Turntables — Wilson Benesch Greenwich

The Greenwich is a direct-drive turntable from Wilson Benesch, the British company based in Sheffield, and it opens the GMT Collection. It is built on the same ALPHA-OMEGA drive platform as the Prime Meridian and the GMT One at the top of the range. The GMT One had its premiere in Munich, at High End 2024. Further up the collection the structure, damping and isolation become more elaborate, while the drive itself stays the same.

Key specs that matter

Rotation comes from the OMEGA Direct Drive, a 15 in slotless synchronous motor with 21 precision-wound coils and 14 NdFeB magnets, governed by the ALPHA Drive electronics. The deck plays at 33, 45 and 78 rpm, and each speed can be trimmed in 0.1 rpm steps. The Greenwich weighs 64 kg. All functions are operated through the GMT Control App, which runs on a dedicated tablet. Production started in April 2026, and the lead time is 12 to 14 weeks.

Engineering and use context

Wilson Benesch developed the OMEGA motor for the GMT platform in a research programme with Sheffield Hallam University. Its slotless construction and circumjacent radial-force architecture remove cogging and reduce torque ripple, the small speed variations a conventional direct-drive motor produces each time a magnet passes a pole. The large diameter of the motor creates a uniform electromagnetic field, so the rotor stays synchronous without complex feedback correction. The motor runs at an ultra-low 4 Hz, below the range of hearing and below the region where wow and flutter occur. It puts no sideways load on the bearing, and a magnetic counterforce system lowers the effective dynamic mass resting on the Angstrom bearing so that contact forces stay within safe limits. The ALPHA Drive generates quartz-referenced multi-phase sine-wave signals and feeds a controlled current to every motor pole.

The VTA Control System is optional on the Greenwich and standard on the higher models. It lifts and lowers the tonearm automatically and adjusts vertical tracking angle by piezo control with nanometre resolution, storing the positions. Other options are the Clear Platter and Rotor Upgrade and the R1 Carbon Rack. The caps on the glass top and the platter weights can be ordered with silver or gold accents.

Pairing

The deck is designed around the Wilson Benesch GRAVITON Ti tonearm and the TESSELLATE Ti cartridge, both offered as options. An external phono stage completes the analogue chain.

Alternatives

The Wilson Benesch Prime Meridian is the next turntable in the GMT range and comes with the VTA Control System as standard.