How Many Turntables do you own?

Discussion in 'Music and Recordings (vinyl , 8-track, etc.)' started by eastboundofnowhere, Jun 16, 2016.

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How many turntables do you own?

  1. none, this is a waste of time

    22.6%
  2. 1

    39.6%
  3. 2

    18.9%
  4. 3

    7.5%
  5. 4 or more

    11.3%
  1. Shutterbox

    Shutterbox New

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    1) Scout with valhalla phono leads on the factory arm fixed with Ortofon Blue
    2) Thoren TD160Mk3 with factory arm and Shure M97XE
     
  2. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    I have owned a total of three turntables. I still have two.

    Dual 1219:
    When I was about 14 years old, I was really into buying LPs and I was reading audio magazines. One day, I saw a two page advertisement in (probably) Stereo Review from Dual. On the left page it had a photo of a record being played on a Dual 1219. On the right page it showed microscopic photos of a record with groove wear and one without groove wear. They made a case for getting one of their turntables to keep from causing groove wear on your records. That ad made a big impression on me. I kept thinking of how I was spending all of my money on LPs and I may be ruining them simply by playing them. (I had a Penncrest stereo. The turntable was plastic. Even the tonearm was made of plastic. It had a ceramic cartridge.) I talked my parents into combining my next birthday and Christmas presents into a Dual 1219. It was a tough sell, but I pulled that off. It came with a Shure M91ED cartridge. (Back then, dealers discounted components pretty heavily and often threw in a decent cartridge for free when you bought a turntable.) I was really pleased with that setup. A few years ago, I came across some cassettes that I had made with that phono front end and was quite surprised at how good they sounded. That turntable is long gone.

    Thorens TD165 B:
    As I got money from part time jobs, I bought an integrated amp, tuner, cassette deck and speakers. After five years passed, I had a full time job and decided to upgrade my turntable. I chose a Thorens TD165 B with an Ortofon M15E Super cartridge. I thought it was a big upgrade over the Dual/Shure at the time. Looking back, I think it was an upgrade but not all that big. I have not used this since 1990. It is still in great shape with the exception of corrosion/oxidation(?) around the perimeter of the platter. I see that this is common and can be polished off. I plan on cleaning this up and putting it back in service on a second system.

    VPW HW-19 Mk. III
    In 1990 I started desiring a turntable upgrade. I thought about it for a long time and after getting a VPI HW16.5 RCM and being more than pleased with that, I turned my attention to the VPI turntable. The Mk. II was their current version. I had my local dealer order one for me. That store had two owners. One was a nice guy and the other was a jerk. The jerk always ended up "helping" me. Weeks past and I asked the dealer about it. He said "Why ask me? Why don't you call VPI yourself?". I called VPI and Harry Weisfeld answered the phone. (That was cool.) He said "The delay is caused due to us switching to a Mk. III version. That is what you will be getting. Don't tell anyone, we have not announced the Mk. III yet." So I ended up getting the Mk. III for the Mk. II price and the Mk. III was a substantially improved turntable. I have it paired with a Rega RB300 tonearm and Grado MCX cartridge and added a second generation SDS and a Lead Balloon turntable stand.

    I have been tempted by other turntables (always VPI) over the years but always ended up concluding that I am quite satisified with this one.
     
    Last edited: Sep 2, 2016
  3. sepinho

    sepinho Friend

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    I currently have a Beogram 1202 and a Beogram 5500 (I love vintage B&O gear), but I'll be getting a Pro-Ject soon because needles are a pain to replace for the Beos. New tips are hand-made, which costs accordingly and takes forever.
     
  4. MuppetFace

    MuppetFace Sultana of Seafoam Green - Moderator

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    One, the Kuzma Stabi reference 2 with 4point tonearm.
    Before that I had the Stabi SD with Stogi Ref 313 arm.
    Before that I had a Rega 9 and modified Rega arm.

    At some point along the line I acquired a DaVinciAudio Labs Master Virtu tonearm for a very sizable discount. It was part of a botched plan to upgrade to a table that supported two arms at the time, but I ended up sticking with Kuzma cuz I trust my dealer and it felt safer at the time. The tonearm sits in its box to this day cuz the Reference 2 doesn't support its 12 sexy inches. Alas.

