In 1986, just as it appeared that vinyl was nearing its end, the SME Series V arrived. The tagline “the best pickup arm in the world” had been used by the Steyning company for a long time, but it had become a bit of a joke. The SME Series III was far from this, and […]
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It’s been a long time, but if you time-traveled to the mid-1970s and conducted a poll of the most popular phono cartridge on the market, this would undoubtedly come out on top. Between 1974 and 1979, the Shure M75ED ‘Stereo Dynetic Cartridge’ appeared on practically every new turntable on the market. Of course, your Linn
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It’s all forgotten now, but there was once upon a time when a costly – but not exorbitantly priced – turntable appeared, battled the best of the best, and triumphed. That is, almost. The JBE, you see, was an underground sensation for a brief period around the turn of the 1980s. Despite its high quality,
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The Jelco Ichikawa Jewel Company, based in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro area, is one of the country’s many small-scale precision engineering firms. It has been producing since 1920, and by the 1970s, it had naturally shifted its focus to turntable parts in response to the hi-fi craze of the period. Over the years, it has done a
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Linn’s LP12 was the undisputed vinyl monarch for the majority of the 1970s and 1980s. New competitors to the Sondek’s championship came and went, but the Sondek remained on top. Ironically, because they didn’t turn out to be nearly as good, these aspirant vinyl kings were unfairly neglected and dismissed. This always struck me as
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Linn had a problem by 1979, however it was a pleasant thing to have. The problem was that while the £298 Sondek LP12 turntable was flying off the shelves, not everyone could afford the company’s new Ittok LV II tonearm, which retailed for £253. Instead, a major portion of sales went to Rega, whose £46
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The Michell GyroDec, which is now over thirty years old, has become a famous British vinyl classic. It was one of the first ‘skeletal’ designs, with a vestigial sandblasted aluminium chassis rather than a traditional hardwood plinth, when it was introduced in 1981. This, together with the five gold-plated brass weights dangling from the platter
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Tonearm enthusiasts had a fantastic year in 1987. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, not one, but two – then three – buses arrived at the same moment. The first was the SME Series V, which has gotten a lot of press; many consider it to be “the finest” arm in some ways,
Turntables are in and out of fashion. Many start off strong, but as time goes on, they deteriorate into mediocrity. Others, on the other hand, seem to persevere, and perhaps this is a measure of their greatness? Linn’s Sondek LP12, Technics’ SL-1200, SME’s Model 30, Garrard’s 301/401, Rega’s Planar 3 and, of course, Michell’s iconic
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Many consider the Linn Ittok to be the world’s first super-arm. It was designed by a Mr. Ito to Linn’s specifications in the late 1970s and originally built for Linn by the Denon Parts Company of Japan (no related to the electronics brand). It underwent several adjustments over the years, including a new counterbalance, until
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