New Horizon 202 MKII turntable

The New Horizon 202 MkII is the first of the Italian manufacturer's turntable range to be built on the double plinth principle. Like all New Horizon turntables, it offers simple functions and a sleek design to meet audiophile demands, but at a price that is still affordable. It is equipped with the manufacturer's new NH-95 9" aluminium/nylon arm.

NEW HORIZON 202 MKII : PLINTH

The New Horizon 202 MKII comes with a double MDF plinth, covered with melamine in black or white finish.

The traditional rectangle is made original by a half-moon defence on the front, which seems to be the manufacturer's trademark since it can be found on all New Horizon products.

These two chassis elements are decoupled by anti-vibration pads. This principle reduces mechanical noise and therefore allows more music to be extracted from the groove.

The lower chassis is supported by three new feet (5030RD) designed to be as vibration-free as possible. They offer the possibility to adjust the level of the record player.

NEW HORIZON 202 MKII: ARM AND PHONO CARTRIDGE

The 9" arm is designed and manufactured in Italy by New Horizon. This NH-95 is made of aluminium/nylon and is simple but very efficient. Its machining quality allows it to be associated with excellent quality cartridges.

As standard, it is accompanied by an Audio Technica AT-91R MM cartridge.

One can only regret that, for economic reasons, the cell is not at the level of the turntable. However, this is not a big deal, just replace it with an excellent MM or low level MC cartridge.

NEW HORIZON 202 MKII: PLATTER AND DRIVE

The platter is made of 20mm thick methacrylate and weighs 1.7kg, and is driven by an external extra-thin silicone belt.

The AC/24v synchronous motor is isolated from the turntable so as not to generate any vibration or noise in the platter or tone arm.

The drive shaft is precision machined from milled aluminium. It rests on a ¼ inch steel ball on the top of the pivot. It ensures a frictionless and therefore perfectly silent rotation.

NEW HORIZON 202 MKII: PHONO CABLE AND COVER

The phono cable, as on all the vinyl turntables in the range, is not captive, and can therefore be replaced in time by a more ambitious model. The female RCA connectors and the ground terminal of the turntable are of excellent quality and gold-plated.

The New Horizon 202 MKII comes with a high quality methacrylate dust cover. The dust cover simply fits over the turntable and is locked in place with two slots. This eliminates the need for traditional hinges.

NEW HORIZON 202 MKII: TESTING AND LISTENING

As soon as the New Horizon 202 MKII came out of its packaging, we were seduced by its design, which is reminiscent of the design of Music Hall products. Indeed, the designers have gone in the same direction in terms of decoupling.

New Horizon offers a product that is perfectly optimized to get the maximum performance from the different elements (arm, motor, platter, etc). All this of course while offering the best possible quality/price/performance ratio.

The manufacturing is excellent and we appreciate the "Made in Italy"!

We note that the solutions adopted to avoid vibrations are bearing fruit! It should be noted that they are rarely (if ever) optimised in this price range.

The reproduction is particularly silent and precise. We find the swing of the New Horizon 201, but with more substance and impact in the lower part of the spectrum. The soundstage also seems more stable and precise.

This New Horizon 202 MKII turntable offers great musicality and performance in keeping with its very successful design. It offers a nice alternative to traditional Rega and Pro-Ject turntables...

To be recommended!