Inexpensive Good Vintage Turntables?

@whart don’t discourage the OP.

U can clearly spend silly money but plenty of fun can be had without blowing the budget.

Goldring 1042 cartridge is excellent as is the 1022 which is cheaper. A rega planer 3 or systemdeck with an rb250 or rb300 are very reliable and sound fine. Both very easy to upgrade 

@cd318 I was ideologically opposed to the LP12. (UK press...) then I heard one that had the full full Funk Firm treatment, and another by Vinyl Passion. On both occasions it just simply sounded great - very entertaining. 

new decks - a lot of Emperors New Clothes IMHO. Harry Weisfeld of VPI once said in an interview to produce a Technics SP10 would require £30k - for tooling - the motor etc. 

In TT design the pinnacle of high tech relative to market usage/penatration was the 70's. Magnetic strips for speed control on platters can only be done by companies with real manufacturing economies of scale. Most belt drives are far more low tech than DD's of the 70's. Most of the new tech is a regurgitation of previous designs and technology. 

There’s a chap @pbnaudio who sells restored Denon direct drives.

if you are keeping costs down find a Goldring Lenco and make ur own plinth Lencoheaven is a superb source for tech details and support

Belt drive turntables are easy in many ways because motors tend to be easy to source - so a Linn is always a solid choice. 

if ur in the UK I would source a Townshend Rock Elite. I have a few turntables but I find this addictive - there’s a guy called Matt McNulty - just Google him - very honest and knowledgeable.

The world is ur oyster my friend

Believe it or not Vestax DJ decks with new tonearms are on a par with the Technics SL1200. they are dismissed due to the DJ Deck aesthetic (which i actually like). Brilliant bass. 

What country are you in?

Picking up on the comment ‘how vintage’ is a fair point.

The Linn LP12 has been in production for almost 50 years. It has had many iterations I hasten to add - a bit like a Porsche 911 I guess 

The Rega Planers 2 and 3 are much the same.

Even the likes of the SME 20 go back 30 years and are still made now.

classic vintage is clearly those no longer manufactured such as the Goldring Lenco; EMT 950, Thorens TD124

in many ways the era when the most high tech together with market penetration was in the 70’s. Sadly the UK was fixated with the LP12 - we know there are many roads to audio nirvana nowadays but it killed off the chance of superb DD’s that proliferated the rest of the audio world were using from entering the UK market which was an awful shame.

@cd318 the cult - superb way of putting it. I think the Roksan and Alvin Golds review of it then the Pink Triangle taught us there was another way. Hi Fi World were the magazine to open our eyes to what we missed out on with its classic section. It’s where I discovered the Martin Bastin Garrard 401 and all the Japanese DD’s.

As I’ve said I have heard good LP12 but it’s not the only way to skin a cat. Experience and age has taught me that anyone claiming there’s is the best is an imbecile - unless u have a Rockport Sirius…

I will shout out that I bought a Townshend Elite Rock 2 for only 400ukp with arm and cart about 8 years ago. They’ve shot up in the used market but are simply sensational 

@petg60 

I bought/have an Amazon Model one which the uK dealer said was the closest thing to the PT Anniversary. The Funk Firm n came out too late for me - I'd bought the Amazon - that's the closest to a modern version of the anniversary. Arthur went on to make the Funk Firm Saffire. A truly brilliant deck - i heard one and was mesmerised by how inherently 'right' it sounded - very hard to explain.

Alvin Gold wrote for a few magazines if i recall. I recall in the early 90's he got rid of his Sondek and replaced it with the Roksan. Hi Fi Choice magazine were always big fans of Voyd and PT turntables - the problem was that What hifi and HiFi News were in love with the Linn/Naim chain. I very rarely buy HiFi world since Simon Pope left - it went on a loop of: Rega; Origin Live; Michell; Musical ical Fidelity and Garrard. I asked Simon at a show as to why all their reviews are so flattering and he said that in general few new products and shockers - and that manufacturers pay for reviews and want to hear what is said before a review goes out.

Sorry guys I digress - but this is a forum for a bit of fun and banter...