Opus 3 Continuo (GBP 850.00, arm & cart extra)

Opus 3 is a Swedish company better known to audiophile record collectors, for their record label stretching back many years, famous for natural sounding recordings of mainly acoustic music. The story of this deck is the classic "I couldn't find a turntable to properly play my recordings" (Producer, Bo Hansson), and the Continuo, a turntable now 17years old, was the result.

The first thing which strikes you is the sheer weight of this beast, over 25kg, and the fact that it actually has a real useable dust cover, very unusual these days. This is one solidly made unit. Not particularly beautiful to look at, not finished perhaps to quite the same standard we're used to from some turntable manufacturers. But, the designer certainly knew what real instruments sound like (well, they had their own supply of super recordings) and the result is a superb sounding turntable for the money. This is, if you like, a triumph of traditional engineering skill over modern cost cutting and reliance on electronics. A low voltage AC motor, with stepped pulley for speed change, drives the platter, and the unit sits on three adjustable sprung/damped feet. A felt mat tops everything off.

We prefer to sell the Continuo with our favourite Morch arm, but other circular mounting hole arms can be accommodated within certain parameters - please consult us for details. Come and try this turntable, if this is your price range. We think you will be very surprised what this trend-bucking turntable will do, and might well end up as one of it's very satisfied long term users!