Mid-range record players used to be hard to find. The choice was either a precision-balanced turntable aimed at vinyl fetishists and gearheads in search of audio perfection, or budget retro Bluetooth devices with needles that wrecked your records and your ears.
The new Goldring GR3 promises to restore the middle ground. Goldring is best known for making phono cartridges, but no doubt buoyed by the steady growth in the analogue revival, the GR3 is the company’s first new turntable for over two decades. Simple and stylish, the GR3 was shaped in collaboration with QED and Q Acoustics, the British company’s sister brands.
The turntable ships with Goldring’s E3 cartridge, a tried and tested moving magnet design that has won plenty of awards when used in other manufacturer’s systems. There’s also an integrated pre-amplifier, which makes connectivity simpler when hooking up to a regular amp or powered speaker. The turntable ships with both a QED 1.5m phono-to-phono and a 3m phono-to-3.5mm cables to maximise ease of set-up. The cartridge itself is designed and engineered in the UK.
Visually, the GR3 doesn’t break any new ground, but the combination of high-gloss black plinth and simple Perspex dust cover creates a classic look that pairs well with any combination of speaker or hi-fi furniture. The inclusion of the powered phono stage effectively does away with another box for amplification, so if you have powered speakers to hand (Goldring naturally suggests the M20 or M40 series from Q Acoustics) you can create a compact, powerful system.
Goldring can trace its history all the way back to 1906 and the supply of specialist components to the gramophone industry. The company’s first gramophone soundbox – the forerunner of today’s cartridge – was the Jewel Electro, introduced in 1926. As the sound-box evolved into a compact cartridge, Goldring stayed ahead of the game and supplied much of the broadcast industry with products like the 500 cartridge becoming standard across the BBC, for example.
GR3 Record Player by Goldring, £699, Goldring.co.uk, @GoldringOfficial
