Проигрыватели виниловых дисков — McIntosh MT10

The MT10 Precision Turntable is a belt-driven record player that McIntosh Laboratory introduced in 2008, roughly 60 years after the company was founded in 1949. Much of it is sourced from Clearaudio of Germany and based on one of that maker's magnetic suspension turntables with a ceramic bearing, but the plinth shares the footprint of McIntosh electronics and carries the classic black glass faceplate. The launch price was USD 11,500, and the MT10 sits above the MT5 and the MT2 Precision in the current McIntosh turntable range.

Key specs that matter

A brushless DC motor turns the silicone-acrylic platter at 33 1/3, 45 or 78 rpm, with electronic speed control that includes braking. Wow and flutter is 0.10 to 0.15%, and signal to noise ratio is 41 to 44 dB. The supplied moving coil cartridge is a low output design giving 0.5 mV at 5 cm/s, with a 400 to 500 ohm load recommended, a response of 20 Hz to 50 kHz, channel separation above 30 dB at 1 kHz and channel difference under 0.3 dB. Its compliance is 6 x 10-6 cm/dyne, tracking force is 2.4 g and total mass is 11 g. The plinth is 44.45 cm wide, 22.38 cm high and 53.34 cm deep, and the whole turntable weighs 19 kg.

Engineering and use context

The platter is a massive acrylic disc of about 5.4 kg and about 64 mm thick, and it floats on a magnetically suspended ceramic bearing. A laser monitors platter rotation to regulate speed, and a single meter on the faceplate shows the selected speed. The custom tonearm has a 229 mm dural-aluminium arm tube gimbaled in two sapphire bearings for horizontal motion and two ceramic bearings for vertical motion, chosen for the lowest possible friction. An eccentric counterweight balances the arm, and vertical tracking angle, anti-skate and azimuth can all be adjusted. McIntosh presets tracking force, anti-skate and cartridge position at the factory. The cartridge is a version of the Clearaudio Talismann V2, housed in an ebony body with an elliptical diamond stylus on an aluminium cantilever. The turntable stands on rubber feet, no dust cover is included, and the warranty runs three years on parts and labour.

Pairing

With its low output cartridge, the MT10 should be connected to a moving coil phono input, or to a step-up device, presenting the recommended load. The unbalanced stereo output connects to that stage over standard RCA interconnects.

Alternatives

The McIntosh MT5 is a lower-priced model from the same Precision series, pairing a Sumiko Amethyst moving magnet cartridge with an illuminated magnetically suspended platter and a supplied dust cover.