Great hi-fi turntables you have loved

[editor]

Following on from the mention of the legendary Garrard SP25 in this thread, I thought it might be worth dedicating a thread to your prized turntables of yore.

Yes, I did have a SP25 and it was pretty good (apart from a fearsome rumble).

I always wanted a Goldring Lenco GL75 though:

But my ultimate dream was for the Linn Sondek LP12. What a beaut!

More here: http://www.rewindmuseum.com/vintageturntable.htm

 

[editor]

I did however own a Thorens 160 with (gasp!) a high tech SME V arm which sounded ruddy ace.

 

[pesh]

Technics 1610
all the fun of a 1210 but with a fully auto tonearm that will put itself away if you pass out before the end of side 2.

 

[Dan U]

only one type, Technics 1210. Mine are now old enough to go to a club on their own and buy themselves a drink

which makes me feel even older.

 

[The39thStep]

Still got this but only use it about once a year

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I always wanted a Goldring Lenco GL75 though:

I had one of those about 15 years ago. The motor burned out and I didn't have the money to fix it so I gave it away to someone. REALLY wish I hadn't now

 

[TruXta]

Still got this but only use it about once a year

How much do you want for it?

 

[Sirena]

Still got this but only use it about once a year

I've got one of those. I use it more reguarly now. It's back in the front of my living room.

 

[ringo]

Had an Amstrad 8060 I loved

 

[The39thStep]

How much do you want for it?

Just had a quick look on ebay.

 

[ringo]

Have always fancied a Garrard 301

Or the reggae sound system favourite the Garrard 4HF

In plinth, modelled by King Stitt @ Studio 1

 

[editor]

At the peak of my hi-fi-ness, I bought a second hand Roksan Xerxes. It weighed a ton and had a massive separate power supply. Something went wrong with it and it was so expensive to repair that I swapped it for a Rega Planar 3.

 

[hipipol]

I still miss AudioTockNocks Vari Pitch 8 track cartridge DJ set up

 

[editor]

I had this one for a while - a Garrard AP 76 - , mainly on account of its futuristic looking bank of switches,

http://www.avforums.co.za/index.php?topic=7957.0

 

[hammerntongues]

Only ever had two in 45 years and both are listed above , Garrard SP25 Mark 111 which saw me through my school years and longer until I saved enough for the Rega which I still use , I recently changed the stylus and Cartridge and it made a HUGE difference , I thought my ears had gone to cloth but £ 75 later and crystal clear again .

 

[ViolentPanda]

Have always fancied a Garrard 301

Or the reggae sound system favourite the Garrard 4HF

In plinth, modelled by King Stitt @ Studio 1

Do my eyes deceive me, or is it set in a concrete plinth?
If so, clever idea, and cheaper than the posho carved granite ones you could buy!

 

[ringo]

Do my eyes deceive me, or is it set in a concrete plinth?
If so, clever idea, and cheaper than the posho carved granite ones you could buy!

Dunno, sounds difficult to do though.

 

[pogofish]

Only ever had two in 45 years and both are listed above , Garrard SP25 Mark 111 which saw me through my school years and longer until I saved enough for the Rega which I still use , I recently changed the stylus and Cartridge and it made a HUGE difference , I thought my ears had gone to cloth but £ 75 later and crystal clear again .

Exactly the same here - A Garrard SP25 Mk III, then a Rega Planar III have served me very well for decades.

And the Garrard lived-on - After some years sitting in the loft, I gave it to a friend who was getting into vinyl and he got another good decade or-so out of it.

 

[fractionMan]

Had an Amstrad 8060 I loved

that is amazing!

 

[ringo]

that is amazing!

It was awesome, I was very proud of it

I have every intention of making my Technics 1210 MK2's see me to my grave, but who knows what whim will take you over the years.

 

[Supine]

RIP my 1210's. Bad karma to the git who stole mine from Moog in Nottingham

 

[ViolentPanda]

Dunno, sounds difficult to do though.

Not really, just make a negative mould including room for cabling etc, then pour your concrete. I've seen a few nice wooden plinths that were basically solid wood with a "seat" routed or chiselled out for the deck (and a few wooden "boxes", it has to be said), and a cable-way drilled, so it wouldn't be too complex to emulate that with concrete (or even a composite of acrylic resin and metal or stone particles, as sometimes used by sculptors) if you used a "lost mould" method.

 

[Lazy Llama]

I started with a Garrard SP25 Mk.III but then bought a See Revolver with a Linn Basik arm, finished in a gunmetal hammerite-like finish.
I still have it, but it needs a bit of a refurb to be usable again though.

 

[artyfarty]

Technics SL10. I love it, built like a tank, sounds great and has a linear tracking arm that you can raise with buttons so negates the shakey hand problem.
There's one in the MOMA collection.

 

[editor]

I always wanted this B&O beaut:

 

[ringo]

Not really, just make a negative mould including room for cabling etc, then pour your concrete.

Thats the bit I think would be very tricky! To make one that was accurate, functioned and looked nice would be a hell of a job I reckon.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Thats the bit I think would be very tricky! To make one that was accurate, functioned and looked nice would be a hell of a job I reckon.

"Looking nice" is easier nowadays than it used to be, though, as you can get various additives and colourants/pigments to add in with your sand and cement, that make smoothing and buffing easier.
But yeah, doing the dog-work of taking measurements and making test-moulds would be tedious (it used to be boring enough doing so for small objects!), and you have to be prepared to chuck your mould and start again, as the situation demands.

Just looking back through my old instruction manuals, probably the two best turntables I had (in terms of me liking how they worked) were a Dual CS-505 and a Pioneer PL-15.

 

[pogofish]

Look what we skip-dived from a prominent Scottish Broadcaster yesterday:

Still works - but the tape deck needs new belts and it might be a challenge to find an eject button.

 

[killer b]

that's lovely. I'd love one.

 

[ringo]

Look what we skip-dived from a prominent Scottish Broadcaster yesterday:

Love it. Looks like a Dieter Rams design, or similar. Probably very collectable.

I'd love an SK4



Less But Better: Dieter Rams Did It First