Down in the bowery:
1972: Garrard SL95B with Shure M93 4x7 elliptical cart. This was perched on top of an Altec-Lansing "premium" compact system receiver.
1973 or so: Upgraded to Shure 2x7 elliptical M91ED
1976: Hitachi all manual direct drive turntable with Grado G3+ (it was their top-of-the-line at $150 before introducing the Joe Grado Signature Series at $300)
1979: Inlaws break the long, fragile Grado cantilever; replaced Grado with ADC XLM mk II. It never sounded the same again (should have replaced Grado stylus).
1982: Cat breaks turntable; I don't replace it, waiting for advent of CDs
1987-2007: Suffer through 20 years of harsh, hashy, bleached-out, threadbare-sounding CDs, especially the reissues of recordings from the analog LP era.
2007 (Feb): Yamaha YP-28 belt-drive semi-auto from garage sale for $2. I catch the vinyl bug. Replaced OEM cartridge with Ortofon OMP-10.
2007 (March): Technics SL1210 M5G, Shure M97xE. Also got P-mount adaptor and 2nd headshell to switch between the Shure and Ortofon carts as my fancy suits me (what a high roller!)
1972: Garrard SL95B with Shure M93 4x7 elliptical cart. This was perched on top of an Altec-Lansing "premium" compact system receiver.
1973 or so: Upgraded to Shure 2x7 elliptical M91ED
1976: Hitachi all manual direct drive turntable with Grado G3+ (it was their top-of-the-line at $150 before introducing the Joe Grado Signature Series at $300)
1979: Inlaws break the long, fragile Grado cantilever; replaced Grado with ADC XLM mk II. It never sounded the same again (should have replaced Grado stylus).
1982: Cat breaks turntable; I don't replace it, waiting for advent of CDs
1987-2007: Suffer through 20 years of harsh, hashy, bleached-out, threadbare-sounding CDs, especially the reissues of recordings from the analog LP era.
2007 (Feb): Yamaha YP-28 belt-drive semi-auto from garage sale for $2. I catch the vinyl bug. Replaced OEM cartridge with Ortofon OMP-10.
2007 (March): Technics SL1210 M5G, Shure M97xE. Also got P-mount adaptor and 2nd headshell to switch between the Shure and Ortofon carts as my fancy suits me (what a high roller!)