Only been back to vinyl for a few years but here's mine. 1. VPI Nomad v2 2. VPI Prime 3. ??? Who knows what I'll end up with. What's yours?
Rega Planar 3 (1987). Michell Gyro Dec Bronze, AC, QC PSU (1996). Michell Gyro Dec Bronze, DC, isolated motor housing, HR PSU (circa march 2020?).
I'll play... 1976-1978 BSR (first of my own...) 1978-1980 Akai (belt drive...great table) 1980-1984 Sony (direct drive) 1984-1999 none...perfect sound forever 1999-2001 Music Hall MMF-5 2001-2003 Project Perspective 2003-Present Eurolab/Scheu Premiere MK II
Music Hall MMF 2.x ClearAudio Concept VPI Classic 2 Music Hall MMF 7.1 George Merrill PolyTable Super 12 Pioneer PLX-1000 Schiit Sol
1. Garage sale turntable from the 80’s with touch controls (not Philips but I can’t remember what brand) 2. Marantz 6300 3. Rega Planar 3 4. VN TD-160 Super w/ RB202 rewired (now in my studio system) 5. VN TD-125mkII w/ Jelco TK-850 (current main system)
1. Garrard 40B changer 2. BIC 960 (or 940? - I can't recall) changer 3. Pioneer PL-530 great-looking but had speed problems 4. Some Akai model of which I can't remember the model 5. A Marantz belt-drive. Edit: it was one of the 6000 series. The wood base looked nice but it ran a bit slow and the anti-skate control was missing 6. Technics SL-Q2 which I currently use and have no complaints with. 7. Pro-ject Debut Carbon which I returned as it hummed. Looked cool though. 8. Pioneer PL-600 which I bought to replace the Pro-ject. A quite solid direct-drive with automatic start and stop. No complaints.
1) A Hitachi belt-driven turntable that my parents got it before I was even born, which I currently have sitting in my basement 2) A crummy low-end, unadjustable Sony record player from a late 80s compact stereo system that belonged to my parents, which sounded quite terrible 3) Pro-Ject Debut Carbon non-DC turntable bought around late spring 2012, went through a couple upgrades and fixed the infamous motor humming issue. I have since sold it around 2017. 4) Beogram RX2 turntable with an MMC5 cartridge that I got for $83, which is now my secondary/backup turntable 5) JVC QL-Y5F turntable and is my current main system
My first good one was an AR-XA bought in 72 or 73. It lasted for years and years. Had some kind of Philip's after that, another long lasting one. A couple of Technics and Duals in there. It's all a blur.
Too late to edit the OP but if it could be mentioned whether each model was an upgrade or downgrade in SQ, that'd be fun too.
Pioneer PL-15D 1972-1997. Pro-Ject Debut II 2001-2001. Technics SL-1700 2001-2002. Technics SL-1300 2002-2004. Technics SL-10 2003-gave it to my Son. Technics SL-1210MKII 2004, present it now has a Jelco 750 arm. Denon DP-500m 2008 present, it also has a Jelco 750 arm. Technics SL-1800MKII 2019, present.
2001 - Bush MTT1 (black colored) 2012 - Dual DT 200 USB Nothing hi-fi here, but the LPs spin well enough for me on the Dual one.
