The Symphony turntable immerses you in an emotional musical experience achievable only with the highest level of analog playback. Central to its performance is the extraordinary harmony of Pure Fidelity’s “hybrid” design. It provides a rich midrange, making instruments and vocals feel real and palpable. Boasting an exceptionally low noise floor, music emerges from an inky black background with detailed highs and excellent bass resolution. incorporates our most advanced strategies against shelf-borne vibration and resonance. The result is a musical instrument of rare distinction

Pure Fidelity “Hybrid” Design

The plinth has a major impact on turntable sound. High-mass designs can have solid bass, but can sound dull. Low-mass designs can have good speed and dynamics, but often sound bright. Suspended decks can have good timing, but may lack bass. To combine the best elements of each design, Pure Fidelity’s founder, John Stratton created the ultimate “hybrid” approach, with intermediate mass based on an ultra-MDF plinth. The result is completely neutral sound. Bass is strong without being sleepy, while the highs are detailed without being bright. Fittingly, when each Pure Fidelity turntable reaches completion, John Stratton proudly signs the plinth.

Ultra MDF Plinth

To realize the benefits of “hybrid” design, the Pure Fidelity plinth is built on a 75-mm core of substantially upgraded Medium Density Fiberboard called ultra MDF. Compared to standard MDF, our ultra MDF offers higher density, better fibers, and better machinability, enabling far more precise assembly. Ultra MDF also helps control resonance, as described below.

Conquering Vibration and Resonance

Much like a microphone, a phono cartridge converts mechanical vibrations into electrical signals. Importantly, the cartridge not only captures the movement from the record groove but also unwanted vibrations caused by sound from the loudspeakers impacting the turntable and its supporting shelf. Since the cartridge cannot distinguish between musical vibrations and extraneous ones, these unwanted vibrations can degrade playback, harming musicality and collapsing the soundstage. This is why The Symphony incorporates an exceptionally thorough approach to suppress resonance. The aluminum isolation platform, GAIA™ IV isolation footers, and ultra MDF plinth all collaborate to produce music with such pristine clarity, reinforcing the essence of our name, Pure Fidelity.

6061 Aircraft Aluminum Isolation Platform

A favorite choice for aircraft and automotive structures, 6061 aluminum alloy has superb rigidity, resisting deformation with a Young’s modulus of 10 million pounds per square inch. At a thickness of 1 inch (25 mm), this isolation platform provides extraordinary stability. And because the platform is separated from the ultra-MDF plinth by GAIA IV isolation footers, it maintains all the advantages of Pure Fidelity’s “hybrid” design.

GAIA IV Isolation Footers

Heralded by multiple industry awards, the patented IsoAcoustics GAIA™ isolation footers make a huge difference in the focus and expression of music reproduction. So it was only natural that we approached the Markham, Ontario-based IsoAcoustics to develop a lower-profile version specifically for Horizon and Harmony. The result: the extraordinary GAIA IV footers. Three of them fit into CNC-machined pockets in the aluminum isolation platform and support the plinth.

Stainless Steel Arm-Board

Coming standard with The Symphony, every component influences the overall sound quality, we offer an armboard made from high-grade stainless steel. Renowned for its strength and stability, stainless steel provides an unwavering platform for the tonearm, effectively dampening vibrations that could color the sound. This leads to improved tracking accuracy and a purer signal path from the cartridge to your ears, allowing you to experience music with heightened clarity and dynamic range.

To achieve such superior performance, we employ advanced CNC machining techniques in crafting our stainless steel armboards. Our custom tools achieve repeatable tolerances of 1/1000 inch, ensuring each piece meets our exacting standards. This meticulous machining process not only enhances the armboard’s structural integrity but also its ability to isolate the tonearm from external vibrations. The result is a richer, more lifelike listening experience that embodies our commitment to exceptional audio performance.

