Origin Live Adds Swift Mk5 Turntable – First Look

All Image Credit: Origin Live

On or about May 1st 2023, Origin Live of Southampton, UK, announced a new addition to their turntable range, the Swift Mk5. It includes several features from their flagship Voyager turntable and fills the price point between the Aurora and the Calypso turntables.

This latest Swift MK5 includes; a MK5 motor/power supply PCB redesign improving speed stability and their Multi Layer Platter technology from their flagship Voyager turntable. Its core design is based upon the single-point cantilevered suspension from the Origin Live’s Aurora turntable together with its decoupled arm board. This belt drive model supports both 33.3 and 45 rpm speeds using a swiss DC100 motor. The motor has an iron less core that eliminates eddy currents, resulting in low “cogging”, low vibration and excellent speed stability, plus it is decoupled to minimize vibration and reduce audible noise.

The Multi Layer Platter (MLP) features an intricately designed top with over 1000 individual slots laser cut through the top layer. It is combined with another composite layer underneath and carefully screwed to the acrylic platter. The MLP layers are said to; “diffuse surface resonance in the platter through vibrational interference, resulting in a texture in the music which is freed up from resonant artifacts.”

The Swift features Origin Live’s MK4 low-friction bearing that results in ultra low levels of vibration. The spindle rotates on a Tungsten carbide ball bearing centered on a hardened thrust pad for low friction and long life, resulting in “a silent background and vastly improved dynamics and separation”.

Finally the sub-chassis plate balances the arm-board with the platter and bearing house, decoupling both from the turntable plinth. Its heavyweight design helping to effectively damp vibration traveling through the arm-board and platter.