Turntable Reviews

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Turntable Reviews
Pro-Ject’s $899 X1: Best Under $1000 Turntable Package? (updated 10/29/19)
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 24, 2019
Pro-Ject’s Heinz Lichtenegger is not shy about expressing his contempt for el-cheapo turntables coming from China and elsewhere. He thinks these mediocre-sounding turntables ruin the sonic experience for a young generation getting into vinyl.

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Tonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Pro-Ject’s New “Juke Box E” System Is A Decent Entry Into Analog (Manufacturer's Response Added)
Malachi Lui  |  Oct 07, 2018
The all-in-one turntable market has one gargantuan issue looming over it: the Crosley Cruiser. With everything an analog neophyte thinks he or she needs, these $70 “turntables” sell by the boatload, only to seriously damage records after but a few plays with their five grams of tracking force. Why are they so popular then? Because they’re small, inexpensive and the purchaser doesn’t have to think about piecing together an entire system; it’s right in front of them. Even so, it still feels extremely wrong to spend $100 on a vinyl box set and subject it to the evils of a $70 turntable.

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Turntable Reviews
Pro-Ject’s T2 Super Phono Turntable Is a Super Performer, and It’s a Super Bargain Too
Ken Micallef  |  Sep 09, 2024

Pro-Ject Audio Systems, a cornerstone in the turntable industry, boasts a rich heritage spanning decades. Few audiophiles can claim a listening journey untouched by Pro-Ject’s influence — we here at AP very much included. Thus, we were eager to see what Pro-Ject’s new T2 Super Phono turntable, which is billed as the company’s “Audiophile Entry Level Turntable,” could do. Read Ken Micallef’s review to see if the T2 Super Phono table is up to the task of topping its quite affordable price class. . .

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Turntable Reviews
Rega Gives the Popular 3 Series A New Spin With the Planar 3 (Decimal Point Added)
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 03, 2016
(Due to a missing decimal point what was a .2%+ speed error read '2%". However, the published measurements chart is 100% accurate and had anyone done the math it would have revealed the typo. My apologies for the error to Rega, Sound Organization and to you, AnalogPlanet readers).

Can any turntable manufacturer be enjoying the vinyl revival more than Rega? I doubt it. It saw compact discs coming and yet spent a considerable amount of money creating a tool to produce cast pick up arms. I keep mentioning this in Rega reviews but in the face of the digital onslaught it demonstrates their determined commitment to vinyl playback.

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Tonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Rega P3-24, RB301, & Elys 2 turntable, tonearm, & phono cartridge
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 15, 2008
It's now been eight years since a Rega P3 turntable passed through my listening room. While the new P3-24 superficially resembles the P3 (and virtually every other Rega 'table), the company has made some significant changes, including upgrading to the high-quality, low-voltage (24V), electronically adjusted motor used in the more expensive P5, P7, and P9. As in those models, an electronic circuit trims the phase angle of the P3-24's motor coils, thus substantially reducing motor vibrations. In 1998, during a factory tour, a Rega engineer demonstrated the circuit's effectiveness to me. As he adjusted the circuit board's pot, vibrations from the motor dramatically decreased, until it was difficult to tell if the motor was spinning or not. Back then, this "hand-trimmed" motor technology was available only in the P9. The P3-24 uses a less sophisticated version of the same basic idea.
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Turntable Reviews
Rega Planar 25 turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 28, 1999
I literally dropped everything when Rega's new Planar 25 turntable arrived a few weeks ago. I'd heard the 'table compared with the Planar 3 at designer Roy Gandy's house when I visited Rega last fall—see "Analog Corner" in the January '99 Stereophile—and was anxious to audition it in my own system and tell you what I heard.
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Turntable Reviews
Rega Planar 8 Turntable
Ken Micallef  |  Sep 25, 2025

Rega’s Planar 8 turntable was inspired by the company’s flagship turntable, the Naia. Developed and engineered to capture the “essence of Naia at an affordable price,” the Planar 8 is a striking vinyl spinner that struck down our assumptions about lightweight turntables. Read Ken Micallef’s review to see if the Planar 8 table delivered the playback goods, and see if it punched above its weight class (pun intended). . .

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Turntable Reviews
Rega Research RP8 Turntable Aims For Mass Extinction
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 09, 2014
Rega Research sold more turntables last year than in any of its previous forty odd years and is on target to do so again this year.

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Turntable Reviews
Rega Research’s Less Is Much More Planar 8 (Plus Exclusive Interview)
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 06, 2019
Call it “P8” or “Planar 8” but do not call this new Rega turntable “RP8”. That was the previous 8. Despite the obvious superficial Rega similarities the new Planar 8 differs greatly from its predecessor.

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Turntable ReviewsTonearm Reviews
Rockport Technologies System III Sirius turntable and tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 20, 2000
Andy Payor hurls a briefcase full of engineering and scientific mumbo-jumbo at in an attempt to justify the $73,750 price of the latest and greatest edition of his Rockport Technologies turntable, but really—isn't this all-air-driven design a case of analog overkill? After all, defining a turntable's job seems rather easy: rotate the record at an exact and constant speed, and, for a linear tracker, put the stylus in play across the record surface so that it maintains precise tangency to a radius described across the groove surface. By definition, a pivoted arm can't do that, so the goal there is to minimize the deviation. That's basically it. Right?
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Turntable Reviews
Select a VPI Prime Turntable And Make A Great Choice
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 23, 2016
The Prime is the first turntable designed by Mat Weisfeld. What that means in this case is more a series of smart executive decisions rather than a “from scratch” effort (for you vegetarians, the headline incorporates all three USDA grades of meat).

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Turntable Reviews
Shinola Runwell Turntable Follow-Up
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 23, 2017
Last March AnalogPlanet reviewed Shinola's Runwell turntable.
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Turntable Reviews
Shinola’s “Plug’n’Play” Runwell Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 05, 2017
It’s no secret that when Shinola decided to add a turntable to its product roster, the Detroit, Michigan based manufacturer chose to consult for the design with New Jersey based VPI Industries.

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Turntable Reviews
Simon Yorke Designs Series 7 Precision LP Playback System
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 04, 2005
"My original goal was simply to design a better turntable than the Linn because at that time in the UK, Ivor Tiefenbrun was the man—he was the patron saint and all that. And all the hi-fi mags were full of Linns. He did for turntables, in a way, what Mark Levinson (the man) did for amplifiers."
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Turntable ReviewsTonearm Reviews
Simon Yorke Designs Series 9 turntable & tonearm
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 23, 2007
Simon Yorke is an artist, a machinist, an electronics wiz, and a political idealist. He's also an analog enthusiast who melds aesthetic and technical considerations into eye-catching, densely packed, compact record-playing devices that are ruggedly built and functionally elegant. His turntables' smooth, matte-gray, metallic finishes and efficient lines make them among the most visually pleasing ever made.
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