Ancora is a modern turntable designed for a newer generation of vinyl enthusiasts. Many younger music consumers who start listening to vinyl often do not own a complex audio setup in their homes and prioritize simply playing their favorite music from a record. Featuring a traditional build, Ancora offers users an analogue music listening experience while incorporating electronic features such as a built-in phono pre-amplifier, a smart and intuitive dial interface, or optional Bluetooth, making the turntable extremely versatile for various audio setups.

The design's objective was to achieve a sense of timelessness while still embracing relevant trends. The clear geometric composition plays with the relationship of basic shapes, emphasizing asymmetry by visually isolating the tonearm and highlighting the disc by framing and elevating it, making the disc the "hero" of the overall design. The curves promote approachability, while the sharp edges re-emphasize the precision required for such a piece of audio technology.

„Ancora" is the Italian word for "still" or "again", expresses that a process or state is interrupted, a matter that has already been completed is resumed. Through recent years vinyl records have risen in popularity again. In 2021, the total revenue of vinyl sales surpassed that of CD and Download sales in the U.S. A large chunk of my research included different sources to prove that designing a record player became a relevant project in the year 2024.

Our society is one that developed into one that consumes more consciously. We value quality and the lifespan of products, a countermovement to the classic product obsolescence which has been popular in the last decades. Even with the popularity of streaming platforms, people still desire the human need of ownership. On top of that, our constant connection with technology and different social media platforms, people suffer from something referred to as "Media exhaustion". People are searching for opportunities to disconnect from the fast-paced and constant media consumerism and want to spend their time with physical and real objects.

The target consumer of Ancora would be a new generation of vinyl enthusiasts. Ranging in the ages from 18 to 30 years old. There are different reasons for younger people getting into vinyl, some for the previously stated reasons, others might have gotten their hands on their parent's or grandparent's old collection and are interested in the idea of listening music through something physical and analogue. Through the research process, I interviewed individuals that fit my target consumer. Like previously mentioned, many expressed their desire for a haptic and physical experience when listening to vinyl records. They sent me images of where their turntables live inside their home. Mostly in the living room areas close to the TV, and where they can also install an audio setup. Most of the interviewed individuals use streaming platforms as their main source of music consumption, meaning that the turntable should not target to replace streaming platforms, but should be an attempt to expand the music consumption experience. Many also expressed that they enjoy the ritual of listening to vinyl, including the preparation process. This can be compared to making coffee with a manual coffee machine or driving a manual sports car. The purchase decision usually comes down to aesthetics/taste, price, features, and audio quality. It is important to mention that for many in this target consumer category, value visual properties a little higher than audio quality. Finally, everyone in the interviews also mentioned that they value an easy setup and installation process.

The goal of Ancora is to develop a modern turntable for a new generation of vinyl enthusiast that offers a high-end analog music consumption experience.

The turntable has a relatively simple build. Consisting of a CNC milled MDF plinth that has an aluminum plate screwed on top to visually cover the milled areas as well as add mass to the design which helps reduce unwanted vibrations when playing a disk. An aluminum CNC milled platter sits on top with rubber inlays to place the vinyl disk onto. The dust cover is made of a bent frosted acrylic glass that sits on top of the platter and covers the tonearm. The design's objective was to achieve a sense of timelessness while still embracing relevant trends. The clear geometric composition plays with the relationship of basic shapes, emphasizing asymmetry by visually isolating the tonearm and highlighting the disc by framing and elevating it, making the disc the "hero" of the overall design. The curves promote approachability, while the sharp edges re-emphasize the precision required for such a piece of audio technology.

A business or product strategy that was also considered was offering a variety in aluminium plates in different colours, finishings and textures, to offer some sort of customizability to the design.

The turntable utilizes a belt-drive mechanism. The rubber belt is attached to a subplatter which rotates the main aluminium platter. The motor is isolated through a rubber band which keeps the motor "floating" and avoids contact with the plinth. The legs are height adjustable through a thread and have a rubber inlay on the bottom to avoid unwanted vibrations. Due to the complexity of Tonearm designs, being designed and engineered product for themselves, I chose to utelize an existing tonearm and adjust certain elements such as the headshell and the mounting elements to the turntable design. The tonearm used is a Denon DP33.

The back of the player has a power source connector, as well as a USB-C connector for offering users to digitalize their records, and the RCA outputs that are offset on the bottom of the player. The reason for the offset is to avoid any unwanted bending or damages to the stiff audio cables.

Because of the nature of this traditionally analog product, the goal was to integrate the interface seamlessly into the design. The interface consists of a "smart dial" which is basically a dial that can rotate, click, and be tilted to navigate through the interface. The simple interface shines through the back of the dial due to the thinness of the material. Through the usage of the dial, users can turn the turntable on and off, activate the optional Bluetooth feature, and change between 33 1/3 RPM and 45 RPM to play both LPs and singles on vinyl.

After an in depth CMF exploration, I decided to keep the color options at a simple light version and darker version. With the painted MDF either coming in white or black, and the metals either being a natural aluminium tone or an anodized darker aluminium. The rubbers and plastics also differentiate between white and black.

Through the synthesis of design, functionality, and user experience, Ancora represents a contemporary reinterpretation of the classic turntable, tailored to the preferences of a new generation of vinyl enthusiasts.