Luphonic H2

The Luphonic H2 is a high-end German-made turntable, built around a flat-belt drive running via a sub-platter and a K2 tonearm with gimbal suspension. Its unusual silhouette is not a stylistic exercise: the chassis outline was designed to move the plinth away from the arm's trajectory and limit interaction between the two. Control is achieved without any button or switch, simply by placing a puck on the spindle: depending on which side is placed down, the turntable spins at 33 1/3 or 45 rpm, with the selected speed shown in red digits. A slight shift or removal of the puck stops playback, which does away with any control part subject to wear.

The chassis is made from Solid Surface, a dense material whose structure naturally limits resonance, and it uses a sandwich construction with a central layer of anti-vibration foam tasked with absorbing impact noise and motor-borne vibration. The surface undergoes seven successive passes of sanding and polishing. The low-vibration synchronous motor is driven by microprocessor-based electronics that feed it sine and cosine signals, individually tuned for each unit before shipping; the result is a speed accuracy of 0.04% WRMS DIN, and its mechanical decoupling from the platter-arm assembly prevents it from imprinting its signature on the groove.

The K2 tonearm combines a carbon tube, aluminium, stainless steel and POM, and pivots on Japanese precision ball bearings both horizontally and vertically. Its headshell, produced by additive manufacturing from polyamide loaded with glass microbeads, seeks to balance rigidity and vibration absorption for a total arm mass of 12 grams. The adjustments are accessible: height, azimuth, stainless steel counterweight, and antiskating via a stainless steel weight adjustable between 0.21 g and 0.43 g. Its geometry is set by the following values:

• Effective length: 239.3 mm
• Overhang: 17.3 mm
• Mounting distance: 222.0 mm
• Supported cartridges: 5 g to 14 g

This H2 is aimed at the listener building a high-level analogue chain who wants a source with every parameter remaining adjustable over time. The supported cartridge weight range, 5 g to 14 g, opens the choice to both moving magnet and moving coil designs, and the antiskating covers most usual tracking forces. Its dimensions, 440 mm wide, 360 mm deep, 140 mm high for 1.9 kg, call for a stable, well-clear piece of furniture, suited to making the most of the damping work carried out on the chassis.