From Serbia to the UK via Devon-based Timestep comes one very interesting turntable indeed and one that we reviewed here at Hifi Pig a few years ago.  Available individually or partnered with Timestep’s  T-09 high mass tonearm and T-01HS ebony headshell. 

Serbia-based Soulines makes just four turntables and the Kubrick DCX is the company’s most advanced model. Its design is by inspired the space station in the Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, hence the name.

The inverted main bearing, machined from solid brass and stainless steel to extremely high precision, and the solid aluminium arm-board are mounted directly on the sub-plinth, which is in turn three-point de-coupled from the main plinth. The motor assembly, a high quality DC motor with fine speed adjustment, is mounted on the main plinth.

“It’s beautifully made,” says Timestep’s Dave Cawley. “Every surface and edge is finished to an exceptional level and the bearing and platter are so precisely machined that when you watch the platter side on, you can’t tell that it’s spinning.”

Soulines places a particular focus on the relationships between the different components and how to ensure that they all interact together harmoniously and as a whole. Key parts of the structure, including every platter, main bearing and spindle, are manufactured together as a unit rather than in batches in order to ensure total compatibility.

“The Kubrick’s neutrality and its superb timing mean that it does a masterful job of allowing your tonearm and cartridge to perform at their best and deliver incredible musicality,” says Cawley. “This applies across the board, from a fairly modest arm and cartridge combination to a seriously top-of-range set-up. So it’s a great turntable to put at the centre of a flexible system where you want to mix and match different elements, or a system that starts out quite modest but then evolves over time as your budget allows.”

Cawley from Timestep is offering the Soulines Kubrick DCX turntable as a package with his own Timestep T-609 tonearm and T-01HS ebony headshell.

The T-609 is a high mass tonearm specifically designed to work optimally with moving coil cartridges and which Cawley created by borrowing some essential ‘DNA’ from the Japanese Fidelity Research FR64S tonearm (from the late 1970s) and combining it with up-to-date technology. The armtube is crafted from titanium and is a low resonance design. A stainless steel bearing block fitted with specially lubricated ABEC7 ceramic bearings for low friction, while frictionless magnetic anti-skating allows for easy fine-tuning.

The T-609 is designed to partner with a fully detachable and interchangeable headshell, offering many possible options. Customers can, of course, opt to purchase the Kubrick DCX on its own or indeed with any other desired combination of tonearm and phono cartridge.

The Soulines Kubrick DCX turntable is available now, optionally as a package partnered with the Timestep T-609 turntable and T-01HS headshell. (All prices include VAT).