If you want your latest purchase to stand out while playing, then why not have it stand up on this new vertical turntable?
Though streaming accounts for much of our music consumption these days, vinyl records have been rising in popularity over the last few years. And this new, reasonably priced turntable is an eye-catching way to play collections new and old. Rather than lay a vinyl record flat on the platter like you would with most turntables, California-based Fuse Audio has opted to raise the deck for a face-on upright spin for its GLD.
Playback speed can be set to 33, 45 or 78 rpm and the "precision-engineered" tonearm ending in an Audio Technica AT3600L cartridge manually placed in the groove. Fuse Audio is promising even pressure across the whole of the spinning vinyl.
The system sits atop a stained ash plinth with either gold or black accenting, incorporating playback speed and volume knobs, along with a built-in phono pre-amp, speaker connections, RCA line outs, aux in and Bluetooth pairing. That's right, the system caters for streaming of music from a smartphone, too. A pair of similarly finished 36-W bookshelf speakers will ship with the system.
Fuse Audio launched a Kickstarter to fund production of the GLD (and has smashed its target), where pledges currently start at US$199 all in. The usual crowdfunding cautions apply, but if all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start from January 2025.