Micro Seiki MB 18 turntable

Micro Seiki is not a mass market brand, but probably one of the top 3 actors worldwide when talking quality vintage turntables. While in France, UK and Germany, where magazines have a good track of the brand, in Belgium it is reserved to the cautious aficionado. Also, they were never on the cheap side.

The main reason was also the industrial policy of the factory, that developed a subcontracting agreement with a number of manufacturers. Out of the Tokyo company came models that were badged for DC, Denon, Sharp, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sanyo, Sansui, Luxman, Kenwood, Telefunken, Saba or Scott.

In the eighties and later, they specialized also in very high end models that still command thousands today. 

We are in 1981 and we have here a very precise turntable, designed to outperform competitors in the price range. Equipped with a lightweight carbon arm, the rendition was superior (taking into account that you do not play warped records, the arm is lighter than aluminium counterparts and may not like it…).

This turntable is all good looking, with its strobe marks on the platter, the wood looks, the simple arm and commands. We add the auto return and cut that makes this item a semi-automatic, so your records are safe at the end of the side.

The cartridge is the refined Ortofon MC-10, that is a moving coil cartridge, so reserved to higher end amplifiers, with a good diamond stylus.