I seek your guidance - re turntable

03-03-09: Twilightround
Was I happy with the Technics? Well, yes, but ... Don't you want something
better, at least until you find something you like too much to replace?

The thing is, the general audiophile community
tossed the Technics DD tables aside in favor of suspended belt drive models
without realizing that the Technics retains strong advantages in speed
consistency and accuracy, and build quality owing to economies of scale,
while its weaknesses relative to suspended designs are pretty easily
addressed for not a whole lot of money.

The tonearm wire on the base model limits the sound quality, but KAB can do
a tonearm rewire with Cardas for a very reasonable price, or you can start
with the more upscale SL1210 M5G which has better tonearm wire than the
lower end models. Second, the tonearm is very precisely made, but KAB
offers a fluid damper trough that makes the tonearm work even better on a
wider variety of cartridges, and tracks even hideously warped records without
skipping.

Third, Kevin provides a much heavier, thicker turntable mat which helps
reduce noise; you can also purchase any number of premium aftermarket
mats to do the same. The Herbies Way Excellent mat and the Iron Audio mat
are fairly popular with SL12x0 users on A-gon.

Fourth, the Technics biggest weakness is probably noise and vibration
isolation. The standard feet aren't very good. Kevin has some really quality
feet available called the Isonoe (not to be confused with Isonode) footers.
People here use various combinations of sorbothane, squash balls, cutting
boards, brass cones (from PartsExpress, Mapleshade, or Audiopoints), and
Vibrapods to create a platform that drains the vibrations out of the turntable
base and also isolates the cartridge feed from room-borne noise and
vibration. I get performance from my SL1210 M5G that I never thought
possible, and most of the performance increase comes from the combination
of cones, platform, and vibration absorbing materials that provide the
platform for my turntable.

There you as I said at the beginning, I through my 2 cents in with the used VPI HW-19, at $400-700(depending on variations) that would leave you plenty of scratch to spend on a nice cartridge, and still be under $1200.00.

And you also got the SL1200 and of course the Rega picks as I mentioned you would.

So there you go, probably more confused then ever, good luck.

Hmm, no Clearaudio fan here?
If you want a new table, Clearaudio Emotion would be worthwhile to consider. It can be had at around $1000 without cartridge.

Your wish list for a turntable can be answered in one word - Rega. No Muss... No Fuss... just sounds great and setup is the time it takes to get it out of the box and plug it in.
Paul

Nrenter's advice about proper set-up is right on! Never heard the SL-1200 but lots of folks here love 'em.

Call up Kevin at KAB and get a Technics SL-1200. Then choose between an AT 440MLa / 150 MLX, or Ortofon 2M Blue / Bronze.

Spend the rest of your budget on a MintLP protractor to ensure proper alignment, and record cleaning supplies (DiscDoc brushes, MFSL Plus cleaning fluid, vacuum cleaning machine - or DIY vacuum approach, new inner sleves, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, etc.).

Don't simply blow your budget on the table only. IMHO, proper setup and clean records are as important, if not more, than table / arm / cart.

Twilight,
Many thanks.
The vintage, idler wheel Lencos are incredibly musical.
IMO, this is due to it's stability at maintaining a solid rpm. Once properly plinthed (big, heavy, massive layered birch) vibration from the small, but powerful Swiss motor is absorbed. It's surprising how a simple, inexpensive Rega arm and Denon cart can be a match made in heaven.

BTW, hate to see those beautiful trees go down. We had a screech owl in the neighborhood who lived in an old apple tree. All day long folks walked up to it and gazed into it's eyes. It never flinched.

I second the Rega recommendation, especially the P5 if you can get a good used one. The new P3-24 would be a good choice as well.

Oregon - I looked at them, thank you. Nice work. I do a little wood working myself and appreciate what you've got. In fact, I recently had to go to Oregon (on the internet) to find a piece of wood for a shelf for my preamp and dac - the only place in the country that had what I needed - a single beautiful piece of solid walnut that when finished was a full 21.5 inches wide, 28 inches long and 1.25 inches thick. It was from an old (obviously) tree that was not cut down, but fell into a stream during a storm and was harvested from there. One of your turntables would look pretty nice in my study.

A Lenco.
I have sold a few, one left at the moment. But it would cost about $2k to put you in audio nirvana.
You can see some of my tables in my "system".
They sound better than they look.

Yes - I saw the scout too late. Looked like a good deal. There's a VPI HW-19 MK II for sale on ebay with a power conditioner (nice to have?) and a Premier ft-3 arm. I don't know how it's different from the III.

Was I happy with the Technics? Well, yes, but ... Don't you want something better, at least until you find something you like too much to replace? I know that happened to me with cars. I had so many of them I lost count a long time ago. Some were the latest and greatest at the time and some are worth a bundle now (I don't still have those). But a few years ago I found that I had three and couldn't imagine selling any of them, so I'll probably have to put them in my will. Is it that way with audio?

2nd vote for VPI Scout. Maybe a used Rega P5.

If it were me, I would look at a used VPI HW-19 JR or MKIII. Both would do a nice job for $400-700 bucks. Most likely would have either a Audioquest or Rega arm. Always coming and going on Audiogon, there are a lot of them out there. Of course you could shoot your whole $1200 on a VPI Scout. But I'm thinking if you were happy with the Technics, why spend more then you need to.

Now I will let the next guys tell you you need a Rega or new Technics SL1200 table.

Wayne

There are several. I have seen an almost new VPI Scout for $995 recently. It would be hard to beat this table under $2000. Can be upgraded if you want. I think VPI is an excellent table , have been a dealer for them in the past and am again now because I like them myself. But there are others. I do not recommend direct drive, I was a dealer for several of them including Technics when they made good ones and belt was better then.