Ultra-Precise CNC Machining

To take full advantage of the 6061 aircraft aluminum, we apply computer numerical control (CNC) machining, using custom tools with a repeatable tolerance of 1/1000 inch – one-third the thickness of a typical human hair. We also apply CNC machining to the ultra-MDF plinth, sub-platter, Delrin® platter, and even the high-density foam packing carriers. The result is unit-to-unit consistency of the very highest order.

Ruby Bearing in a Low-Friction Bronze Shaft

By the time it gets to your ears, the output of a moving coil cartridge can be magnified by a factor of 10,000 or more. So even minuscule imperfections in the turntable drive system can become audible issues. For this reason, even though we could purchase 100 steel bearings for the price of a single ruby bearing, we’re sticking with ruby. Ruby offers incredible hardness, with a Mohs scale of 9. (Only one precious stone is harder: diamond.) For similar reasons, we chose bronze instead of the industry standard brass for the bearing shaft. Bronze offers better durability, higher strength and a lower coefficient of friction. The end result of these two materials is a dead silent, near-frictionless drive system.

Perfecting Rotational Speed

The time base of vinyl playback depends on the rotational speed. Of course, any large change in platter speed would cause an obvious change in musical pitch. But even minuscule, momentary speed variations can blur instrumental timbre, placing a veil between you and the music. To maintain speed with utmost precision, Pure Fidelity optimizes the Maestro speed control, AC synchronous motor, pulley, dual drive belts, aluminum/stainless steel sub-platter, and Delrin® platter. The result: an uncanny ability to faithfully render musical timbre.

Conductor Quartz Locked Speed Control

To drive the motor with the utmost precision, we created the Conductor outboard speed control. This features quartz lock to maintain a rotational accuracy of ±0.003%. Because many classic vinyl records predate such precision, the Conductor also provides separate rear-panel pitch adjustments for 33-1/3 and 45 rpm. A robust component in its own right, the speed control isolates the motor drive voltage from the noise, spikes and distortions in your household AC mains, generating a pure sine wave of uncommon stability.

Custom AC Synchronous Motor

To satisfy our stringent requirements, the motor is quiet, stable and free from “clogging” – unwanted pulses of torque. We outfit our 12-volt AC synchronous motor with our own custom modifications that reduce clogging to the vanishing point.

Stainless Steel Pulley and Two Drive Belts

After extensive listening tests of different belt styles and configurations, we selected two drive belts with round cross-sections. It’s by far the best sounding choice for our drive system.

Large-Profile Aluminum/Steel Sub-Platter

Pure Fidelity insists on a sub-platter combining 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum and stainless steel, both CNC-machined to a tolerance of 1/1000 inch. The result is near-perfect roundness and stable speed.

Massive, 60-mm Delrin® Platter

Some manufacturers opt for glass platters, believing low mass is the optimal approach. Others choose aluminum for its high mass properties. However, in both scenarios, you’re compelled to use a mat on top to mitigate resonance and ringing. To overcome this limitation, we selected an inherently non-resonant platter material: an engineering thermoplastic called Delrin. A classic choice for applications requiring high stiffness, low friction, and excellent dimensional stability, Delrin also shares many properties with vinyl records. Moreover, it possesses the mass needed to maintain speed stability. We evaluated numerous other thermoplastics but ultimately chose Delrin for its exceptional sound quality. It delivers a very balanced frequency response with an almost organic feel to the music.

SS-10 Stainless Steel Record Isolator

Not only does the supplied record weight flatten and stabilize your LPs, but it also suppresses micro vibrations around the record label that can introduce subtle noise and veiling into the music. The SS-10 is a stainless-steel record isolator that slips over the spindle and rests on the record label. To avoid deadening the sound, it contacts the record label with an array of 10 micro stainless-steel balls inserted in a layer of black Delrin. The resulting sound is quieter, more detailed and lifelike. The SS-10 measures 0.75” high x 2.75” wide and weighs 1.7 lbs. (20 x 70 mm; 760 g).

Specifications

Mechanics

Dimensions	17” wide x 14” deep x 7.5” average height (430 x 355 x 190 mm)
Weight	45 lbs. (20.4 kg)