i own the raven 2 (and i turn 54 in a few weeks).
so i felt the same as "mid 40 guy" that life is too short and i was tired of screwing around with TTs.
in the last 10 years i have owned a music hall 5 and a 7.
then i abounded those in search of a better one so i got a thorns 135 i read it was the less fancy but same motor as the 124 from the uk off ebay that never ran at the right speed and i spend hours and days researching and messing with and with no one around to fix it for me i gave up , so i go back to ebay and after a bidding war i bought the lenco that cult is built around and hooked up a mono denon 102 and it sounded good until the angels sang or the piccolo played and you could hear it going from flat to sharp to flat .
i contacted the ebay guy i payed my nearly 600 bucks too and he suggest getting a power conditioner? he didn't care.
this sucked so i bought off of Craig s list a thorns 160 from 1980 and it was one of the top TT that year but it wasn't this year. it had a sweet sound but it was all plastic and when your shoe dropped the record skipped because it weighed about 2 pounds.
at this point i was thinking i should have stuck with the music hall 7 but it had been too dark and kind of dead sounding.
if i was a tinker i probably could have salvaged something here but i am not nor am i a systems or a number guy i am just a life long music lover and i know a good sound when i feel it.
so i spent some of my kids inheritance and bought the raven 2. its a raven one with a out side motor and 2 arms.
it is the best ten thousand i have ever spent.
the person that said money don't buy happiness has never heard my record player.
its as sure as the atomic clock.
or a baby in mothers arms.
i have a Decca jubilee at the end of a 12 inch ortofon.
the Decca its said is the closest cart to the tool that cut the record but it has no cantilever so it really needs that heavy and smooth ride (and a clean record)for it to mimic life was well as it does through my aspara hl horns.
i have not heard any other TT in this price range.
but this is what i know now , at their best a vintage TT can be great if you can tinker(or know one) but even at their best they are still vintage and they compare to the raven like a vintage Porsche or a cobra would to a new formula one or raven 2 in this case.
no purchase has ever made me happier.
so i felt the same as "mid 40 guy" that life is too short and i was tired of screwing around with TTs.
in the last 10 years i have owned a music hall 5 and a 7.
then i abounded those in search of a better one so i got a thorns 135 i read it was the less fancy but same motor as the 124 from the uk off ebay that never ran at the right speed and i spend hours and days researching and messing with and with no one around to fix it for me i gave up , so i go back to ebay and after a bidding war i bought the lenco that cult is built around and hooked up a mono denon 102 and it sounded good until the angels sang or the piccolo played and you could hear it going from flat to sharp to flat .
i contacted the ebay guy i payed my nearly 600 bucks too and he suggest getting a power conditioner? he didn't care.
this sucked so i bought off of Craig s list a thorns 160 from 1980 and it was one of the top TT that year but it wasn't this year. it had a sweet sound but it was all plastic and when your shoe dropped the record skipped because it weighed about 2 pounds.
at this point i was thinking i should have stuck with the music hall 7 but it had been too dark and kind of dead sounding.
if i was a tinker i probably could have salvaged something here but i am not nor am i a systems or a number guy i am just a life long music lover and i know a good sound when i feel it.
so i spent some of my kids inheritance and bought the raven 2. its a raven one with a out side motor and 2 arms.
it is the best ten thousand i have ever spent.
the person that said money don't buy happiness has never heard my record player.
its as sure as the atomic clock.
or a baby in mothers arms.
i have a Decca jubilee at the end of a 12 inch ortofon.
the Decca its said is the closest cart to the tool that cut the record but it has no cantilever so it really needs that heavy and smooth ride (and a clean record)for it to mimic life was well as it does through my aspara hl horns.
i have not heard any other TT in this price range.
but this is what i know now , at their best a vintage TT can be great if you can tinker(or know one) but even at their best they are still vintage and they compare to the raven like a vintage Porsche or a cobra would to a new formula one or raven 2 in this case.
no purchase has ever made me happier.