Survey: What Brand of Turntable Do You Use

Technics SL-1210GR in the family room setup and rotate between vintage Stanton 881s and Pickering XSV3000 cartridges with OEM stylus.

Vintage Technics SL-1700MKII I bought new in 1980 for the master bedroom stereo with a spare Pickering XSV3000 cartridge with OEM stylus

 

Thorens TD160, stock arm w/ Hana SH cart

 

On my modest system, digital is king. I have vinyl for "fun and nostalgia" purposes and use vintage restored and inexpensive direct drive tables. Currently, that would be Technics SL-Q2, SL-Q5 and a Pioneer PL-300 (all with AT micro line carts).

 

Old Technics 1500 with a Ortofon Blue and a preamp I don't know who made but it has variable output, needed because that 5.5mv in combination with late 70s/early 80s era hot cuts was frying my HK preamp. Previously, I just used the phono stage in the HK with a Shure m97.

 

Technics SL-1610 MK I

40+ years old and still going strong.

 

Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB-BK Direct-Drive, albeit with a few minor modifications. Suits my needs just fine. Poor man’s Technics? Yeah, but so what I run that, and a Sony Blu-ray
Sony UBP - X800M2 through my Denon s650 receiver. I’m happy.

 

Changed. Still VPI, but now a Classic Signature SE, modified with the 12" Fatboy Gimbal arm seen above and HW-40 feet.



JohnK

 

VPI Traveler.

Some of us may be interested what the progression might be of longtime Audio Filberts like me, so:

Garrard Lab 80
AR-XA
Kenwood KD-650
VPI HW-19 MK III with ET-II Arm
another VPI HW-19 MK III upgraded to MK IV with Audio Technica AT-1005 Arm
VPI Traveler

 

Yes, interesting indeed. I recently got interested in the AR XA, and just got one delivered yesterday. One owner, all original, with all the extra bits including the original sales receipt. $96.14 for the table and a Shure M93E in 1972. I plan on making it a restoration project.

 

I did one about 15 years ago, a real 'beater' off Ebay for $50. Used the nasty kind of paint remover to get off whatever Vilchur used that becomes so gummy on the top, then sprayed it. You can chuck the spindle in your electric drill, put that in a vise then spin the platter against Never Dull Pads to a nice shine.

The weak point in all XA re-builds is the headshell. I wound up having to pay $50 bucks for a replacement which kind of took the 'cheap fun' aspect away.

 

Nice! My headshell seems to be in good shape, but the cart is toast. I’ve been combing through old threads and pictures of rebuilds to get ideas of how others approached their restorations. I see that Marc Morin has used this headshell on some of his rebuilds. And this page has some good eye candy, worth a look. I think I’ll be out of the realm of ‘cheap fun’ pretty quickly…

Should we move this conversation to PM to avoid derailing the thread?

 

Thorens TD150, x2 Sme 3009/ 111S
Linn Basic / Hadcock GH 228
Garrard 401/ SME 4
New turntables Don,t appeal.
I have my reasons.

 

Recently updated to the Rega Planar 8 table

 

Nottingham analog Interspace Jr
Realistic Lab 440

 

Technics SL1500C with a AT VM95ML.... sounds wonderful, easy to use and set up and I love the iconic Technics look.

 

John, Please tell us about the string cable supports.

 

Hah! Some natural garden twine. Not very pretty, but some temporary, some permanent support for power cords, to keep them away from each other and interconnects and speaker cables. It does noticeably reduce the noise floor of my system, but given space constraints and some long cords I haven’t come up with a more visually appealing solution. In general their color tends to blend in when not highlighted by a close-up photo.

JohnK

 

VPI Classic Signature HW

 

You have given me some new insights as to how to handle my own rats nest of cables.

 

Shinola Runwell in the main stereo

Technics SL-1200MkII in the currently-being-rebuilt second system

And, I'm slowly trying to rebuild a Sumiko Pro-Ject 6.1 'table I failed a tonearm rewire project on. I'm going to try to mount it on a really thick base, maybe a butcher block, and get a new tonearm for it.

 

racer, We have some VPI trends going on here. There are three VPI TT's on this page that have switched to the HW-40 feet which is what I have also done on my VPI Classic Direct ( see Page 44 Post 1076 ). I found it improved the bass response when I did so. I also use the same record weight as you do except I got the one that is rebranded as MoFi ( got a nice Black Friday discount on it ).

Do you have problems with feedback to your TT because it is so close to the big Sonus Faber speaker?

 

Goldmund studio 2/Magnepan Unitrack/Goldring 1042, Thorens 318/SME 3009 II/Orsonic headshell/Denon 103

 

Nope, no feedback issues at all. And yes, the HW feet are a must. On my previous table, a Scout, I upgraded to Gaia III feet and it was very impactful. These HW40 feet are massive in comparison. I cant really compare them since I upgraded table, tonearm and cartridge but I will say that I am extremely satisfied with my current setup. The depth of the soundstage is amazing.

 

Yes, my Classic (essentially the same as yours) has made me aware that at higher volumes my previous TNT suffered from some acoustic impact, in that the sound became more congested. The Classic, in the same location, does not show this at all. Whether it is the plinth or the feet I can’t say, as both were installed at the same time.

JohnK