Inexpensive Good Vintage Turntables?


I'm considering buying a turntable again. I've been without one for going on 10 years. This time around, could you recommend some really good inexpensive models (prefer belt but DD OK, too). And carts (preferably modern) that will work with them? And who are good online sellers of restored models? I know very little about vintage turntables ...

greg7

Showing 2 responses by hanfrac

@beartunes 

I sold a Sapphire III in light oak with FT3 and AT440MLB 2 months ago - got $1100 for it.  Condition was good, but not pristine.  Functioned perfectly.  Unrestored.  Took a decently long time.  I was only looking for a local buyer, as I didn't want to ship it, so that limited my audience.  Hope that helps.

For the original poster, I’ve gone through a good number of turntables. There were a handful of criteria that influenced whether and for how long I was happy with a turntable. I’ll lay those out here:

1 - was it sensitive to foot falls? My floors are pretty bouncy and if the table skipped, it bugged me.

2 - did it keep speed well and at the correct speed? My ears are sensitive to speed variation

3 - how much of a PITA was it to install a cartridge (I’m not incredibly patient and I’m also not inclined to fuss with things too much or overly sweat VTA or azimuth and so on)

4 - was it reliable and low maintenance?

5 - finally, did it please me visually and did I like how I felt using it?

Went thru a good number. I ended the journey with 2 tables - a new SL-1210GAE that was not inexpensive and a Sota Sapphire with SME3009 tonearm. One DD, one belt. The SL1210 will outlive me and I can realistically say it will never be replaced and will likely never give me any problems. The Sota, which I don’t really need, will stay around because I have so much respect for it. It does not, however, hold speed on par with the Technics.

The ones that are no longer here?

- couple of Thorens (TD-316, then 318, then 320) - they skipped if I looked at them funny and the tonearm was (for me) a PITA to install cartridges on. Sounded nice

- Rega P3/P25 - nice, simple, reliable, reasonably good against foot falls, but ran a little fast. I could imagine having one again with a speed box

- Older Technics SL-1500 - once I got it working (cleaning pots, etc.), it was problem-free and was probably good enough. But I felt like I must be leaving something on the table if I’m using a $300 table that was 40+ years old. If you can find a good one from the 1200-1800 lines, you’d probably be happy

- Older Pioneer PL-600 and 630 (the heavy, good ones). Wanted so much to love these, but they were starting to get flaky - would slow down, then speed up, would not turn on, etc. The 630 broke my heart - time and money spent trying to get it to work, unsuccessfully

- Duals (1019, 1229, 1249, another 1 or 2) - liked them, but because they were old, found them fussy and difficult to keep running well. Ruined my 1019 trying to refurbish it on my own.

- assorted others not worth going into.

My experience says either (1) get a good Sota Sapphire, but make sure you get a good one with a decent tonearm already on it or (2) get a Technics DD - maybe even buy new if your budget permits. If a nice Rega lands in your lap, that could work as well.