What's been your turntable ownership over the years?
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In chronological order: 1971-75 AR XA* 75-77 Philips GA212 77-82 Connoisseur BD-1 with Grace G707 tonearm* 82-present Dual CS5000* 2015 Pro-Ject Carbon DC current (* still own an AR XA and BD-1/707 as well as the CS5000) Vinyl Nirvana-modified Thorens TD160 Super reproduction with SME M2-9 tonearm Technics SL1200 MKII with SME Type 2 Improved tonearm Dual 1219 rebuilt by FixMyDual Thorens TD160 Super with SME M2-9 tonearm Dual 505-2 Technics SL-220 Thorens TD190 LarryRS |
Main system 1980-1990 Ariston RD40 1993-2002 Oracle Delphi mk3 2002-present Nakamichi TX-1000 (highly tweaked up) 2017- present Techdas Air Force 3 2nd System from 2002- present Sota Sapphire VPI HW mk3 VPI HW mk4 Oracle Delphi mk5 Denon DP75 Technics SP10mk2 Technics SL1200mk5 (upgraded to the nth degree) Denon DP80 Thorens TD124 (fully restored) TW-Acustic Raven one Garrard 301 The last 6 turntables listed above are still in my second system. The Garrard 301 waiting to be properly restored. Many other tables not listed here have come and gone in my second system and forgotten. Have many arms and cartridges to play with. |
AR XA Transcriptors Thorens TD125 SOTA Star Sapphire III with vacuum Nottingham Analog Hyperspace Technics SP10 Mk2 Denon DP80 Lenco L75 Kenwood L07D Technics SP10 Mk3 Victor TT101 This is very rough chronological order since 1970. The last 5 on the list are still in my possession, up and running. None of them is bone stock (especially my very highly modified Lenco) in terms of plinths or accessories. Lenco, Victor, Kenwood, and Mk3 in play most often. As you might guess, until the turn of this century, I was pretty faithful to one turntable or another for long periods of time. The internet has ruined me. |
I started with ''the best ever'' LP 12 and used with the wrong tonearm (FR-64 S) for about 10 years. Then moved to P.Lurnes Audiomeca J1 which was a kind of ''liberation'' from kneeling under the LP 12 for spring adjustments. Then got a ''better Audiomeca'' namely Kuzma Stabi Reference and added SP 10, mk2 as participant in the DD contra-revolution. So in comparison with my carts collection very modest TT 's number. |
Saburo- Very interesting evolution there. I would be especially interested to hear about Oracle, Linn, and Immedia RPM. Anyway, here's mine: Basis 2000/Graham 2.0 Basis 2001/Graham 2.0 Basis 2500/Graham 2.2 Basis 2500/ Went to Basis Vector III WTL Amadeus WTL Amadeus GTA 2014-Present WTL Amadeus (yes- my 2nd time around) new purchase |
Cool thread! Early high school age: My father's old idler wheel Rek-O-Kut built into a cabinet, with Audax arm and GE mono cart. 1976 - Technics entry level manual belt drive 'table with Stanton 500E cart. 1984 - one year out of college, big purchase for me then (I was not going to re-buy all my LPs as CDs, and I figured turntables would soon dissapear - ;-), a Thorens TD-166MkII with a second arm wand. Still own & use it today, but was modded in 2010 (new footers, damping, and leads), with Ortofon OM-30 Super and Denon DL-160 carts. |
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Garrard SL55 Acoustic Research (original) Thorens TD-125 Mk.II with SME Series 2 Improved arm Thorens TD-150 Technics SL 1500 Acoustic Research (original) modified to accept Mayware Formula 4 arm VPI HW-19 (original) with Rega RB300 arm VPI HW-19 (original but with Mk.2 platter) with Well-Tempered Labs Black arm with Lary Pederson mod Townshend Audio Rock Elite wth Rega RB300 Townshend Audio Rock Elite with Zeta arm VPI HW-19 Mk.2 (acrylic plinth) with Helius Omega arm |
