New Products

Wrensilva, the San Diego-based company specializing in classic hi-fi consoles, has announced a new range of hardwood finish options and sound quality updates for its hand-crafted Record Console Collection.

Built using hand-selected woods, the collection is comprised of the flagship M1 and The Standard, both now available in natural walnut (shown on M1 in opening photo), tobacco (dark) walnut, and blonde mahogany finishes with leather-lined record pockets, brushed metal legs with leveling feet, and removable speaker grilles made of a new duo-weave fabric.

The company also enlisted the expertise of celebrated music engineer/producers — Giles Martin, Manny Marroquin, Don Was, and Joe Harley — to help create a signature sound Wrensilva co-founder Scott Salyer describes as warm and expansive. “Our signature is a warm, faithful sound,” Salyer said. “It’s not about us, it’s about what the artist made. It is difficult to stay out of the way and that is why collaborating with creators is so important to us.”

“[The console] sounds as warm and wonderful as it looks…with a truth and honesty that brings your favorite albums alive,” noted Giles Martin, son of legendary Beatles mentor and producer, the late George Martin.

In honoring the classic stereo console that was a fixture in living rooms across America in the 1960s and ’70s, the M1 and its smaller sibling, The Standard, both have a built-in turntable and support modern wireless streaming via Bluetooth and Sonos/AirPlay (Wi-Fi) in addition to providing two line-level inputs for a CD player or other source component and pre-out jacks for tying the console into an existing in-wall audio system.

The turntable is a belt-driven design mounted on a floating base designed to minimize vibration with a frosted acrylic platter and aluminum tonearm fitted with a high-end Ortofon 2M Black (M1) or less expensive 2M Blue (The Standard) moving-magnet cartridge. The control panel next to the turntable has bass, treble, balance, and volume dials in addition to a five-position source selector; toggle switches above the panel control power (on/off), turntable playback speed (33 1/3 or 45 rpm), and cavity lighting (on/off).

Sound is delivered through a two-way bass-reflex speaker system with left and right driver complements, each mating a custom Egyptian papyrus cone woofer with a 1-inch textile-dome tweeter and powered by a 300-watt-per-channel Class D IcePower amplifier. At 9.5 inches, the M1’s woofer is larger than the woofer in The Standard, which is 7.5 inches in diameter. The M1 is rated down to 31 Hz and The Standard down to 33 Hz (both ±3 dB, measured off-axis.)

Both models have a pocket next to the turntable that holds up to 15 (The Standard) or 20 albums (M1) plus storage in the louvered-door cabinet below for 130 or 150 albums, respectively. Measuring 70 inches wide, 31.5 inches tall, and 22 inches deep, the M1 is slightly larger than The Standard, which is 59 inches wide, 29 inches tall, and 19 inches deep.

“At Wrensilva, our key design principle is timelessness with a dash of the unexpected,” observed Debra Salyer, co-founder and chief design officer. “We're committed to high-quality craftsmanship and thoughtful design decisions that take our products out of the norm, elevating them beyond furniture pieces to something that’s part of your music life for generations.”

Pricing for the updated consoles starts at $18,880 for the M1 and $14,880 for The Standard. Each console ships with an eclectic mix of three vinyl records, hand-picked by noted producer and president of Blue Note Records, Don Was (see video below). For more information on Wrensilva’s updated Record Console Collection, visit wrensilva.com.