Funk Firm Gett!
Funk Firm, who is owned by by one of the founding members of iconic turntable manufacturer Pink Triangle, produce a range of turntables and tonearms, all from their base in Newhaven, UK. For this review, I looked at their “entry level” turntable, the eccentrically named “The Gett!!”, which comes complete with one of Funk Firms own Funk’s F7 tonearms, acrylic platter and DC Power supply. Like many of Funk Firm products, they push the boundaries of design and innovation, and although the Gett!! may be classed as their entry level offering, it certainly still looks like they haven’t redirected that motto of “radical thinking, far-out creativity and dramatic styling.”
Aesthetics
Taking the Funk Firm Gett! out of the box, it looks relatively traditional, in its shape and design, but it’s only when you begin to set it up, and look closer you pick up on those little details and innovative ideas that have been added to this turntable. The plinth is a solid piece of wood, nicely made and finished, although I cant help compare it to the Pro-Ject’s & GoldNotes of this world and they way they finish their turntables, and personally while the Funk Firm is still finished well, the matt finish is a little industrial for me, but as we all know its all about the sound, not the appearance. The platter is again nicely made, and feels solid and robust. The metal and acrylic touches on the plinth are nice, and bring a certain “prestige” to the whole turntable.
The tonearm looks great, but be careful, particularly if you have your cartridge installed. Funk Firm have went for a uni pivot design, which essentially requires no bearing, as the tonearm is mounted on strings, which offers fantastic isolation qualities. While this solves one issue, of vibration, due to rigidity in the tonearm, my thoughts move to people starting out on their turntable journey, who aren’t as experienced, and as this is an “entry level turntable”, the tonearm, while very clever in its design, isn’t very user friendly, so a degree of caution is required.
While installing the cartridge and setting it up, the tonearm doesn’t come with a arm clamp, only an arm rest, which is a snug fit, and build well, but the arm moves side to side a little, and again this isn’t going to annoy or affect most seasoned audiophiles, but for a less experienced person, who may already be a bit anxious about cartridge installs etc… this tonearm would be a little concerning. With that being said, I got the Audio Technica AT-VM95SH I had chosen to use with it, set up in a matter of minutes, and I sat down for a listen.
Sound
I enjoyed the sound of the Gett!! It was very natural, with deep rich bass tones and a clean and well balanced midrange. The clarity in the top end was impressive for a turntable at this price range, and the soundstage was open and clear. It carried a very balanced sound, everything flowed nicely together, and moving through different genres, from Rock to Jazz to Modern Pop to country, the Gett! was pretty universal (as you all know is something I like to see in a product, as I have quite a wide range of music). There is a certain degree of “airiness” with this turntable, and I think having the option to select your own cartridge really helps, as at the end of the day the cartridge is the music maker, and having an open choice to match up to this turntable gives the user a customisable sound. As I always like to compare products to what else is on the market at the same price point, with many other manufacturers who offer pre fitted cartridges, you get a very particular sound. However having this an option with the Gett!!, I feel, made the turntable more appealing to me, as I could make the sound “mine!” not someones else’s. While of course you could always change the cartridge on any turntable it always seems a shame to remove a perfectly good cartridge!
I can also hear why the tonearm is clever in its design, as you can almost see it working while your vinyl is playing. The cartridge does seem very settled, and purely out of interest, I selected a very slightly warped piece of vinyl just to try it out, to see how the Gett! would handle it, and I have to say it didn’t do a bad job at all. It goes without saying the sound quality deteriorated, but overall, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, so the tonearm design works!
Overall
Overall with this turntable, the sound quality is very impressive. It carries itself well in its price point, and I wouldn’t criticise the sound. The build quality for me is a little lacking however, certainly compared to other turntables in this price point. At £749.00 + a cartridge (so realistically we are talking in the region of £1000 all in) I would expect more. When I think of the Pro-Ject RPM 5, the Gold Note Valore 425 or an Elac Micro cord 70, the Funk Firm Gett! falls short for me. The Gett! has a certain individual manner about it, you get the feeling that it was build for you! It didn’t come off a production line, that someone sat down and put this together piece by piece. Personally I love that kind of thing, but with this turntable I didn’t have that feeling that I must own one. When I read about Funk Firm, I expected this turntable to be really special, and to really tug at my heart strings, for it almost to have soul, the sort of turntable that I would never want to get rid off, but it didn’t give me that feeling, and considering that, and the build quality, if it was my money on the table, I would look towards the other turntables I mentioned above. With that being said I still did like this turntable, and if I walked into my friends house and saw one sitting there, I wouldn’t be negative at all towards it, but it lacked that “something special” that I soooooooo wanted it to have. With that being said if you are looking for a classy, all British turntable with a little bit of flare, you certainly won’t be disappointed with the Gett!!
