Nice turntables. Attached picture is an absolute requirement.

[MAB]

Grace G-714 wooden tonearm:

And other more modern lumber:

 

[Angsty]

Vertere DG-1S

 

[anmpr1]

Grace G-714 wooden tonearm:

It's brother was an aluminum uni-pivot. Looked like it was assembled from an erector set. I remember a local dealer sold them. One day while slumming, I asked the audio jockey behind the desk, "What is difference between the two?"

He looked at me sort of perplexed, like he'd never been asked the question. Considered it a few seconds and replied knowingly, "This one is made of wood, and this one is aluminum!"

I thought, "Do these people get paid for this, or do they work for free?"

 

[mhardy6647]

Wood's been a popular tonearm material since... well... always.

Grado and Pickering, e.g., among many others, made consumer hifi arms starting (at least) in the early 1960s.

1962 Allied Radio Catalog

Flip-through every page of this 1962 Allied Radio Catalog containing vintage radios, phonographs, amplifiers, amateur / short wave radios, knight kits & electronic parts.

www.alliedcatalogs.com

The ever-popular Microtrak 303 arms for broadcast use were wood(en).

I actually had a couple of these (dump finds) for a while -- not that I can find a photo of 'em.

In the massmarket "record player" business -- Garrard was a big fan of wood as an antiresonance element, as seen in the LAB-80 and LAB-95 record players' arms.

(random internet image of a LAB-80)

Had one of each of those, too -- come to think of it. Long gone, though. Garrard usually put about four times as many parts in their automatic record players than prudence would have dictated.

This thing has an ebony "armwand", too. Still have this one -- boxed up.

 

[JP]

About ten years ago I tossed one of those wood Grado's from a 'table I'd bought. Later I saw they were trading for a few bills. I was rather surprised.

 

[cgallery]

As posted in another thread, here is my wood wand unipivot. Uses elastic bands for stabilization as well as damping, and often I'm using a Sorbothane-like rubber counterweight.

The sound isn't for everyone.

 

[JP]

The sound isn't for everyone.

How so?

 

[cgallery]

How so?

It can sound a bit sterile/uninspiring.

 

[ajramirez]

Here are two of mine: Linn LP12 and Technics SL1200Mk2. The plinth in the Technics has been refinished (black powder coating) hence the absence of any branding. It is a bit if a mutt, but works beautifully.

Cheers,

Antonio

 

[notsodeadlizard]

This family of Philips turntables (AF *77) is shamefacedly beautiful:

They are not idler wheel based.
They are not pure classic belt drive based.
They are not DD based.

They are very different inside.
There is belt drive, yes, but there is a tacho sensor built into the centre bearing also.
And the system truly stabilizes the platter rotation.

They also have little pleasures like scales for quickly measuring the pressure of the cartridge needle.

Unfortunately, they are not very beautiful in appearance.

 

[mhardy6647]

Still have my purchased-new AF877.
Kind of plastic-y but not a bad tt. Served me well for decades and still works fine.
Here's a pretty terrible photo of it in basement hifi service a decade (or more) ago at our old house in MA.

Had an AF777 for quite a while as well, although I ultimately gave it to a hifi fellow traveler for his adult daughter, who needed a good basic tt.

 

[Angsty]

Garrard usually put about four times as many parts in their automatic record players than prudence would have dictated.

I have two Garrard changers in storage. One I inherited and a second was purchased supposedly for parts to fix the first. The changer mechanisms required a watchmaker’s patience to restore and the idler always seemed to generate noise. Also, I could not get the speed to stay close to spec.

I gave up after a few months and bought a VPI Traveler v1 - a paragon of simplicity and well-executed engineering. For me, simpler is better.

 

[Angsty]

Speaking of VPI, here is the VPI Classic Signature:

 

[Phantomuser]

Beautiful turntables you guys have !
Here's my humble offering, a vintage 1984 Harman T60, stock itto arm with an AT 440lm cartridge.
The T60 sits on 4 aliexpress spring feet .
These spring feet totally Cured the feedback problem I had with it when playing my Phantom 105s speakers loud.

Phono stage is a Puffin.
The sound is glorious.

I had an old die hard analog fan here last week, he has an all analog recording studio . he was awestruck by the sound in here. Listening to records and my revox too , his remark " wow yesss That's the analog sound right there ! ".
I didn't break it to him that the records and tape were digitised at 24/96khz .

 

[Jaimo]

My rebuilt Garrard 301 with copper mat, centre weight and peripheral ring from TTW. The plinth was my early attempt at woodworking - I've learned a lot since then and will build a new plinth someday soon...

 

[TheDarkMatters]

A Marantz 6110 is what I’m happily using at the moment. It replaced a kenwood KD-38R.

Ive mostly used technic 1200’s but this Marantz 6110 looks beautiful and it works great for a belt driven. I over paid for it ($150, I thought it was a 6100 when I was bidding on it).

I’m running the marantz with a a pioneer sx990 & pair of Knight/Allied KN3000A’s (12” Jenzen’s) The Ensemble sounds amazing in my small studio apartment.

 

[TheDarkMatters]

THAT PICTURE IS AWESOME!!!

View attachment 206555

 

[antcollinet]

Taken at Penrhyn Castle in North Wales, UK. Unfortunately they weren't playing it...

 

[computer-audiophile]

This is one of my DD turntables, I had tuned by different means to a higher performance level.

Especially with this one, I would have loved to participate in a shoot-out against other good turntables, after I finished preparing it. Unfortunately, there was never an opportunity to do so and now I do not have it any longer. (Maybe I should have kept it as an exotic).

 

[Sal1950]

Taken at Penrhyn Castle in North Wales, UK. Unfortunately they weren't playing it...
View attachment 291760

Now that's a great TT, look at the size of the horn
They should all be of the high quality !!!