Nice turntables. Attached picture is an absolute requirement.

[pseudoid]

Just a small footnote remains from decades bygone...

 

[Anton S]

Since I hadn't used my TD-125 for decades, I decided to clean it up and restore it to its original glory prior to offering it up for sale. The refurbishment turned out so well, and the turntable works so perfectly that I decided to keep it, even though I have no space in my current equipment rack to display it.

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

Certainly cleaned up well! Didn’t know Klipsch made cartridges never seen them for sale in the UK.

 

[USER]

Here is what is in my home right now, lol.

I sold off an modern boutique turntable and got some older classics that I am restoring. I'll give to friends what I won't keep. Plenty of money left over from the sale too! The Denon DP-35F will be my new turntable. I realized that I have a soft spot for the Sony PS-X50 and so will probably keep it as well. The other is a Denon DP-30L II and the Dual 504 is actually the first turntable I bought back in 2004.

It is fascinating to have an assortment of technology in front of me which allows me to trace the development of what I think is the golden age for this tech. The Dual has only 1 capacitor (!!!) and is pretty brilliant in its simplicity. The 35F has an electronic servo-tonearm.

The Sony is almost ready though I can't figure out how to open the motor in order to clean and lube the bearing. The 30L II is almost there but I am missing something as I know W&F can be much, much better. I think I have the Dual running better than spec.

 

[mhardy6647]

How could I forget Joe? His kids are still making them, just like the old man did. Grado cartridges were never 'popular' in the sense of Shure, Stanton/Pickering/ADC/ and Empire. He never advertised. But his company's phono legacy goes back a long way. Joe even made a MC's before MC's were 'a thing'.

Fine, fine phono cartridges they were, and are, too.
Actually, in the very early days of the company, Joe Grado did advertise his wares.
He was also an opera singer, on the side.
He also invented and patented the stereo moving coil cartridge, and (as mentioned above) Grado made and sold MCs for a while before going to moving iron types (the latter being the "topology" Grado still employs).
Joe Grado lived to a ripe old age, too.

Huge Grado fan, since I discovered them, ca. 1976.
I still have an FTE+ I bought back then. Best 13 dollar cartridge I ever experienced.

 

[rdenney]

From the sublime to the ridiculous. In my office system (tightly cropped because, you know, it's my office, and's even messier than my living room), I have my old Technics SL-20, bought new in 1976. I thought I'd bought it in 1977, but now I'm thinking it was '76. They say memory is the second thing to go...

It's sitting on Audio-Technica damping/leveling feet, which I bought very soon after buying the turntable. I have to keep using them, because the original feet for the table are long gone.

I bought the cartridge in the late 80's, after having foolishly used an Ortofon Concorde 10, which needed a much better and lighter tonearm than this one. I don't remember what cartridge it came with, but I'm sure it was a standard cheapie as provided by the store. I'm not even sure I remember what store. Pacific Stereo? Maybe. Or B&M Electronics (in Houston), where I bought the Advents.

This was a hundred-dollar table back when my Thorens was a $300 table. It's what we bought when we couldn't afford the one we really wanted, which was either a Dual or a Garrard. Belts are a problem with this one--the ones I buy now last about 15 minutes before they start slipping on that tiny little motor pulley.

Rick "it's sitting on a Magnavox CDB-650 CD player" Denney

 

[JP]

I'm sure you know, but for anyone considering this, there is a difference between bodies of the original V15 and the later V15x. The stylus shanks are not interchangeable between the two, so when ordering replacement styli you have to make sure to specify whether you have the original V, or the later 'Vx' version.

Will keep an eye out on EBAY for a V15V body, the Jico stylus is available over here, thanks for the advice.
Ron

Also keep in mind SAS has a peaked response on the V15V. IIRC @Thomas_A has spent time taming it. This is what it looks like with the same loading where the VN5MR is flat. Interestingly the other channel showed approx 2dB less peak, though I haven't verified that test track against my reference cartridges (not that I expect there to be an issue with the test record).

 

[Thomas_A]

One should also keep in mind that there are slight differences between the JICO SAS stylii. The best IMO (boron) may differ 1-2 dB in 10-20 kHz and between channels. That said, all of them have been visually ”perfect” by microscopic investigation. I’ve found that loweing R to 33-36 kOhm tames the top end.

 

[mhardy6647]

mmmm -- the SL-20 was/is very seldom seen, at least in the us. The SL-23 seemed to be much more common.
I had a beater SL-23 for a while -- don't think I have any photos of it, though.

 

[pseudoid]

Oh Mahn! I think I am getting nostalgic all over again!
Seeing all these beauties makes me lust for want of a turntable all over again.
I am soooo glad that I offloaded my LP collection this year << prevents me from justifying to get a new TT.

Sincere kudos to all who posted and who keep the flame alive.

 

[rdenney]

mmmm -- the SL-20 was/is very seldom seen, at least in the us. The SL-23 seemed to be much more common.
I had a beater SL-23 for a while -- don't think I have any photos of it, though.

