Garrard 301 alone (without plinth and tonearm) can be $4k and this is the type of turntable that must be fully refurbished, maintained, many parts must be replaced, this is a very old turntable. I like the design, especially hammertone finishing. With tonearm, cartridge and plinth this is way over OP's budget. I wish to have Garrard 301 Hammertone when I will be rich, here is a nice article about this model. It is probably a $10k turntable. With $4k budget I wouldn't mess around with Garrard and at this budget DD is the way to go. Especially Luxman PD-444 that does not need any modification, refurbishing, plinth replacement etc.
Need some turntable guidance
Hi,
I'm new here, so let me give you some background.
I'd say I'm more of a record collector than audiophile. About 15 years ago, life happened and I had to re-purpose my dedicated listening room, so I put most of my gear in storage. I now have my listening room back and I'm putting my system back together.
Here's what I have:
TT 1: VPI TNT 4 with TNT 5 bearing and flywheel, Eminent Technology ET 2.5 Tonearm, Supex SDX-1100 cartridge
TT 2: Denon DP-1250 with Magnepan Unitrack tonearm, Grado Reference Series cartridge
Phono transformer: Supex SDT-722
Preamp: PS Audio 5.0 preamp
Amp: Bryston 3B
Speakers: Apogee Duetta II
The Denon was used to evaluate the condition of new purchases and some casual/background listening, so I'll probably leave that alone for now.
I'd like to "modernize" my system a little bit, but as a record collector, my initial focus is on the turntable. I've been looking around, and seems I have several options.
1. Leave well enough alone, keep the table and arm as is.
2. Upgrade the VPI, I see there's an inverted bearing and platter upgrade available for TNT models, and sell off the current platter and bearing.
3. Sell off the TNT, and get something a bit less fussy as leveling the air suspension can be a bit of a pain.
If I sell, I'll probably want to keep the ET.
I'd appreciate any guidance I can get on this.
Thanks,
Ctor
I'm new here, so let me give you some background.
I'd say I'm more of a record collector than audiophile. About 15 years ago, life happened and I had to re-purpose my dedicated listening room, so I put most of my gear in storage. I now have my listening room back and I'm putting my system back together.
Here's what I have:
TT 1: VPI TNT 4 with TNT 5 bearing and flywheel, Eminent Technology ET 2.5 Tonearm, Supex SDX-1100 cartridge
TT 2: Denon DP-1250 with Magnepan Unitrack tonearm, Grado Reference Series cartridge
Phono transformer: Supex SDT-722
Preamp: PS Audio 5.0 preamp
Amp: Bryston 3B
Speakers: Apogee Duetta II
The Denon was used to evaluate the condition of new purchases and some casual/background listening, so I'll probably leave that alone for now.
I'd like to "modernize" my system a little bit, but as a record collector, my initial focus is on the turntable. I've been looking around, and seems I have several options.
1. Leave well enough alone, keep the table and arm as is.
2. Upgrade the VPI, I see there's an inverted bearing and platter upgrade available for TNT models, and sell off the current platter and bearing.
3. Sell off the TNT, and get something a bit less fussy as leveling the air suspension can be a bit of a pain.
If I sell, I'll probably want to keep the ET.
I'd appreciate any guidance I can get on this.
Thanks,
Ctor
- ...
- 42 posts total
I owned a PD-444 back in the late 70s and early 80s. I attended a listening session at a local dealer in the early 80s that featured the Luxman, a Logic DM101, an Oracle Delphi and a Michell Gyrodec, all with the same arm and cartridge. It wasn't even close, with the Luxman clearly the worst of the bunch. I wound up trading mine for the Gyrodec. As I recall, Luxman discontinued the 444 shortly after and came out with a similar belt drive table. |
It wasn’t even close, with the Luxman clearly the worst of the bunch. I wound up trading mine for the Gyrodec. As I recall, Luxman discontinued the 444 shortly after and came out with a similar belt drive table. @xaak I love people who can comment about some piece of gear using their memory from 40 years ago. That’s brilliant! How old are you? I would prefer to read about Luxman from people who actually own this turntable right now, I have two of them and personally compared my PD-444 to the best direct drive turntables. Luxman 444 with its slotless/coreless motor is a keeper, I would never sell this turntable. Luxman PD-444 was designed by Micro Seiki and everyone know that Micro made DD and Belt Drive under their own brand. The story about PD-555 belt drive brother of the PD-444 DD is not as described in your post. "The PD-555 sold rather poorly in Japan and wasn’t even advertised at all - a fate very different from the earlier PD-444 which sold very well and with minimal advertising, too." -vintageknob You can find valid opinion from experienced users who own PD-444 since the 80’s and still love it (in comparison to many different turntables). You can read about it here (or see the quite below). It has been posted by @213cobra and I always enjoyed reading his posts about audio gear, because he has the same high efficient Zu Audio speakers and low power amps (valves and solid state that I like a lot). Here is what he said: "I’ve owned Linn, Transcriptors, Thorens, VPI, Pink Triangle, Mission, Systemdeck, Kenwood, Sony and maybe even some other belt drive turntables since the early 1970s. I was socialized in my early hifi days to prefer belt drive turntables. But some things don’t stick. Continuously since 1980, I’ve had a Luxman PD441 (and later added a PD444) direct drive turntable. Various Linns, VPIs, Pink Triangles and Thori co-existed with the Luxman and it’s the Luxman 441/444 that’s always been left standing. They’ve won on sound, speed consistency, drive, tone, isolation, lack of noise, immunity from ambient factors. Rumble? I’ve never had so little on any turntable. It’s essentially undetectable. If there’s any coming from the turntable, it is dwarfed by rumble recorded into most discs. This Luxman series has a magnetic-repulsion arrangement for a "load-free" (I think it’s really "reduced load") spindle/bearing. A Verdier is interesting to me, but I stopped bothering with belt drive. I continue to get superb tone and energetic presentation from my Luxman PD 4XX turntables. Watch out for either a 441/444 and snag it." -Phil (213cobra). |
@xaak
Another comment from audiogon member Phil (213cobra) about his experience with different turntables and Luxman PD-444, it will spread the light a bit: Circa 1976 I owned at once a Linn Sondek, Luxman PD444 and a Transcriptor Glass Skeleton. I've been using the Luxman PD441 and 444 turntables for 36 years. In the meantime, Linn, Pink Triangle, VPI, Mission and several other belt drive turntables have come and gone. Along the way I found the Luxman direct drives could be significantly improved by replacing the stock spring/elastromer feet with brass cones on Aurios media bearings. At the time, the Luxman PD444 was the best sounding direct drive turntable of its era, better still than the Technics SP10 and SP25, and it has remained the table to beat in my systems. I have two PD444s with the footing upgrades. So me using direct drive is not a recent thing nor a "move away from belt drive." I used both drive technologies together in my systems over the years, but about ten years ago sold my last belt-drive turntable. I haven't heard anything belt-driven to persuade me to return, save possibly the top version of the VPI Classic. Originally posted on audiogon in 2012 here. Actually Phil inspired me to try PD-444 and when I bought my first unit I sold my Technics SP-10 mkII because Luxman was better and more convenient for many tonearms. |
- 42 posts total