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What is the fascination?

I have to ask what is the fascination with these older turntables?  I recently listened to an older SP 10 MKII with a Jelco and Older SME arm with Koetsu and Stanton cartridges.  The sound was very good I will admit but I cannot say it was better than the 1200G or even a 1200GR for that matter.  Heck even the Rega RP 8 is really an amazing sounding turntable for the money and they are brand new.   These tables are coming up on 40 plus years old.  One forum contributor said a turntable should not have any sound at all.  I agree and the newer tables get closer to that "no sound" than many of these colored (smooth,  warm) sounding turntables   I recently purchased a Pickering ESV 3000 MM cartridge that arrived in the mail yesterday and I had to ask myself, "what am I doing?"  So with that being said, why the fascination?  If one want to change the sound of the table, start with the cartridge, they all do sound different.  Nowadays the tables and arms are so good and engineered based on the earlier designs and bettered.  Also, when you buy say an older used arm, how do you know its been cared for?  Arms bearings can be screwed up pretty bad when one tries to tighten cartridges with the headshell attached to the tonearm or the tonearm mounted on the table and many people do not even know they are destroying their arms bearings so I mean you really have to know who you are getting the arm from and check the bearings etc.  There is a lot of risk with turntables, much more than with any components because of so many moving parts that do get old and break.  Why the fascination? 
tzh21y
boxer12
8,656 posts
 
fsonicsmith,
Does the old Thornes motor have any identification on it? I'd like to pick one up to use on my table. Been using different hurst model motors & although they do the job, they are throw aways & rather under powered IMO. In regard to vintage, I'm running an old signature Grado as well as an old empire 4000diii. I love those cartidges! The grado is better than 25 years old & the empire is around 40 years old. When set up properly, they are sublime. 
fsonicsmith's avatar
fsonicsmith
948 posts
 
It's a Pabst I believe. It was completely stripped down and rebuilt with Audiosilente high torque brushes by Greg Metz of STS/Classic Thorens. 
boxer12
8,656 posts
 
Thanks fsonicsmith
ferrari275
71 posts
 
tzh21y
I have to ask what is the fascination with these older turntables?
 Easy answer.  Some of the "older turntables" offer reference caliber analog playback.  Plain and Simple. 

A kind bit of advise, garner more experience ie. real life listening in top notch listening environments, with various properly setup and conceived "older" turntables.  I think you might be in for a real shock. 

Not all that is "newer" is good - better and not all that is "older" is bad - worse.  This is especially true in high end audio, not in disposable mainstream big box store consumer electronics.  Do your own homework, and educate yourself.  I speak from my past humbling experiences, and I used to believe the same.    
sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
@ferrari275 good point. The engineering that went into turntables of the pre-CNC age was good ole fashioned blood, sweat and tears. No good design came easily back 40 and 50 years ago. There is also something to be said for work ethic and the non-globalized labor market of those times. I’ve restored some 35 to 40 year old turntables, and aside from the scarcity of parts, they’ve been a joy to work on and listen to, simply because of the inherent quality they possess. You know a turntable is good when it’s that old and can survive abuse of a deranged rapper and then be restored without major reconstructive surgery. 
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