Turntables as an art form

[Artsfols]

OTOH, direct drive tables have electronics that could fail. My old Technics might still work -- we put it into storage when the cue lever stopped working (probably just needs more damping fluid) -- but we also have a Denon from the period where the electronics failed, and while I'm handy with a soldering iron the PCB is too highly populated for me to diagnose the issue. That's the main reason I didn't recommend getting a classic Denon table, which otherwise are works of art.

I've been a Technics/Panasonic/National fanboy since those early days. Twice a year white-lab-coated inspectors from the factory would come to the store to make sure everything was set up and displayed properly; it was quite a sight, especially as at my father's shop (in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago) everything inside and out was a bit run down.

Totally off topic here, but did you tap into the Chicago blues scene at all? Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Mike Bloomfield?
And on another note, we lived in southern Alberta until the late 60s, then moved to the Toronto area. One of the radio stations you can catch from both locations is WLS Chicago. 890? I think though I have not listened in decades. I used to listen to WLS to catch bands like the Buckinghams and the New Colony Six before they caught on nationally. WOWO on 1090 (Fort Wayne) could also be heard in both locations.

 

[dr0ss]

Totally off topic here, but did you tap into the Chicago blues scene at all? Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Mike Bloomfield?
And on another note, we lived in southern Alberta until the late 60s, then moved to the Toronto area. One of the radio stations you can catch from both locations is WLS Chicago. 890? I think though I have not listened in decades. I used to listen to WLS to catch bands like the Buckinghams and the New Colony Six before they caught on nationally. WOWO on 1090 (Fort Wayne) could also be heard in both locations.

I left Chicago to go to college over 45 years ago, and never really spent much time there since, so no real connection except as a kid. I've seen Buddy Guy in concert a few times, but not BB King or Mike Bloomfield. Also saw Muddy Waters and Junior Wells live. All three were amazing.

There were two rock stations of merit when I was growing up, WLS, and WCFL. As kids do, we had favorites. I liked WCFL because they had Chickenman, and aired White Sox games. To this day when I think of "WLS" I hear my friends saying "World's Lousiest Station", but I think maybe it had better music than WCFL. Dick Biondi was a fabulous DJ with exquisite taste (he actually worked for both stations, as did Larry Lujack).

The abbreviation for WLS was actually "World's Largest Store", since their original owners were Sears. WCFL was "Chicago Federation of Labor".

 

[Artsfols]

Note: off topic comment.
I could catch WCFL from the Toronto area, but tricky because of splash from a Toronto clear channel station just 10 kHZ away. Not sure why I remember this stuff, but AM radio was a major feature of everyone's life back then, and moreso to a lonely pre-teen that had just moved from a small Prairie town to the Toronto area. Anyway, enough reminiscing.

 

[Bob from Florida]

Wow, that looks extremely attractive and the top view shows off its form.
Front runner at this point, as I can get it for $1600CDN with free shipping.

What cartridge are you using? It comes with Ortofon Red here, but that could always be upgraded later, or never.

The Technics is fine, but have you considered a Kuzma? They are very unique and distinctive.

Kuzma - Stabi S - 2-Speed Manual Turntable

Kuzma - Stabi S - 2-Speed Manual Turntable This is Kuzma's smallest turntable, with a design approach normally found only in more expensive models. Its unique shape and construction of solid brass rods provides an extremely rigid connection to the pl

soundapproach.com

Around $4800 with their 9 inch uni-pivot arm shown in the picture. Price-wise, more comparable to the Technics 1200GR.

 

[Bernard23]

How about a Technics 1500c? Comes in Silver or Black. Comes with a good phono preamp, as well as the ability to bypass it completely if you want to use an external one. All the arm adjustments you need, and rock-solid speed control. Seems to fit the budget at $1300US (not sure about Canadian pricing).

I recently upgraded from a Pro-ject Debut Carbon Evo to a SL-1210GR. I was never a fan of the Technics aesthetic from seeing pictures, but in person it is gorgeous and miles better than my old Pro-ject in sound and function.

View attachment 256846

This is more like it, an industrial tool from the land of the original inventors of quality. I'll raise you:
1977 SL-1800 (so fully manual)
Fully restored, (not by me) probably better in some respects than the original. Like the OP, I wanted a TT for nostalgiac reasons, and this takes me right back to my youth. It also sounds pretty damn good too. I had an LP12 / Ittok / Goldring 1042 up until about a decade ago, sold it after I lost my entire vinyl collection in a house flood.

