EMT turntables as good as other great vintage TT?

We have an EMT 948 in here with custon vDH cartridge and it's pretty amazing. We do all our archive work for labels with it. Can't beat it unless you spend major $$

Great thread. I have had quite a few EMT turntables and currently own 5 948's and 2 950's. The 948 and the 950 are very similar. I enjoy them more than the 930 or the 927.

If you are looking for something easy and built to lasty for many decades, I strongly suggest the EMT. The Garrard 301 and the Technics SP10MK2 or 3 are also terrific but they will require much more work to get them to sing.

Jtinn and Vetterone,
Why do you emjoy the EMT direct drives over the idler tables?

Can these still be found outside of specialty dealers in their native environments like studios etc.? Lastly, is there anyone who services these in the USA? To someone who has never seen these tables outside of the internet the questions seem unending. Does anyone use these in Chicago or even in the USA? Bob

The 948's come up for sale every now and then. I would venture you will pay 3500 and up depending upon condition. I paid $11000 for a brand new one I found in Europe. I have never had a service issue on any of mine and they are really built like tanks.

I totally agree with Steve that changing the arm and armboard and bypassing the internal phonostage really elevates the performance greatly. All of this is fairly simple to do.

BTW, I think the reason that the 930 and 927 are more expensive is only the rarer nature of the tables, not the performance.

It would be informative if one of you EMT owners could clarify the nomenclature. I know that the 950 is direct-drive and that the 927 and 930 are idlers (or I think that is the case). But where do the others fit in? And what is the accepted gospel on which of the direct-drives and which of the idlers are the best in terms of performance? (I gather from Vetterone that the 950 is tops among the DD EMTs.) Thanks.