Mark Baker is by profession a naval architect – which isn’t the most obvious qualification for a turntable designer, until you begin to think about the respective challenges. Ships are moving, rigid, load-bearing structures that are motorised and have to suppress vibrations and other external factors to do their job properly. So, there are clear parallels.
The basic job, he says, is to create an inert platform that’s isolated from the external environment. Alongside this, the platter has to rotate at a constant speed, free of wow, flutter and rumble. This done, the stylus can accurately trace the groove’s tiny undulations.
One of Origin Live’s early forays into vinyl was making after-market motors for belt-drive turntables. “Because we installed these in our clients’ decks,” Mark explains, “it gave us the…