This $50,000 Japanese Turntable Is What Your Vinyl Records Have Been Waiting For
Sales of vinyl records topped $1 billion last year for the first time since 1986. That was the year before Esoteric Co. was established as a niche high-end digital brand for the burgeoning audio revolution ushered in by CD players.
More than three decades and a whole lot of design later, the company has released its first-ever analog turntable. And the Grandioso T1 has a weight to match its eye-watering price tag.
Priced at 7,700,000 yen ($52,000), the T1 features a contoured brushed aluminum chassis similar to the company's other components. It looks more like something you'd expect to see in a NASA lab or five-star kitchen. It's a behemoth at nearly 100 pounds — about four times the weight of the ubiquitous Technics SL 1200 favored by club DJs.
The bulk comes from the massive platter on which the record sits and rotates. This is the first feature that catches the eye, looking more like a single-layer metallic cake than the overturned dinner-plate profile of most other models. The piece is hand-polished to remove imperfections and weighs 19 kilograms (42 pounds), providing a solid base for minimal vibration.
Esoteric employs unique magnetic technology in two different ways in the T1. The 'Magne-Float' set-up helps effectually lower the platter's weight by about 80% to reduce friction on the spindle bearing. Meanwhile, the patented 'MagneDrive System' motor spins the platter via induction, making no direct contact as is usual with traditional belt or direct-drive turntables. All of this is aimed at smooth, distortion-free rotation.
The plinth is designed to further reduce vibration, with two aluminum slabs sandwiching a piece of wood painted with high-gloss piano lacquer. Up to three tonearms can be attached to
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