Turntable advice-thorens questions

The Classic might be the best sounding VPI ever made and might even be the best honestly built they've made too, especially for the money. But, we were not talking about the Classic which has only been around a short while anyway. Long history of that commercial hifi company making not so well built and very mediocre sounding tables. More power to them for selling so many of these things, after all people are in business to sell and make a profit but again imo and ime VPI are fair to mediocre at best all the way around. For musicality I'd take a restored and plinthed TD125 or restored LP12 over 98% of the tables VPi has ever made, regardless of how heavy the darn platters are. ymmv

Thank you all for your "spirited" advice! I think I will continue to research my avenues before I make an investment. The VPI's seem to have an excellent recommendation. I just know some of the newer tables, as with most things in life, are made in China and are substandard to old time craftmenship that I appreciate. Again, thanks for the advice!

Even in the 60's and 70's Thorens were using quality metal platters. The TD125's had balanced metal platters and subplatters which were made from cast zinc alloy + aluminum and the actual top chassis plates were made from super heavy thick cast aluminum. The TD124 idler platters (depending on the era) were made from Zinc alloy, aluminum or cast iron.

http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/td124page.html

http://www.theanalogdept.com/td125_dept.htm

At some point during the 70's Thorens started to get el cheapo with their tables and internal parts starting with the TD160 MkII, MkIII, TD165, 166, TD126's,MkI, ect..... which lead to their ultimate demise. imo

Very very few (if any) VPI's will ever stand the test of time like the famous Thorens TD125, TD124 and LP12. imho

Looks wise, imo a super modded td125 looks way more boss in comparison to a vpi classic. That artisen Maple frame plinth or whatever you call it is waaayyyy nicer than the super cheapo medium desity fiberboard plinth on the Classic. C'mon a cheapo mdf plinth & lame finish on a table that costs that much? Really man?? And those wobbly arms, geesh.

Boss td125

http://www.artisanfidelity.com/Thorens-TD125-Master-Heirloom.html

VPI Classic

http://www.vpiindustries.com/static.php?page=table_classic

VPI makes some cool looking tables, ill give em that, they were one of the first commercial made high end tables that every caught my eye when I first started looking at high end audio gear. Show, sure. But Go, not really... imho