Sell Me Your Women, Your Children, Your Vintage Turntable...

I should've said - I sold both turntables this weekend. Long story.

I want to nudge my vinyl performance forward a notch or two. 

I loved both the Origin Live and the Feickert Volare and I'm considering stepping up the line of one or the other. But I might as well throw the doors open and consider all options, particularly since both are quite difficult to come by (on the used market).

@oldhvymec I score big time with these pants on. Propper dapper.

The next time I need a tractor pulling downhill I'll call your farm-gal. (If she bought a modern tractor she could probably get it started.)

;)

@akg_ca Oh you’re just so smart. Thanks.

@fsonicsmith Thanks. I can see the logic in your post. It makes sense. I can also relate to the pride in ownership that some of you vintage restoration folks have. The last post about spending $30k to realize a $12k value was such horse****

1 Amazon Grand Referenz / Moerch DP 8

2 SME 20/12 / SME 312S

3 Dr. Feikert Woodpecker / Kuzma Stogi S 12"

4 Garrard 301 turntable with Ortofon AS-219 12” Custom Arm Fully Restored By CTC

Ok then. Lots of opinions as one would expect. Now it’s time to cough-up the cookie dough. Pick one based on anticipated sound quality, or, if it’s some other factor influencing your decision, state what the reason is.

No additions to the list! Though I may grant you a better arm on the Garrard just to level the playing field a bit.

@perkry That is a work of art. You must be proud of the result. 

@petey15 Link to photos please!

@petey15 Sweet. What are the feet?

@audioguy85 I saw that table at Cap Audiofest 2019 and it’s stunning. Didn’t get to hear it though. Unusual arm design/aesthetic.. 

@millercarbon 

Did you sell your Illustrious? Resolution? If not then moving OL arm to a SOTA would be one way to go. 

Yes, I just sold it on the weekend. I'm thinking of staying with OL products and moving up a couple of notches, but I'm waiting on some ideas/suggestions from OL's Mark Baker.
The Illustrious arm is a fantastic device. I'd love to try the Enterprise.

@pgaulke60

(2) Looks do matter to me. Aesthetics are important to me. They are not the first criteria, but they certainly are one of the criteria.
(3) Some modern turntables look like they should be in a NASA physic lab. How they heck does one dust some of those machines. Point being here I need one that I can effectively and easily operate at all times of the day (nudge nudge) and be able to keep clean and functioning well without too much fuss.
(4) What does rumble sound like? I'm not sure I ever heard it. I'm sure I couldn't have discerned it on my old Pioneer systems. Now my system should have very little of it, but I have never done an A-B for rumble. That would be interesting. Not even sure how I would go about it.

(5) Hats off to you DIY'ers. If I was skilled enough to create the beautiful plinths that you all do, I certainly would be displaying it front and center in my system. Always wanted to be better at wood working than I am, but I still have all my digits!

Couldn't agree more with the above. Particularly #5. I'm a frustrated woodworker/artist/inventor who can't assemble a cupboard from IKEA without bursting a blood vessel. Kudos to those with the skills and patience to pull off some of these restos and plinth builds.

@scar972 

Different strokes for different folks.
If you don’t see the appeal in vintage turntables go for one of the modern designs, there are many good options to choose from. From your list, I’d probably go with the SME.

Thanks for the suggestion on the SME.

I guess there are various considerations when selecting a table/arm, certainly budget is the prevailing factor, then, when you get down to individual assessments, there's performance, aesthetics, reliability, ease of use/setup, availability of parts, etc.

Just focusing on performance and aesthetics (which in my case are the two most important aspects, in that order), I WOULD SACRIFICE AESTHETIC FOR A DOLLAR TO DOLLAR IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORMANCE.
People seem reluctant to say that a well-restored vintage deck will generally sound better than a similarly priced modern unit. SOME OF YOU HAVE, but mostly the issue is skirted around. Some of you are alluding to "I built it with my own hands", "It looks wonderful" etc, but not so much "It just sounds obviously better".

So, I'm taking from this that there isn't really a consensus on SQ, and that it's generally down to personal preference, dictated by whatever heads up your list of personal priorities. OK, no real surprise.

So, no one has 'sold me their vintage turntable', per the original challenge. Maybe we can do better with your womenfolk and children... :)

Rooze

@chakster Beautiful looking system. Points taken about value.

@millercarbon  thanks for the clip. I really fluffed my lines. Old AND senile. Too much fried chicken and coke. 

@chrisoshea Thanks for the suggestions, but my turntables are sold and I’ve no need for a $2000 phonostage. I wouldn’t think there’s any real age limit for trying a vintage turntable either. I mean, a modern table doesn’t help me get up the stairs or break open a new bag of Depends. As I edge ever closer to death I just might fancy trying something new. ... i mean old. There I go again.

@adsell  Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve looked briefly at Microseiki. That DP 8 you’re using looks nice. I’ve been looking at an Amazon Referenz and they pIay well with the Moerch arms from what I’ve read. How do you like yours?
rooze 

@doug714  sage advice indeed.

I must say that considering a vintage TT has been a fun distraction.

There are some gorgeous looking restored decks out there and the custom plinths in some cases are works of art.

The Technics SP-10R looks like a real beaut, here's a video of OMA who make a nice cast iron plinth - https://youtu.be/AazHsWk-8C0

I thought this was a great video too, from OMA. Some interesting turntable history and views on direct drive versus belt and idler: https://youtu.be/UEcQd1SZ8S4

So, what to do?...hmmmm

@millercarbon you have a Union Card for dispensing all of this sage advice??

https://youtu.be/NdCc-IEKaD0

So I pulled the trigger on a Dr. Feickert Woodpecker with Kuzma Stogi S 12 VTA and a Benz Micro LP-S.
Now i have to wait, which I’m not good at.

 I’m hoping the Benz and Kuzma play well together. The Benz is a heavy little bugger. We’ll see.