Analog Gear News

As CES 2024 continues ever onward, we wanted to take a moment to highlight quite the cool turntable that perfectly reflects the M.O. and core identity of the company that makes it. Meet the Transparent Turntable from the same-named Swedish company initially known for making (you guessed it) Transparent Speakers.

A bit of history first. Transparent was founded about a decade ago in Stockholm, Sweden by Per Brickstad, Magnus Wiberg, and Martin Willers, all of whom share a design philosophy that reflects the name they chose for their company. According to Transparent, “Design is often used to put a fancy surface onto something. We want to do the exact opposite. We want to show products as they really are.”

Transparent further posits that their products are designed for a “circular economy” that is reflected in a “modular design that can be repaired and upgraded over time with technology constantly evolving.” What that means is, instead of having their customers replace entire product units moving forward, Transparent looks to offer users integral parts as upgrade solutions, with one of their intended purposes being “removing electronic waste from the world.” (It will indeed be quite interesting to see what kind of upgrade options Transparent will proffer for future generations/iterations of their Turntable.)

With all that in mind, you can clearly (pun intended) see how the company’s modular design philosophy has been put into action with the Transparent Turntable that’s shown here from various angles. As you can tell, the Turntable is comprised of aluminium and tempered glass.

It’s a belt-driven ’table with a built-in phono stage (with on/off switch), elliptical diamond stylus, standard SME headshell mount, and a pre-mounted Ortofon OM 5E moving-magnet (MM) cartridge (with standard 0.5in cartridge mount), gold plating, and a wireless Bluetooth 5.0 module.

Get a taste of the full Transparent experience via the YouTube clip below.

Finally, the Transparent turntable — which is available in either white or black — has an SRP of $1,300.

For more about Transparent, go here.
To order any/all Transparent gear, go here.

TRANSPARENT TURNTABLE
($1,300)

Features & Specs
Nominal speeds: 33 1/3rpm, 45rpm
Speed variance: 33 1/3rpm: ±0.70%; 45rpm: ±0.60%
Wow and flutter: 33 1/3rpm: ±0.25%; 45rpm: ±0.25%
S/N ratio: ≥70dB at 1kHz, 0dB A-weighted
Frequency range: 20-25.000Hz ±3dB
Stylus tip radius: r/R 8/18 µm
Tracking force range: 1.5-2.0g (15-20mN)
Tracking force, recommended: 1.75g (17.5mN)
Tracking angle: 20°
Replacement stylus unit: Ortofon Stylus 5E
Effective tonearm mass: 13.5g
Effective tonearm length: 220mm / 8.7in
Overhang: 19.5mm / 0.77in

Max power consumption: 15W
Dimensions: 410 x 125 x 320mm (w/h/d) / 16 x 5 x 13in (w/h/d)
Weight: 6.5kg / 14lb
Dimensions including packaging: 580 x 240 x 460mm (w/h/d) / 23 x 10 x 19in (w/h/d)
Weight including packaging: 7.0kg / 15lb
Rated input voltage: 100~240Vac, @ 50/60Hz
Bluetooth version: 5.0
Stereo pairing: Normal or true wireless
Ports: 3.5mm (for digital optical and analog signals); µUSB (for 5V power)
Data switch: RX and TX mode
Chip: Qualcomm CSR8670C
Codec: aptX LL / SBC / MP3 / AAC
Low latency: <40ms