Most hyped turntable, tonearm, and cartridge?

I would suggest going with Panasonic if they are still being made.

@richopp If you missed this click here

My friend also insists that Ortofon RMG 309 tonearm and the original SPU Silver Meister (not MKii) are best for Garrard and Thorens.

Ortofon is not the best tonearm and SPU is not the best cartridge, there are many more classic high mass tonearms and low compliance cartridges. 

If you want something ultra high-end then Reed 3P is perfect for Garrard and Thorens turntables (it can be used with modern cartridges). 

Anyway, this is a personal choice. Why do you want some boby else to tell you what's the best ? 

@mijostyn
 I'm talking about tonearm that I own and use myself, do you own Reed ?
There is no 3G, only 2G 

Reed 3P is excellent tonearm, it's cheaper and absolutely perfect, but there are several models available. 

I never tried anything from Reed, except for my Reed 3P "12 inch Cocobolo. This model is very often used by Artisan Fidelity on Thorens and Garrard 301 turntables. 

$15k is simply insane, but audiophile world is full of nonsense.

They are definitely over hyped, but I like the design of Garrard 301 hammertone (fully refurbisged by Audio Grail in UK), it’s GBP 3000 (the rest if for plinth, tonearm, cartridge). At least it’s beautiful!

Most of the modern turntables are so ugly that in my opinion people who spend a lot for such garbage have no taste (just money).

For over hyped ones look for this Nakamichi that goes for $100 000
Looks weird ...

There are many great vintage turntables, in my opinion this is one of the best design ever. I'm using two of them and practically this is the best turntable for people like me (who collect tonearms and cartridges). 

Modern $3k turntables are junk, except for the new Technics, compared to the nice vintage Direct Drives at the same price.

Actually, those $3k modern belt drives must be in $500-1000 range, but not at $2-3k range.

You could try at least Technics SP-10 mk2 without any mods, this is high-end Technics. Their SP-10 mk3 is ultra high-end.
The new one is SP-10R (drive about $7k) and SL-1200GAE turntable ($4k).

Even $900 SL-1200 mk7 is completely different turntable comparing to your old $400 hi-fi SL1200 mk2 @rushfan71

At the 2018 High End show in Munich, UK-based SME announced that they had taken steps to reintroduce the classic Garrard 301 @larryi

Here is an article about "new" Garrard ***

Now for a bit of disappointing news: The new Garrard 301, with SME M2-12R tonearm and custom plinth, carries a retail price of $23,500, freight additional.

By comparison, secondhand original-issue 301s are routinely available for between $2000 and $3000, with full rebuild services ranging between $500 and $1500.

I was not interested in Technics DD turntables and I did not know how good they were, but I pretty much ignored them and lumped them into cheap Japanese turntable category.

Then you have to check prices for Technics SP10 mk3.

@ihcho

It was very expensive turntable and still very expensive reference class DD.

You can’t ignore Technics because almost ever record made with Technics motor involved in lacquer cutting process on the Neumann cutting lathe.

There is a Technics Direct Drive motor under the Neumann platter when the cutting stylus working on doing its magic.

Almost every record you have made with Direct Drive a few steps before it’s actually pressed.

This is the most stable and powerful drive, and this is why Direct Drive (not Idler or Belt) chosen for Neumann cutting lathe!

Think about it.

But I recently saw a lot of people using new 1200GR at under $2K, and most users seemed to be just happy about it.

GR is a compromise, the reference is SP-10R and it’s new.

Even vintage SP-10 mkII is outstanding for the money, the drive is under $2k today.
The SP-10 mk III is over $7k and new SP-10R is about the same.

Regarding Technics most of us already posted tons of information here.

Where did I say the motor was other than SP-02 ?

I posted many pictures of this motor in my posts earlier this year (thanks to jpjones for the images in his blog).

It is Direct Drive and your records made with Direct Drive, period.

SP-10 mkIII and SP-10R are best DD from Technics available today.

Technics platters are all super heavy!

Denon DP-80 and Victor TT-101 platters are lighweight.

Those are greatest direct drive turntables available today for very reasonable price in my opinion.

If you like something else - no problem.


I like Garraard 301 Hammertone, but only because it looks cool, never tried. Using Denon, Technics, Luxman, Victor direct drive and I can’t detect any single problem with these different type of direct drives.

I have one different question though, if I may. Which is a better table between entry level Clearaudio turntable (like Concept) or similarly priced Rega 6 and Technics SL-1200GR?

You’re comparing belt drive to direct drive here.

I prefer the simplicity of Clearaudio and Rega, but if Technics is at least as good, and if it can be used with SPU cartridges (with additional counter weight), then I would go for Technics as my future turntable. (Well, I’ve read that it is absurd to use SPU cartridges with SL-1200GR tonearm, but I’ve seen some people were happy with it.)

As ex owner of a few SPU cartridges I can tell you that you’d better look for SP-10mkII and "12 inch tonearm like Thomas Schick. I owned this combination with my SPU Spirit and SPU Classic cartridges.

If you want SL1200GR then you can still use SPU with custom made ring weight for the counterweight, but it’s a bit strange, because there are many better higher compliance MC for Technics tonearm and some killer MM cartridges (best). You can also replace Technics tonearm with something like Jelco.  

I think one of the most hyped tonearm is Fidelity-Research FR-66s. 

One of the most hyped cartridge is Koetsu (not an entry level models). 

Regarding turntable I agree that Garrard 301 is one of the most hyped models.