There isn’t one best turntable, just the best one you can afford. All the really good machines are heavy, for various engineering reasons. Therefore, aim for something solid, well built, preferably costing over $1000AUD new if you want a good first turntable. Alternatively, you’ll get better performance in almost all cases from a second-hand classic […]

There is a long-standing myth amongst an admittedly ever smaller cohort these days that belt-drive is a superior drive methodology for turntables. It isn’t. There’s a bit to know of course, but the TLDR is that the drive method is only one of many factors determining turntable performance. Direct-drive (DD) has many advantages, as does

Ah yes, the record store guy, who usually knows a lot more about records than record players! With the greatest respect to record store guys, this is merely an observation based on experience. Several of my customers are record store guys, one owns a large record store here in Perth. Nice people, good taste, interested

No, I dislike cheaply made, overpriced, underperforming turntables, 95% of which happen to be belt drives. There are many amazing belt-drive turntables out there. One of my two reference turntables is a golden-age, end-game Luxman PD-350 (ie Micro Seiki) belt drive turntable. Yes, the other is a direct drive machine, but I wouldn’t own or

Ultimately, moving coil, but it depends on how much you have to spend. If your limit is $150, a moving magnet is all you’ve got baby! That isn’t to say there aren’t some great moving magnet cartridges, especially vintage models. Rather, the best solution – technically – is the moving coil design, because of its