Best sounding turntable you ever heard?

Half a year ago I decided to return to vinyl and sadly I'm a rookie at best here. I used to own a Clearaudio Solution for many years but sold it and gave up on analogue for quite a while. So I bought myself what looked like a nice vintage Linn Sondek 12 only to discover that it was modified by the seller beyond all recognition. The Linn went back and for personal reasons I had no chance to continue my search. Until now. My main listening is rock and pop, rather than jazz and classical though I have some records of that as well. So the sound I'm looking for is the most emotional and dynamic. And huge. And I hate noise, so the quiter the TT the better. So keeping that in mind, what's the greatest sounding TT you ever heard? And PLEASE post a link and at least some idea of what it may cost these days!

 

By link I meant a picture!

 

Anyone?

 

VPI Classic

http://www.vpiindustries.com/

Great line of Turntables.

 

Clearaudio makes some very nice turntables. Their US prices range from $1,400 to over $100,000. The ones around the price range of the Solution are probably worth your time to check into. The Ovation lists for $6,500 here.

http://clearaudio.de/de/products/turntables-ovation.php

 

This is a tough question to answer. Through the years, I have heard many incredible turntables, but always in somebody else's system, or more likely at an Audio Show or Dealer. I can't think of any way to say which one is best as every system has been different. Once you get past a certain price point, there are several manufacturers with very good TT's and then is a matter of matching up what you want in a TT/tonearm/Cart combo that works good in your system. Firm believer in Synergy - that is that you really need to try different setups in your own system to determine what you like the best.

 

I think there are some great turntables around at the moment. Two quite different ones that I have heard that spring to mind.

I think that the Hanss Acoustics 'tables provide very good sound for the money, being designed in Germany but mostly (not the bearing) made in Hong Kong. You could have seen one at last year's Moscow HiFi Show. Conventional design - you have to add your own tonearm. The T-30 is $5,700 in the USA which is a pretty impressive price.

http://www.hanssacoustics.com/products2.php?cid=8

My favourite for their really elegant design, air-bearing technology and linear tracking arm, as well as very good sound are the Danish 'tables from Bergmann Audio - the Sidre for example. Johnny Bergmann Rasmussen has a sense of style that's very modern and comprehensive. Not cheap at $20,000 in the USA.

http://www.bergmannaudio.com/products/turntables/sindre_system

 

Best I've spent any significant amount of time with is a TW Acustic Raven AC3 with a Clearaudio TT2 Linear Tracking Arm and Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement cartridge.

Sum total is about $45K retail which is considerably more than I'd spend on a table, but it does sound very, very good.

 

The best I've ever heard was an Audio Note TT3: http://www.audionote.co.uk/products/analogue/tt-3_01.shtml

Way beyond my means to acquire one though!

[edit] sorry, you asked for an idea of the price - I think these are made to order and are very expensive, and I'm not completely sure what it would cost. I believe the one I listened to was somewhere north of $100,000.00

 

The best sounding turntable I've heard so far was some 14 years ago and that was John Curl's Linn Sondek LP-12. It had all the Linn upgrades and was very well set-up. I've owned a fine, early LP-12/Ittok 'table, only the Valhalla mods. Curl's had a lot more resolution and none of the mid-bass fat. And his 'table had a dedicated stand, something I've learned is essential if one really wants high performance from a turntable. The cartridge was a low-output moving coil, sorry but I can't recall the brand/model. But I suspect it the the CTC Blowtorch preamp that was the key, with a parts upgrade from the original Vendetta Research SPC 2-a along with a much better power supply and a lot more shielding for the chassis. Very alive, very present with very clean backdrops.

 

That Raven is a great table. I like my AVID Acutus Ref SP with SME or Triplanar arm, the SME 20 or SME 30 are pretty great tables too, and the recent VPI Classic Direct a winner. All of these about 30-50k with cartridge. I've heard a few of the 100 - 200k turntables but none of them were that much more over the top than the best tables in the 30-50 range. And of course, the used market has the occasional bargain too.