That's news to me--it seemed the standard selection at my price point. Maybe it was B&M--a little higher-end than Pacific Stereo and therefore with a selection of more interesting items, but then I had a close friend who was a tech in the PS service department in Houston, so I tended to buy stuff there. I just can't dredge it up out of the memory banks.

But even at a hundred bucks, I thought of the SL-20 as a "purist" purchase--fully manual, nothing extraneous, no fine woods--but with the basics done pretty well. It has good speed control (with a fresh belt), and though the belt introduced some issues, it also damped some of the micro-accelerations of the servo motor (which you can't hear anyway). A friend of my grandmother's worked at the Houston Post (RIP in both cases) and for a time wrote a weekly or occasional column on audio called "How Hi Is Your Fi?" I showed him what I had purchased, and he approved wholeheartedly--Advents, Technics turntable, and Kenwood integrated amplifier. (Still have all that.)

In maybe 1986 or 1987, I was helping a buddy select a new system after his move to a different city where he was taking up a university faculty gig after getting his doctorate. We compared my Technics to a Linn Axis, a Rega Planar (no clue which one--about $500 at the time), and a Linn Sondek LP12 (with the Valhalla power supply as I recall). The comparison was made using their demonstration system (no memory of it) through Magneplanars. In those days, I could still hear the flyback transformer on computer monitors, which for the high-res monitors was something like 18 KHz, so the top octave came in loud and clear for me. Man, were those Maggies crispy-fried--sizzle and more sizzle. I couldn't wait to get back to my Advents. But with each change from my SL-20 to the Rega to the Axis to the LP12, there was a distinct difference in what I could hear within the music--simple clarity.

Of course, that's the only thing I remember (plus I can visualize the inside the store plus the guy who helped us). I can't remember which store it was, or even whether it was in Austin or Dallas, but I think it was Austin. But I remember the difference in the sound. We were listening to Dimitri Sgouros, as a child prodigy, playing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3, which came out in 1984. Piano has such a complex sound that for those who have heard a lot of, it's a good test to see if the system (meaning: the cartridge/turntable) is distorting details. Of course, the real missing link in my memory is the list of cartridges, though I think the two Linns both had the same cartridge. My Technics had the Grado you see pictured, which had just been installed.

My buddy bought the Axis, which he still has.

Rick "turned off to Magnepan forever by that experience" Denney

 

[pseudoid]

Of course, that's the only thing I remember ... I can't remember which store it was, or even whether it was in Austin or Dallas,... Of course, the real missing link in my memory is the list of cartridges...

Before I read that paragraph of yours, I was going to ask how the heck you remember all these details.
Now I will ask >> Why you are being so hard on your memory? More you scratch it, the worse it itches!

 

[mdsimon2]

Technics SP-15 on a SH-15B2 plinth with an Audio Technica ATP-12T tonearm and a Denon DL-110 cartridge.

Michael

 

[mhardy6647]

^^^ Nice tt and nice arm (and nice cartridge, too)!

 

[mdsimon2]

^^^ Nice tt and nice arm (and nice cartridge, too)!

Thanks! It was pulled from a radio station in Louisville. Not sure who listed it on e-bay but it was a bit of mislabeled listing as "SP-15" was nowhere to be seen in the title. IIRC I got it for $150 shipped (not including the cartridge) about 10 years ago.

Michael

 

[rdenney]

Before I read that paragraph of yours, I was going to ask how the heck you remember all these details.
Now I will ask >> Why you are being so hard on your memory? More you scratch it, the worse it itches!

Let’s just say I’m not losing any sleep over it.

Rick “losing sleep is bad for the memory” Denney

 

[anmpr1]

This is what it looks like with the same loading where the VN5MR is flat.

I think that FR profile is known as the 'Audio-Technica 440ML burn your ears off' feature!

 

[anmpr1]

Here is what is in my home right now, lol. I sold off an modern boutique turntable and got some older classics that I am restoring. The other is a Denon DP-30L II ...

Nothing to laugh about. Personal anecdote: I owned a Denon DP-75 with their DA-304 (I think that was the model) tonearm. On it's factory birchwood (I think that was what it was made of) base. At the same time I also owned the first version of your DP-30. The one with the S shaped tonearm. Both arms had a plug in universal shell, so you could swap cartridges and compare. Not strictly A/B, but pretty easily accomplished.

The little DP-30 with it's resin base sounded just as good, if not better, than the expensive DP-75. The latter had quartz PLL, special damped platter, a 'sophisticated' separate tonearm with special 'damping', and was certainly nicer to look at. But didn't sound any better, to my ears. If I can attribute it to anything other than imagination, I'd say the 30's resin composite base was less resonant than the wooden 75.

 

[JP]

I think that FR profile is known as the 'Audio-Technica 440ML burn your ears off' feature!

AT put it where it really counts, but you can tame it with loading.

 

[Thomas_A]

AT put it where it really counts, but you can tame it with loading.

View attachment 171744

View attachment 171745

Also, I think the lowest possible capacitance would help in this case. 100 pF total is possible if cabling is optimized.

(Would be interesting to see the V15V JICO SaS/B with 30k)