Tell me about your Turntable.

Hello Vinyl Lovers

Please tell me about YOUR turntable. What you have , how long have you owned it, arm, cartridge , phono stage if you have one . Does not matter how expensive or how cheap. Can you also tell me if you like it or not regarding it's sound??? I know that's a strange question but I think we have have all experienced vinyl/turntables either sounding sublime or terrible. My own deck is a Gyrodec with Rega RB300 (Tecnoweight ) Ortofon 2M Red. I am happy with it but it has to said the Gyrodec with the wrong cartridge can sound awful.

Please respect each other regarding equipment choices . I only want to hear from people who have kept the faith & still own their turntable . Could we also avoid wether " other formats sound better or worse" debates . This is strictly turntable talk

Thanks

 

I have a VPI Classic 1 with a Lyra Delos and I am currently test driving the Devialet D200 (and using the integrated phono stage). My normal phono stage is in my CJ Classic preamp.

I have th Classic arm, the HRX weight and the peripheral clamp.

I am delighted with the table and have no plans to change. I love the looks of other turntables, to be sure, but this setup seems to work in my living room.

I have had it for maybe 4 years (got it right then the Classic came out).

 

A stock Technics SL-1100A with a Audio-Technica AT33-PTG cart. I too am delighted with the table and have no plans to change.

 

I have owned my workhorse Technics SP 25 turntable motor unit, my Audio-Technica ATP 16-T transcription tonearm, and my plinth for over 6 years of superb reliable musical service. Never had any problems with it. I have a Pioneer PL 518 DD turntable for my other turntable, which has been quite good in it's own right. Automatic return and my casual turntable. I use Stanton 681 EEE cartridges with various styli and also own the Shure M25c and M35x cartridges as well mounted in headshells. These two turntables serve my needs well. And without being fussy or high maintenance.

 

I have one of the early Sota Comet IIIs with an RB300. It is not a looker, and it has an odd arm mounting of 219.5 mm pivot to spindle. The basic design philosophy is to use layers of inert materials—mdf, resins, foams—to create a very quiet, dead table. I like that it is an American made product. I have improved the isolation by replacing the stock sorbothane pads on the feet with Herbie’s Big Fat Dots. I have rewired the arm with an Incognito kit, and altered this by allowing the shields to ground at the preamp end. I also replaced the counterweight with the Pete Riggle counterweight. I currently use an AT 440MLa because it is relatively inexpensive to maintain and has a nice stylus. I have cut the Incognito wires and re-terminated them with some very low mass, good quality copper RCAs to cut capacitance. This helps with the frequency response, but I also use a Phonomena II preamp that is Michael Yee’s (the designer) prototype model. He has lowered the capacitance in the unit and also changed out a few resistors so I can load at 100K, 62.5K, 50K and 38K natively. He also modded the unit so it has a mono-switch on the output end.

I have a sense that it all works pretty well together as a unit. Tracking is good in that I can pass the 16+ db torture track on the Hi-Fi test record without distortion. The cart presents a lateral resonance with the arm that starts at about 9Hz and fades away at around 7Hz.

The cartridge is not an ideal match with the arm, but I would need something vintage like a Grace Ruby and source the stylus from SoundSmith to get a better match.

I think there are better tables at this price point, but they were not around when I bought this deck. It is about 13 years in use. I have to monitor the lubrication level to keep the operation optimized. The platter had become delaminated once, and cost around $600 US for a replacement. The arm needs a shim on the inside surface to get the azimuth correct. I have removed the VTF spring and this has improved the sound and tracking ability of the arm, although dealers will tell you this is not a good idea. In general, everything is pretty maxed out and I love the sound.

Oh, I did add a Music Hall Cruise Control to keep the speed correct. All the upgrades have been improvements, and my perception is that it does a good job with all sorts of music, but the presentation is not what you would call lively. The table is noted for presenting from a very black background. Sotas seem to, by design, be the anti-Regas, even though they so often utilize the Rega arms.

 

Wow , very impressive replies . Thank you. Keep them coming in folks.

 

I started in vinyl in April and purchased a Michell Gyro SE...i collected as a little kid and it was where my heart was. I had a Tag Mclaren system and about 1,100 cds which are now gone. I have since April bought around 300 albums (mostly new issues) and am starting to have a great time with it and learning what to look for.

Tomorrow i will purchase an orbe double spyder and complete my conversion from Gyro SE to Gyro SE w/full orbe upgrades. I have spent a fortune on it recently, but this is a long term investment and i cannot see me putting any more money into it anytime soon. With every upgrade, ive heard a difference and its now starting to sound like the sum of its parts. Before i had some teething problems and i was not satisfied with the sound and felt that it was a pale imitation of what i was expecting but the upgrades have REALLY helped!

