Go hide your wallet and have someone change all your payment related passwords, because you might be tempted to make an irresponsible decision in the next few moments. A husband and wife team from San Diego is hand-crafting record consoles and, well, they’re pretty good at it. Like, really good. If you’re all about vinyl, this is the good stuff. If you’re not, you might be soon.
Scott and Debra Salyer started a career in high-end furniture building together, but they got bored after a while and decided to go back to the thing that brought them together in the first place — music. The result was the Wrensilva M1 Console Stereo, and it’s a dream system for hi-fi enthusiasts. The Salyers wanted to reach back into the heyday of the record console, but it looks like they didn’t just want to do something for nostalgia’s sake, either. The light wooden paneling (white flamed European sycamore) and sharp lines give the M1 a distinctly modern look while retaining the shape of the classic record console.
That design philosophy is mirrored in the M1’s technical abilities. The centerpiece is the belt-driven turntable, and nearly every other design decision seems to be dedicated to keeping vibrations from the speakers away from the needle, which would disrupt the sound. The 8″ bass reflex speakers on either side have been isolated in their own damped cabinets — not only have the speakers been mounted to minimize the transmission of vibrations, the damping material takes care of any vibrations that do travel through the cabinet. They’ve also put a subsonic filter into their preamp, which cuts out sound under 20 Hz — too low to be heard, but another potential source of large vibrations. All that together means clear, pristine sound coming from vinyl — not sure how music gets better.
But, like we mentioned, the M1 looks to the present in more ways than just physical design. The console is fully connected, featuring Bluetooth with the aptX codec, compatibility with the Sonos Connect Receiver (the console itself doesn’t have Wi-Fi connectivity), a 3.5 mm audio jack, and four audio inputs inside that can be used with cassette players, set-top boxes, and any other audio source. It can even be connected to your existing surround sound system using pre-pre-amp audio-out ports. Basically, it works with any audio source or speaker from past or present. This is the definition of no expense spared.
The audio components are premium, the materials are premium, and the craftsmanship is premium. That means the price is premium — $10,000. But, if you’re on a budget, they have a smaller, scaled back model available for just $6,950. But, given that these are made to order, those prices are more or less guidelines — either one is fully customizable, so if you know what you want, they might be able to accommodate it.
This story was originally published at Wrensilva Makes Some Seriously Gorgeous Record Consoles
