XD1.
A complete direct-drive record player system, engineered with no price constraint toward a single goal: to let the cartridge read the groove undisturbed. Designed by Marc Gomez.
Every decision serves one of four ends.
Isolation
A dual-complementary system removes structure- and air-borne disturbance across the full band, before it can reach the groove.
Speed stability
Direct drive turns the platter at record speed with high torque, so heavy modulation can't drag it. The direct drive allows zero tangential forces on the spindle, unlike belt-driven turntables.
Rigidity
A monoblock alloy chassis and preloaded, locked motor mounting raise the structure's resonances high and quiet, out of the music.
Vacuum hold-down
A passive, self-contained vacuum couples the record fully to the platter — no air through the spindle or bearing. It draws the record into firm, total contact with the platter, so it can't flex under the forces the stylus exerts during playback. With that deformation removed, the cartridge reads only the groove — and distortion falls.
A direct-drive motor, rebuilt as a fortress.
A direct-drive platter turns at just 33.3, 45 or 78 rpm — not the several hundred rpm of a belt motor — and the spindle takes only torque, never an off-centre pull. The unbalanced forces that plague belt motors rise with the square of speed; here they fall by a factor of more than a hundred.
The motor sits on an all-new internal platform and a massive three-point bracket for stress-free coupling. A preloading system locks the stator rigidly to the chassis after assembly, and a dedicated damping system quiets high-frequency vibration — so the motor turns the platter more accurately.
One block of alloy, on a system that floats.
The high-density chassis is machined from a single piece of magnesium-aluminium-silicon alloy. Sharply machined edges diffract sound waves; curved, chamfered surfaces replace the large flat faces that ring on most turntables. Its three massive legs were shaped through finite-element analysis and virtual design-of-experiments.
Isolation is dual-complementary: a low-profile Minus K negative-stiffness platform handles 1.5–100 Hz, while matched multi-elastomer modules built into the legs take over above 100 Hz. The modules are tuned to the table's mass.
A platter that grips the record
Precision-machined from a precipitation-aged Mg-Si-Al alloy with Swedish brass weights, the platter weighs 12 kg. Its top layer exploits an engineering plastic to keep the interaction of magnetic fields away from the cartridge and damp the record as no metal can.
The optional vacuum hold-down draws the record into full contact with the platter — a pump evacuates the air beneath the disc so it sits perfectly flat, with the suction acting directly on the platter rather than through the spindle or bearing. Because the vacuum is completely contained inside the platter, we can reach a much higher vacuum — and therefore far greater contact between record and platter, more than 135 kg of force across the disc.
Continuous systems, or those that draw through the bearing or spindle, simply cannot reach this level: it would demand an extreme degree of sealing between the rotating platter and the fixed chassis, so it would not be able to spin freely.
The XD1's vacuum is activated only a few seconds before playback, and the pump shuts off completely while the music is playing — absolutely quiet operation that other systems cannot achieve.
Every force has an equal and opposite one.
Newton's third law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. As the record turns, the groove drives the stylus side to side and up and down — that is the action. By the same law, the stylus pushes back on the record with a force of equal size in the opposite direction.
The stylus in the groove
Front section · two axesSeen end-on, the groove is a 90° V. As it plays, the diamond is driven side to side and up and down — the two stereo channels — and the cantilever follows. Each of those movements is a force the record feels back; if it is not held flat against the platter, the vinyl gives way to them, and that unwanted motion becomes distortion.
If the record is not held firmly against the platter, that reaction force deflects the vinyl itself, and the cartridge then reads the groove plus the record's own motion — which is distortion. Held in total contact with the platter, the same force is absorbed by 12 kg of rigid alloy rather than by the flexible record — so the stylus reads the groove and nothing else.
Free platter
Record deflectsThe stylus's own reaction force flexes the vinyl as it is not in complete contact with the platter. The cartridge reads the groove plus that movement — and the extra motion shows up as distortion.
Vacuum hold-down
Record groundedA passive vacuum draws the whole record into firm, total contact. It can't flex; the reaction force grounds straight into the 12 kg platter, so the cartridge reads only the groove.
The same holds for sound in the room. Music from the speakers is acoustic pressure — a physical force that beats against every surface, the record included. A loosely sitting disc flaps and moves under it, adding its own motion to what the stylus reads. Drawn flat and held against the platter, the record cannot deflect under the acoustic load, and the airborne energy picked up by the cartridge is reduced significantly.
You can feel this for yourself: hold a water bottle or an empty box near the speakers while music plays. Their large surface area picks up the airborne pressure, and you feel it vibrate in your hand. A record experiences exactly the same thing — and the cartridge reading it is far more sensitive to that vibration than your fingers are.
Sound pressure on the record
The same sound pressure arrives either way — toggle the vacuum and the held record simply refuses to move under it.
Drop-in pods. Repeatable, rigid geometry.
A "key"-type drop-in interface, stiffened with bolts, gives a fully rigid, repeatable coupling between each armboard pod and the chassis. Preinstall an arm and cartridge on a spare board and you can swap it in minutes, sure of accurate alignment every time.
The XD1 is delivered with a titanium-reinforced CF1 arm — the CF1-09Ti (9″) or CF1-12Ti (12″) — a titanium tube in the already super-stiff carbon-fibre armtube, with a titanium headshell frame. It is reserved for owners of the XD1.
Explore the pickup arms →
The best-sounding, best-engineered, and best-built turntable that's been here.
The XD1 in detail.
- Drive system
- Reengineered direct drive, hand-rebuilt core
- Speeds
- 33.3 / 45 / 78 rpm
- Chassis
- Monoblock magnesium-aluminium-silicon alloy
- Platter
- Precipitation-aged Mg-Si-Al alloy, Swedish brass weights; 12 kg
- Platter surface
- Engineering polymer — distances the aluminium from the cartridge to avoid magnetic fields, and damps the record
- Hold-down
- Passive self-contained vacuum (optional) + precision clamp
- Isolation
- Dual-complementary: Minus K (1.5–100 Hz) + matched elastomer legs
- Armboard
- Drop-in "key" pod interface, repeatable geometry
- Pickup Arm
- CF1-09Ti (9″) / CF1-12Ti (12″), titanium-reinforced
- ORIGIN
- Machined in Sweden
Availability and pricing by enquiry. Specifications subject to change as the design evolves.
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