Insider Report: German Handmade Rekkord Turntables Finally Get North American Distribution Deal With VANA

Who doesn’t like German design and manufacturing when it comes to turntables? It’s certainly hard to argue with the pedigree behind Rekkord turntables, which have been handcrafted in the company’s factory/facility in the Black Forest for close to a half-century.

Rekkord has long been equally adept at producing both automatic and manual turntables alike, so it’s good news indeed to report that VANA has been appointed as the company’s North American distributor. (More about VANA in a moment.)

Handmade in the Black Forest, Rekkord turntable and tonearm designs are said to benefit from nearly a half-century of precision German engineering. The following YouTube videoclip helps illustrate the company’s backstory as told by Andreas Laux, the production manager at their workshop located in St. Georgen, Germany.

Some additional Rekkord history for you now: The founders’ original factory opened in 1907, and, to this day, every Rekkord turntable continues to be assembled by hand in the same factory where other renowned German brands have built their ’tables for decades. Each Rekkord ’table is “meticulously adjusted” (their words) to achieve an expected standard of sound quality, reliability, and unit-to-unit consistency.

Rekkord offers a wide array of fully automatic and semiautomatic options across its product range. The company’s entry-level model, the F100 (with an SRP of $369), is outfitted with an Audio-Technica’s AT3600L phono cartridge. The step-up F100P offers the same features as the F100 plus an integral phono preamp for $30 more ($399).

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At the other, higher end of the spectrum, Rekkord’s top-of-the-line M600 manual turntable comes with a pre-mounted Ortofon Quintet Red cartridge. The M600 is available in either matte black ($1,699) or gloss black ($1,899) finishes.

All Rekkord turntables, whether automatic or manual, come with a dust cover, an anti-static felt mat, and phono cable.

In an official press statement, Rekkord believes the performance of their products requires the “finest component parts.” For this reason, the company explains further, 99% of the components used in their turntables are manufactured within a 25-mile radius of their factory in St. Georgen. Having made precision turntable parts for decades, Rekkord considers their suppliers to be ideal production partners.

The company’s higher-range tables utilize a massless (dynamic) downforce adjustment, said to optimize the center of gravity directly at the bearing center. This configuration improves tracking and mitigates the deleterious effects of an imperfectly leveled table. (We like that.)

The core of this massless system is a carefully manufactured spring design, which has its roots in watchmaking—a trade skill Germans are also known for having long mastered.

Whither the N.A. distributor, VANA? Glad you asked. Based in Nesconset, New York and founded in 2010, VANA has a long lineage of importing and distributing a range of highly respectable audio products including Atlas Cables from Scotland, European Audio Team (E.A.T.) turntable products from Austria, Ferrum electronics from Poland, and Marten loudspeakers and Jorma Cables from Sweden.

Finally, specs, pricing, and other relevant stats follow below with plenty of photos to boot—and you can also consult Rekkord’s official site here. Feel free to share your thoughts about Rekkord turntables in the Comments section that follows underneath all the spec data.

[MM’s spoiler alert: Methinks we’ll be reviewing one of these Rekkord models in the not-so-distant future.]

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REKKORD TURNTABLES

Fully Automatic Turntables  1128.apnews.F100+vinyl-playing-cutout.png


F100 ($369)
F100P ($399, with phono preamp included)
Fully automatic
8.3-inch weight-balanced tonearm
33/45rpm DC motor
Fixed counterweight
Pre-mounted Audio-Technica AT3600L cartridge
Matte black

 1128.apnews.F110+vinyl-playing-cutout.png

F110 ($449)
F110P ($499, with phono preamp included)
Fully automatic
8.3-inch weight-balanced tonearm
33/45rpm DC motor
Fixed counterweight
Pre-mounted Audio-Technica AT3600L cartridge
Matte black

 1128.apnews.F300-wood-playing-cutout.png

F300 ($599)
Advanced automatic subchassis
8.3-inch weight-balanced tonearm
Pre-mounted Audio-Technica AT91 cartridge
33/45rpm DC motor
Matte black or Sterling oak

 1128.apnews.F400-macassar+vinyl-playing-cutout.png

F400 ($799-$949)
Massless tracking force
Automatic subchassis player
Damped-aluminium platter
8.3-inch weight-balanced tonearm
Pre-mounted Ortofon 2M Red cartridge
33/45/78rpm DC motor
Cardan bearing
Carbon fiber headshell
Vibration-damped wood chassis
Belt drive with polished flat belt
Matte black ($799), Cherry ($899), Macassar ($949), Gloss black ($949)

Manual Turntables

 1128.apnews.M500-playing-cutout.png


M500 ($1,199-$1,299)
Massless tracking force
Manual subchassis player
Damped-aluminium platter
8.3-inch weight-balanced tonearm
Cardan bearing
Carbon fiber headshell
Vibration-damped wood chassis
Pre-mounted Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge (on two of four models)
Belt drive with polished flat belt
Matte black ($1,199 without cartridge, $1,299 with cartridge); Silver ($1,199 without cartridge, $1,299 with cartridge)

 1128.apnews.M600-topview-cutout.png

M600 ($1,499-$1,899)
Massless tracking force
Manual subchassis player
Damped-aluminium platter
33/45/78rpm DC motor
8.6-inch weight-balanced tonearm
Cardan bearing
Carbon-fiber headshell
Vibration-damped wood chassis
Pre-mounted Ortofon Quintet Red cartridge (on two of four models)
Belt drive with polished flat belt
Matte black ($1,499 without cartridge, $1,699 with cartridge); Gloss black ($1,699 without cartridge, $1,899 with cartridge)

 1128.apnews.F100-lifestyle.jpg

COMMENTS
volvic's picture

Very nice looking turntables, I especially like the F400 and M600, for their 78rpm feature and removable headshell for fast cartridge changing. In fact, the F400 might be a better deal. As great as the M600 is it is awfully close in price to a 1200GR and Technics is the one to have at $1800.

