There’s a new kid in town in the mega-turntable arena. The turntable is the Pure-Vox PV-Flagship, and it has an interesting story behind it. Its creator, Mr. Tingguang Tan, is a mechanical engineer who founded a very successful business building kitchen appliances.

A dedicated music lover, Mr. Tan was unhappy with the sound of CD and decided to build his own turntable for personal use. His first ’table was more like a pilot project from which he worked out ideas for the ultimate turntable he’d been thinking about for two years. After reducing his responsibilities in his appliance business, Mr. Tan turned his attention to building this absolutely no-compromise ’table for his own use.

Using his factory’s manufacturing resources, he built the’ table. Word soon spread about it, and he was asked to build another one for sale. He built two more, and then decided to go into the turntable business with five models. The PV-Flagship is stunning visually, and features a magnetically driven sub-platter that has no contact with the main platter.

The top third of the turntable is isolated from the lower section, and is self-balancing via three massive weights (170 pounds total) that hang nearly to the floor. A high-speed microprocessor controls the motor. The entire structure weighs in at more than 750 pounds. The price is 890,000 RMB, or about $135,000.

No hi-fi show would be complete without Lars Kristensen from Nordost putting on his cable show. If you’ve seen Lars in action at a show, you know what I mean. He demonstrates to large crowds the sonic differences between different models of Nordost interconnect—invariably with great flair and engaging banter. The exhibit room was jam-packed—easily the best-attended room of the show.

The system on display featured VTL’s Siegfried monoblock power amplifiers driving the excellent Scandinavian Raidho loudspeakers. VTL’s Luke Manley was also on hand for the festivities.

Next: KEF Muon Loudspeaker

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