Dual table with, I think, a number two slide in cartridge in the 1980s. By about 1990 bought a Rega Panar 2. Nagoka MP-11 boron cartridge. Had the opportunity to upgrade so I bought a lRega Planar 3 with a Rega Exact cartridge. The yellow one. Then went to a 25th anniversary Linn LP12 so I guess that was about 17 years ago. Lingo, Ekos. I use the exact at first then a Benz Ruby then an Akiva cartridge. I recently did that core upgrade which was pretty good and the radical upgrade which was awesome. And I'm using a Lyra Skala cartridge now. I don't know how long will this stuff will last but I'm pretty well done. I love the sound of this. |
@terry9 agree with you entirely on Azimuth -- check here (http://www.durand-tonearms.com/Support/Support/azimuth.html) for lots of advice on how to set it. Anyway all Durand tonearms feature precise mechanisms for adjusting azimuth on the fly. In the original Talea via the influence of two magnets pulling on either side of the arm -- this complex system was simplified in the Kairos to an outrigger type arrangement with adjustable weight to ensure minimal contact, the whole outrigger platform is then raised or lowered to adjust azimuth which works a treat. |
@folkfreak Thanks very much for the note. Much of what you value in the Durand, I find that I value in my more humble TransFi: adjustability and dedication of the owner. Of course, in jewel-box workmanship, there is absolutely no contest. I find that as little as 10 minutes of azimuth arc can strongly affect sound, and the TransFi will allow about 5, maybe 4. How about the Durand? It would be wonderful to be able to do that on-the-fly. |
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1969-1975--AR tt 1980-1990--B&O Linear Tracker 1994-1997--VPI TNT MkII--Graham 1.5t 1998-2001--Basis 2500--Graham 2.0 2001-2002--Rockport Sirius II 2002-2011--Rockport Sirius III 2008-2009--Grand Prix Audio Monaco 2009--2011-- Dobbins Technics SP-10 Mk2 Dobbins Technics SP-10 Mk3 Dobbins Garrard 301 2010-2011--Dobbins The Beat 2013--2015--EMT 948 2011-present--Wave Kinetics NVS lots of arms and cartridges over the years (Triplaner, Reed (3), Dynavector, Schroeder and Durand (2 besides the Telos) come to mind), my current arms are two Durand Telos tone arms; one a standard 12" Telos with composite arm wand, and the other is the 12" Telos Sapphire. my current cartridges are the Ortofon Anna MC, the Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement, and the Miyajima Labs Premium Be Mono. |
1971-1975: BSR 310 and Shure M 1975-1977: BIC 980 and Grace F8E 1977-1980: B&O Beogram 2402 and MM10 June 1980: Sansui PD31 and Empire 1980-1981: Revox B790 and Empire 1981-1985: Rega Planar 2 and Ortofon OM10, then Dynavector 23 Ruby 1985-now: Sota Sapphire, Magnepan Unitrac and DV 23 MR, upgraded to Graham Phantom Supreme and DV XX2 Mk II. |
I started with a Dual I believe it was a CS 5000 or similar all wood plinth table with rounded edges, from there it was a series of Oracle Delphi's I think I had 3-4 mk1over the years and a Mk4 the most resent last year. I recently build a Garrard 301 system with a custom plinth and a Jelco 12" arm and a VdH MC10 low out put MC cart and i'm very happy. You can see pics on my profile |
@terry9 what I like about Joel’s tonearms is their design and precision in adjustability. They do take some time to get familiar with and must be mounted with precision (like any tonearm) but once in place are supremely controlled, accurate but also musical across the full frequency spectrum. I previously owned SME and TriPlanar arms and the two Durands easily outperform them, especially in terms of control at frequency extremes. Joel is also a great person, I place high value in being able to deal directly with the designer to help you get the most out of your equipment |
