntables was to come to an end, it begged the question ‘what next?’. In practice the GyroDec’s replacement, the £5995 Michell Gyro, looks very similar indeed – it’s an evolution that, according to Michell’s MD, Jonathan Nye, is a result.

Calling Thorens a storied brand might be one of the biggest understatements in hi-fi history. Founded in 1882, it was most recently acquired by former ELAC director Gunter Kürten in 2018, since when it’s been inventing modernised versions of Thorens classics. The TD 404 DD seen here doesn’t have an immediately recognisable ancestor, as was the case with the TD 1600 – which is a modern retread of the iconic TD 160. That said, it does leverage a fair bit of technology from the flagship TD 124 DD [HFN Jul ’21] while also adopting a user-friendly auto arm-lift mechanism.

The basic design of the G.E.C. model is a conventional reflex-loaded speaker, but several important features are incorporated which materially improve its performance.

It’s hard to say how many turntables Pro-Ject has launched since its birth in 1991, but you could always rely on a Debut deck being part of the lineup. The inaugural model did not mark the brand’s beginning but it was the turntable that allowed the Austrian company to fan the flames of analogue replay before the ‘vinyl revival’.

There is always some kind of surprise in store when reviewing vintage Philips products. Whether a new way of doing things or an extra feature you never knew you needed, Philips always had a knack for this sort of thing. The GA 209S seen here was an attempt to completely automate a high-quality turntable. Introduced in 1973, it entered a market where the grinding gears, clicking cams and greasy levers found in the mechanisms of some BSR and Garrard decks were still very much the norm. The Philips approach was quite different; it made extensive use of electronics to control and sequence the mechanism.