Michell Gyrodec Turntable Bundle

Stand Out with a Turntable That Dares to Be Different: English-Made Gyrodec Bundle Includes T8 Tonearm and Cover, Leverages Spring-Suspension System and Pendulum-Style Subchassis to Thrilling Effect

The Michell Gyrodec turntable looks different because it is different. The latest iteration of the classic design introduced in the 1980s, the British-made rig — offered in a bundle here with the Michell T8 tonearm, record clamp, and cover — pushes the boundaries when it comes to reliability and performance in its price class.

Utilizing a three-point spring-suspension system fixed to the high-density acrylic base, Gyrodec leverages a weighted pendulum-style subchassis to provide a rigid and dense platform for the main bearing, platter, and tonearm assembly. This architecture ensures no movement between those components while doubling as a vibration sink that draws unwanted resonance away from the turntable’s most sensitive elements. Meanwhile, the motor unit remains separate from the turntable, with the only connection being the drive belt — an arrangement that further prevents noise and distortion.

Measuring 7.48 x 20.97 x 16.14 inches (HWD) and weighing 30.9 pounds, Gyrodec further stands out via an impedance-matched platter with solid brass weights, contributing stellar damping and neutrality to the overall operation. The brass adds mass and extra momentum for rotation, improving speed stability and nearly eradicating wow and flutter.

Speaking of rotation, the Gyrodec main bearing has the point of rotation at the top of the assembly, not at the bottom like most designs. This orientation allows Michell to fully lubricate the inside of the entire bearing while the platter is turning by way of a modified Archimedean screw machined into the inside bore of the bearing. The oil is drawn from a reservoir at the base of the main bearing up to the thrust ball at the top, fully lubricating as it goes. It then returns to the reservoir via a waste hole drilled into the bearing spindle.

The supplied Michell T8 tonearm functions as an ideal complement to Gyrodec. With aluminum vertical bearing housing, and a stainless-steel sleeve and vertical bearing shaft, T8 boasts hand-matched bearing assemblies and an enhanced arm tube so it has minimal points of possible resistance. Low-mass copper wiring, low-capacitance phono cables, and high-end phono plugs further elevate T8 and help it retrieve scads of information from vinyl grooves with precision, ease, and solidity.

Bolstered by solid aluminum feet, and rounded out by an audiophile-grade record clamp and hinged clear acrylic lid, Gyrodec will change the way you hear your records for the better. Read more about Michell design approaches below.

And to learn more, give us a call at 312-433-0200.

Michell Platters
The platter is made from high-density, vibration-dampening compound. This material closely approaches the mechanical and acoustical properties of the vinyl record itself, enhancing the coupling between both. Indeed, at boundaries of materials with like acoustic impedances, transmission of vibrational energy occurs. Whereas at boundaries of dissimilar materials, be they vinyl versus felt, metal, glass, or just air, only part of the energy is transmitted, the remainder being reflected back into the vinyl, towards the stylus. The aforementioned measures not only result in a neutral and precise sound, but also in a very low susceptibility to record blemishes, ticks, and pops. This is one of the reasons why a Michell Engineering turntable not only excels in the replay of good vinyl, but also pulls the same trick with less than pristine records.

Michell Bearings
The platter should be supported so that it can revolve smoothly, without any extraneous vibrations and motion. This is the job for the main bearing, the very heart of a turntable. Michell employs a unique inverted bearing that locates the point of rotation above the center of gravity of the platter, and exactly at the height where the drive belt invokes. This makes the platter/bearing a self-stabilizing component that cannot be provoked into rocking modes. The precision bearing has a case-hardened steel shaft that is secured upright in an oil well, threaded into the subchassis from below. A massive brass housing, precision-machined as a pair with the shaft, is attached to the platter via the integral record spindle. A thrust ball sits on the flat top of the shaft centralized by an inverted cone in the top of the housing. This housing has a spiral machined into its inner bore to draw a high quality synthetic oil from the bath to the top of the bearing shaft as the housing rotates with the platter. A hole is drilled from the top of the shaft down to the oil well to allow the trapped oil to return to the bottom. This unique oil pumping mechanism results in low friction and wear, and in low rumble and noise.

Michell Motors
The most obvious task of a turntable is to keep the record at a constant and precise angular speed, without low-rate drift, without audible wow, and without high-frequency noise components which detract from the music’s delicacy. Michell uses a precise, reliable, and low-noise DC motor selected after extensive listening sessions and reliability tests. The motor is a standalone unit, housed in a heavy base of metal to eliminate vibrational breakthrough to the turntable. Drive is relayed to the platter via a precision-ground soft round-section custom compound belt, which runs around the platter’s circumference. This results in a very high reduction of noise transfer from the motor.

Michell Suspension
The vinyl/cartridge/arm trio is to reside on its own island. The suspension decouples them from the outside world with its motor noise, footfall, acoustic vibrations, and other potential disturbances. Michell turntables suspend the heavy subchassis and platter from three extension springs. This is an elegant and self-stabilizing solution as the center of gravity of the floating mass is conveniently put below the suspension points. Rocking and nodding modes of the subchassis are hence discouraged, while overall turntable setup is straightforward, and drift is virtually inexistent. In addition, the total suspended mass of about eleven kilograms ensures that any in-coupled energy cannot result in large displacements. The spring towers double as the actual turntable supports, terminated in heavy aluminum cones. The towers are sectioned in two vertical parts, making a high-pressure point-contact with a bearing ball. This makes for a true three point support, which gives the springs and the suspended subchassis a firm reference to ground.