Galibier Museum
Here at Galibier, we plan every change with one eye on the future and another one on the past. From our early days in 2001, through the present day models, you’ll find a continuity of thought, which has served to validate our initial design and architectural choices as well as to guide our development.
Modular construction means that most, if not all upgrades are available to owners of every turntable we have produced.
Key changes we made through the years were drive system upgrades, platter improvements, and the introduction of our sliding armboard architecture with the Mk II turntables.
All of these upgrades are compatible with the first turntable we've ever built.
Of course, our thinking has evolved. As you view the functional look of our early models, and compare them with our present day turntables, consider their common DNA in the same way you might compare a 1956 Porsche against a present day model.
We hope you’ll enjoy this trip through the past …
Gavia Mk 1.5 Conversion (2014)
This photo shows a conversion of a Gavia Mk I to bring it to Mark II performance standards.
- The arm mount is converted from pivoting to sliding architecture, with micro, fine-adjust pivot spindle feature. This is a key sonic and structural improvement.
- A new Gavia Mk II drive system was installed.
- This Gavia has been painted in platinum gray metallic, which is the standard color for the Stelvio Mk II.
- The customer had a graphite TPI © and it was replaced with carbon fiber.
- The front pillar from the Mk II design was added for both cueing convenience and to protect the area under the headshell.
Gavia Mk 1.5 Conversion (2014) – optional tonearm cavity:
This photo shows the conversion cavity which is post-machined into a Gavia Mk I base to accommodate tonearms with an arm stub or whose arm cable exits from the bottom.
This is optional and is not required with tonearms like the Tri-Planar, Durand, Schröder Reference and other "surface mount" tonearms.
You can read more background about this conversion on our armboards page.
Gavia Mk I (2005-2010)
2005 marked the year when the Mk I Gavia and Stelvio received a TPI © platter upgrade.
Up until this point, Gavias, Stelvios, and their predecsssors had the Teflon-topped platters you'll see below.
The TPI © platter was introduced at the Rocky Mountain Audiofest in October of 2005.
With the release of the Mark II turntables, the graphite was replaced with carbon fiber.
The record weight is a Hagerman Technology UFO.
The Mk I versions of the Gavia and Stelvio are related to each other in the same way the Gavia and Stelvio Mk II models are.
Mk I Stelvio Armboard (2003-2010)
We took the pivoting armboard to its logical extreme with the Stelvio version of the armboard.
The lower cylinder is damped with lead shot and oil - to minimize motion.
Serac (2008-2010)
A thought experiment that proved to be technically successful, but did not fare well in the marketplace.
Our design budget was heavily biased toward performance, at the expense of cosmetics.
The Serac played in a league with $10,000 turntables, but could not compete with turntables in its price range because of cosmetics. A valuable lesson learned.
Gavia Mk I (2004-2005)
Initially, the Gavia Mk I was named the Quattro, but it was re-christened, to distinguish it from its predecessor which had a considerably different construction.
The first 18 months of Gavia and Stelvio production saw them with these Teflon-topped, composite platters, until the TPI © platter was introduced.
The Teflon top shown here is the exposed section of a 1" tall layer.
Upon the introduction of the TPI © top layer in 2005, many customers had their platters re-built, which involved removing .250" from the Teflon and adding the TPI © top layer.
The production versions replaced the Teflon with PVC layer in the Gavia, and this marked the introduction of the Stelvio platter which used brass for this layer.
Gavia Mk I (2004-2005) - Dual Tonearm
All of the Mk I turntables (and their Quattro predecessors) were capable of running dual tonearms.
Truth be told, we weren't big fans of running two tonearms, and the implementation was a secondary consideration.
With the release of the Mk II turntables, we acquiesced to customer demand and designed a dual arm architecture from the "ground up".
Quattro Signature (2001-2004)
Quattro Signature was identical to the SE in every way, except for the cosmetics of its lower layer, which was veneer vs. the paint in the SE.
The lower (MDF) layer of both versions had cavities which were filled with lead shot for mass and damping and the top layer was a 1" thick plate of aircraft grade aluminum.
Like it's successor (the Gavia and Stelvio Mk I), both models were capable of running two tonearms.
Quattro SE (2001-2004) - Dual Tonearm
The lower (MDF) section of this version of the Quattro was painted black.
These Quattros were the first turntables with our composite platter design which was subsequently enhanced in 2005 with the TPI © architecture.
The early composite platters were polished instead of anodized, but the design is identical to current day platters (they are compatible with the TPI © top layer upgrade).
The Original Quattro - s/n 001
This is the first production turntable we built, and it's in service and currently operating with the 2014 drive module update.
The base construction is constrained layers of 1.5" aluminum and 1.5" PVC.
Its solid PVC platter later came to be known as the Serac platter.
This is the first of two brass Anvil record weights we made before changing to stainless steel.
The Anvil (2003-2005)
All 6.25 Lbs, the Anvil tamed the slight bit of upper frequency brightness exhibited by the Teflon topped platters.
With the PVC platters, it added a bit of solidity to the bass frequencies.
The release of our TPI © platters rendered the Anvil unnecessary.