[Poll] Best $1000–Class Turntable(s)? (pick up to three)

For SoCal peeps who are interested in seeing the Schiit Sol TT, head Schiit guy Jason Stoddard has posted that they should be showing an early production model at an event at their Newhall store (aka 'The Schittr') THIS FRIDAY, Feb 8th, from 6-10pm.

(if anyone goes, and they're cool with you taking pics... POST PICS here, pls!)

Stoddard's heads-up, for those weak-willed sorts who can't click links:


Jason Stoddard
Sponsor: Schiit Audio

Okay, guys, you're getting this chapter a bit early...because tomorrow morning is toooooooo crazy and I'd rather it not slip to the afternoon.

For the TL;DR crowd: a real Sol first article will be at the Schiitr on Friday.

And tons of backstory.
And details.
And not the last chapter.

Yes, I'm gonna milk this one for a bit. Give me a while to format it, and then it'll go live.


Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up (event info)

Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up (announcement)

Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up (interesting design info)


Other assorted tidbits: no included dustcover (boo), no included cart (yay, 'cuz included carts add $$ to the price & I'd rather choose my own), they're hoping for an April/May release, and initial supplies will be pretty limited.

 

kowabumpa

 

Kowabumpa 2, The Sequel: Even Bumpier

(srsly tho', if anyone hits up the Schiit event, pls post yer impressions, kthnxbai)

 

LOL. Guitar Center finally got real about the ship date for the Technics SL1200Mk7... they're now saying mid-June, instead of March. (Duh.)

Still $999 in the US, and there are indications elsewhere that that'll be the permanent price.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Technics/SL-1200MK7-Direct-Drive-Professional-DJ-Turntable.gc
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Some Schiit Sol pics from the recent event.

 

Well, let's see... the poll's now seen 250 voters and 500+ votes, which is a pretty good sample-size. The results:

The Runaway Winners:
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Rega Planar 3 (117 votes)
Technics SL1200Mk7 (94 votes)

The Strong Second-Tier:
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Mobile Fidelity StudioDeck (54 votes)
VPI Cliffwood (42 votes)
Music Hall MMF 5.3 (42 votes)
Pioneer PLX-1000 (41 votes)
Pro-Ject Classic (32 votes)

The Also-Rans:
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SOTA Moonbeam IV (16 votes)
Pro-Ject 1Xpression (14 votes)
Schiit Sol (12 votes)
Audio Technica AT-LP7 (12 votes)
EAT Prelude (10 votes)
Denon VL12 Prime (9 votes)

The Dissed/'Les Miserables':
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Thorens TD 240-2 (6 votes)
Thorens TD 203 (5 votes)
Music Hall Ikura (4 votes)
NAD C588 (2 votes)
Yamaha MusicCast Vinyl 500 (2 votes)
Tri-Art TA 0.5 (2 votes)
TEAC TN-570 (0 votes) <— really? no one?.

 

Hate to be so Sol-centric lately in the thread, but more details are dropping as release approaches.

It'll be $599 w/carbon-fiber arm (cheaper than expected), no included cart, and comes available in April (not sure I believe that last one):

Sitting Down With The Schiit Ragnarok 2, Sol and Aegir | AudioHead

Also, here's an interesting post on it's usability. Apparently it sounds great, but isn't so very user-friendly (but we kinda knew that):

Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

 

That makes me SOL happy and sad lol.. I gave up waiting and built up a TT system 2 months ago. At that price point I wouldn't mind having two set ups though.

 

Hmm. Apparently the tune is changing on the Sol's price... someone visiting the Schiit room at AXPONA this weekend says Jason [Stoddard, I assume] told him $699 and a possible May release:

SCHIIT AUDIO (Room 384): This was a highlight for my trip out to Axpona 2019 on Friday morning, and Jason and his crew did not disappoint. They had their SCHIIT together.

SOL in production: The long-awaited table was playing at the show. Y-shaped aluminum cast plinth—if one can call it that shape, with a separate (as in isolated) belt-drive motor, the carbon fiber tonearm is said to be a floating unipivot with RT-adjustable VTA and cueing mechanism. I did not get a chance to study in detail the tonearm cabling connections, other than to notice connections on both the turntable plinth near where the tonearm is fitted and a second independent silver box for additional cabling connections to the consumer-supplied phono stage. Jason said (twice—as, in disbelief, I asked him to repeat it to me), the SOL had $699 projected price with launch (maybe) in May, 2019.

If so, this continues a truism in turntables... nothing with true 'significantly above entry-level' performance costs less than $699 new. Ah well.

Schitt turntable anyone?

 

Can't find the article now, but apparently the Sol's release has slid to summer now, according to a Schiit rep. Ah well.
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I am very interested in the top of this new Dual line - the CS-600

Dual Plattenspieler: CS 600 Plattenspieler

However - haven't found a U.S.A source for it - I can find it in ebay listed as new, but none of the the known audio dealers seem to carry it - anyone knows a good, trusted US source for it?

