Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

A quick web trawl shows that there are now more than a dozen cartridges on the market costing over £10,000, with Kuzma's CAR-70 at roughly $42,000. Ulp! Premium models from Glanz, Clearaudio, ZYX, et al aren't far off that. I suppose it was only natural that Ortofon would find it prudent to top its range of over 50 models with the new MC Vertex costing £12,999, almost double that of the second dearest in its catalogue, the MC Diamond [HFN Dec '22].<

Two essential features define all TechDAS turntables: an air bearing beneath the heavy platter and vacuum hold-down of the LP. From the inboard-motor entry-level Air Force V [HFN Jan '19] to the king's ransom Air Force Zero, all possess those two operational niceties, while the Japanese manufacturer's top two models add an air suspension for the entire chassis. The latter is less important if your floor is solid or your equipment stands rigid, but the air bearing and vacuum hold-down are the deal makers. And the new Air Force IV at £19,998 may be the best deal of all.

What goes around comes around: if it wasn’t for Sumiko, we would probably still be listening solely to moving-magnet cartridges. As recounted in our review of the Sumiko Celebration 40 [HFN Apr ’22], company founder Dave Fletcher helped introduce to the West Japanese audiophiles’ passion for moving-coils in 1972. Sumiko’s latest, the Oriole, is entirely representative of 21st century MCs, a half-century on since Sumiko made us aware of Supex, Grace and the rest.

The Pye Black Box hi-fi record player was a milestone design which seems to have touched the lives of everyone involved in audio from the mid-1950s to the mid-’60s. It arrived at a time when quality listening was becoming a pursuit in itself but much of the equipment on the market was too complicated for the non-technically minded user. The Black Box, on the other hand, made everything simple – all you had to do was to put it somewhere, plug it in and off it went. At a time when even FM radio was a thing of the future its performance was a revelation. If you were a music lover who wanted something small and neat you simply had to have one.

For a Decca worshipper of 47 years, its return via the London Decca Reference Type II (£7702) is miraculous. Reviving these oddball cartridges has involved a tortuous learning curve as the last generation of craftsmen transferred the ‘technology’ to the firm’s new owners. Even securing the name required negotiation, as the Decca record label has also recently returned.

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’.

Perhaps hoping to replace the much-loved but-now-in-limbo Koetsu, fellow Japanese brand Analog Relax has developed into a range of five ‘artisan’ moving-coil cartridges. The EX700 sits exactly in the middle, above the EX500 and below the EX1000, at a no longer shocking £7288. Stop here if you find the pricing of cartridges (and cables) has no bearing on reality, but that’s now mid-priced for the high-end, whether we like it or not.