EMT 128
In 2018, Micha Huber’s HiFiction AG, manufacturer of Thales tonearms and turntables, assumed control of EMT Tontechnik, taking over EMT’s cartridge business including development, production, repair, and international distribution—with the exception of the EMT broadcast cartridge line for the EU market, which is still distributed by EMT Studiotechnik out of the company’s original Black Forest home in Mahlberg, Germany.
The backstory—or parts of it—is important to fully understand the front story: this review. So stick with me. Founded by Wilhelm Franz in Berlin in 1940, EMT began as a manufacturer of measurement equipment for broadcasters. In 1956, Wilhelm’s brother Walter founded Gerätewerk Lahr, which began manufacturing EMT’s products.
Fast-forward to the decade’s end, shortly after EMT developed its famous “plate reverb.” EMT’s 927 and 930 broadcast turntables are in use in studios around the world, fitted with Ortofon-supplied tonearms, soon to be replaced by the famous EMT 997 “banana” tonearm—a story unto itself. The platters of these idler-wheel–driven, industrial-grade turntables were large enough to accommodate the 16" transcription discs then in broadcasting use. The 930 turntable, which at first was mono, incorporated a built-in vacuum tube–based phono preamplifier, the 139.
In 1959, EMT entered the cartridge market for obvious reasons and a year later developed a stereo moving coil pickup. In 1966, Gerätewerk Lahr took over production of Thorens—not relevant to this review, but an interesting aside. Wilhelm Franz passed away in 1971, but the company, run by his wife, continued.
From that time until 1989, when EMT was sold to the Belgian Barco group, cartridge design, development, and manufacturing continued at the original Mahlberg, Germany, location. Then in 2003, Barco sold EMT Studiotechnik to Walter Derrer. In 2005, Jules Limon joined the company, heading up product development as well as sales and marketing. A year later, EMT launched a highend “Jubilee Series” cartridge line and introduced the dazzling JPA 66 phono preamp.
In 2007, Derrer died in a plane crash, and