Thnx!

v

PS - note the web address, dual-plattenspieler.eu; if you go to dual.de you will find a site with a bunch of cheapie stuff, including turntables...

v

 

They don't have a US distributor listed on the site, so it would have to be sourced from one of the UK/EU distributors. You'd have to find one that is willing to ship to US and that would remove the VAT. It's listed on German Amazon for 1290 EUR, which is roughly $1150 excluding VAT, and minus shipping. Curious what has you attracted to this model? It is a nice looking table and seems to be well built, in Germany from what they say.

Analogue Seduction in the UK lists it for £999 excluding VAT, which is around $1290 right now. I think some of the members here in the US have ordered from them before, maybe email them and check ... Dual CS 600 Turntable

 

The Technics SL-1500C has been price-cut to $1199 MSRP. So technically, it's now a competitor to 'tables in the poll.

Nice 'table if you like Technics but wanted autolift, built-in phono and non-DJ-'table looks (i.e. not the SL-1200Mk7).



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Dang - Shipping a turntable transatlantic...

Exactly for those reasons - they seem to be direct descendants of the real Dual stuff, as opposed to the cheapo crap at dual.de
PLUS - always wanted a Dual - but having tried the vintage thing, decided it is not for me - after having two vintage tables break and unable to fix because of unobtanium.

But, again this is new and seemingly good

First time I hear of Analogue Seduction - but from quick research they seem to be legit, in the business for a while - better than dealing with Ebay-ers.

Thanks for the suggestion

v

 

Yet another Pro-Ject is coming in the price class, if anyone cares... the X1.

Because, there just aren't enough Pro-Ject TT models already.

Pro-Ject spins out affordable audiophile X1 turntable
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NAD C558, Rega and Technics for me.

 

VPI, Rega and Technics.

 

Hmm. Over at Guitar Center, the ship date for the new Technics SL1200Mk7 has slipped from June 10th to June 20th.

Hopefully, not indicative of further delays to come...
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And of course, right on cue, it's now slipped to July 13th.
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And now they've changed it to June 30th, aka end-of-quarter.

So, I think even they don't know.

 

The decision to use Guitar Center as a dealer is an odd one. The first and most obvious reason, it's a guitar store. I get it, they do much more than that but in some way shape or form all of their business supports guitar sales. whether it be live production, recording or other instruments to play in a band with a guitar, it's a guitar store. How does a turntable fit into that that business model or their customer base? The idea has to be that the live production side of the store is selling these to DJ's. If you want to buy a turntable for a home stereo, they have nothing to support that. No other home stereo equipment, only production equipment. Is the marketing idea that this is a DJ table and the home stuff is further up their model line?

The other big problem with using guitar center, they are a dying business. So for me, spending $1,000 for a DJ table from a guitar store wouldn't be my choice.

 

I can't really cap on Guitar Center too hard. Yes, obviously the connection is that their turntables are 'DJ equipment', and yes, they've had some financial problems, albeit not completely of their making (they got bought out by Mitt Romney's Bain Capital and loaded up with debt about a decade back)... and which they seem to have under better control now via refinancing of their debt load.

Good article on the subject:

Guitar Center looked ready for its swan song, but now the retailer is gearing up for an encore

They also have nearly 300 stores and $2 billion in yearly sales, which makes them a major source for, you guessed it, Technics turntables sales. So, I'm not gonna judge anyone here going through them, especially if there's no local 'audiophile' store that's selling Technics.
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I travel a lot for work and visit any GC I see just to kill some time playing guitars and I’m frequently the only person in the store that doesn’t work there.

But really my point is that when buying a $1,000 from a brick and mortar I want staff that know a lot about the product and application I’m using it for. A shop that sells a Variety of carts and is an expert at setting them up. A shop that knows a thing or two about a phonostage and has some demos to audition. Service after the sell and a relationship I can rely on when buying new speakers or other home stereo equipment. Otherwise, just buy online.

I just think it’s weird that music direct and none of the local shops I visit have technics tables. It’s nearly impossible to Demo their products and you have to buy based on their brand reputation. Conversely, I can drive About half an hour and check out many of the other tables on your list. I really makes me wonder how many of the people that voted for technics have actually heard the table they voted for. The get a lot of traction from being a legacy brand.

 

Well, Technics has sold over 3 million SL1200s over the years. It's not too hard to run across one, even if it's not always in a hi-fi store setting.

For instance, just a couple of months back I checked out a TINY used record store in the Silicon Valley. The TT they were playing music on in the background? SL1200Mk2.

You almost can't avoid 'em.

 

True but not the new ones, I think that is where the brand loyalty supersedes the actual experience. I’m actually in the market at this price point and the frothy hot passion so many have for the brand on this forum has it on my list. Not being able to demo or buy it from musicdirect (a company I have a good history with) is a strike against it for me. The reputation as a DJ table doesn’t help and it’s being reinforced by the relationship with GC.

A project classic, VPI cliffwod or rega rp3 seem to edge out the top three for me at the moment.