TURNTABLE

These days, many young people visit record shops, but 40-50% of people who buy records don’t have a record player. You need a large space to set up an environment to listen to records in your own room. You also need money. So, they listen to music on their smartphones, and buy content from their favorite artists as ‘records to own’. But they don’t have a record player. Some people ‘leave’ their records at cafes or bars with good audio systems.

So, I thought that if we solve the problem of space and cost for listening to analogue records, then the number

A fordable record player made by a Chinese manufacturer

In 2015, there was a boom in vinyl records

This plastic unit can be purchased on Alibaba.com for $11 each. The needles are not made of diamond, but sapphire, and the needle tips are glued to plastic cantilevers. The Chinese engineers focused on skipping most of the essential functions for record players. They prioritized playing records for their ‘style’ rather than their ‘sound quality’. They were obsessed with reducing costs to the bare minimum. They do not have an environment in which to listen to records in their own lives. So, they thoroughly cut down on specifications.

This player was released in the summer of 2015 at a price below 10,000 yen and was a huge hit. It led young people who had been listening to music on their smartphones to become interested in vinyl records.

Our turntable

Analog records capture the ‘space’ of the recording studio decades ago. They use analog recording techniques of the time. These techniques carve the waveform into the grooves and trap the waves of air in a black vinyl disc. The appeal of vinyl record playback lies in the movement of the needle vibrations. These vibrations excavate that ‘space’. The amplifier then amplifies this space. It is ‘reproduced’ through speakers or headphones. Analog records excel at creating a ‘space’. You can hear ‘music’ recorded decades ago as if it were being performed right next to you. Vinyl records are like unboxing a time capsule. I want to share this experience with everyone. That’s what I think.

For this experience to be possible, the record player needs to have basic functions. Changing the cartridge, controlling the needle pressure with the tone arm weight, correct pitch, and a heavy turntable platter. Still, these features come at a cost. If the product price is too high, then why not just listen to good sound on your smartphone?

We decided that the price of the product would be no more than 20,000 yen. Considering the cost, we decided to have the product manufactured in China. We then decided to unbox the finished product in Aichi Prefecture and make any necessary adjustments.

Developers and manufacturers in China don’t listen to music on vinyl records as part of their everyday lives. Yet, they can make products that imitate Japanese record players. They don’t fully understand the significance of each feature. There was daily dialogue between Japanese specialists and manufacturers. Each product that arrived was unpacked and tweaked in Japan. We aimed for a slightly better sound quality than a simple record player with built-in speakers. We also focused on creating a time capsule UNBOX experience. All this was achieved at a price of just over 10,000 yen.

The record player we made. We hope it will be your first record player. Please take a look at the product page for more details.