[Poll] Best Turntables for Under $1600 (w/arm)? (pick 3)

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Cyclone Ranger, Jun 12, 2017.

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  1. Cyclone Ranger

    Cyclone Ranger New old stock Thread Starter

    Location:
    Best Coast USA
    Okay, poll on intermediate-level TTs. Since that's actually the 'high end' for many of us, and maybe the last stop on said high-end train for the majority. IOW, it's an important market segment.

    (oh, and I used $1600 as the 'break point' 'cuz that's the top of the 'intermediate' neighborhood, more or less, plus a surprising number of TT-makers seem to have $1599 'tables for some reason)

    Poll parameters:

    1) New or recently-discontinued TT models only, no used.
    2) Price is with tonearm.
    3) Price is without cartridge, unless it's automatically included.
    4) It's the standard price, not the 'ZOMG, there's this super-special temporary deal somewhere!!' price.
    5) Pick your Top 3 choices. Or fewer, if you think only 1 or 2 are 'worthy'.
    6) If you don't see your choice(s) listed, post 'em and tell us why they should've been in the poll.
    Cheers. :cheers:
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2017
  2. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Find a way to spend more might be the best answer. Not that there is anything wrong with the options but the next step up is a big one.

    I would go with a Pro-ject Classsic. I like the way it looks, the substantial plinth and the Tonearm. I think you will also save about $600 on your budget.
     
  3. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    In this price range I would buy a Vinyl Nirvana Thorens or similar restomod table with a Jelco 750 arm. Possibly my next turntable eventually if I don't go with modded vintage direct drive.

    The Polytable with the same arm looks great but I don't like that the speed control box is an extra $700.

    The PLX 1000 looks decent but I would rather buy something like a 1200 mk5 or Kenwood 500 and mod it.
     
  4. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    A guy on another forum just returned one due to motor hum/buzz issues. Maybe that person just had bad luck, but things like that seem to happen a little too often with Pro-ject, IMHO.
     
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  5. Cyclone Ranger

    Cyclone Ranger New old stock Thread Starter

    Location:
    Best Coast USA
    Whoever voted for the Tri-Art Pebbles, how does that one sound?

    It's a pretty unique mostly-bamboo-construction 'table that I've been curious about.



    [​IMG]
     
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  6. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    His latter suggestion is what I use every day as my main turntable, albeit with a different tonearm (I do love the Jelco 750 a lot)
     
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  7. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    It sure is a nice looking table.

     
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  8. Cyclone Ranger

    Cyclone Ranger New old stock Thread Starter

    Location:
    Best Coast USA
    It really is. Which is surprising, considering that the next model down in Tri-Art's TT lineup looks like a kitchen cutting board. :wtf:

    I guess the Pebbles does too slightly, but it's not really your first thought looking at it.
    .
     
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  9. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    come on now. Wood is a resonate material, a plinth alone made from wood isn't my first choice but to make a platter and tonearm out of wood is just a gimmick. What not make the motor out of wood while we're at it?
     
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  10. Cyclone Ranger

    Cyclone Ranger New old stock Thread Starter

    Location:
    Best Coast USA
    In Tri-Art's case, it's not wood, it's bamboo (which is a grass, technically). And bamboo has a pretty good damping factor, better than most woods (or acrylic).

    Now, I'm not pitching the idea of the Tri-Art as some sort of 'giant-killer' awesome $1300 TT (I haven't heard one yet). But, I am curious as to how a mostly-bamboo 'table would sound.
    .
     
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  11. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I haven't heard one either but I'm not buying a grass tonearm.
     
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  12. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    If I was shopping at this price point, I'd get an extra $600 together and get a Prime Scout.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Davey

    Davey NP: Hania Rani/Dobrawa Czocher ~ Inner Symphonies

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
    I'd probably go with the Marantz TT51, or the Thorens TD 206. The Thorens seems to be one of the bargains in the group with a lot of well thought out features, and a pretty nice tonearm too (TP 90), with most of the features inherited from the very nice TD309 (which you can pick up for just above this survey limit now too, if you like that curvy shape of the TD209/309). It's got a DC motor so speed is electronically controlled and has 5% adjustments for both 33 and 45. It's also got a rather unique belt tension adjuster too. And an aluminum/acrylic composite platter.
     
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  14. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    I wonder how many people, and, frankly if any people on this board, are actually qualified to fully answer this poll as someone who has heard and had actually experience will all or even most of these table, maybe a dealer..... I certainly don't, but as a big George Merrill fan who understands his design ideas, I think it would be hard to beat the PolyTable for the price
     
  15. Cyclone Ranger

    Cyclone Ranger New old stock Thread Starter

    Location:
    Best Coast USA
    Understandable. My long-term minimum would likely be something like an Audio Note TT-1 (super-Systemdek!) w/a Rega RB330 arm or something, for around $2500 (i.e. almost a grand above this poll).

