Ariston
Company profile
The RD-80 of the Scottish company Ariston can refer to a legendary ancestor: the Ariston RD-11 designed by Hamish Robertson in the early 70's. The RD-11 became famous and legendary a little later when the specially founded company Linn produced it in a revised version as LP-12. Robertson changed to Fons after a patent dispute with Ivor Tiefenbrun, Ariston continued to produce the RD-11 under the direction of John Carrick and did model maintenance, besides detail improvements the RD-11 got a lot of siblings: RD-40, RD-80, RD-90 - and a successor: the RD-110. Common to all of them was the sub-chassis construction and the elaborate "single point" platter bearing, Robertson's real innovation. The design of the RD-80 is very similar to that of the LP-12 and RD-11: a sturdy steel sub-chassis, floating on three adjustable coil springs, the same synchronous motor, only the tone arm board is smaller. The sub-chassis has a standard hole for SME arms, the board itself is interchangeable and allows the mounting of almost all 9" and 10" tonearms. The base tray is made of sheet steel, operation at 33 and 45 rpm. Two-piece platter, driven by flat belts. Soundwise the Ariston offers what you can expect from its origin - keyword PRAT - Pace, Rhythm and Timing, the relationship to the Linn is unmistakable!
The company Ariston no longer exists since 1996.
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