My experience goes over 40 years having "acquired my first table from my father. It was a Zenith "cobra" arm HiFi with two massive 15" speakers. I used it for about 2 years before it died and then went on to my modern list
1. BSR-- Belt driven and do not remember exact model
2. Dual 701--My first lusting over a component-- Lots of bucks for a college kid
3.Dual 721--My reference with Ortofon cartridge and Shure cartridges for almost 20 years
4. Denon 47p--A sweet replacement with ortofon cartridge
5. Michell Gyrodec--My first real manual table. started with Ortofon MM, but went on to Sumiko pearl, VDH frog, and ZYX airy3
6. Maplenoll Ariadne --The white one-- It was a beast and came busted so i rebuilt it and refurbished the platter to finally understand what a neat machine maplenoll built. I was hooked on them
7. Maplenoll Ariadne Signature--90lb platter and massive sound. I built a on the fly VTA and carbon fiber tonearm and thought it could not get better--Discovered the original ZXY Universe cartridge and Artisan--it was very nice
8. Maplenoll Apollo--Heavily modified by Lloyd Walker with an external motor and on the fly vta. I since have modified to my own carbon fiber tonearm and headshell to make tonearm lighter. Other tables may look prettier, but the sound from this beast has to be experienced. Moved up to UNIverse II aND rcm PHONO STAGE.
Only issue is keeping the platter lubed as it only weighs 80 lbs. I am refurbishing the two other maplenolls and will eventually sell them
this is a manual table and at 60 years yound, its a little trouble but when the stylus hits, wow
1. BSR-- Belt driven and do not remember exact model
2. Dual 701--My first lusting over a component-- Lots of bucks for a college kid
3.Dual 721--My reference with Ortofon cartridge and Shure cartridges for almost 20 years
4. Denon 47p--A sweet replacement with ortofon cartridge
5. Michell Gyrodec--My first real manual table. started with Ortofon MM, but went on to Sumiko pearl, VDH frog, and ZYX airy3
6. Maplenoll Ariadne --The white one-- It was a beast and came busted so i rebuilt it and refurbished the platter to finally understand what a neat machine maplenoll built. I was hooked on them
7. Maplenoll Ariadne Signature--90lb platter and massive sound. I built a on the fly VTA and carbon fiber tonearm and thought it could not get better--Discovered the original ZXY Universe cartridge and Artisan--it was very nice
8. Maplenoll Apollo--Heavily modified by Lloyd Walker with an external motor and on the fly vta. I since have modified to my own carbon fiber tonearm and headshell to make tonearm lighter. Other tables may look prettier, but the sound from this beast has to be experienced. Moved up to UNIverse II aND rcm PHONO STAGE.
Only issue is keeping the platter lubed as it only weighs 80 lbs. I am refurbishing the two other maplenolls and will eventually sell them
this is a manual table and at 60 years yound, its a little trouble but when the stylus hits, wow