Just depends on what you want to spend.

 

The best one I have here at the house when I was in the Biz was a Thorens 850. Super quiet and at that time it came with a RB-300 arm which mated well.

 

I was visiting the late Brooks Berdan in the Summer of 02 at his store in Monrovia, CA.
Brooks was auditioning the Spotheim La Luce Turntable in his Main Room. The LP was
a Living Stereo Shaded Dog Pressing of something not particularly familiar to me but very
Beautiful. The Speakers were floor standers and not very tall. There was no perceptible
playback noise and the Music filled the half of the room in front of us. It sounded as if the
back wall had opened up to an actual Concert Hall.




http://www.spj-laluce.com/products.htm

 

My Aires 3 damn thing is a musical instrument. No two record sounds a like, the sound stage moves and is not homogenized. There are times that I think that something is wrong with the system or that I need to move my speakers. But it's just that each record is different in how it was mastered and it's confusing sometimes because the soundstage changes from record to record and sometimes from song to song. It's all repeatable, so I love my A3.

M~

 

If you liked Clearaudio brinkmann should have something interesting for you from 8 to 25 grand in Euro.
Bardo, Oasis or the new La Grange.
I personally would check out the entry level Bardo which uses the trusted direct drive first introduced by DUAL for the CS 701. That motor is still on point 40 years later and Brinkmann even used better / more costly magnetics. The sound of a good DD is spot on with blacker than black quiet background (absence of noise) 0,003% Wow & Flutter, high dynamics and a superb build elegant table / platter tonearm combi. match it with the 1.800 Euro costing Brinkman PI and you should be settled for a while. If you want to spend a lt the VPI Classic 3 is also a DD and probably among the finest sounding tt on the market.
Then comes the specialists but Brinkmann should be available to demo at a shop near you ..
review by Michael Fremer about the Bardo + Pi
http://www.stereophile.com/content/brinkmann-audio-bardo-turntable-page-3

Picture = Don't let that Project RPM 3 design fool ya. It is a superb engineered precision piece with heavy duty metal parts, well balanced. If you want you can get a wooden plinth around it - that would be the OASIS BUT that raw piece of precision manufacturing looks great in reality.. better than on pictures..
http://www.brinkmann-audio.com/main.php?prod=bardo&cat=default&lang=en
no attachements but a direct link to a foto
http://www.brinkmann-audio.com/bild.php?bardo.jpg

 

My father has the Voyd Reference, which the TT3 is based on. Spectacular turntable, and the best I've heard too

 

The best I've heard is my own - Rega RP6. I'm sure there are better out there, but if I hear them and don't buy them I won't be satisfied!

 

The best I ever heard was just last week- the VPI Direct Drive Traveler. But I have not heard many 430k+ TTs. My Aries 3 is a close second.

 

I don't believe the word "Traveler" is applied to that turntable - VPI Classic Direct Drive. Here is Jeff Dorgay's take on this fabulous unit

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/vpi-classic-direct-drive-turntable/

 

My eyes! Someone call the Bling Police. Can you serve punch out of it?

 

Continuum Caliburn with Soundsmith Hyperion Mark 2.

 

So... there's a difference between the "best turntable I've ever heard" and the kind of turntable that I think tends to excel at that kind of music. When it comes to rock and pop, I tend to prefer idler wheels, heavy platters with an AC motor, or old Technics and EMT broadcast decks. I've had some pretty bad luck with light platters and DC motors.

This is all a generalization, of course. There are some great rocker decks with DC motors, but... well.... an EMT 930 would be my call as "the best" for cranking Sabbath. I'm also a big fan of the Milled-from-Unobtanium Saskia turntable.

Best I've ever heard, though? That would be a crappy JVC in a room full of good friends. Best is pretty subjective.

 

Classic Direct Drive for me

 

Brooks LOVED that table.... he played it for me when I bought my first system and I was beyond hooked.

 

DOH!!! I meant to say Classic, not Traveler. Thanks for setting it straight.