Ortofan's picture

...fast with these new models.
While the headshell is removable, the wiring does not disconnect with the headshell.

Before removing the headshell, the wire lead clips must first be disconnected from the cartridge pins.
Reverse the procedure when installing the headshell.
While it eliminates a set of contacts in the signal path, it seems to defeat the advantages of a removable headshell for easy cartridge swapping.

The DUAL 505-2 and 5000 models I own have the traditional removable headshells, with contacts for the wiring.
Rekkord should bring those models back as they were, without any such "improvements".

rich d's picture

Volvic's point about the Technics is more than fair, but you gotta admit that given how nice these 'tables look and where they're made, the pricing seems very reasonable. Mind you I've never heard one; perhaps the review will reveal all.

Anton D's picture

Nice to see so much choice at "realistic" prices. (It's all relative, I know.)

How cool is it that so many products are in a range where people can honestly say, "Wow, which one to choose?"

DinoDan's picture

Rekkord is the latest iteration of the company once known as Dual. It's great that the history of the German factory is highlighted, with its roots in St. Georgen Germany reaching back over 100 years, but I am a bit disappointed that the original Dual brand is not mentioned in this article or anywhere on Rekkord's website.

I am the original owner of a Dual turntable that I purchased as a teenager back in 1979, which I've recently restored and am currently enjoying. I've been rooting for the return of "real" Dual turntables to the United States after many decades of absence, so the introduction of Rekkord to the US market is something that I have been waiting a long time for.

Dual is perhaps best known for their dynamically balanced tonearms, which is really their differentiator in the turntable market even today, and it's great to see this feature (and tradition) continue on with Rekkord.

Dual's other claim to fame (in my opinion) was their AC synchronous drive motors, which were elegant in their simplicity, and rock solid in terms of stability, assuming of course that your AC was relatively consistent at 60 Hz (or 50 Hz in other parts of the world). Unfortunately, AC motors didn't make the transition to the modern turntables that Rekkord now produces; they've gone to DC motors, which I'm sure function very well, but really are not very interesting (in my opinion).

The use of AC synchronous motors is common today among storied turntable manufacturers such as Rega as well as modern turntable companies such as Pro-ject and EAT, and high end manufacturers such as VPI, so I do lament that Rekkord chose to abandon the AC motor tradition that distinguished Dual from their (mostly Japanese) competitors back in the day.

But at any rate, I am super happy that Dual (in the form of Rekkord) is finally back in the US!

Anton D's picture

I should have guessed it by the look of the bearing/pivot!!!

volvic's picture

You know, I was going to say those tonearms look a little like the Dual turntables tonearms from the 70s and 80s, but I thought it was a stretch as not all look a Dual. Guess my initial reaction was correct.

volvic's picture

C’mon Mettler give us an edit option. LOL!!!

Mike Mettler's picture
Spot on re Dual, y'all...

volvic -- is there no preview option available before you post, is that what you mean? Or no edit option after? Or both?

rich d's picture

...I'm pretty sure he means both. The preview function only works intermittently, and there is no means (at least none of which I am aware) to go back later and correct spelling, grammar or factual errors, much less any means of deleting a drunken or misplaced text the next morning. Not that I'm calling volvic a drunk - he clearly prefers water.

volvic's picture

Water (volvic) in the morning, but sometimes in the evening on my phone, after a few Negronis, my typing skills and grammar go right out the window, only to discover the next day, that I have made an ass of myself. Hence the need for a post-edit button, like the Stereophile page offers.

volvic's picture

Sometimes the preview is a little wonky, causing me to post the same comment twice. But, my posting was for an edit option after posting.

Jazz listener's picture

to an edit function. I enjoy the odd drunken, boorish, cheeky, ill-considered, late night, unpolished, and raw comments that are made possible from a no-going-back comment function. It adds a little colour and zest to things, lol.

Trevor_Bartram's picture

I graduated from a homebuilt Connoisseur turntable + SME 3009 to a Dual CS505 around 1982. The Dual's weak point is the headshell contacts, unacceptable in the age of Linn's source first philosophy. I recently restored the 505 and the headshell connections acted up. Has anyone created a permanent solution to the problem?

Tasingegade's picture

There is something about these that is at once utilitarian and beautiful in simplicity, maybe a la Braun? I love the price point as well. It is such a shame that the market seems to only support uber-high priced gear for a few, as opposed to great sound for all. I love companies like this, or Schiit, or NAD maybe, or ... i guess that is it for companies that make entry level priced but good gear

RG's picture

Over the past few years I’ve collected a few 12 inch LPs that were issued to be played at 45 rpm. As a result, I would not be able to play them on this table or any other fully automatic rig because the selected speed cannot be set apart from the size off the record. Thus, selecting 33 1/3 will always position the stylus at the outer position of a 12 inch record, whereas selecting 45 rpm will always position the stylus where a 7 inch record is expected to be. Am I mistaken?

RG's picture

As of 1/23/23, there do not appear to be any actual dealers in the USA for Rekkord products. I queried Vana Ltd two weeks ago and they failed to respond. Seems like an odd business model.

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