Yamaha TT-S303

Yamaha marks its return to the turntable market with the TT-S303, a model that draws on the brand's historic musical expertise. Its straight tonearm combined with a rigid chassis faithfully reproduces sound, on both old and recent pressings. The turntable incorporates a phono preamplifier, allowing it to be connected directly to a line input on an amplifier without a phono stage, or even to active speakers. For those who prefer to use their own amplifier's phono stage, simply switch the TT-S303 to phono output to pair it with the amplifier of their choice. Its design has also been conceived to match the traditional aesthetic of Hi-Fi systems.

Technically, this is a belt-drive turntable fitted with a DC motor, offering two rotation speeds, 33.3 and 45 rpm. The chassis is made of MDF, the platter of moulded aluminium, and the tonearm, in anodised aluminium, measures 223.5 mm with a 19 mm overhang; it accepts cartridges weighing between 15.5 and 19 g. The phono preamplifier can be switched off and, when activated, delivers an output level of 150 mV, for a signal-to-noise ratio of 67 dB. Speed variation is ±2%, with wow and flutter of 0.2%. The unit measures 540 x 220 x 440 mm and weighs 6.8 kg.