 

[Bernard23]

AR The Legend. Had one of these for a while too as a student back in the 80s. Or how about a classic AR EB101; had one of these too for a few years. The Linn replaced it, which as I recall was a big improvement.

 

[drmevo]

This is more like it, an industrial tool from the land of the original inventors of quality. I'll raise you:
1977 SL-1800 (so fully manual)
Fully restored, (not by me) probably better in some respects than the original. Like the OP, I wanted a TT for nostalgiac reasons, and this takes me right back to my youth. It also sounds pretty damn good too. I had an LP12 / Ittok / Goldring 1042 up until about a decade ago, sold it after I lost my entire vinyl collection in a house flood.

That's a beauty! I've been keeping an eye out for a cheap vintage Technics locally, just to tinker with and compare to the GR. An SL-1600 came up but it's not the deal of the century. A suspended-chassis Technics would be cool to have, though. Enjoy!

 

[Artsfols]

Okay, I did it. Took a while because some other things came up. The turntable came yesterday from Bay-Bloor Radio in Toronto, and I spent far too long today setting it up. I got tripped up by the 'auxiliary weight'. If you put that on and don't need it, the tone arm won't track properly no matter how much balancing you do.
I should have read more carefully. The instructions say to attach the auxiliary weight according to the weight of the cartridge. I took the last part as gibberish. What is meant is to attach the auxiliary weight if your cartridge requires it. Refer to page 23 to see if it does.
Also- this program could use a rotate function. If there is one, let me know and I'll look harder for it.

 

[drmevo]

Okay, I did it. Took a while because some other things came up. The turntable came yesterday from Bay-Bloor Radio in Toronto, and I spent far too long today setting it up. I got tripped up by the 'auxiliary weight'. If you put that on and don't need it, the tone arm won't track properly no matter how much balancing you do.
I should have read more carefully. The instructions say to attach the auxiliary weight according to the weight of the cartridge. I took the last part as gibberish. What is meant is to attach the auxiliary weight if your cartridge requires it. Refer to page 23 to see if it does.
Also- this program could use a rotate function. If there is one, let me know and I'll look harder for it.

View attachment 269121

Congrats! It looks fantastic.

 

[Moonhead]

Congrats, cant go wrong with a dd from Technics, is that sl-1500c?

 

[Artsfols]

Congrats, cant go wrong with a dd from Technics, is that sl-1500c?

Indeed it is. It was suggested by someone in this thread, and for me, hit the sweet spot in terms of aesthetics, performance and budget. I'm quite pleased with the result.
Inaugural album was 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme' by Simon & Garfunkel. Not their best album or my favourite, but a recent gift and holding many good memories. (I like small rituals).

 

[Moonhead]

Use to have rega Planar3 and my friend had a Technics sl1210 mk2, always argued which where the better deck. We both liked the tonearm on the Rega, but my table broke several times, his never did.

If I should start all over again it would be with 1500C, because Technics dd are rock solid and I love the auto lift function it has.
Enjoy mate.

 

[dr0ss]

'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme' by Simon & Garfunkel.

When I was a kid I thought "Scarborough fair" was an olde way of saying "fair Scarborough". Then I moved to Hull, where the Hull Fair has been held annually since the 13th century, and learned it used to travel on afterwards to Scarborough (until the Scarborough Fair ended in the 18th century).

 

[Artsfols]

When I was a kid I thought "Scarborough fair" was an olde way of saying "fair Scarborough". Then I moved to Hull, where the Hull Fair has been held annually since the 13th century, and learned it used to travel on afterwards to Scarborough (until the Scarborough Fair ended in the 18th century).

Off topic, but I love the English music tradition and how it has informed everything from Ralph Vaughan Williams work to Simon and Garfunkel. And let's not even begin on the Irish.

 

[Artsfols]

Use to have rega Planar3 and my friend had a Technics sl1210 mk2, always argued which where the better deck. We both liked the tonearm on the Rega, but my table broke several times, his never did.

If I should start all over again it would be with 1500C, because Technics dd are rock solid and I love the auto lift function it has.
Enjoy mate.

Having spun a bit of vinyl now, I have to say I'm very pleased with the sound. Somehow it sounds different, and better, in a way, than my digital set. This I attribute, not to any technical superiority in analogue sound, but rather to the fact that these records were mixed for this kind of equipment. At the same time, having listened primarily to digital for so long, I hear technical faults - distortion due to overload on some portions of the track and the clicks and pops inherent in vinyl, even in more expensive pressings.