Sure, i could buy an SME now but im not going to. Its giving me a really big sound now and one i was expecting at the start and im happy now. I heard an Orbe SE at the weekend as i was interested to hear one and i personally don't think mine sounds too far off in comparison

Now i have to just avoid the bad pressings so i can hear my deck at its best.

 

System 1 - purchased from original owner....Denon DP-45F with a Denon DL301MKII

System 2 - also purchased from the original owner - Harman Kardon T60c / Shure V15 III HE

....and for rotation fun - there's a theme here - from original owner - JVC QL-Y5F with a Denon DL110

All very enjoyable tables!

 

This is my modest audio setup:

- Numark TTXUSB turntable

- Nagaoka MP-500 cartridge

- ART DJPRE-II phono preamp

- Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum sound card

I'm extremely picky about a turntable spinning at the correct speed. That's why direct drive turntables with quartz-locked pitch control have been my preference since I don't trust belt drives in the speed accuracy department (I'm not talking about speed stability but spinning exactly at 33 1/3 or 45 RPM).

I've always loved the Technics SL-1200, and one of my biggest frustrations in life has been not buying one when I could do it (and I had plenty of chances to do it) because there were always other priorities. When I finally decided to do it for real, oh surprise: Technics is no more. And I'm not willing to take the risk of buying an used electronic appliance without testing it first. So then is when I find about the so-called Super-OEM turntables, which are the closest to a Technics (feature-wise) I could find. After reading a lot about the available choices, I picked the TTXUSB. Well, my first choice was the Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB, but since at that moment I couldn't find an easy way to bring it to my country, I chose the Numark.

I bought a Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge after the recommendation of a Needle Doctor salesman, and at first I chose to use the turntable's built-in preamp. It sounded very good to me, but then the "upgrade bug" bit me for the first time. That's when I bought my first phono stage: A Musical Fidelity V-LPSII. It was a remarkable improvement.

The upgrade bug bit me for the second time and, after finding brand-new Nagaoka cartridges at almost half the price, I bought Nagaoka's top of the line: The MP-500. As I recently said in another thread, I would have never thought that vinyl reproduction could be so detailed and physically satisfying. So far, I can tell that Nagaoka has the sound that pleases me the most. In my limited experience, I've felt that high quality phono cartridges have a tendency to enhance bass and treble while cutting mids (the "smiley" EQ curve). Nagaoka cartridges still retain the middle frequencies presence, and I feel a warmer, more natural sound because of that. Since the MP-500 has a lower output than the MP-110, that's why I replaced the Musical Fidelity phono stage with the ART, which has a higher gain according to its specs sheet.

But well, Numark is a DJ brand. Audiophiles frown at it. I'm not a DJ nor an audiophile. I just want to enjoy the pleasure of playing my favorite vinyl records at home trying to get the best possible sound, but without over-thinking about hardly perceptible subtleties. The TTXUSB gave me everything I like, including the ability of playing 78 RPM records. The only thing that didn't meet my expectations was the tonearm's stability. It felt very flimsy. But after LOTS of research (specially when I decided to upgrade to a higher compliance cartridge) I could make it work. I agree that these DJ-style turntables' weakest point is the tonearm. But again, belt drives haven't been able to entice me, and that's why I say that the perfect turntable for me is a KAB-modded SL-1200. Sadly, I can't think of it. It's very complicated living outside the US.

But after trying different dampening methods and working with tonearm weight balance, I could make it work properly. And this is the ultimate test:



And that's how I can tell I've reached vinyl heaven. It will only get better when I can get a Technics-style turntable (78 RPM capability included) with a Rega (or the like)-style tonearm. If such thing doesn't even get to exist other than in a KAB-modded Technics, nothing else will do it for me.

 

Also a modest system that I have no plans on changing, well of course if she doesn't poop out on me it's been a trooper, especially being an auto
Technics SL-1900
Denon DL-110, Orto shell
VLPS-II

 

"Orto" is vulgar Spanish for "anus".

 

"Fon" Well it is black
I apologize to forum members for cursing

 

AR XA with original arm...use either a Shure M91ED w/ OEM stylus or Jico SAS. Several mods/updates have been done to the table.
Dual 1019, completely restored. Used mostly for 78's using a Shure M44C cart with a Esoteric Sounds N44-3 78 stylus. When used for regular records use a N44E or N55E stylus
Elac 50H with NOS Elac STS444 cart and Jico stylus
Garrard Lab 80 MKI usually with Pickering V15 Micro IV cart and D IV AM stylus.

I love all these tables. The AR is the latest addition and is the least fussy, and the quietest. But I could easily live with any of the others. They all just do everything right and match up very well with the rest of my vintage gear. I typically use the phono stage in either a Dynaco Super Pas 3 or Heathkit AA-141-A pre. And they all look great.

