Every vinyl fan has their own reason for loving records, whether it’s the superior audio quality, the tactility of physical media, or even just the thrill of hunting down new additions for your collection. But once you’ve committed to it as a hobby and decided to add a turntable to your home audio setup, there’s still one decision that can be tough to make.
No, it’s not choosing which is the right deck for you – that’s what our guide to the best turntables is for. It’s working out the best way to amp it up. Most people will either buy a bunch of bulky hi-fi products, like an amplifier and bookshelf speakers, or pick up a discrete phono stage to boost the signal sufficiently to run it directly into a standalone speaker. However, there’s a third option – and I’d argue that it’s by far the most economical.
The Cambridge Audio Evo One isn’t just a superb-sounding premium wireless speaker – it also has its own built-in phono stage. This means that as well as hi-res streaming from a wide array of sources, multi-room connectivity, and HDMI sound input from a TV, it’s also capable of playing audio direct from your turntable.
While it’s far from the cheapest speaker on the market, costing a hefty $1,499 / £1,299 / AU$2,495, it’s a fantastic single-box solution for audiophiles wanting to save their space for just a couple of gorgeous-looking components.
Setting up a turntable in record time
Hooking up my Audio-Technica AT LP60XBT to the Cambridge Audio Evo One could not have been simpler. Literally all I had to do was run a phono cable from the turntable’s output to the speaker’s phono stage, set up the source in Cambridge Audio’s StreamMagic app, and lower the tone arm onto my spinning record.
Almost instantly, I was greeted by the rich warmth of the black plastic being piped out through the Evo One’s four 1-inch silk dome tweeters, four 2.25-inch aluminum cone mid-range, and six 2.75-inch long-throw woofers.
I’ve already *ahem* waxed lyrical about how good this wireless speaker sounds in my Cambridge Audio Evo One review. So you’d think I wouldn’t be surprised how great it sounds when fed the uncompressed audio of an analog source. And yet I was still seriously impressed with its performance.
The Evo One perfectly communicated the sun-drenched nostalgic vibes of Hallucinating Love by Maribou State, offering decent separation between the gorgeous vocals and fuzzy synth lines. Meanwhile, Bonobo’s Black Sands had plenty of bass punch without it overwhelming its exquisite orchestral elements.
Admittedly, at $299 / £179.99 my turntable is not exactly audiophile-grade, meaning you’ll likely get much more uplift in terms of sonic quality with something like the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo or Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2. But it still demonstrated to me that the Evo One can make a fantastic partner to your turntable, without you necessarily needing to stretch to a bunch of hi-fi separates.
The virtues of wiring the Cambridge Audio Evo One up to your vinyl
Okay, so I’ve definitely established how you hook your turntable up to the Cambridge Audio Evo One. But how about why? Why should you opt for building your vinyl system around this wireless speaker instead of going for a more traditional setup? Well, for me, it comes down to three main factors.
First off, while you can buy a standalone amplifier and speaker system, or opt for an intermediary phono stage to plug into a wireless speaker, both of these options will take up more space. If space is at a premium – not unusual for those of us living in apartments for example – it’s not always easy to find the additional room for squeezing in extra audio gadgets. Plugging a turntable direct into the Evo One is a much more efficient use of your space, reducing the number of black boxes you need clogging up your living room.
“But”, I hear you cry, “why should I wire my turntable in at all? Can’t I just use a wireless one instead?” Absolutely! However, this may force you to sacrifice on sound quality. Aside from a select few options like the super-premium Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 mentioned above, very few Bluetooth turntables offer truly hi-res streaming via the 24bit/48kHz aptX HD codec. That means you’ll inevitably be sacrificing some audio quality for the sake of severing those wires, whereas wiring direct into the Evo One guarantees you’ll enjoy truly lossless audio.
By far the most exciting factor for me though is how the Evo One can transform your old-school analog turntable into a modern streaming source. As Cambridge Audio’s speaker functions as a wireless transmitter, it’s capable of outputting its sources across a multi-room speaker network. That means not only can you spin your records in the living room, but with a few taps of your finger you can also stream that LP to a compatible multi-room speaker in your kitchen or bedroom. Merging the faithful playback of analogue audio with the flexibility of digital streaming really does give you the best of both worlds.
Ultimately, there are certain scenarios where traditional hi-fi separates or a discrete phono stage will be the best setup to match your record player. When you only care about audio fidelity, and space and money are no object, all that wired hardware can reward you with unbeatable quality. But if every inch of space in your home comes at a premium, or you want the benefits and flexibility only a multi-room system can bring, pairing your turntable with the Evo One really is a fantastic solution.
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josh.russell@futurenet.com (Josh Russell)
