Well, this is certainly a big surprise. Cyrus Audio has launched a turntable – the first ever in the British hi-fi company's near-40 years. The Cyrus TTP turntable certainly looks smart and comes with an equally surprising high-end price tag that marks its high ambitions.
Since 1984, Cyrus has been better known for its range of electronics (the multiple Award-winning CDi player, the excellent 6a and 8a integrated amplifiers, to name but a few), but it's recently been branching out to producing sources, such as the recently-announced BluOS-powered music streamers. Cyrus says that a turntable "has been an obvious missing part" of their product range.
It's not like Cyrus doesn't have form with the vinyl format, though. We've been using the well-regarded Cyrus Phono Signature/PSX-R2 as the reference phono stage in our hi-fi listening room for over half a decade, so will the new Cyrus TTP turntable be worthy of this premium component?
The Cyrus TTP is a belt-drive design, with plinth and platter "precision machined" from solid aluminium blocks for greater stability. The platter is suspended on a hardened steel axle that rotates on an "ultra-precise bearing", while there are adjustable (and replaceable) feet for the damped chassis. It also features electronic speed change (33 1/3 and 45 rpm) thanks to the simple buttons on the deck, while playback is manually operated.
The tonearm comes included with the deck, and it's a lightweight design with the mass redistributed throughout so there are "fewer points of resonance" – all to read the vinyl groove more accurately. There won't be a cartridge fitted as standard with the TTP however; Cyrus is leaving it up to customers and dealers to fit their own cartridge of choice onto the deck.
Cyrus hasn't built the turntable on its own. Nick Clarke, MD at Cyrus Audio, says, "While not known for turntable design, we have partnered with a hugely skilled and vertically integrated German engineering company for the mechanical aspects while applying our skills to the PSU and motor drive to create what we believe is one of the best turntables at this price."
It's with the power supply that Cyrus's expertise comes to the fore. The TTP's DC synchronous motor has a "custom-designed digital control circuit", which Cyrus claims reduces the level of wow and flutter and ensures "exceptional speed stability". And that's not all: at the rear of the turntable you'll find RCA phono connections and, in true Cyrus style, a socket for connecting an optional PSX-R2 power supply (sold separately for £995). Cyrus says this should deliver an "even more stable, ultra-low noise power supply" for the deck's motor.
About that price tag, then. Cyrus's recent products haven't exactly been on the budget end (the XR starts at £1995), but the Cyrus TTP turntable is yours for a cool £4295 / $5495. It's not just turntable specialists Rega and Pro-Ject that Cyrus has to compete with then; at this price, it's higher-end models like the incredible Vertere DG-1 S/Magneto and Rega Planar 10/Apheta 3 models that it's up against.
The new Cyrus TTP turntable will be available at the end of October. We can't wait to take it for a spin.
MORE:
Here are the best turntables you can buy, from budget to premium options
Musical Fidelity's Mx8TT is a monster of a turntable with a mammoth price tag
The wait is over – Rega's 'groundbreaking' Naia reference turntable is here
Your hi-fi system's sound is being ruined and you don't even know it
