Wilson Benesch has announced its new Greenwich turntable at this year’s Audio Delux hi-fi show. The 64kg Greenwich (£82,000/$130,000) is now the entry point into the company’s ultra-high-end GMT series of record players.
It is essentially the motor unit of the Prime Meridian (£170,000/$240,000) and range-topping GMT One (£215,000/$300,000) packages, and comes without arm, cartridge, rack or clever VTA adjustment included in the others.
All these can be added as required at the time of purchase, and there are various trim options to fine-tune the deck’s cosmetics to taste.
The Greenwich’s heart is undoubtedly Wilson Benesch’s impressive Omega Drive system. It is an innovative direct-drive design that integrates the platter directly into the motor.
Omega Drive was developed through collaboration between Wilson Benesch and Sheffield Hallam University and supported by Innovate UK funding. At 15 inches in diameter, this is claimed to be the largest motor ever developed for use in a turntable.
Omega Drive is a slot-less synchronous design with an architecture optimised to eliminate clogging effects and minimise torque ripples.
Its structure consists of 21 precision-wound coils and 14 NdFeB (Neodymium-Iron-Boron) magnets (the strongest type of commercially available permanent magnet).
The result is claimed to deliver smooth, stable platter rotation without the noise, vibration and speed instability often associated with traditional belt, idler, and direct-drive configurations.
Speed options are 33 ⅓, 45 and 78 RPM, and they are selected using the Alpha Drive electronic controller. This hefty 30kg box feeds the Omega motor quartz-regulated, multi-phase sinewave signals to ensure accurate and stable speed of platter rotation.
All Wilson Benesch’s GMT turntables are supplied with a control app that allows the user to Stop/Start and adjust rotational speeds in 0.1 RPM increments.
Production of the Greenwich turntable will start in April with a lead time of 12-14 weeks. Start saving.
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