1985–1989: Cheap all-in-one Fisher thing w/ turntable, dual cassette deck, and radio (got as an Xmas gift from parents when I was 10 years old) 1989–2002: Yamaha TT-400 2002–2005: Pioneer PL-530 2003–2017 (RIP): Denon DP-51f 2005–present: Technics SL-1400 (secondary turntable) 2006–2006: Rega RP3 (briefly) 2018–present: Thorens TD-160 Super (Vinyl Nirvana repro w/ Rega tonearm)
45 years ago. Some sort of plastic suitcase junk that opened into a TT. 40 years ago. JVC low fi system. 38 years ago. Marantz 6300. 35 years ago. CD's came out and like a lot of people, I sold the Marantz and stored away hundreds of records. 5 years ago. Bought a JVC QL44F from Japan and added a Ortofon Bronze. 1 year ago. Bought a mint Pioneer PL50L for my basement system and added a Hana EH cart. Most of the LP's are in great shape, but I am finding some in rough shape and have been steadily replacing them. It's like every time I played a Queen LP, it was dropped, scratched or had beer spilt on it
1) 1977 - Mono Alba in my playroom from when I was 11 years old - used to play Queen "Jazz" . Can't believe I had the poster of the naked girls on bikes on my Playroom wall when I was 12! 2) 1981 - 14 -17 years old. Some kind of JVC all in-one system Stereo system (previously my dad's) - Played Led Zep, Santana, and Frank Zappa Then cassette and CD's until 1993 3) 1993 got into dance music and bought 2 X Technics SL1210's Mk2's Got married. Sold the Technics and had some kids 4) 2015 - Bought a couple of Hanpin OEM Technics copies 5) 2017 - Bought a pair of 2nd hand Technics SL1210 Mk2's 6) 2018 - Technics SL1200G 7) 2020 - Rega RPM10 - Back to playing Led Zep, Santana, Frank Zappa, and Queen
Edit per OP, relative SQ ranked 1-7, 7 being "best" Music Hall MMF 2.x - 1/worst ClearAudio Concept - 4 VPI Classic 2 -5 Music Hall MMF 7.1 - 3 George Merrill PolyTable Super 12 - 7/best Pioneer PLX-1000 - 2 Schiit Sol - 6 Major caveat - the VPI Classic 2 never got the fair shake it deserved in my room. I thought putting it on a wall shelf was the best thing I could do but as it turns out, if you put a table on a wall shelf in a small room with subwoofers, your walls are little trampolines and they negatively impact the sound of the table. So it's hard to say Sol is "better" than the Classic 2. But I can say without hesitation that the PolyTable was better. And the Sol is way, way closer to the PolyTable in SQ than I'd have expected it to be. And for the PLX-1000 ranking - it's not bad. Not at all. And modded, it could possibly be stellar. But I'm of the mind that the arm makes the table and of those listed, it's just not got that great an arm. Speed was great, but it just never felt like it could offer the clarity or dynamics of most everything else on the list. It's also the only DD table I've had.
In 40 years I have owned only 2 1. Bang and Olufsen beogram RX with the mm3 cart 2. Rega RP-6 with groove tracer subplatter and weight and ortofon 2m black
AT LP-120: Initial foray into vinyl about 7 years ago. Wondered what all the fuss was about. Sold this one within a couple months. Easily the worst table I've had the displeasure of owning. Project Debut Carbon: Learned a lot during ownership of this one. Maxed out the upgrades but the motor was too much a weak point. Sold it a couple years ago. Various vintage direct drives: Technics/Pioneer/MCS/JVC. Most memorable was the sprung- chassis Pioneer PL-55X. Probably the best direct drive I've owned. All have been sold without regret. Thorens TD-166 mkII: Definite upgrade over the Pro-Ject and vintage DD tables. This one is a factory oddity in that it came with the 10mm platter bearing of a 160. Has since been heavily modified and I still own it. Pioneer PLX-1000: Intended as an upgrade but ended up being more of a lateral move over the maxed-out Debut Carbon and Thorens 166 (equipped with the original TP-11 arm at the time) The PLX had some strengths once the QC issues were resolved. Has been sold without regret. VPI Classic 1: This was one of the last examples produced before they were replaced by the Prime. Speed stability was a weak point and local dealer told me VPI began to cut costs with cheap motors after the son took over . This one was capable of quiet backgrounds despite some motor and platter bearing noise. I didn't feel it was an upgrade over the PLX which made it's fussy nature not at all worthwhile. Returned it to MD. Acoustic Signature Wow XL: Bought this on the advice of a few dealers, a couple of which don't even sell the brand. It's been rock solid with the exception of a QC issue I had resolved early on (was likely more my OCD than an actual problem though). This one is the best I've owned by a good margin. Speed stability of a DD with the musicality of a BD. It's PRaT is not quite as good as the maxed-out Thorens, but it's superior in all other regards. Both tables keep perfect speed according to my Speedstrobe, so I can only figure the difference in PRaT is due to the Thorens being sprung. Which leads me to ponder if that's why I preferred the PL-55X out of all the direct-drives. My final table, if I get the urge, will be a sprung belt-drive with adjustable pitch. An SME is the no-brainer choice there. Best analog I've heard was anchored by an SME. Build quality is as good as it gets.
In the 60s a Garrard changer and, briefly, a Miracord. Circa 1971 a Thorens TD150 Mid 1980s a Thorens TD125 w. SME 3009 A few years ago a VN150. Hands down my favorite of the bunch, but each step along the way was better than the one before.
