Vertere Acoustics has just announced the DG-1 Dynamic Groove record player at High End Munich 2019.
The company’s current record player range has typically focused on the high-end of the market with the top deck/arm combinations retailing for premium car money, so the arrival of the sub-£3000 DG-1 is something of a departure.
The significantly lower price point has meant that the company couldn’t just re-use the engineering solutions in its existing products and then find the cost savings needed. Instead it has taken a fresh ground-up design approach to achieve what it thinks are the best solutions for the price.
While the deck (with arm) is available for £2750, a £100 premium gets you a factory-fitted Audio Technica AT-VM520 cartridge.
The DG-1’s plinth uses a sandwich construction of three layers of acrylic reinforced with a steel chassis to give a rigid yet well damped structure for the cartridge to work from. Similarly, the aluminium platter has a bonded PETG (a thermoplastic polymer) mat and a cork/neoprene/nitrile disc on the underside to give a good combination of rigidity and damping.
But it’s the arm that really grabs our attention. Rather than using a conventional arm tube, which give rigidity but also prone to resonances, the DG-1’s arm takes a similar approach to the plinth by using a triple-layered construction to provide a stable, properly damped home for the cartridge. Its bearings are unusual too, discarding traditional metal designs for twisted nylon threads – one for movement in the horizontal plane and two for the vertical axis. Even the wiring is unconventional, using a gold-plated flexible PCB rather than traditional cables.
The DG-1 comes complete with electronic speed control to shift between 33 1/3rpm and 45rpm and a lid. We can’t wait to hear it.
MORE:
Wilson Benesch's GMT ONE System turntable introduces new drive design
Thorens revives classic TD 160 turntable design
Focal to launch ‘40 year’ anniversary range at Munich High End Show
