Bergmann Magne (£8500)

摘要

Trained as a mechanical engineer, Johnnie Bergmann makes the parts for his turntables in his own workshop. 'All the tests and developing and so on, I do by myself,' he says. 'If I have a new idea, I can test it to see if it works or not, and if I have to change it, I can do everything by myself. That's a great thing, definitely.' 'Air-bearing tonearms have a bad reputation for being difficult to set up,' he says. 'One of the first goals for all my turntables was to eliminate the challenges that the air-bearing technique has been known for in the past.' It was in the 1950s that air bearings began to come into use in military and industrial machine-tool applications. An air bearing is contactless, as air is continually pumped into a tiny gap between the mating surfaces of the bearing. Although the air escapes, sufficient pressure is maintained to keep the surfaces apart under load.