 

I have 3 turntables, so I'll go from oldest to newest:

1) Dual 1229Q fitted with a Shure M97xE played through the phono stage in my vintage Sansui G4700 receiver. This is a fun system to listen to, and the Dual handles records well. I enjoy the sound and the combination of table and cartridge are a very good match. The sound is lively and well-balanced.

2) Technics SL-1200MK2 which has (usually) a vintage Audio-Technica AT-14Sa cartridge. The turntable is about 4 years old, the cartridge I bought new in 1975. It is an amazingly good-tracking cartridge, and it needs to be because this is the setup I use in my vintage 4-channel sound system the heart of which is a Sansui QRX-6001 (soon to be replaced by a completely restored QRX-9001). I love how this turntable sounds; it is free of rumble, wow & flutter so the music really comes through. It is a very engaging system to listen to, even in stereo mode. Bass is tight and controlled, mid-range and highs are presented beautifully with excellent balance.

3) Pro-Ject 2 Xperience Classic (Mahogany) with an Audio Technica OC9 MKII Moving-Coil cartridge and a Pro-Ject Tube Box S phono stage. This one gets played through my Denon AVR-4311ci HT receiver, but in direct stereo mode only. I think that this is my favorite table of all, the presentation of music is well-balanced with a wide sound-stage and utterly quiet background.

I like all of my turntables, and enjoy listening to each and can appreciate them for what they are.

 

My main turntable is a Technics SL-1650 stacker stock. I bought that to stack records since I mostly spin 45s. Other than the quartz version, its the best sounding Technics stacker you can get. All metal build. Also because the tone arm doesnt touch any mechanics while the record plays, only when dropping or picking up the Stylus. I love it to death. I love the way it looks, sounds, and it wows anyone I show it to. I have an Ortofon Rondo Red cart on it, hooked up to a Project Tube Pre, and its heaven for me. a lot of people get a stacker to play beat up 45s, but not me. All the records I play on it are pretty pristine, the Rondo picks up every little sound. Ive had the turntable for about 3 years now.

I also have a Technics 3350 that is the back up in case I need to send the 1650 in for repair. At some point, in addition to the Technics, I will get a fancy belt driven deck used like a Delphi or VPI to play my Jazz albums on, more for critical listening.

 

I have a Rega P9 with RB1000 tonearm and Benz LO o.4 cartridge. I think I've had it for around 18 months. My previous turntable was a P5, so the P9 was an opportunity to get more of what I liked about the P5. I had already been using the Benz on the P5, so the improvement that could be attributed to the turntable upgrade was easy to discern. I have a Dynavector DV-20XH sitting around waiting for its turn on the P9. It hasn't happened and perhaps won't.

 

I'm the original owner of my 1975 Empire 698 Troubadour, I'm using a Shure Ultra 500 and a Shure V15xMR for cartridges. I use my Adcom GFP565 or Pioneer Elite C91 preamps for my phono stage.

I'm been more than happy with it's sound for over 35 years.

MSRP back in 1975 was $400, without cartridge. I got mine discounted for $320 from Illinois Audio mail order store which I had found in the back of Stereo Review magazine.

I originally fitted it with an Empire 2000Z cartridge but they had a habit of the needle tip coming unglued. I switched to Shure V15 and have stuck with those for decades now. IIRC the Empire 2000Z and the Shure V15 back then cost about $90. The 2000Z had a very lively sound, but seemed to have more distortion than the V15. The V15's are reasonably neutral for the most part.

 

I have a Music Hall MMF 9.1 with a Sumiko BPS EVOIII high output MC cartridge. I have been running it through my full function pre amp, but am planning on getting a separate phono stage next month. I have had the table for 6 years and the cartridge for 3 1/2 years. I have been very happy with its performance.

 

Rega RP1, less than a year old, white belt upgrade, Groovetracer Reference subplatter, Groovetracer acrylic platter, Nagaoka MP110 cartridge. I know the mods go against some of the concepts that Rega is all about, and it's probably not so wise to spend so much to upgrade an entry-level turntable like this, but I think they have really made a difference in the sound and performance and I really enjoyed the process. I like the Nagaoka cartridge a lot, but I'll be looking to upgrade to another Nagaoka somewhere down the line, or at least an MP200 stylus. I will probably get the itch to go for a much better table some day (Rega RP3? RP6? VPI?), but this was my re-entry into vinyl after many years, and I'm really pleased. It's not spectacular, but it's solid, tracks well, and sounds good, easily the best turntable I've ever owned.

It's currently connected to the phono inputs on my Arcam 7R Integrated amp.

