Turntable Wonder Made In Berlin

Oliver von Zedlitz, 2011

This time we want to dig into the world of High-End audio, introducing Oliver von Zedlitz from Berlin, Germany. In the past ten years this precision engineer developed a serious hobby that resulted in a turntable that stands in serious competition with the best state of the art record players out there. We visited the 48 year old in his apartment for a chat and a demonstration of his hand-made turntable.

I was the DJ on a friend’s party when I met Oliver and we got into talking music, sound and turntables. He told me of his hobby of building his own turntable since he got frustrated with those on the market. To be honest, I’m not so much into these technical things of sound, but I surely know a good record player from a bad one, so I got curious. Since he lived next door from the party, I took a break and went with him for a demonstration. I don’t need to mention that he also has a great record collection, maybe not so many like we know from other crate diggers, but a very selective and exclusive one. What can I say? He put on Grace Jones’ “Nightclubbing” and the sound simply blew me away! This was really state of the art and I had to re-define sound. Music became an experience, like being in a concert, first row! Still, I was sitting in a middle-sized apartment room. Without knowing I entered the world of High-End audio, so we’re talking about $7000,- for a turntable and don’t forget the loudspeakers and PA to reproduce the sound. Surely, an exclusive hobby, but intriguing for those on the hunt for the perfect sound from a vinyl record.

Oliver, you own a company that produces precision metal parts for the industry, but it hasn’t had anything to do with music, so far. You have lots of records, but you said you didn’t listen to them for a long time, like a forgotten passion. What happened that let you to the idea of building your own turntable?

It was about ten years ago when I had a customer who wanted me to make parts for his loudspeaker system. While working on this order I discovered my interest for sound, and when those loudspeakers were finished, I wanted them also for myself. That’s when my passion for music and records re-emerged and I went on to buy me a high quality turntable. The result was disappointing, so I started to make changes like buying a different tone-arm, which was anything but cheap. But, again, it didn’t meet my expectations, at all. On the contrary, the bearing was even more audible, and the record player turntable wasn’t too good, either. Actually, mostly noises coming from bearing are the main problem with turntables, so I exchanged the turntable, which made things better, but it was too heavy for the bearing, now. Then, I came up with the idea of a magnetic bearing, which wasn’t on the market, at that time. In this case turntable and bearing would sit really tight and cause less fraction, less noise. Now, I got really curious and I decided to build the whole thing myself, and that’s how it became a passion for me.

How long did it take you for the final version?

Well, like I said, it’s been a long process that started ten years ago, but I started to build it myself around 7 years ago. It was also a matter of money and time, although it was easier for me ’cause through my company I have access to all kinds of materials. And I’ve been through a LOT of testing in all these past years.

I know we can’t talk about the technical components in detail, so what’s different with your turntable?

See, it’s surely important of what you want from a turntable. First of all, the material of the record player turntable has a significant influence on the linear frequency response which means that some frequencies are being overemphasized and others less emphasized. Manufacturers often use materials that have less resonance to repress any kind of sound distortion. The result is a linear frequency response with a boring sound, taking away the liveliness of a record. That’s what I definitely didn’t want! My vision of sound was all resonances on the turntable being equally spread in harmony that despite a vibrant sound a linear frequency response is maintained for the clearness of sound. Further, I wanted to eliminate all side noises, and it took quite a lot of experiments until I found the perfect combination of materials.

Okay, I’m definitely an amateur in such mechanical things. Can you explain how different materials influence the sound?

Honestly, I was surprised myself how much influence the material has on the sound. There’s an easy example: if a turntable is made from wood, it produces a better resonance (response) for all wooden instruments. If a turntable is made from metal, it supports those kinds of instruments in sound. The material carries the sound. And this leaves an open field for experiments with material and sound. I tried to reach a compromise where it’s only a matter of taste, but we’re talking about nuances that you can only hear when being compared directly.

In retrospect, it’s pretty logical ’cause the material an instrument is made of is its sounding box carrying a certain sound. So, what materials are we talking about for a turntable?

Everything you can think of! I tested synthetic material, laminate, glass, all kinds of rocks like marble and shale, all common metals like corrosion resistant steel, aluminum, premium steel, copper, titanium, carbide, fiberglass enhanced synthetics, carbon etc. pp.

