5 of the best turntables
Stuff picks its 5 favourite vinyl spinners to help you dig the grooves
CD is on the wane and yet vinyl is resurging. How unexpected. Rediscover your records through a shiny new turntable – here’s 5 of our favourites…
Pro-Ject Genie RPM 3 £180
Curvaceous, sexy vinyl spinners have never been so affordable. It’s not just a pretty platter, though, with Pro-Ject’s usual high standard of sound quality and build.
Michell Gyrodec SE £1115
Still one of the most striking turntable designs around, managing to look futuristic and steampunk at the same time. You’ll need to add an appropriate cartridge, armplate and arm – the Michell Technoarm is a good start, but attach an S-shaped arm such as the Jelco SA-750D for maximum jaw-droppingness.
Wilson Benesch The Full Circle £2450
If sir yearns for high end but is baffled by the choices of accompanying tonearm and cartidge, perhaps sir should consider the Wilson Benesch. A thing of great beauty, it has been partnered with the ACT 0.5 carbon-fibre tonearm and sublime Ply cartridge, so that it can simply be plugged and played. Would sir like that gift-wrapped?
Technics SL-1210 Mk2 £600
Get them while you can! Panasonic is stopping production of the world’s most famous turntable after almost 40 years. With just a few upgrades to your SL-1210 you can get it singing like a high-ender costing 10 times as much, or leave as is for scratching and spinbacks. Either way it’ll probably outlast you.
EAR Yoshino Master Disk £12,000
The search for vinyl-playback perfection results in some extreme engineering, as demonstrated by the Master Disk. A drive system comprising toothed belts and magnets promises the Holy Grail of speed stability and minimal vibration, while there’s room to mount two arms and cartridges to cover all musical bases – add another £2000 to fill one of the mounts with the matching EAR arm. Your records will love you for it, but your credit card won’t.
Don’t forget that you’ll also need a phono stage connected between your turntable and amplifier. At the lower end of the scale, try the £70 NAD PP2, or you won’t get much better than the £500 Leema Elements.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
