Cambridge Audio's Spira turntable brings a sound and style upgrade to your living room

The UK’s own Cambridge Audio’s mission to bring better sound and more colour into our living rooms continues with Spira, an unusually eye-catching turntable.

Colour is the first thing you’ll notice. Just like Cambridge’s recent active L/R speakers, the Spira is drenched in the stuff.

The Cambridge Audio Spira comes in green, orange and blue finishes or — if you want a plainer look — black or white too. This matches your options for Cambridge’s active speakers but you’re under no obligation to make your entire system a family affair as Spira can plug into any amplifier or active speakers you fancy.

Or, as it has Bluetooth baked in, the Cambridge Audio Spira can beam its sound directly to a wireless speaker or pair of wireless headphones.

If this sounds like sacrilege, you may be more interested in the built-in phono stage, its quality Audio-Technica starter cartridge and 3600LE stylus.

There’s also a switch on the back to let you flick between using the phono stage or an external one. There’s provision for you to upgrade almost every element of this setup without you having to throw out the Spira entirely. Two thumbs up for that one, Cambridge.

And that’s because the basics here are pretty sound. The Spira is based around a 1.8kg steel platter for minimal vibration interference, and the price isn’t too far off that of some of the starter turntables we tend to recommend — while also looking far more sleek or interesting, depending on the colour you pick.

The headshell is also totally optional. But is, of course, recommended if smaller hands are going to be anywhere near your living room while the Spira is in it.

Cambridge Audio’s Spira is available to order now, and costs £329 regardless of the colour you pick. At the time of writing the green version is listed as out of stock and, sure enough, is the one we’re drawn to the most, initially.

Want to pair a Spira with Cambridge Audio’s active speakers? The L/R S set is the easiest match, at £399 a pair, while the cost rockets up for the larger sets, at £1199 for the L/R M and £1799 for the huge L/R X.

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