The first unusual thing I noticed about your turntable is the arrangement of the motor plus it is driven by a strong….thread?

(laughs) Yeah, too funny, right? Mostly we see rubber belts on turntables, but there’s one small problem with rubber itself. It is quite elastic, which is good but it’s not consistent in material. That’s due to the tempering of natural rubber to form it. This inconsistency in material influences the speed droop negatively, and it also produces side noises. So I found out that a strong thread is perfect for that matter ’cause it has an equally spread density and covers far less surface of the record player turntable. The next thing was the position of the motor. Usually the motor is placed somewhere inside the casing or it’s somehow attached to it. It’s easy to see that this might also cause some unwanted side noises, and I was trained for hearing the slightest one, by now. So, I placed the whole thing outside, on an extra spindle. Driven by the thread, the motor and the turntable produce practically no side noises.

There’s also a little detail that’s different on your tone arm…

Yes, I attached a guidance and a small bracket to keep the unipivot tone arm from wobbling, which is quite useful for providing stability to the system. But I guess, I was lucky with the tone arm in general. I combined the right materials from the beginning and it sounded twice as good as leading trademarks out there.

But let’s face it, it doesn’t stop with the turntable.

Absolutely not. In my case it started with those loudspeakers that led me to the turntable ’cause I wanted to listen to my records, again. But to be honest, I thought it would be possible to build a middle priced turntable with a great sound. Well, as I got more into sound and details, I automatically moved to higher level. I realized that I’m probably able to build one of the best turntables and my ambition kicked in. I bought the amplifier, which is also state of the art. This and the speakers are responsible for amplifying the sound as accurate as it’s signaled from the turntable. Still, the signal is the most important thing, and my turntable would sound great with every other good power amplifier. Surely different ’cause that’s in the nature of different devices, but it would still sound pretty good.

Would it be easy for others to rebuild this turntable?

Well, give it a try, but in the end, this turntable includes also many hand made details. For example, the axis is made of solid carbide, which is hard to work on and this is quite a job itself that not everyone is able to perform. There’s also granite down below, which is also difficult to work on if you don’t have any experience with such materials. You need to drill and shape it with a diamond. Then it needs to be polished and on top of it follows premium steel and aluminum. The hand made bearing, the combination of materials, the precision work and so on. So, no, it’s really not easy for others to rebuild this turntable plus these materials are pretty expensive.

Is there a restriction to this perfect sound depending on the genre of music?

Not at all ’cause that’s exactly what I wanted. A jazz record should not be different from electronic music or a classical record in its very sound. I wanted all musical aspects of whatever genre to be actually heard. I simply wanted that a record sounds like it’s supposed to be. Last but not least, it also depends on the quality of the vinyl record and its pressing, but I guess everybody knows a bad pressing from a good one without having an expensive turntable.

Oliver with one of his favourite albums by the Bassface Swing Trio, released on Stockfish Records

This is quite a hobby and Oliver celebrates this with regular listening sessions with some of his friends. Yes, they just sit there and enjoy the record just like we did at the end of the interview. Thirteen minutes of Gustav Mahler (not my style of music, at all) and I didn’t dare to even breathe ’cause the sound was so present, so clear, so vibrant. I closed my eyes and I could virtually see every section of the orchestra. Logically, we talked also about records compared to CDs.

Oliver, what’s the main difference?

There’s no 100% in transmission of an recording. But an analogue sound carrier can store simply more information in every groove and comes as close as 100% in transmission of the original audio compared to a CD. For example, a 7″ single played with 45rpm can deliver even a better sound ’cause you can put in more information. More sound details can be scanned in the same time when using a higher speed.

When we left, still impressed by the extraordinary sound we just experienced, Sebastian (our photographer) and I realized that this is surely for an exclusive market of customers. On the other hand, how many people are spending thousands for a nice home entertainment system? We both guessed, still enough. I have to admit that I didn’t listen to my records for a few days ’cause it wouldn’t be by far the sound I know is possible, now. But I guess that’s not what I wanted from my turntables ’cause as a DJ you need, again, different qualities. Like Oliver said in the beginning: “You need to know what you want from your turntable.”

So, check out trade shows of high end audio if you have the chance – it’s surely an experience!

Keep the records spinning!

Photographer: Sebastian Marggraf