Continuum Audio Labs is based in South Melbourne, Australia, but is actually a truly multi-national collaboration between audio entrepreneurs. The aim was to use cutting-edge precision engineering, backed by comprehensive scientific research, to develop the world’s finest apparatus for playing vinyl records. The company’s background in hi-tech aeronautical engineering is of critical importance in establishing what sets Continuum apart from the high-end competition, as is the company’s exceptional funding. This has enabled a unique level of scientific research to be undertaken during development, utlislising the skills and knowledge of the scientific and academic communities to produce the most technically advanced turntables in existence.
The Caliburn is the uppermost of two models currently available from Continuum. It comes complete with the ultra-rigid Castellon stand – an integral part of its design, made from aircraft-grade aluminium with a magnetically levitated upper shelf. The matching tonearm is Continuum’s top-end Cobra.This is this most technically advanced way of playing back vinyl records yet devised. Continuum’s painstaking scientific research and high-precision engineering has left no stone unturned in its quest to extract absolutely everything that exists within an LP’s grooves. For a start, there’s the Caliburn’s unique magnesium alloy chassis, not to mention the magnetically levitated magnesium alloy platter. The entire structure is massive – the nested platter alone weighs nearly 40kg – yet everything is engineered to the finest degree. The platter’s levitation means that the bearing only experiences between one and two kilos of weight, but the inertia and mass of the platter remains intact. The computer-controlled ‘zero cogging’ motor ensures ultra-consistent, butter-smooth motion, while the vacuum ‘hold-down’ function (via the supplied, ultra-silent vacuum pump) clamps the record firmly to the platter, to ensure an utterly flat and stable playing surface.There’s much more to the Caliburn’s unique design than this.
