Phillips Medisize, a Molex company and leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of drug delivery, in vitro diagnostics, medical technology and specialty consumer devices, is working to improve tonearm performance in its next-generation turntables.

Philips Medisize announced on the 11th that it is collaborating with U-Turn Audio, the largest turntable manufacturer in the United States, by applying proven technology in the field of magnesium injection molding.

The two companies have jointly developed a groundbreaking next-generation tonearm for turntables.

“The tonearm is essentially the heart of the turntable and accounts for a large portion of the actual audio production,” said Bob Hertig, President and CEO of U-Turn Audio. “We wanted to simplify the traditional tonearm by merging multiple components into a single, solid piece, reducing resonances and creating a more rigid, higher-performing tonearm.”

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), vinyl sales have surpassed CDs for the first time since 1987. In its 2022 annual sales report, the RIAA said vinyl accounted for $1.2 billion of the $1.7 billion in total physical media sales, outselling CDs by about 8 million units. Audiophiles and LP enthusiasts at U-Turn Audio realized that making new tonearms out of magnesium would offer improved mechanical and physical properties over conventional materials. However, there was a problem in finding a company with proven experience in ‘jigsaw molding’, a unique process used to injection mold magnesium.

Ultimately, to implement the innovative tonearm concept, U-Turn Audio leveraged the unique expertise of Philips-Medisize, North America’s largest magnesium injection molding company.

From its Wisconsin facility, Philips-Medisize offers comprehensive manufacturing services encompassing front-end design, development and manufacturing for regulated industries, including medical devices made of magnesium, drawing on more than half a century of expertise.

U-Turn Audio and Philips-Medisize have collaborated to integrate various tonearm components into a single continuous component, dubbed the ‘OA3 Pro’. Designed for U-Turn Audio’s high-end Orbit Theory turntable, the tonearm design is complex, requiring extremely thin walls for the tonearm stem as well as a long, slender core. The extreme heat and pressure involved in the direct-molding process added to the challenge, but Philips-Medisize was able to draw on decades of experience in mold design and flow analysis to help mitigate the challenges.

The entire planning and development process for the new tonearm from concept to completion took over a year. U-Turn Audio also culminated in the release of Orbit Theory in September 2022, with new and improved turntable features. This was followed by rave reviews from the press and enthusiastic responses from the market. Accordingly, U-Turn Audio plans to introduce the new tonearm to additional turntable models in the future.

“U-Turn Audio was a great collaboration because they involved us from the very beginning of the design phase,” said Eric Semingson, Advanced Development Manager at Philips-Medisize. “They were open to the design support we provided. Designing the part as a single component versus a three-part assembly reduces tooling costs, supply chain requirements, and assembly time.”