The Michell GyroDec is a classic British turntable that originatedmore than a decade ago, and that was developed over the time to the
high-class product is it now. Built from acres of acrylic and kilos
of aluminium, its open skeleton design resembles other noteworthy
record players, like Oracle, although it has to be noted that
Michell was one of the first to use this approach, with the
Transcriptor and Hydraulic TTs in the late sixties.

Highlights of the GyroDec are its heavy suspended subchassis, the
vinyl platter (to be used with a clamp) and the precision inverted
bearing, made out of bronze. Tonearms of choice are the Rega RB-300
(when it has to be cheap), SME IV and V, and in the USA, the Graham
1.5.

The Gyro can be driven from a standard mains power supply, or with
the upmarket QC PSU, which is an all-active unit, a bit like the
well-known Linn Lingo.

Following here are a few impressions of the Gyro's sound, taken
from experiences with my own system (old second hand Gyro with and
without QC, RB-300, AT OC-9 and Ortofon MC-25FL cartridges, Quad 34
and 306 amplifiers, Quad ESL speakers) and another system (new
Gyro, Rega RB-300, Denon DL-304, Michell ISO phono stage, Michell
Argo HR line preamp, Michell Alecto stereo power amp, Elipson
Futura and Quad ESL speakers), as well as occasional exposure to
top-flight GyroDec and Orbe (Michell's top turntable) systems.

In essence, the Gyro has not much of a sound itself, leaving it
to the arm, cartridge and (of course) the vinyl to decide on what
reaches your ears. If those 3 are doing well, then you get
a very wide and spacious rendition of your music, with sweet
treble and a stable, deep bass. Add in the QC power supply, and
the background gets even quieter, making the sound more like
mastertape. Tonal balance is as neutral as it gets, making the
Gyro most certainly not belong to the Linn school of euphonia.

I know that some people (notably magazine reviewers) have commented
on the GyroDec being dynamically flat. What I think that happens
is that this turntable strips away many replay nasties normally
associated with vinyl (like distortion), leaving a clean
replica of the disk, without much drama. And this can be
mistaken for a reduction in life and dynamics. What also plays
here is that one needs a very good phono stage to make the Gyro
shine. My own Quad is OK, but the Michell ISO is a real wonder
here.

The star rating, including price considerations, is 4 stars for a
standard small-scale Gyro, and 5 stars for a QC'd/SME'd one.
Take this all with a small pinch of salt, as while I am not
related to Michell Engineering, I keep their unofficial web pages ;-)



========================================
Note for the editor:
-GyroDec price: $1700
-QC price: $800 (?)

Michell www-pages:

http://www.users.interport.net/~traff/audio/michell/welcome.html
http://www.wavenet.co.uk/werner/michell/welcome.html

A piece of good mecanical engineering, and even beautifull to watch!

None really (However difficult to get new "software"...)

I have owned the Gyrodec since 1986, and I have never had any trouble with this turntable. It is really solid in its build.

Performance - Only one thing to be said; Outperforms all CD-players in regard to dynamics, 3-D and smooth reproduction! I use a Helius Areus Gold and an Ortofon MC-20 Super (through Ortofon T-2000)!
The only problem is the lack of "software" but that has nothing to do with the Gyrodec!

Rating: Value rating is difficult as you have to be a "liebhaber" or analogue enthusiast to buy one today - but overall performance, that's a straight 5*!