This Turntable Combines Great Sound with a Slice of Nature

You can tell me about bit-rates and lossless audio files all you like, but vinyl still makes the best sound. There’s something about a needle running through a groove that produces a beautiful tone. One new Kickstarter wants to make the turntable just as beautiful. The Silvan Audio Workshop is a father-and-son team based out of Seattle, and the turntables they create combine amazing audio components and gorgeous slices of walnut.

Evidently, seating a turntable in a precision-cut piece of forest isn’t strictly necessary for optimum sound performance. But as Kent Walter, the junior half of the team, points out, the aim of the project is to make a turntable that is just as appealing when not in use as it is during playback.

Silvan Audio Workshop

The electrical parts are from Rega, a high-end British manufacturer with a formidable reputation. While the glass platter and tonearm are very nice on their own, their aesthetic qualities are lifted further by being embedded into American black walnut — a wood chosen for its rich grain and durability.

Silvan Audio Workshop

Personally, I love garage-built items of this caliber. The workmanship does come with a price tag, however. While the base “Archer” model is available to Kickstarter pledgers offering $750 upwards, the upgraded “Champion” is $1000, and the top-of-the-range “Sampo” will set you back $2500. Ouch. The money will go toward setting up two nice workshops for production, and for the most committed of audiophiles, Silvan’s turntables will certainly please.

To find out more about the project, check out the Kickstarter page.

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