A turntable without a tonearm sounds like a contradiction. Yet that is exactly what the PP-2 turntable from Paris-based studio Waiting For Ideas offers. It plays records upside down and reads the grooves from below with an optical stylus system. The PP-2 is the second generation, after the PP-1 the studio introduced in 2025.
Alongside the turntable, the studio presents [Pause], a concept for a glass listening room in Tokyo.
PP-2 turntable: reading grooves with light
The needle of the PP-2 turntable still touches the record, but its movement is detected optically. Instead of the magnets and coils of a conventional cartridge, light turns the motion of the stylus into an audio signal. According to the studio, this lowers the moving mass of the stylus, which helps it follow the grooves more precisely.
As on the PP-1, the record sits upside down, and a hidden mechanism reads it from below. That is why there is no visible tonearm.
Aluminium and a fast motor
The body of the PP-2 turntable is CNC-machined from aluminium. An axial-flux direct-drive motor adjusts its speed 1,000 times per second, and the turntable automatically detects 33⅓ and 45 rpm.
New on the PP-2 turntable are RCA outputs for a direct connection to a hi-fi system. A dedicated Harmony analogue preamplifier was built for the optical pickup, and a redesigned door protects the stylus from dust.
[Pause]: a glass listening room
With [Pause], Waiting For Ideas shows how listening could extend from an object into architecture. The concept imagines a glass cube on a concrete platform above water in central Tokyo, with the PP-2 at its centre. The floor is a grid of hatches, each hiding part of a record collection. For now, [Pause] exists only as renderings by Julia Ippolito.
Pricing and availability
The PP-2 turntable is available to order from Waiting For Ideas, with an assembly lead time of three to four weeks. A price was not published. The project was covered by designboom.
Key specifications
- Maker: Waiting For Ideas, Paris
- Type: turntable with optical stylus, records played upside down
- Body: CNC-machined aluminium
- Motor: axial-flux direct drive, speed corrected 1,000 times per second
- Speeds: 33⅓ and 45 rpm, automatic detection
- Preamplifier: Harmony analogue preamp for the optical pickup
- Outputs: RCA
- Lead time: 3 to 4 weeks
- Price: not published
Would you trust light instead of a tonearm to play your records, or is a classic cartridge still the way to go?
