Munich 2014

Norway-based Electrocompaniet, in business since 1973 introduced the ECG-1 turntable and tonearm priced at 3650 Euro or about $5000. Also new was the ECP-2 MM/MC fully balanced phono preamplifier.

The room when I entered was filled with “suits” speaking Norwegian. No one from the company approached me or asked if I needed any help and I didn’t feel like interrupting the conversations so I took the “one-sheet” with prices, the nicely designed brochure and some photos and left.

The plinth is a sandwich construction of aluminum and acrylic. The platter is straight acrylic. Drive is via a 24 volt AC synchronous motor controlled by a twin phase analog sine wave generator.

The price includes a Jelco SA-750EB “S”-shaped tonearm and a Sound Smith OEM moving iron cartridge. The ECG-1 weighs 30 pounds.

The ECP2 Balanced Phono Stage uses instrumentation grade op-amps with all-discrete parts in the DC coupled signal path. MM gain can be set via rear panel-mounted dipswitches for 35, 40 and 45dB, MC can be set for 55, 60 or 65dB gain. In MM, resistive loading choices are 47kOhms and 2.5kOhms, with capacitive loading adjustable from 0 to 350pF. In MC mode, 10 ohms to 850 ohms can be selected.