Three young vinyl-loving designers from Austria have hit Kickstarter with a stylishly simple turntable that can become part of your living room hi-fi setup or be wirelessly connected to Bluetooth speakers for "those who like it slow but sometimes prefer the fast and easy way."
The Tone Factory's simple, refined aesthetic brings to mind the minimalist turntables of fellow Austrians, Pro-Ject. Indeed the startup's young design team was able to work with engineers from that high-end audio gear maker, though says that every component of a traditional turntable was the subject of a redesign for this model.
The turntable rocks a circular base that's home to such things as the motor, integrated phono stage (so you don't have to buy a phono pre-amp for your cabled setup) and the Bluetooth module. The square MDF chassis sits on this base and hosts a 5-mm belt-drive platter and straight one-piece tonearm, that has a built-in counterweight and ends in an Ortophon cartridge.
The turntable spins at 33.3 and 45 rpm, with the on/off switch presented as an under-chassis rocker that is off in the middle rest position, plays at 33 rpm when pushed to the left, and 45 rpm to the right. Neat.
The eye-pleasing vinyl spinner stands just 54 mm (2.1 in) high (or 85 mm/3.3 in with the optional dustcover), and is 360 mm (14.1 in) wide and deep.
The Tone Factory turntable will be hand-crafted in the Czech Republic, but before that can happen, its makers have turned to Kickstarter to raise production funds. Pledges start at €199 (around US$220) and, if all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start in July, 2020. The video below has more.
Source: Tone Factory