Philips was once a big name in audio, playing a really influential role in the popularisation of radio through the 1930s and 1940s. It’s fair to say that Philips lost ground with the rise of brands like Sony in the 1980s, but it’s in the sprit of this evolution through audio that Philips has announced the Century range.
Named after notable artists, we have The Tina, The Stevie, The Janet, The Freddie and The Ringo. It might be fair to say that Philips didn’t think too hard about these names and I struggle to see the direct connection between, for example, the classic 80s metal-band on-ears that inspired The Ringo headphones that have just been announced, and Ringo Starr.
Regardless, the darling of the connection is The Tina and I’ll ignore the slightly awkward name, because one glance at the design and you’ll want a Tina too. The Tina is an all-in-one turntable and hi-fi system, lovingly wrapped in a wood veneer, with a substantial grille to the front.
IMAGE CREDIT: PHILIPS
With looks like that, I almost don’t care how it sounds – and I’m strangely drawn to the Perspex cover that can drop down over the top of the turntable to stop passersby randomly scratching whatever disc you’re spinning. It reminds me of the turntable in my house when growing up, because in those days, records were how you listened to music.
There’s even a 6.3mm headphone socket – what we used to call ¼ inch – so you can plug in your wired headphones, if you still have such a thing. Failing that, there’s 120W of speaker power, with a 2.1 configuration, so it promises stereo sound boosted by a 4-inch subwoofer. There’s a good chance it will sound great – with Philips keen to point out that it’s equipped with anti-vibration skills, to keep that needle in the groove while the bass is thumping.
There are a couple of modern twists on the package too, as it supports Bluetooth (both so you can stream to it, and so you can connect speakers to it), while there’s also support for Auracast. There’s an FM tuner and DAB+, while USB media and RCA inputs are also supported.
You’ll get app support for this, but as an all-in-one, I can’t help feeling that the first thing I’d do is hook it up to an Amazon Echo Dot to give me voice control and all those smart skills that the modern world needs. Because for all retro the looks, we all know there will be moments when you just need to scream at Tina and get Spotify playing.
If you want to get your hands on some of this retro audio then you’re going to have to wait: the Century range won’t be available until September and the prices remain a mystery.
