Former Apple Design Chief Unveils $65,000 Turntable

A Scottish company has partnered with Sir Jony Ive, legendary chief design officer of Apple Inc., to produce a stylish £50,000 ($64,921) turntable.

Ive joined Apple in 1992 and worked closely with Steve Jobs in the design of the iPhone, iMac, iPod and MacBook.

Glasgow-based firm Linn has launched a 50th anniversary model of their Sondek LP12 transcription turntable, designed with help from Sir Ive’s creative studio LoveFrom.

“Some time last year, I was approached by Sir Jony Ive. He shared his own enduring admiration for Linn – our designs, our ethos, and our relentless pursuit of musical perfection,” said Linn’s CEO, Gilad Tiefenbrun.

“I was pleased to be able to reciprocate his admiration and to discuss our shared values of beauty in design, peerless performance, user experience, and attention to detail.

“Our upcoming fiftieth anniversary year presented the perfect opportunity to create something extraordinary, together.”

Linn said the player features the latest technological innovations, alongside the “immediately recognizable and iconic design language of Sir Jony and his team.”

Ive said: “My respect and admiration for Linn began in my early 20s when I visited the Linn factory in Glasgow, designed by my late friend Richard Rogers.

“I’ve always had a deep love of music, and have had the wonderful opportunity and privilege to design a number of different music players and headphones – most notably the multiple generations of iPods while I led design at Apple.

“I have a particular affection for the mechanical-wheel iPod, with the hand-polished and laser-etched stainless steel back with white headphones. I saw in Linn an inspiring obsession with musical fidelity and beautifully made products.

“I have been a fan of the Sondek LP12 for decades, and was always fascinated by the ability to update and upgrade the product; I love the idea that after years of ownership you can enjoy a product that’s actually better than the one you bought years before.

“LoveFrom’s contribution is, I hope, respectful and gentle in nature, making small refinements and improvements. The most conspicuous evolution is the design of the primary switch and the hinges. Designing from a place of understanding and respecting the evolution of the product, we have developed new forms in new materials. Linn had already completed a substantial design exploration to develop a new plinth with a completely new manufacturing approach.

“This has been such a life-affirming and joyful project. LoveFrom has had the wonderful opportunity to work with a brilliant and kind team at Linn who share our obsessiveness to make something wonderful without compromise. We are thrilled that we have been able to play a small part in celebrating 50 years of an icon.”

Gilad Tiefenbrun added: “My father Ivor’s Sondek LP12 turntable revolutionized the hi-fi industry. It employed precision engineering to extract more music from the grooves of a vinyl record and, in doing so, improved the sound of any hi-fi system, regardless of the amplifiers or loudspeakers.

“Whilst the original Sondek LP12 was the best it could be in 1973, Ivor understood that technology would improve over time, and so he designed his turntable in a modular, upgradeable, and future-proof way.

“As a result, 50 years on, the Sondek LP12 remains the performance benchmark in vinyl playback, featuring over fifty distinct performance improvements, all of which can be retrofitted to existing models.

“We are delighted with what we have achieved in collaboration with LoveFrom, as we look onwards to the next five decades as producers of the world’s finest music systems.”

Produced in association with SWNS Talker

Edited by Jessi Rexroad Shull and Judy Marie Sansom