This beautiful and well priced vinyl turntable looks great as a seriously tempting spinner
Goldring is known for its precision-engineered phono cartridges, and now the company has created its first turntable in decades to match. Developed in collaboration with an unnamed but “reputable” British hi-fi manufacturer, the Goldring GR3 features the company’s award-winning Goldring E3 moving magnet cartridge, a built-in phono preamplifier and a choice of interconnects from sister brand QED.
It looks nice, but the bowl doesn’t just look nice. It is made from phenolic resin, designed to maximize the flywheel effect to deliver consistent rotational speed with little wow and flutter to ensure the accuracy of your records. And there’s a choice of phono-to-phono or phono-to-3.5mm interconnects, suitable for a wide range of setups.
Goldring GR3: main features and prices
The star here is the GR3 moving magnet cartridge, which has won six consecutive best buy awards from our colleagues at What Hi-Fi?. Here it is pre-assembled and adjusted for the tonearm. A lightweight aluminum cantilever promises precise tracking, precise detail and low distortion, and the dual magnet generator is designed to deliver better channel separation for a more musical soundstage.
The addition of a built-in phono preamp is surprising but welcome: it means you can connect the Goldring turntable to active options from the best stereo speakers and audio amplifiers.
The Goldring GR3 is available now in the UK and Europe, and will be available in the US from December 2024. The UK price is £699, and the US price will be $999, which certainly isn’t cheap, but it is. quite reasonable among the best turntables. If the unit as a whole lives up to the cartridge’s legacy, we could be a mid-range winner.
