American made TT???


I have been considering buying a turntable and need a little bit of information. I always try to buy American made, whenever possible, and am looking to find American manufacturers of turntables. I have found that VPI is American, are there any others? If so, can you also make a recommendation on a good starter table from the American companies. Thank you. Zach
zspradlin
Sota definetly.A refurbished star will set you back 1500 and hard to beat for the money.Tell Donna Frank sends his best.
add Progressive Engineering,Rockport Technologies,Walker and Redpoint to the list
Why don't you tell us first your reasons to buy only American when you can? In this case the recommendations will be more precise.
I second basis!!outstanding design,machine work tolerances and sound to die for.i buy american too.i want to support our economy,jobs,the american workforce etc...and most of all ,our future and the future of our children.you can take that to the bank!!
I am a dues paying union member (UAW), so I buy Ameriacn made whenever possible. It generally costs a little more, but I see it as trying to keep jobs in this country. If possible, I'd really prefer to buy a TT that is Union made, but I can't imagine any of these companies being unionized though. If you know of one that is, let me know, I'll buy from them.
Zspradlin,
I'm very sympathetic about the union thing. I don't know whether Linn is unionized, but, based on what I know about labor laws in the UK, I wouldn't be surprised if they are (for that matter, Clearaudio in Germany might also be unionized.) So the question is: would you rather buy non-union in the US, or union outside the US? Unionism or patriotism?
In the 80s, I worked in the Chicago area, which is very highly unionized. I worked with a company which installed very specialized home automation equipment in expensive homes. I found the unions to be very accepting of our situation. We had a job to do, and they had nobody that was specialized in that area. After being approached by the union boss, and explaining what we were doing, they allowed us to pull wire and do other work on the job sites, with no interference or complaints.
On the other hand, when we tried to set up our exhibit in McCormick Center at the trade show, the unions wouldn't let us carry our small display into the building and charged us $125 to carry a suitcase up the stairs to our booth. Then, they got somebody from the electrician's union to come and plug in the mains cord, and charged us another $125 to plug in the cord. When we complained to the show promoters, we were told that if we didn't comply we couldn't exhibit, or the union would shut down the trade show. We never went to another show at McCormick Center.
Unions can be good or bad.