High-end Swiss manufacturer Nagra has added a new record player to its Reference line of luxury audio products. Joining the limited edition Reference Anniversary model developed around six years ago, the Nagra Reference turntable is, says the maker, "an analogue product governed by immutable laws of physics and mechanics". Building on the engineering know-how put into the Anniversary player, this new deck has been built to last as a "product for life" rather than one that changes with the times.
The new turntable is designed to be a single, ground-up unit, so you might want to think twice before you start adding your own tonearms and cartridges willy-nilly. That said, if you don't trust the arm that comes supplied with a spinner costing as much as a small flat, Nagra does offer an armless version of the Reference turntable with arm board options to accommodate most tonearms.
The main body of the Reference turntable is constructed using a non-resonant, high-rigidity layer chassis accompanied by a floating mechanical and hydraulic suspension. The belt-driven turntable uses the same transmission inspired by the iconic Nagra IV series of reel-to-reel recorders, complemented by a dual decoupled, super-cap motor drive system.
The Nagra Reference comes equipped with a dual concentric carbon fibre toenarm with a "unique geometrical bearing profile" for greater accuracy and better reproduction. The constrained layer-damped platter is made from aerospace-grade aluminium and phenolic materials (a type of tough resin), while the platter surface incorporates Alcantara, the suede-like microfibre formerly used in Williams F1 race cars and currently used in the luxurious, high-end Meze Audio Empyrean II headphones.
The Nagra Reference turntable is available now for a whopping $128,000 (further prices pending). That might seem like a wallet-meltingly lofty sum, but given the Swiss brand's reputation for premium excellence from products such as the Classic Phono and the legendary Nagra PL-P, there's likely a good reason for the price being so astronomically high.
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