I finally had a chance to listen to one of the Bergmann turntables from Denmark. These 'tables are revolutionary for having a "floating bearingless platter"...that's right, the outer platter is separated from an inner platter by air. The tangential-tracking tonarm is also an air-bearing design. That mean both the record and the stylus are floating in mid-air!
The cost for this technology is not cheap. The Sleipner, the most expensive of three Bergmann turntables, is $54,000. The lesser Bergmanns are both under $20,000. This is actually the Magne model, which retails for just $12,000.
While the overall look of the Bergmanns are generally conservative and not typical of the big TTs from companies such as Continuum, Goldmund, Rockport and Clearaudio. I actually prefer this streamlined, industrial look. It's no-nonsense, sturdy and serious.
The sound quality of the entire system, which included Ypsilon amplification and Acapella speakers, was quite impressive with an almost limitless sense of soundstage size and dynamics. This allowed me to hear deep, deep, deep into recordings.
The only down side was the use of some fairly scratchy records to demo the Bergmann (which, by the way, was using the excellent Dynavector XV-1 cartridge). The Bergmann is quite an accomplishment...show it off with some pristine LPs!
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