Back in the '70's when a lot of this started, we had a lot of different TTs in my shop. Garrard was a joke back then--plastic and sold for about $40.00, I think. Thorns' tables were hard to get for a while. I think they were a couple hundred bucks...also belt drive as I remember and OK, but not perfect.
Linn-Sondek was supposed to be great. It was a belt drive, as I remember, and had a lot of issues and kept putting out changes to fix them whenever a reviewer would point something out.
Technics came out with DD tables and all of a sudden, the ultimate tables were born!! I forget all the numbers--an SP-10, maybe, was $500 dollars and pretty good, but of course the audiophile world had lots of negative things to say about them. Shure arms (SME something--I forget all the numbers) were about $100.00-$125.00 and had removable head shells, which was judged to be a no-no back then for all kinds of reasons. I forget all the arms with fixed head shells that came out about then.
The physicists said the straight-arm tables were the best as they tracked better, but B&O limited theirs to their own cartridges, which were mediocre at best as I remember. Another guy had a straight arm that you could put on a table, but it did not work very well.
Moving coil cartridges with various amps were in favor--Decca, Satin, Supex, Grado, etc. AT and Shure still had MM ones and their prices started rising. They were afterthoughts until then, I think.
My fav was the Transcriptor. We had one in the window to attract people. It never actually WORKED, of course, but it sure was pretty with its SME arm, etc. I think we actually sold a couple of them--probably as art objects!
I would guess Panasonic Technics tables are still pretty good. They started making them for discos so you could move the platter with your finger--MK 10 or 11 or something, and became a bit expensive. I still think I sold more B&O with the tracking arm than any, but I forget. I sold a lot of Thorns tables as well. Cassette tapes (METAL!) were big, as were Nakamichi tape decks, which broke but worked great when they did.
I would suggest going with Panasonic if they are still being made.
Cheers!
Linn-Sondek was supposed to be great. It was a belt drive, as I remember, and had a lot of issues and kept putting out changes to fix them whenever a reviewer would point something out.
Technics came out with DD tables and all of a sudden, the ultimate tables were born!! I forget all the numbers--an SP-10, maybe, was $500 dollars and pretty good, but of course the audiophile world had lots of negative things to say about them. Shure arms (SME something--I forget all the numbers) were about $100.00-$125.00 and had removable head shells, which was judged to be a no-no back then for all kinds of reasons. I forget all the arms with fixed head shells that came out about then.
The physicists said the straight-arm tables were the best as they tracked better, but B&O limited theirs to their own cartridges, which were mediocre at best as I remember. Another guy had a straight arm that you could put on a table, but it did not work very well.
Moving coil cartridges with various amps were in favor--Decca, Satin, Supex, Grado, etc. AT and Shure still had MM ones and their prices started rising. They were afterthoughts until then, I think.
My fav was the Transcriptor. We had one in the window to attract people. It never actually WORKED, of course, but it sure was pretty with its SME arm, etc. I think we actually sold a couple of them--probably as art objects!
I would guess Panasonic Technics tables are still pretty good. They started making them for discos so you could move the platter with your finger--MK 10 or 11 or something, and became a bit expensive. I still think I sold more B&O with the tracking arm than any, but I forget. I sold a lot of Thorns tables as well. Cassette tapes (METAL!) were big, as were Nakamichi tape decks, which broke but worked great when they did.
I would suggest going with Panasonic if they are still being made.
Cheers!