Is that really a £150,000 turntable? Yes, friends, it really is. There are high-end products, rarefied hi-fi treasures, and then there's this – the Goldmund Reference II, which is being billed as the world's most expensive turntable.
Goldmund is only planning to build 25 of these beauties, at a rate of just 5 per year. It's a beautiful piece of tooled metal, with an astonishing specification that will draw a sigh of aspiration from true record lovers and incurable vinyl heads everywhere.
The specification includes: a dynamically balanced 20kg platter, with level and concentricity calibration to <1/100mm; a 5-layer platter design (3 metacrylate and 2 brass) with 12 lead damping inserts; a cog-free motor with very low electrical and mechanical noise, shielded and dampened by 15kg of brass; and a liquid-nitrogen-rectified belt.
It also boasts touch controls integrated into the tabletop for the turntable (33 / 45 / 78 rpm) and the T8 tone arm, and an ultra-precise ball-circulation Linear carrier with zero-play and micron precision.
Notwithstanding that there are still parts of the UK where you can still buy a fairly sizeable house for the price of this deck, we have to admit it's a real beauty. But is £150,000 too much to pay for a turntable, no matter how good? Give us your opinion by leaving a comment below, or start a thread on the forums page.
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