Reviews

“I contacted Patrick after seeing one of his turntables on eBay – it looked beautiful, was well priced and I was intrigued. We exchanged a few emails and his enthusiasm and expert knowledge was apparent from the beginning. I liked the idea of a bespoke turntable from a small company with the personal service that Patrick provides.

We discussed my needs and Patrick came up with many useful suggestions and advice, while always leaving the final decision to me. He allowed me to source my own arm and cartridge through eBay and hand built the plinth, platter etc himself. He kept me fully up to date with progress throughout, sending me photos and spending a lot of time answering my email questions.

When finished, despite me living in Manchester and Patrick in Norwich, he offered to deliver the TT himself and set it up for me. Given the modest price I was paying, this seemed to be too much to ask, so I drove down to Norwich myself and spent a really enjoyable couple of hours, talking music and hi fi and demo’ing the new turntable with my records – and Patrick’s.

Most importantly however, the turntable sounds sensational and has the looks to match. It far far exceeds my old Rega deck and and sounds more involving and expressive than my 1.2k audiolab CD player. It has a fabulous sound stage, great detail rendition and a lovely bass warmth that makes listening a real pleasure. It perfectly matches my Sonus Faber speakers and looks the part in my home, fully passing the ‘wife test!’

Patrick’s attention to detail, personal service and knowledgeable enthusiasm for his subject made the whole process a pleasure from start to finish. Compare this to buying a mass produced turntable from a chain supplier – there really is no comparison. I would not hesitate to recommend Iceni Audio – Patrick is a great person to deal with and I am delighted with my new turntable.”

After delivery:

“Having first listening session now – wow!

Sound stage, detail retrieval, seperation between instruments… lovely rich bass sound. It’s hard to remember exactly how it sounded at your house, but I think this is right up there with it and blows my 1k CD player out of the water…

It stops me in my tracks to listen… happy days!

Thanks for such an amazing sounding, beautiful piece of expert craftsmanship”.

“I purchased an Iceni Audio turntable in March 2017, the way it is beautifully designed, manufactured and put together is matched by the great sound it produces.

Testament to the passion of its creator Paddy Johnson.”

“Truly Bespoke Craftsmanship. And don’t let the term ‘Bespoke’ scare you….it doesn’t mean expensive or complicated. One of the best parts about Iceni Audio is the personalized service you get from Paddy.

Here is my experience:

I saw a picture of an Iceni Audio turntable on Ebay, thought it was beautiful so I contacted Paddy via e-mail to ask some questions. He responded almost immediately with detailed, down-to-earth answers. We then set up a demo of a few of his decks at my home using my equipment.

I move around the world a lot and was hesitant to get a turntable I could not use in different locations. Due to my particular requirements Paddy was able to explain the best solutions and the costs of each. He was then able to tailor almost every component to my requirements and my personal wishes down to the type of wood, tone arm, cartridge, power source, etc. 

Paddy is very thorough and extremely knowledgeable in his craft. He was able to show me examples in the low end, mid-range and top end of my budget. 

Just as important, he has a passion for music and how it should sound with an understanding that we all have our particular views on this subject. More simply put, he is passionate without being a snob…and his excitement for the whole process is infectious. Because of this, he was able to explain where in the build I could save pennies & pounds that could be better used to buy more records…which is what this is all about in the first place 🙂

Once the build and price was agreed upon, Paddy kept me updated on every step of the build process to include pictures. My deck (American Walnut finish with black & silver accents including the platter & weights, feet cones, pads, tonearm & balance) was beautiful in the pictures.

Within just a week or two, my bespoke one of a kind deck was ready and when he drove out to deliver it in person, it exceeded my expectations. Paddy walked me thru each step of the setup and we discussed preventive maintenance. We then demo’d several records on my equipment and then for fun we tried it with some of his rare and beautiful hi-fi components.

He gave me his personal guarantee of service for everything I might need moving forward including advice on any component I might add or upgrade (pre-amps, amps, speakers, etc.). And he even offered to build me a shipping crate to safely pack my deck away for the next overseas move.

I’ve now had about 6 weeks to burn the deck in and to start the process of upgrading some of the other components.

What I won’t need to upgrade is my Iceni Turntable. It is stunning to look at and even better to listen to.

Thanks Paddy!”

“As my interest in Vinyl has grown since I started using the phono stage in my amplifier, I decided that I needed an upgrade to the Project Deck that I was using. That’s when I came across ICENI Audio!

The decks are currently using some Rega parts but with all the enhancements that Rega owners end up chasing, platters, belts, counterweights etc. Patrick is also working on his own tonearm design and his own hand-built turntable is something to behold. (If he puts that into production, I may well have to invest!)

I rang Patrick up and went to his home to discuss my requirements, and between us decided upon a design which aesthetically complemented my current Audionote black and gold boxes, a decent arm (I chose a Rega), cartridge (I chose Ortofon 2m Blue), and choice of veneer. Very interestingly, the motor and circuit board are mounted in a suspended elasticised web structure which Patrick has designed, engineered and 3D printed.

The Rega (or other Tonearm) parts and motor are the only thing which Patrick does not manufacture himself. The record weight, Corian Platter, Platter weights, Aluminium feet with brass adjusters, plinth and veneering are all hand-made. Patrick provided me images of the items under production during the build which only took him two weeks. He also hand delivered it and set it up on my rack before settling down and having a listening session.

Sound wise, it knocks my old deck aside and made it sound like it was a child’s toy. So much more musicality. My vinyl is now like an aged port rather than the sharp Riesling it was. 

The quality of the decks speaks volumes about the care and attention paid to production.”