Audio Video News

Don't get me wrong.I love high-quality sound performance. I live for it, and making things sound good is what I do, day in, day out. I used to think that there shouldn't be a limit on how much someone should pay for sound quality. Well, I have seen the limit. In fact, I don't even care how good it sounds; the Montegiro Lusso turntable, available for just under $50,000, is just a bit much.

The Lusso turntable, from German manufacturer Montegiro, is part art, totally tonal record player. Four sets of cones made of aluminum and acrylic have adjustable heights. The synchronous motor is mounted in one cone, another with the ten-inch Da Vinci Nobile carbon fiber tonearm with MG1 titanium pickup. Carbon and titanium? Sounds more like an Italian bicycle than a German turntable. 

There are two versions of the Lusso - the basic comes with three cones and one tonearm; the top-of-the-line adds another cone with another tonearm. The second tonearm is a nine-inch SME 5009 model.

The Lusso is quite stunning, and analog audiophiles will be wiping the drool off their keyboards. I gotta wonder, with a turntable that costs $47,000, how much is the 45-rpm single adapter? -Leslie Shapiro

Montegiro