One of the small inconveniences about vinyl, especially fancy vinyl, is that you can’t truly program it off while it’s playing – so if you have an LP with a especially fantastic color, or one that produces a zoetrope result as it’s playing, it’s just noticeable if you’re looking straight down on it. Wouldn’t it be terrific if your vinyl was vertical rather?
That’s the technique Fuse Audio is taking with its GLD record gamer. Instead of the familiar horizontal plate, your LP is held up like a Ferris Wheel so you can see it as it spins. It likewise comes with Bluetooth in and out, a set of 36W powered speakers to link straight to it, and it supports 33, 45 and 78rpm records. It’s yours on Kickstarter for $229 plus tax and shipping.
That’s a quite excellent cost for an all-in-one record gamer plan, particularly one that looks as good as this. Obviously, we have no concept how it sounds yet, however I’m completely charmed by the look.
Is vertical vinyl practical?
This isn’t the veryfirst vertical vinyl gamer. I keepinmind believing the Technics SL-V5 was impossibly futuristic back in the 1980s, and we’ve seen vertical designs from companies consistingof Mitsubishi, Sharp and even Sony. For UK readers, there was likewise an Amstrad vertical “music centre”, the SM104, which presently goes for around £70 on eBay. Vertical vinyl wasn’t simply an ’80s trend, . Pro-Ject made one in the 2010s, the VT-E BT, and you can still buy one for around $499.
But are they any excellent? Visually yes: they’re excellent talking points. But as turntables, they wear’t have the finest credibility. The Amstrad was explained by one poster on Vinyl Engine as “possibly the worst turntable ever” while others derided its speakers and stylus; in their evaluation of the VT-E BT, The Audiophile Man recommended that it was “a wayoflife style that sits amongst a load of dross”. While that turntable was enormously muchbetter than other comparable designs, it still wasn’t one audiophiles needto thinkabout.
If you’re looking for the finest turntables at any rate point, a vertical one isn’t going to be the finest purchase. It is a matter of standard physics that its going to be mucheasier to turn consistently and flatly if gravity is working with you, and the exactsame goes for steady tracking on the tonearm.
But if you desire something that’ll get individuals talking, or simply desire to look adoringly at your vinyl as you kick back wi