Nice turntables. Attached picture is an absolute requirement.

[DanielT]

Post a picture of a vinyl lathe that you think looks good.

Performance information, optional. I am most interested in some nice pictures. How vinyl sounds is of secondary importance. For me anyway.

Feel free to tell us about your youth's vinyl player. Take a trip down memory lane.
Something positive, for example, do you remember the first record you bought for your own money? Or something negative, for example those damn grounding problems and the hum sound that never really disappeared despite how many wires you pulled into the heating element or when you saw with a tear in your eye when the record store closed in the place where you live (you might think it was good, avoid the scratch and fuss with vinyl).

Some stories about vinyl and vinyl players quite simply.

My turntable from my teens. And Thorens TD 166 MkII. Is not anything remarkable or so but it was my turntable. Yummy. Did I think then ..
(not my one in the picture but that model)

 

[DVDdoug]

My 1st "turntable" was a BSR Mini-changer with a ceramic cartridge. I bought my little stereo with money from a paper route when I was in Jr. high. I was always "fooling around" trying to improve the sound... I tried "adapting" a magnetic cartridge but there was too much hum. The platter might have been plastic or something but there just wasn't enough shielding. My parent's stereo had something similar but with a full-size platter.

Next I bought an AR turntable and I went-through a handful of different cartridges. It had a "floaty" suspension and to change speeds you had to remove the platter and move the belt. It had a reputation of being great for the price. I was an Empire fan and I remember having a Grado at least once.

I still have a direct-drive Technics turntable that I occasionally use for digitizing. I think it's this one but I'm not 100% sure of the model number (and I'm not home right now). It's semi-automatic. It has a Shure M97xE cartridge (the one with the stabilizer/brush). I don't remember how many cartridges I went-through but I gave-up trying to "upgrade" when I got my 1st DVD player.

 

[DanielT]

Thank DVDdoug for sharing your story. Nice pictures.

There's something special about turntables anyway. Cartridges, needle, problems with hum but also to physically hold a record cover. It was a lot of the experience. In a time without internet. To really read what was written on the album cover.

With that said, I do not know if I would be doing vinyl today. Maybe a little for nostalgia's sake. A little "nice" listening now and then. In the same way as from time to time bring out a vintage car and "nice" ride a bit.

I think this was interesting information:

Gen Xers, millennials and even some Gen Zs choose vinyl & drive record sales up

In an era when all sorts of music seems to be at our fingertips through streaming services for under $10 a month, who is spending their hard-earned cash on vinyl?

theconversation.com

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

 

[MattHooper]

My Transrotor Fat Bob S turntable, with Acoustic Solid arm, Benz Micro Ebony L cartridge:

 

[DanielT]

MakeMineVinyl and MattHooper. Neat lathes.

Well, when we're on the vinyl track, your nickname / name MakeMineVinyl. What is the idea behind that?

My sister's friends, in that family, the man is going to get a record player because he had a fit of nostalgia when he found his old vinyl records.

He is looking at some Pioneer. It is only the appearance that matters. It was declared early. These he has the opportunity to buy Pioneer Plc-1700 or a Pioneer PL-15R... although he is still a man so of course he is now thinking about cartridges, needles, Direct Drive maybe..and so on

That is, performance. It was kind of inevitable.

 

[NoClipping1337]

My dad’s (RIP) table that needs some damping fluid and cartridge reinstalled, and my work-a-day tables (details in profile).

 

[DNA16S]

Left: Thorens TD203
Right: Project 6-Perpex SB

 

[DSJR]

I've had loads of turntables in my time, but not many would interest people here (except Frank Dernie, who will understand how clever some of those early to mid 70's Garrard auto decks were under the skin, designed with penny-pinching Plessey overseeing it all)

Anyone with an account on Vinyl Engine can see the pics I've posted of some of my stash past and present. I'm not on the right laptop to access my best ever deck, a Notts Analogue Mentor with matching arm and Garrott/Decca Gold Microscanner cartridge, which I do still have. Other favourites are a Dual 1229 I once owned, lent to a pal and who emigrated and left the hifi with his now long ago 'ex' so the deck is long gone and maybe scrapped as they suffer failures if not carefully serviced, a 1972 Beogram 3000/SP12 which has a superb suspended sub-chassis and nice sound and finally, a much loved Garrard Lab 80mk2 which clunks through its auto cycle like a tractor, yet is surprisingly gentle (the massy arm is fine with >1.5g trackers too if set up and auto trip serviced carefully...

I have coming, a Garrard 401 which has been in safe dry storage for over thirty years. No idea how it'll service and run, but I have hopes it's not too noisy (an original test showed the rumble was below 40Hz or so and likely to be filtered out by the broadcasters it was often used with...

 

[aslan7]

View attachment 157368

I have a friend who has a fully restored one of these and it sounds surprisingly good, 78s and all.

 

[Orfanik]

Revox b291

 

[Chrispy]

Started with a basic player in a box type thing, mono. Probably first record was a Bill Cosby LP. Moved up to a record player/8-track/am-fm stereo set from Panasonic for 12th birthday. At 16 bought my own Dual 1219 (with Shure M91 IIRC, used that for a dozen years.

Don't use it much these days, but have used this SL1200mk2 for the last 37 years...

 

[Phorize]

My 301 in the obligatory wooden plinth and SME arm. I bought this from a retired foundry engineer in Stourbridge, UK and had it professionally restored. Direct drive won in the end, but here’s a video of me playing with the speed controls:

 

[sergeauckland]

Here are my twins

AEG Telefunken TRS9000 on the left, EMT 948 on the right.
Both rescued from French radio stations when they were being thrown out.
I play Side 1 on the AEG, Side 2 on the EMT... evens out the wear!

S.

 

[Phorize]

Here are my twins
View attachment 158623

AEG Telefunken TRS9000 on the left, EMT 948 on the right.
Both rescued from French radio stations when they were being thrown out.
I play Side 1 on the AEG, Side 2 on the EMT... evens out the wear!

S.

‘Rescued from radio station’ is much better than ‘bought at huge cost on eBay’. That’s how it used to be

 

[Bob from Florida]

Old Turntable - Merrill Heirloom

New Turntable - Clearaudio Performance DC

 

[aslan7]

I love turntables, I confess, which is probably heresy on this site. It's hard to beat a Thorens classic TD 160 with an SME arm.

 

[mhardy6647]

Looks nicer than it is.

TT15S1 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Is nicer than it looks.

DSC_8876 (3) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Sine qua non (not mine, unfortunately).

 

[antcollinet]

My Rega Planar 3. Not up to some of those upthread, but hey - it's mine

 

[aslan7]

Here are my twins
View attachment 158623

AEG Telefunken TRS9000 on the left, EMT 948 on the right.
Both rescued from French radio stations when they were being thrown out.
I play Side 1 on the AEG, Side 2 on the EMT... evens out the wear!

S.

I guess they date from the same period as the tapestry in the background.