    But, I'm not everybody. And there are definitely some good 'tables in the poll.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2017
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  16. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Funny you should mention the TD206. A guy local to me was trying to sell one not too long ago. His initial list price was about half of retail with no takers. He ended up pricing it under $500 before it moved. Maybe the local market for things like this just isn't very good, but my takeaway was that these decks hold value very poorly compared to some other options.

    I'm not saying it's a bad TT, probably quite fine. The stock cart is nothing special but that can be easily changed.
     
  17. H8SLKC

    H8SLKC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    I'll vote for the Marantz TT-15 because it's what I own and don't own a bamboo table! Regarding bamboo, it does present some amazing qualities from a weight/strength standpoint, and it helps that it's readily available. Calfee is one the premier manufacturer of custom carbon fiber bicycle frames and forks in the world, so if they are manufacturing frames from bamboo it's legitimate. Back to the TT-15, a Clearaudio Satisfy arm bolted to a beautiful acrylic plinth, a heavy acrylic platter that is so precise that you can't tell when it's turning, isolated motor and belt driving the outer platter, all finished off with a genuine $900 cartridge? I know it's not everybody's cup of tea but it's hard to argue that the TT-15 isn't one of the best deals to be found at the price.

    Oh, it also runs at 33.3!
     
  18. Davey

    Davey NP: Hania Rani/Dobrawa Czocher ~ Inner Symphonies

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
    Yea, hard to say, I'm just going mainly by the features and perceived build quality compared to others in that price range, not many other tables that have that range of adjustments, including VTA, azimuth and speed, and most seem to have some pretty severe compromises (and yea, I'd probably throw out most of the cartridges they come with, or at least try to trade up). I'd definitely try to audition the TD 206/209 if shopping in that price range and if you can find one setup with a decent cartridge (or especially the sprung TD309 if a great deal comes around, and the shape fits your style). You don't hear much about the current Thorens tables, so it's not surprising to see one languish unsold, not too much pizazz, but they've had a fairly strong modern lineup going back a few years now. As a German table, they do suffer on price due to US distribution, seem to be much cheaper in the UK. Like most here, I'd step up a notch to the $2000 range if seriously looking, there is so much more quality available at that point. But I have an old Thorens TD320 that I'm very fond of, so there's that too :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2017
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  19. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Indeed, I've heard six of them and only one in my system. All you can really do is express pride in ownership of what you have or or an opinion you have from second hand information.
     
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  20. Tim Irvine

    Tim Irvine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, Texas
    I have heard a few of them. I agonized over choices at this price point and went with a VN150. Zero complaints. Many adulations. I have the 202 arm with Cardas wiring rather than the Jelco, and as I have posted elsewhere I find the combo stunningly good. Back in the '80s I had a TD125 with an SME arm and a V15 iii. I like the VN150 and its 2m bronze better. Barring fire, theft, or other calamity this will be my last TT. I won't commit to abstaining from different cartridges if I win a lottery. A Grado Sonata might be nice.
     
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  21. Bob_in_OKC

    Bob_in_OKC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas
    My aesthetic preferences enter into decisions like this. I generally prefer a turntable that makes it look easy.
     
  22. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    Just chiming in to say that bamboo is so well known for its antiresonant property (and its eco-friendliness; it literally grows like weeds) that it's used to build houses in equatorial areas prone to hurricanes. Color me intrigued by a bamboo turntable. I've sometimes wondered whether cutting a bamboo plinth would improve my Debut III, though it's surely not worth the trouble.
     
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  23. 4xoddic

    4xoddic Forum Resident

    Not your fishing pole bamboo:

    Strand Woven Bamboo :

    The bamboo stalks are crushed into fibers, these strands are then infused with a dense adhesive compound that is free from added urea-formaldehyde and harmful VOC‘s (you hope). These strands are then compressed into building materials. Think of an MDF where the the interior is not homogenous, but has varying thickness & length strands transmitting vibration. As the substance is not homogenous, the vibrational energy changes speed as it passes thru. Waves speed up, waves slow down.

    Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. By using strand woven bamboo, vibration is changed to heat.
     
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  24. Davey

    Davey NP: Hania Rani/Dobrawa Czocher ~ Inner Symphonies

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
    Well, there's the Koetsu, but at over $13000, it's a little above the Pro-Ject ...

    [​IMG]
     
  25. Love bamboo. Interesting choice in these modern TT designs. Also glad to see people giving praise to the Jelco arms. I hope it will be a cheap and viable upgrade for a modest TT (SL1200).
     
    Cyclone Ranger likes this.
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