EMT 928 II

Modern turntables are a paradox.

- KEN MICALLEF

The ever-evolving technology beneath their sleek exteriors fascinates me. The high-end turntable market these days can feel less like a haven for music lovers and more like a brutalist arms race in pursuit of maximum audio extraction.

Yet, it's not all about performance. Many new 'tables are adorned with outlandish, purely cosmetic flourishes that cause me to chuckle. Some super-bling record players, with their jutting angles and industrial menace, evoke the chrome carcass of the Battlestar Galactica, a testament to mechanical might.

Others are even more menacing, channeling the mirror-finish abyss of Darth Vader's helmet, gleaming with a promise of sonic domination-but is that an invitation or a threat? Setting aside those cosmetic affectations, it's a war, and the enemy-well, the main enemy anyway-is vibrations, which may seem strange considering that vibrations are the whole point of the endeavor.

Some designers (the Davids) strip their turntables bare, believing that agility is the best bet in the face of sonic tremors.' Others, the Goliaths, wield armored fortresses of steel and iron, attacking the problem with overwhelming force. Still others, the renegades and rebels, forge a separate path, with methods as unusual as their aesthetics.

A history of vibrations in the Black Forest

Elektromesstechnik (EMT), founded in 1940 by Wilhelm Franz in Berlin, started by crafting measurement equipment for broadcast companies. By the 1950s, they'd entered the hi-fi field and partnered with Ortofon, offering EMT turntables with Ortofon cartridges.

In 1956, "Gerätewerk Lahr" was established in Germany's Black Forest, becoming the sole production facility for EMT products.