Chip Chick
When you come at the retro market, you have to bring your A game. Sometimes, that means adding in details that have nothing to do with what you’re actually making. So it goes with the Luno EGB2, a vinyl record console so dedicated to the ’50s and ’60s that it comes with a set of gold-rimmed whiskey glasses. I guess this is their way of making sure you’re listening to music the way the artist intended?
Besides the classy boozin’, the EGB2 delivers the goods when it comes to music. It includes a record player and its own speaker system, which comprises a 200-watt amplifier, a silk dome tweeter, and a downward-firing 100-watt active subwoofer. Besides having three-band tone control, the subwoofer’s volume can be adjusted independently, so you can adjust the audio balance to your preference. While vinyl is definitely going to be the primary input here, you can still stream music wirelessly to the speaker system using Apple AirPlay. I don’t think you’re allowed to use the whiskey glasses when you do that, though.
The cabinet itself definitely looks the part. It’s made from walnut and has a hand-waxed finish over a carved pattern that looks like it’s straight out of your grandparents’ house, while the speaker mesh is Marshall salt and pepper grill cloth. In addition to housing the turntable and the speaker system, the cabinet has room for 150 vinyl records.
If you want to get a good idea of who this is for, Luno’s vinyl of the month suggestion is Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs. There is literally no other artist on earth that demands whiskey (or bourbon) as a listening companion as much as Tom Waits does, although if you’re doing Tom Waits on vinyl, you’re probably only using one of those four whiskey glasses while staring out the window wistfully. The EGB2 is made to order, so you’ll have to contact Luno directly to find out more about pricing and how quickly you can get one built and shipped to you.
