When archaeologists dig up the current layer of civilization a million years from now, they'll stumble upon anvil-heavy discs of silver and gold, delicate Lucite sculptures, strange materials juxtaposed with delicate arm-like tendrils — all sporting a wheel-like centerpiece. Were these intricately crafted edifices part of a temple honoring the invention of the wheel? No, dear archaeologist: they were turntables, altars to those deities with the most golden of ears, platforms upon which huge piles of currency were burned.

This was done all in the name of worshiping not the glorious music these contraptions were capable of reproducing, but the precision and regularity with which these wheels could spin, and the accuracy of the sound that can be picked up by their precious tonearms dragged across disks of vinyl. As a preview, today we dug up the seven most outlandish examples, discovering for ourselves the lengths to which audiophiles will go in pursuit of The Perfect Sound. [Read more...]