Moving into vinyl. Brinkman, TW Raven, GrandPrix??

To really get a sense of how the tables sound relative to each other, you will need to audition them in the same system which is almost impossible. Find a good dealer whom you trust, who has the same equipment that you currently have and ask his advice. You may also be able to ask some of your analog friend to bring their tables to you to audition in your system. This will be both fun and very informative. As others have said, it is a long journey, but possibly a very rewarding one. Don't forget a good record cleaning machine and fluids. Think of the whole thing as a sub system of the rest of your system.

Maxx1973,

Whoever recommended those 3 tables to you sure know their vinyl.All 3 are superb,with perharps slight difference in tonal shade.They are good enought to be bought without auditioning IMHO!!!I could happily live with all 3 and I am sure most people would be too,but if somebody put a gun on my head and ask me to choose ,I would probably choose the Brinkmann

I would start with a Thorens TD 160 and see if you like all the vinyl rituals, all the good sound and all the very hands on adjusting, tweeking and experimenting :)

Peter

Hi!

I listened to a Brinkman with the Breuer Arm and Breuer EMT pickup plus tube power supply. The rest of the equipment is 4 pcs mono amps from Classe' and Audio Research REF 3. I think he used a Ayre phono amp. B&W 802D loudspeakers. The sound was on the bright side I think, but that is not necessarily the turntable. Its more the total set up and the listening room. However, a great great turntable, but expensive.

You can buy TW Acustic for a fair price from Europe. I have seen some second hand Raven 3's without arms for approx. USD 9.000. With a Graham Phantom II for approx. USD 12,000 in all. Not bad I think.

Good luck!

Cheeers, ToffenG

I tend to agree with Peter, start, with something small and cheap. Not necessarily a Thorens. If you have no vinyl at the moment, I am not sure I would spend north of $20000. Mind you, I can't afford $20000, with 3000LPs. Thats kids at University for you.
I settled on a Raven one, which is much cheaper than the AC and according to the designer, gives you 95% of the performance of the AC. I listened to a number of TW decks at RMAF and all the combinations made some of the best sounds at the show. As Fafion said, I am sure all 3 decks are state of the art and would give years of pleasure. I have heard the Brinkman, not the Monaco, but it comes with a great reputation and reviews.
The problem with vinyl, is it is almost impossible to make meaningful comparisons. No dealer will have all 3 and if he did, they would probably have different arms, cartridges, phono stages etc. If they did have the same arms etc, it still would'nt be a fair comparison, because of synergies between decks, arms and cartridges. So I think, even with careful auditioning, any purchase will be a leap of faith, to an extent