I like this Goldmund/Verdier/SME sequence. Where would you go to next? For me it's been Nottingham Spacedeck/Spacearm for the last seven years. Some junk before that. I will never sell the Spacedeck even if one day I upgrade it. I could give it away to someone special though, theoretically speaking. But any real upgrade would put me in $10k category, so not going to happen any time soon, that's for sure. |
This is just off of the top of my head - I am pretty sure I have had other tables over the years. 1986 - vintage Audio Technica (inherited from my father) 1988 - JVC direct drive (high school table) 1998 - Oracle Delphi Mk II plus various upgrades (first real high end table) 1999 - Goldmund Studio (still a great table) 2000 - Verdier La Platine (finicky, but magical) 2008 - SME 20/a (bullet proof and high resolution) 2014 - SME 30/2 (best I've owned) |
1979 - Linn LP12 ( sold stereo in 1985 to pay for college expenses ) 2005 - VP! 19Jr. 2007 - Nottingham Spacedeck 2009 - Nottingham Spacedeck heavy kit, Wave mechanic and custom SRA base added as well as Benz SLR Gullwing cart. 2013 - Sold entire collection of LP's and all analog gear as tired of the shear amount of stuff I had. Continuing to downsize but now only digital with MSB Analog DAC, Transport direct into amp. All said and done, LP's on a great well set up turntable and cart are really the best sounding, but at a cost of stuff. |
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WOW....I would say Pioneer, Yamaha, Sony, Denon, B&O, Thornes back in the Seventies. Fast forward to 2011 (when I started spinning again) and Ive been through a Rega P3/24 (groovetracer reference upgrades) A re wired (morrow audio) Thornes TD160, a Project Xtension 10. My last table is now and will be with me forever.....A JA Michell Gyro SE w/Gen 3 Techno arm and Dynavector 20x2L. So after everything, I stayed with a classic 80’s design. it was a enjoyable progression for sure. And quite a learning experience. |
1981 - bought Rega planar II Over the years I applied one tweak after another Now I have this... http://image99.net/blog/files/04fdba8476cfd21bdd7a5fdf38c8cdf5-28.html The only original part still left is the cover Wouldn’t trade it for the world - it is superb :-) I also would NOT repeat that same "exercise" if I had the time over again... - I’d buy a VPI Or maybe one of those cute little tables from U-Turn - very nice Cheers |
Gosh, back in the days (70s and 80s) I can only remember brands--couple of Sonys (including one where the plinth/platter/arrm were in a motorized drawer, BIC, Kenwood. When I got serious about vinyl (late 90s), this has been the lineup: ProJect (can't recall the model but it was in their early years and was a sprung design). Wilson-Benesch Circle w/ACT 0.5 Arm Currently, an Avid Volvere to SME IV, Dynavector 20x2L and Avid Pellar. |
I had some type of Garrard turntable, tube amp integrated back in early mid 70's. Some sort of CEC Japanese turntable Pioneer pl 10 My father bought me a Pioneer pl 512 for Xmas in 1978. Sony psx55 Dual CS5000 Well Tempered Record Player Highly modded Thorens TD 166 2 Highly modded Thorens TD 150's Highly modded Thorens TD 850 Highly modded VPI HW 19 mkiii A few more that I forgot. |
Much fun over the years 🤔 1980-1983: Garrard SP-25/Shure 1983-1990: Ariston RD-40/Linn Basik LVV/Nagoka MP-11 1990-1996: Michell Gyrodec/Rega RB-300/Lyra Lydian 1997-2008: Michell Orbe/SME-IV/Lyra Atlas 2008-2016: EAR DiscMaster/TriPlanar/VII/AirTight PC1/SME-IV/Lyra Dorian Mono 2016-date: EAR DIscMaster/Durand Kairos/Acoustical Systems Palladian/Durand Talea/Miyajima Zero Mono |
