Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Few brands have been more dedicated to perfection than Alphason. Although the company is now also very successful as a supplier of hi-fi furniture, and has launched an innovative loudspeaker range, the £1860 Symphony turntable remains a flagship product.

Two things struck me when PM said we'd be reviewing a cartridge from a new manufacturer. The first thought, from my glass-half-empty side, was: do we really need another? But the second was: this must be proof that the vinyl revival is substantial enough to warrant it. When told that the company was planning a 25th anniversary model, my curiosity about Skyanalog was truly piqued. 'New' it most certainly isn't.

As the EISA Awards jury noted this year [HFN Oct ’24], AV furniture is ‘often overlooked… but has a crucial part to play’. Monitor Audio would agree, and having acquired Blok in 2019, it has launched a redesigned Stax 2G system this summer. Retaining its predecessor’s wooden box-like supports and full-width shelves, the improved modular form-factor promises to be easier to configure and assemble.

I can sense your confusion. However, before you start wondering why our 'Vintage Review' has moved closer to the front of the magazine than usual, let me explain. Yes, you are looking at a turntable based around a Garrard 301, but this is a rather special one - a Garrard 301 produced in limited numbers and made strictly to order. In the plinth shown here and complete with SME Series V-12 tonearm, it will set you back £51,645, or £43,945 with an SME M2-12R. What, you might reasonably ask, is going on?

Those wizards of trickledown tech are at it again: DS Audio’s new entry-level model, the DS-E3, gives you a taste of the Masters series at less than a tenth of the price!

It’s hard to name a cartridge brand as prolific as DS Audio. It seems every time you turn around there’s a new model. Following a flurry of entries at the extreme top-end, including the Grand Master EX [HFN Oct ’23], DS Audio has returned with a new optical cartridge at entry level, an absolute cracker called the DS-E3 – and with no price increase over the DS-E1 [HFN May ’19] it replaces.

AVID Hi-Fi has announced its first new turntable since 2018. Priced £10,000, the Acutus Dark Iron replaces the previous Acutus Dark Limited Edition to become the new entry model in the manufacturer’s top-line series, and debuts a new AC motor system – with DSP-generated adjustable speed control – that’s coupled to the deck’s cast aluminium sprung-suspension chassis.

Thanks to the continued resurgence of the vinyl format, enthusiasts can now choose from a good number of plug-and-play turntable packages. Even better, the quality of these complete solutions – once considered a first step on the vinyl ladder for those wanting ease of use, or for whom the dark arts of turntable setup were a terrifying mystery – has been creeping ever higher.