Though streaming accounts for much of our music consumption these days, vinyl records have been rising in popularity over the last few years. If you want your latest purchase to stand out while playing, then why not have it stand up on the Fuse Audio GLD vertical turntable?
First up – for those concerned by recent headlines claiming a huge drop of 2024 sales figures for vinyl, things may not be as dire as claimed. The bad news circus began with a report from Billboard suggesting that sales of the format had in fact dropped by a massive 33.3% compared to 2023.
However, a representative from a company that supplies data to Billboard has since confirmed that a change in counting methodology means that comparisons with previous years yields inaccurate results – with Luminate stating that US vinyl sales have actually increased by 6.2%.
Now, with that put to bed let's look at an eye-catching way to play collections new and old. Rather than lay a vinyl record flat on the platter like you would with most turntables, California-based Fuse Audio has opted to raise the deck for a face-on upright spin.
This is not a new idea of course, and the GLD is not the company's first vertical release, but previous Fuse units have rocked integrated speakers. This new flavor comes with separate bookshelf audio throwers. As before, the vinyl of choice (the promo shots use colored or picture vinyl for maximum visual impact) is clamped to the vertically oriented belt-driven platter.
Playback speed can be set to 33, 45 or 78 rpm and the "precision-engineered" tonearm ending in an Audio Technica AT3600L cartridge manually placed in the groove. Fuse Audio is promising even pressure across the whole of the spinning vinyl thanks to 3.5 g tracking force (± 0.5 g).
This mechanism sits atop a stained ash plinth with either gold or black accenting, and a handy slot towards the rear for displaying album art during playback. The unit is also home to playback speed and volume knobs, along with a built-in phono pre-amp, speaker connections, RCA line outs, aux in and Bluetooth pairing. That's right, the system caters for streaming of music from a smartphone, too.
A pair of similarly finished 36-W bookshelf speakers will ship with the system, each home to a Class D amplifier, 4-inch driver and 1-inch tweeter. The main unit's onboard Bluetooth can also connect to BT speakers if preferred.
Fuse Audio has launched a Kickstarter to fund production of the GLD, where pledges currently start at US$199 all in. The usual crowdfunding cautions apply, but if all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start from January 2025. The video below has more.
Source: Fuse Audio