 

I have a VPI Classic 30th Anniversary edition with the JMV 10.5 tonearm. At the moment I have a Lyra Helikon stereo cartridge mounted. It runs through a late 80s Sonic Frontiers Phono 1 tube-hybrid soundstage.

My previous table was a MicroSeiki BL- ... well, I've forgotten the number...may have been a BL-88. It came with a SAEC 407/23 tonearm. I was very happy with it, but this VPI is another order of magnitude up in SQ from the old MicroSeiki.

The clarity, tight bass, stability are all just excellent. The unipivot tonearm took some getting used to, and the learning curve on the tonearm setup was a little long, but now that it's all sussed out it sounds beautiful. All I want to do is play records. It is the heaviest tt I've ever owned. A beast. I only wish I could afford the VTA 'on the fly' tower for it. Maybe someday. But for now, this is a great turntable. Best I've ever owned. I've had the Helikon for a few years, so all the improved sound I hear, the greater detail, the bass response, the separation all must be the effect of the tt. It sits on a Gingko isolation platform.

I bought it used for about half of the new price. Still a lot of money for me, but I have no buyer's remorse whatsoever.

The only thing I kind of miss about my previous tonearm was the removable headshell. I had a bunch of headshells and I had all my carts mounted and aligned so swapping was no problem -- just reset the VTF and I was ready to play.

 

Have owned a Rega P9 with Koetsu Urushi Sky Blue. An unlikely but terrific pairing. Finances force a sale so now I have gone another route. I have a Technics SP25 with a Rega 250 and Shure V15 type 3 on the way from Cryo Parts. Can't wait to spin vinyl again! I will report back as soon as she's up and running.

 

1986 Linn Sondek w/a Cirkus upgrade, Valhalla rebuild, and an Ittok LVII tone arm. Recently I added a Dynavector 20xl2 MC cart and a Dynavector P-75MKIII phono. Very happy w/the results. Down the road I'll be looking to add a Lingo as funds become available.

 

I have a Rega P25 bought new in 1999. When purchased, my dealer had installed the Incognito/Cardas tonearm wire in the RB600 with the Elys cartridge. I did nothing but spin lots of vinyl until about this time last year when I decided to sell the deck. Analog buddies advised not to sell the Rega classic but service it and install a new cartridge which I did. Installed a Rega Exact cartridge, Rega White belt and P9 feet and continued spinning vinyl then decided to upgrade to the Groovetracer reference Subplatter and GT 110 gram counterweight. WOW! Later added the GT delrin platter and GT weight eliminating the static issues with the felt mat.

While some of these changes go against the Rega philosophy I think it improved an already great deck. I later discovered the A23 platter mats and use when the glass platter is installed. Serviced the deck recently and performs like new but have got the upgrade itch to a VPI Scout 2 or the Classic 1 but I'll keep the P25 regardless. I've owned many decks over the 40 years of spinning vinyl some include B&O, Dual, Yamaha, Pioneer, Denon, Realistic but the P25 has brought me the most pleasure.

 

• 1961 Thorens TD-124 with SME 3009 S2 Improved arm, sporting a c.1974 Shure V-15 Type III with a JICO SAS.

• c. 1963-64 Acoustic Research AR-TX (early AR-XA), converted to a single motor at the AR factory in the '70s. Recently overhauled and upgraded by Marc Morin of Columbia, OH ('marcmorin' on AudioKarma) with a mass-loaded pulley and T-bar, Linn springs (to support the extra weight), jeweled arm bearings, as well as internally dampening/bracing of the tonearm and a custom 'pod' for isolating the motor from the plinth. Additionally, the arm wiring and interconnects have been upgraded. It now has dead quiet backgrounds, great PRaT, 3D imaging, and wonderfully airy highs, and yet looks completely stock. Cartridge used is a 1984 Grado Signature 8MR with an MCZ stylus, loaded at 24k.

• c. 1971 Dual 1219, completely rebuilt to work like new. It has a European Dual plinth (not United Audio) and all accessories - LP stacking spindle, 45 stacker, etc. Currently in use as a dedicated mono LP/45/78 spinner with a Shure M78S cart with N78S and N35X styli.

• c.1965? Dual 1019 with European Dual plinth and with the record size selector switch marked in mm, not inches, indicating it was originally retailed in Europe. It is currently awaiting restoration.

• 1975 Pioneer PL-15D with Shure M97xE. I got this for $25 along with several hundred LPs a few months ago, and it needed some light maintenance to come alive. Not a bad table for what it is, not at all! Currently doing duty in a corner of the living room.

 

Just an old Sansui, pretty sure I need to strip the motor and give it a clean (done everything else including a recap)....should have more torque than it has..I think.

Picked up a few years ago at a very good price.