 

[Tom C]

The Technics is fine, but have you considered a Kuzma? They are very unique and distinctive.

Kuzma - Stabi S - 2-Speed Manual Turntable

Kuzma - Stabi S - 2-Speed Manual Turntable This is Kuzma's smallest turntable, with a design approach normally found only in more expensive models. Its unique shape and construction of solid brass rods provides an extremely rigid connection to the pl

soundapproach.com

Around $4800 with their 9 inch uni-pivot arm shown in the picture. Price-wise, more comparable to the Technics 1200GR.View attachment 258396

Starts to get pricey when adding desirable options, but it comes with a flat drive belt, and you can get a 12-in arm and a power supply that’ll switch between 33 rpm and 45 rpm electrically, which are nice to have.

 

[drmevo]

Having spun a bit of vinyl now, I have to say I'm very pleased with the sound. Somehow it sounds different, and better, in a way, than my digital set. This I attribute, not to any technical superiority in analogue sound, but rather to the fact that these records were mixed for this kind of equipment. At the same time, having listened primarily to digital for so long, I hear technical faults - distortion due to overload on some portions of the track and the clicks and pops inherent in vinyl, even in more expensive pressings.

I will never invest crazy money in vinyl playback equipment for this reason. A nicer cartridge definitely helps with distortion, and can minimize clicks and pops as well, but that stuff will always be there to some degree. Sure, you may pick up some pressings that sound nearly immaculate, but they are more the exception than the rule in my experience. And, I don’t want to be paying $50+ for premium pressings of everything, if they even exist for the titles I want.

It’s sort of another topic, and one that has been discussed at length here in other threads, but for me, I enjoy the collecting aspect as well as certain aspects of the sound like you mention. That said, I’m under no illusions that it is equal or higher fidelity compared to digital. I enjoy both for what they are. Glad you are happy with the Technics!

 

[MattHooper]

Having spun a bit of vinyl now, I have to say I'm very pleased with the sound. Somehow it sounds different, and better, in a way, than my digital set. This I attribute, not to any technical superiority in analogue sound, but rather to the fact that these records were mixed for this kind of equipment. At the same time, having listened primarily to digital for so long, I hear technical faults - distortion due to overload on some portions of the track and the clicks and pops inherent in vinyl, even in more expensive pressings.

Welcome to the club!

Glad you are enjoying yourself.

I started with a nice micro seiki turntable and a decent cartridge and was surprised how good that sounded, sometimes preferring it to my digital source.

I ended up buying enough records, and liking the sound enough to go a bit crazier and bought a high mass German turntable and upgraded my arm/cartridge.
The main thing this did for me was clean up the sound. Like you with the earlier turntable I could hear some build up of confusion and fuzziness as the music got louder/more complex. That was essentially "gone" with the new turntable. Most records sounded super clear, whether the instrumentation was complex, loud or whatever. (Of course this also depends on the record). So for me I got close to the best of both worlds: still that vinyl flavor to the sound I liked, but more of the clarity and precision I enjoy from digital. That's why I tend to listen to more vinyl at home than my digital source these days.

will never invest crazy money in vinyl playback equipment for this reason. A nicer cartridge definitely helps with distortion, and can minimize clicks and pops as well, but that stuff will always be there to some degree. Sure, you may pick up some pressings that sound nearly immaculate, but they are more the exception than the rule in my experience.

As mentioned above: I actually found that a high quality turntable/cartridge made a majority of my records sound fantastic. So it's not like I need to seek super high quality immaculate pressings in order to hear fantastic sound. I frankly wouldn't have bothered with the turntable if that were the case.

Of course I totally get why most here would not go that far.

 

[Balle Clorin]

If you want a pieace if art there is really only one, above your budget but still this is the one you want

Gyro SE | Reference Turntable | Michell Audio

The Gyro SE is a variation of the GyroDec design. Doing away with the full size acrylic plinth and hinged lid of the Gyrodec and replacing them with a single acrylic spyder to support the turntable.

www.michellaudio.com

 

[GXAlan]

Sondek LP12-50 | Turntables | Linn USA

Limited edition historic fiftieth anniversary Sondek LP12 turntable co-designed by Linn and Sir Jony Ive.

www.linn.co.uk

For the well-heeled….