2. vintage
  3. 189954-7301

Vintage Turntable Recommendation

I recently rediscovered a pair of Allison CD6 loudspeakers that belonged to my parents. I had them refoamed and paired them with a small Sansui 350A amp (circa 1970) for a very modest office system that has turned out to be unexpectedly really special.. I would like to add a modest vintage turntable ($500 or less without cartridge) that would complement this system. Since it is for an office, I am leaning toward a semi-automatic as I often get carried away with my work and could see myself easily forgetting that the end of a side of play was approaching. I also think that I would prefer a tonearm where the headshell is detachable for easy cartridge swaps/ experimentation.. Right now, I have a NOS Accutex M420STR that I would like to use in this system. I am leaning toward a Technics SL 1700, but would really appreciate any other suggestions. Thanks..

PS..  my one slight reservation about a table like the Technics is that I don't really like the look of their tables..  The Allison speakers and the Sansui amp have these really nice walnut cabinets/case and the Technics just looks a little plasticky to me..  but if it is the right fit, I have no problems going with it,,,

gotog
njcardave's avatar
njcardave
53 posts
 

I highly recommend that you do some research on the KENWOOD KD-650. I have one that luckily works flawlessly. I have a DS-Audio DS E1 cartridge and transformer. Keep an eye out, you might find one go up for sale. 

elliottbnewcombjr
5,370 posts
 

Over OP's Budget, but an interesting find

Pioneer PL-540

elliottbnewcombjr
5,370 posts
 

OP

For fun, I check Hifishark.com every day (one of my automatically opening pages) my default search is usually: Turntable

filtered by 'first seen, new first', see just added items, jump on something.

I put $ limit, Always check above the budget, you want to know what you/they might have if you go a bit above your budget..

You can filter by USA (your country) only, Canada only. I wish I could exclude yahoo listings sometimes, just to shorten the list.

Next, for any friend looking for anything, I change the search, to 'tube preamp' for example

elliottbnewcombjr
5,370 posts
 

Marantz 6100, CAD 450 = $330. usd

dekay's avatar
dekay
5,560 posts
 

Slightly over budget would be a Thorens TD145/TD145 MKII in good condition.

The MKII has a different arm with a removable wand and both have auto lift @ end of play.

A cheaper oddball would be a Philips GA312 (auto lift and a removable cartridge sled).

These are difficult to find in good refurbished condition, but they do come up on occasion (they sound good if set up properly and have an interesting look, but are not good with footfalls).

This said, the SL1700 was a popular deck when I moved to the West Coast in the late 70's and I recall them sounding quite good (the draw was that stoners liked the auto lift).

 

DeKay

 

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