The Dutch Kickstarter “Wheel” – a unique record player with the needle at the bottom – is finally ready for delivery after a long wait.
Do you ever look at the crowdfunding website Kickstarter? All products that make your life pleasant, often for a pleasant price. If you like the project, you can become ‘backer’ in different variants. You decide to support it and pay for it. And then you often have te wait… And wait. The Dutch start-up Wheel (by Miniot) has has that experience as well. But reversed. Having a good idea, ‘realize’ it in a prototype and setting up a nice online campaign is quite something else than taking a record player into production. Since the campaign started, in 2017, more than 700 people who paid 500 euros or more worldwide have been waiting for their Wheel.
Patience is rewarded
If you want to delve into the entire history, we recommend reading the 47 updates on the Miniot website or on the social media channels. We see the impatience and anger of the backers increasing and the radio silence from Miniot didn’t make it any better. On the other hand, the frustration of the creators can also be imagined. It wasn’t because of their good intentions, nor because of their perseverance, because they kept working on a product that could combine quality and scalability. And there is good news. In update #47, Miniot is pleased to report that the Wheel is now really ready for production.
Starting in 2017, the Wheel has attracted a lot of attention, both online and at shows. And it’s also a special device; the record is played from the bottom; all we see is a spinning record. Wheel can be hung on the wall thanks to its tangential arm. And the spindle of the plate is also for control. The Wheel also has a built-in phono preamp, a headphone amplifier.
All in all, we are very curious about the result; because we are one of the 700 people waiting! As soon as we have Wheel inside, we are happy to share our experiences.
Thanks to Yung Lie, who is one of those many impatient waiters and tapped this happy message.
It is now over two years after this article was written I have an update. I’m Kickstarter backer #109 (of 700+ supporters) and I still haven’t received anything. They are telling people that the product is completed and an incredible marvel of technology but is too fragile to ship. Fortunately, they say they have a model called Wheel2 that they will send me if I send them an additional €150.00. I think this shady bait-and-switch scheme deserves a follow-up story.