Just how many ways can one skin a cat…or playback a record in this case? Turntable designers have created a myriad of table designs over the past century and pivoted away from traditional tonearm design on more than one occasion to create something unique — and hopefully superior to everything else in the market.
The end results have not always worked out so well when it comes to long-term reliability and consistent playback with some of these more esoteric designs.
Goldmund did it rather successfully with their linear-tracking tonearms, but the turntables proved to be incredibly expensive and massive. The Goldmund Reference and Studio Turntables required a rather large stand and constant tweaking to maintain their state-of-the-art performance.
Leave it to the French to go the opposite route. Waiting for Ideas is a Paris-based design house that have come up with something unique and brutally minimalist with their PP-1 turntable that is now available for order.
The entire turntable has been machined from a single block of aluminium and includes only two output jacks on the side of the enclosure; power comes from a USB Type-C 5 V connector and the internal phono pre-amp is connected to a 3.5mm output (which can be used as a headphone jack or 3.5mm to RCA output).
Show Me Your Arm
If you’re still looking for the tonearm and cartridge — give it up.
What really makes the Waiting for Ideas PP-1 (which stands for “Plug and Play 1”) turntable unique is the absence of a tonearm.
There is no tonearm to adjust, no complex settings—just place the vinyl upside down, press Play, and the 0.4 x 0.7 mil elliptical diamond stylus does the rest. Waiting for Ideas does not specify if the PP-1 utilizes a MM or MC cartridge, but it’s mounted upside down to read the grooves.
The other rather interesting feature is the self-learning closed-loop speed control, that figures out if you are playing a 33.3 or 45 rpm record.
The aluminum and Space Grey chassis is 35cm x 35cm x 8.5cm (13.7″ W x 13.7″D x 3.34″ H) and rather inert.
The Bottom Line
Just how good is the Waiting for Ideas PP-1? We’re unlikely to find that out unless someone wants to loan us the $6,050 USD (approximately) or €5,800 to purchase one. Every turntable is made to order and takes 12 weeks for delivery. The first orders are expected to ship May 30, 2025 and require a 50% down payment (€2,900 deposit) upon ordering.
The turntable’s minimalist design hides all of the electronics, cartridge, platter, and controls — and we can see how some might find it rather attractive. Another benefit is that one doesn’t have to spend time mounting the cartridge and adjusting the tonearm to make it all work.
We just wonder how simple it is to replace the cartridge when it finally goes.
The old adage of ‘KISS’ definitely applies in this case and the French know all about that.
For more information: uppfirst.com
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HW
March 2, 2025 at 4:04 am
Is there a cueing option? How does one skip a song if groove can’t be seen?
ORT
March 2, 2025 at 10:32 pm
Buy a CD Player instead?
I am of course, only kidding. Kinda-sorta. Maybe? Nah. A CD Player can be easily programmed to skip the songs you don’t wish to hear. So too can “streaming” be used to hear only the songs you want to hear from an album, an artist, a band or “just because”.
It ain’t that difficult to drop the needle on a licorice pizza and listen to the album and in this day and age, I usually want to hear the entire album.
To be honest, I just felt like laughing at myself without having to look in a mirror. And at the moment I am spinning some “Dakota Staton”. A Goddess of song.
As for PP Player? Cool. I am not in the market for a block of Alumineeeeeum (billet or otherwise) fashioned into a record player. Perhaps this would’ve been more ORTish, i.e., affordable, if it had been fashioned of a fine wood plinth, base, frame or if one prefers, “thingy” surrounding a body molded entirely of dense unobtanium (can’t take credit for that cool word!) or my favorite element, “Schiitonium” (my OWN word!) and weighing in at a ready to play 30 lbs. No, really. 30lbs.
Records are supposed to be fun, not an exercise in OCD.
Sir Isick nORTon