Turntables

Turntables from Rega, SME, Garrard and Revox, chosen for collections in which every record is treated as a performance. The selection runs from Rega’s plug-and-play Planar 1 and reference Naia to SME’s flagship Model 60 and the Garrard 301, each 301 rebuilt around an original drive at SME’s works in Steyning. Whether the next record deck is a first step into vinyl or a lifetime reference, Audio Lounge on Wigmore Street can advise on the cartridge and phono stage to match.

Choosing Between the Best Turntables

Every hi-fi turntable does three jobs at once. The platter must turn at a speed steady enough for a sustained piano note to hold true pitch, the tonearm must guide the stylus through the groove without adding resonance, and the plinth must keep motor and room vibration away from both. The best turntables answer all three with engineering that rewards the ear long before the eye.

Two drive philosophies sit side by side in this collection. Rega’s Planar hi-fi turntables drive the platter through a precision belt, while the Garrard 301 is rim-driven, a design of 1954 that was soon at work in the BBC’s studios. Beyond the drive, the choice turns on the tonearm, the cartridge and the phono stage, because a record deck reveals only as much as the components that read and amplify the groove.

The Rega Planar Range

Rega, founded in 1973, designs and hand builds turntables in England, and the Planar range climbs in clear steps. The Planar 1 Plus adds a built-in moving magnet phono stage to the plug-and-play Planar 1, which arrives with a factory-fitted cartridge. The Planar 3 pairs Rega’s RB330 tonearm with a double-braced plinth, and the Planar 6, 8 and 10 refine the formula towards the Naia, described by Rega as the ultimate Rega turntable and built around a skeletal plinth of graphene-impregnated carbon fibre.

SME, Garrard and Revox

SME builds turntables and tonearms at Steyning in West Sussex, and the selection includes the Model 8, Model 12 and Model 35 as well as the Model 60, which SME describes as the most technically advanced SME turntable ever made. The Synergy goes further, integrating SME’s Series IV tonearm, a factory-matched Ortofon moving coil cartridge and a phono stage designed by NAGRA: an audiophile turntable that needs only an amplifier and loudspeakers.

SME and Garrard build high-end turntables side by side at Steyning, where every Garrard 301 begins as an original drive, fully dismantled, restored and rebuilt to the condition in which the deck first left Swindon. The 301 Advanced mounts the restored drive in a machined high-density plinth with two-stage isolation and a choice of SME precision tonearms. From Germany, the Revox T77 arrives with an Ortofon moving coil cartridge fitted and a moving coil phono stage built in, ready for an amplifier’s balanced inputs.

Completing the Vinyl System

A turntable begins the signal path, and the components around the deck decide how much of the record reaches the room. Explore turntable cartridges in moving coil and moving magnet designs, phono stages for decks without one built in, tonearms for an upgrade path and record cleaning machines to keep every record in fine condition, all within the wider analogue collection.

Browse the Rega turntables and SME turntables collections and the Garrard collection for the complete ranges, then talk to Audio Lounge about a demonstration and the right partners for any of these record decks.

Questions About Turntables

What is the best turntable for a first serious system?

One that will not need replacing as the rest of the system improves. Rega’s Planar 3 is a natural starting point, with the RB330 tonearm and the option of a factory-fitted Rega moving magnet cartridge, while the Planar 1 Plus suits a compact system with no separate phono stage. Audio Lounge can suggest the right amplifier for either.

Do turntables need a separate phono stage?

Most do. A cartridge produces a very small signal that needs dedicated amplification and equalisation before reaching an amplifier’s line input. Three turntables here have that stage built in: Rega’s Planar 1 Plus, the SME Synergy and the Revox T77. Every other deck needs a separate phono stage or an amplifier with a phono input.

Are these turntables UK-made?

Most are. Rega designs and hand builds the Planar range in England, and SME builds the Model range and every Garrard 301 at Steyning in West Sussex. The one turntable UK buyers will find here from outside Britain is the Revox T77, made in Germany.

Can a turntable play 78 rpm records?

Yes, with the right deck and stylus. Rega’s Planar 78 is a single-speed turntable designed solely for 78 rpm records, fitted with Rega’s RB220 tonearm and a phenolic resin platter. The matching Rega RB78 moving magnet cartridge, made for 78s, is sold separately.

What is the best audiophile turntable?

The answer depends on the system around the deck, but SME’s Model 60 sets the reference in this collection as the flagship of the SME range and, by SME’s own account, the most advanced turntable SME has built. Rega’s Naia and the Garrard 301 Advanced take two other routes to a high-end turntable, one built on a carbon fibre skeletal plinth and the other on a restored, rim-driven 301 drive.