    The time to upgrade yet again is nigh, I think. Perhaps the Stabi M awaits (the M is for monster) as it can support 12" arms. Actually it can even support the new 14" 4Point which is out-of-this-world.

    Kinda wanted the option to have a second tonearm, but I suppose I could always get a JA Mitchell Gyro or something for mono records.
     
  5. Divad al-Rahsir

    Divad al-Rahsir Facebook Friend

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    After hearing my dad's (rather modest) vinyl setup a few weeks back while I was visiting home, I began to understand the appeal. I decided that I needed one, but as it wasn't a priority, I'd wait for a deal on an entry level TT while slowly acquiring bargain records at thrift stores. Tonight I found my deal via Craigslist and came home with a Technics SL-5 in excellent condition, courtesy of an extremely cool elderly audiophile whose living room was quite literally walled with racks of vinyl and CDs. The deal was for the TT, but he had a few boxes of records that he was selling and he invited me to take a look. I wound up buying a few of those too at a very reasonable price.

    I got it home, hooked it up to the Denon via a Mani (remember, keeping it inexpensive here - I'm a digital man and this is an experiment), dicked around with it for a bit until it sounded right, and...wow. $80 worth of TT, $120 of preamp, a $1.50 vinyl rescued from Goodwill, and a pair of DIY Amigas and it sounds like the f'ing Red Army Ensemble is performing in my fireplace. I used to think that you guys were a bit fucked in the head with the viny nut-riding but I get it now. I was wrong, and you were right, and now I have to buy all of my f'ing music all the hell over again.

    I'm not done with digital. Digital travels with me. Digital seems...technically perfect, for lack of a better term. There are no errors with digital, but it doesn't sound like live music either, even when it's a live performance. I realized that I had an itch that wasn't getting scratched when I was listening to shitty low-quality MP3's through the Bottlehead because the combination sounded like shitty live garage music, but it didn't sound like good live music. The vinyl sounds like good live music - good live music inside my fireplace due to the positioning of my speakers, but good live music nonetheless. I'm not giving digital up, but I may prefer analog for chilling in the living room. I'll wait until after the honeymoon until I make up my mind.

    Sorry for the ramble, but you all had this moment at some point.
     
  6. Urs

    Urs New

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    Hi there,


    I'm one of those crazy chaps, who owns “a few” TT’s, all of a rather nostalgic variety.


    Two Thorens, a TD 127, a TD 520, both with SME 3012R Tonearms. One of them I occasionally use to play shellac records and other old discs

    Two REVOX B291 tangential players (modified)

    And two LENCO – very old – only for collectors purpose


    As you may guess: I am indeed Swiss !!


    Best regards


    Urs
     
  7. bumrush101

    bumrush101 Acquaintance

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    I have 4 but only keeping 2. Will give the other 2 away I think...
    Technics 1200
    Thorens TD 125 LB
    Technics SL1100A (no arm, but bought it for the super secret arm nobody noticed on Ebay :)
    Technics 1300MK2 - Great 1st table but set aside as I got the upgraded 1200 I think developed a slight problem with the output but can't remember. Was supposed to be an easy fix.

    If anyone is in the Atlanta area, ping me if you are interested in either of the last 2 listed. I'm in India for now, but my Dad is still there so could arrange a pickup.
     
  8. Urs

    Urs New

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    bumrush,

    Congrats & Good choice to hang on the the Thorens TD 125 LB.
    From what I know, this version is built für a 12 Inch tonearm (LB= Long Base, I assume)

    Regards

    Urs
     
  9. bumrush101

    bumrush101 Acquaintance

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    Yeah it is a longer version. When I bought it I actually didn't know there were sized different ones. Got it because it t came with a SME, which I'd heard about vaguely, but when I was selling the arm, someone pointed out it was a 3012 and not 3009. And that's how I found out the player was the long version too. Didn't know much about record players of yore back then, more into the turntable thing. Might move it off as well it's just sitting around, as 12inch arms are steeeeep $ for me right now, and I'm in a different county for good while it looks like... Gonna keep the 1200 for now though. It came with an upgraded Rega RB arm for an good sound. It's like the first awesome girlfriend, that you never quite forget about or let go in your heart :) for me at least... There's a pic of these on one of the threads call "Show us your spinners" or something like that.
     

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