What is best turntable for listening to Rock from the sixties like Led Zeppelin?

John---Since you mentioned the Decca cartridge, and as a follow-up to Geoff’s great pun, I recommend the Townshend Rock table. The Decca was actually a factor in the table’s design, and the two are known to be a synergistic match (the table’s damping trough tames the microphony and resonance found in Deccas). The Rock provides very tight bass, a good thing for all music, of course, but none more so than the 60’s Rock you mentioned. It also minimizes LP surface noise, helpful with old records.

Thanks bdp24. If I was starting from scratch I would optimize everything for the Decca, although I did get good results on a PT/RB300/Garrot-Decca and Linn Axis/Akito/Decca-Maroon in the past. I would have sub-tables to play my other carts course, but a Decca makes a bigger difference than turntables (so in my experience, Decca on a Linn Axis/Akito was more interesting than Pink PT or Micro Seiki BL91 with RB300/Ikeda tonearms playing more expensive MCs). When I say more interesting, I mean a sound you cannot get from CD (my Chord and CECs).

Agree 100 per cent John. Transducers differ in character more than other components imo, and the Decca/London most especially. So alive, so dynamic! Makes other cartridges sound so reserved, so polite. Ironic, the Decca being so iconically British and all.

Music style specific gear seems strange to me, but I'll bite. I have plenty of LPs from the 60s because I was there (old person alert), and I suggest listening to any of it with the best turntable you can afford. I also suggest the first Jeff Beck album ("Truth") as I think it's more interesting and I actually do still listen to that one. An early (for me anyway) band I was in opened for Zep once on part 2 of their first US tour (May 1969)…early live Zep were crazy dynamic (!) and actually really nice guys. They used our bass rig (2 Sunn 2000S amps, and one 200S…large and loud). You kids have no idea…*snort*…*cough*...

Wolf, I saw the Jeff Beck Group on their first U.S. tour, and they were great. Ron Wood playing bass (a Telecaster!), Mickey Waller drumming, Rod Stewart singing. Jeff was really fantastic.