More than a decade ago, a Swedish audio startup looked to stand out from the overcrowded Bluetooth speaker space by rocking a see-through vibe. Now the company is taking another step towards providing "the complete listening experience" with the Transparent Turntable.
For its first few projects, Stockholm's Transparent took to Kickstarter to fund production but the Turntable is spinning straight to the company's webshop, as well as stores like MoMA and Bloomingdales.
"It is designed to seamlessly integrate with our speakers providing a complete audio ecosystem that immerses you in music, connecting you intimately with your favorite artists and their creations," said the outfit's Creative Director, Per Brickstad.
The Turntable has been 3 years in development and is reported to have been created in "direct response to a demand from our community of music lovers." It benefits from an attractive room-neutral minimal aesthetic, and is fashioned from aluminum and tempered glass. Even the dust cover – with dampened hinges – is made from glass.
A belt-drive spins the aluminum platter at 33 and 45 rpm, with less than one percent variance in speed, and the setup includes auto-stop to limit stylus wear. The listener will need to lift and drop the anti-skating aluminum tonearm at start of play and end, and the vinyl spinner ships with an Ortofon 5e moving-magnet cartridge built around an elliptical diamond stylus.
The system comes with its own phono pre-amp for direct cabling to powered speakers or a hi-fi system, though Bluetooth 5.0 is also cooked in for wireless connection to BT speaker – such as Transparent's own stylish see-through and solid models.
immerses you in music, connecting you intimately with your favorite artists and their creations"
In an effort to extend its operational lifespan, and therefore reducing the burden of e-waste, the Turntable "boasts a modular architecture that allows for easy disassembly and component replacement."
The Transparent Turntable is on sale now for US$1,300, which puts it in a similar pricing range to Pro-Ject's T2 W but less expensive than the flagship DP-3000NE from Denon. Shipping is expected to start from mid-November.
Product page: Transparent Turntable
Another scenario would be using this turntable in a central primary listening space connected to conventional components while outputting wirelessly to speakers elsewhere in the house. Lots of potential other than the garden variety setup.