President Biden Presents Australian Prime Minister a VPI Turntable

Associated Press reported:

Before the more formal events, President Biden and the first lady hosted Albanese and Haydon at the White House on Tuesday night for a private dinner. As an official gift, the Bidens gave their guests an antique writing desk. President Biden also gave Albanese a custom turntable, while Jill Biden gave Haydon a green enamel and diamond petite necklace.

The turntable, sporting a POTUS record mat, is a VPI Classic Signature, proudly designed and manufactured by the family-owned New Jersey-based company. 

It sells (without the plaque and custom mat) in Australia for $11,500 RRP. It features a solid, non-resonating laminated one-piece MDF chassis and is offered in a choice of finishes, including Black Ash, Piano Black, and Walnut. The chassis is bonded to a 3/4" thick sandwich of aluminium and steel attached to the top, making the chassis a complete 30 pounds on its own. The built-in 300 RPM precision, low noise AC synchronous motor drives the belt pulley with high accuracy to +/- .0005." The platter is 20lbs of machined aluminium and stainless steel with a precision inverted bearing. The Classic Signature comes complete with a JWM-10-3D-Gimbal Standard Wire Tonearm. 

It is understood that Anthony Albanese is a "noted vinyl record enthusiast", according to the Daily Mail. 

We'll be keeping a lookout for Albanese digging through crates at local records fairs ...