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Retro-cool turntable rocks built-in speakers and Bluetooth streaming

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The CS-01 offers vinyl record playback or Bluetooth streaming through built-in speakers
CoolGeek Design
The CS-01 offers vinyl record playback or Bluetooth streaming through built-in speakers
CoolGeek Design
The CS-01 turntable comes with a carbon fiber tonearm with adjustable tracking force and an Audio Technica cartridge
CoolGeek Design
Within the housing below the turntable are two 15-W speakers and two 10-W tweeters driven by two 30-W amps
CoolGeek Design
The CS-01's belt-drive turntable automatically starts spinning when the tonearm is manually lifted for placement of the stylus on the vinyl record, and auto stops at the end of a side
CoolGeek Design
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Though sales of vinyl records have been steadily rising in recent years, the vast majority of the music we listen to is served up via streaming services. Hong Kong-based design studio CoolGeek embraces both formats with a Bluetooth-capable turntable that also includes its own sound system.

A kind of modern take on the old radiogram, though with Bluetooth streaming instead of a traditional radio, the CS-01 all-in-one music system is topped by a retro-modern belt-drive turntable with a carbon fiber tonearm ending in an Audio Technica Moving Magnet cartridge.

Spin speeds of 33 and 45 rpm are selected by a push button around back, and the setup offers semi-automatic operation, meaning that the platter will start spinning when the tonearm is lifted but the stylus is lowered into the grooves manually. One of a pair of brass-colored knobs up top is used to power on the CS-01 and select turntable or Bluetooth modes while the other controls the output volume.

Within the housing below the turntable are two 15-W speakers and two 10-W tweeters driven by two 30-W amps
CoolGeek Design

Below that is a four-speaker sound system for listening to vinyl records without having to cable the system up to hi-fi components like an amplifier, phono pre-amp or external speakers – though the unit does sport RCA line outputs for user flexibility. This comprises two 15-W speakers for the mids and low end (with the latter enhanced by inverted bass porting) and two 10-W tweeters, driven by two 30-W amplifiers for the promise of "melodious treble, warm midrange, and surging bass."

A four-spring suspension setup is reported to help isolate the turntable from vibrations caused by the speaker system.

And the final ingredient in the CoolGeek recipe is Bluetooth 5.0, which allows listeners to stream music through the built-in sound system from a mobile device.

As with CoolGeek's Soundesk Bluetooth speaker/coffee table hybrid from 2019, the CS-01 music system is the subject of a Kickstarter funding campaign. Pledges start at US$329 and if all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start in May.

Source: CoolGeek

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5 comments
CAVUMark
Nice but can't agree with putting speakers in the turntable, even with the isolation springs. Have a preamp output instead.
annevance
Sorry the looks are good, but it has nothing to do with HiFi. Just an expensive gadget.
MerrylST
What's the point in having a good quality tone arm and cartridge if there are internal speakers? Especially with "2 x 30-W - midrange and surging bass"?
Catweazle
Really...
When I was into HiFi we went to considerable lengths to decouple the deck from any extraneous noise or vibration.
One cheap solution was to stand the deck on a paving stone sitting on a partially inflated inner tube!
Aross
Should come with encoding software so music can be converted to digital for later play on portable players.