Most turntables these days do not have an automatic arm-lift to lift your tonearm as a record reaches the run-out grooves. While this is not a problem to some, many people will miss the convenience of an automatic tonearm lift and Little Fwend offers a solution.

At the Oslo show back in March I had the pleasure of meeting Lasse Gretland; he was showcasing his Little Fwend range of automatic tonearm lifters. After a short chat, and mentioning that I have a Rega Planar 3, I came home with a Little Fwend to use on my turntable, and here is my short overview of this automatic tonearm lifter. 

First of all the packaging is sustainable; this might be a small detail, but it is one that I very much appreciate. Secondly, the instructions on how to fit it are excellent, they are detailed yet simple enough for most people to follow. It took me about 10 minutes the Little Fwend to get it properly lined up, fitted, and working. 

The build quality is simply stunning! The main body is machined aluminium and it feels like a premium product. There are all sorts of automatic tonearm lifters on the market and this feels like one of the better ones out there. The base of the Little Fwend is magnetic and there is a small metal plate with adhesive backing that sticks to the plinth of your turntable, they come in a Low or High size depending on which model of turntable you have and they are compatible with most turntables on the market (excluding linear trackers). 

They have a Disco model specially designed for the Technics SL-1200/1210 models (Stu has one of these to play with on his Technics 1200G) and at the show, they had a prototype Rega mount, which will sit in the ring of the brace that is found on Regas – for now, I am using the normal Low model with my Planar 3 Anniversary turntable and it fits perfectly.

As there are no electronic parts, or contact points when vinyl is spinning, there is no impact on the sonic quality of your turntable. It does exactly what it sets out to do – automatically lifting the tonearm when it gets to the run-out grooves, meaning you don’t have to worry about stylus wear if you cannot lift the arm immediately (you fell asleep, had an emergency etc…). The finish of the Little Fwend also means it will look at home on high-end turntables and it serves a very important purpose if you want to keep your stylus in tip-top condition.

Gone are the days of automatic turntables with their complicated internal gears that affected the sound quality but, don’t worry as the Little Fwend steps in to do this function without any impact to the sound of your turntable.

It does what it says on the box, it’s an automatic tonearm lifter that is extremely well finished, looks the part, and simply lifts your tonearm when you get to the run-out grooves – groovy. 

While this is not a review in our traditional sense I cannot fault the Little Fwend and highly recommend it.

Cost is around £200 or 200 euros.

Oscar Stewart