Audiophile turntables of the 60's and 70's

I had a Lux after my first Garrard. See a very interesting thread at http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=32003&an=0&page=0#Post32003
Of course, Linn was around then. I might have bought one except Igor, Ivan whatever his name is made such outrageous claims and I couldn't get a good demo. (Thank goodness I missed that tweakdom).

I don't see Micro Seiki mentioned. They were big.

I wouldn't exactly call it the "golden age." Finding good vinyl was a BIG problem. Just like double-compressed mp3 today, the masses were fed really crappy software. The major labels could care less about quality. There were a few great D2D albums, but most were "audiophile" in the worst sense of the word. (Good sound but no talent).

Oracle certainly did not rule. Thorens probably enjoyed the largest market share of the high quality tables. AR was a big player also. Empire was considered really high end.

Dave

Dcstep, just look at my post and you will see where Micro Seiki was mentioned.

Visiting my parents for Christmas, I found my old Philips 212 up in a closet. I loved those speed switches with the lights underneath. The Philips 212 was originally my parents' TT before they switched to a larger Thorens. When they had the Philips, I had a Dual 1225 and a 1229.

These days, I actually use two 70s TTs at home - a Micro Seiki and a Yamaha linear tracking TT.

Tbg, I too owned an Empire (598III) and I found that while the stock version was somewhat underwhelming, it could GREATLY improved. I drilled the base and installed three 1/4"x20 threaded inserts so I could experiment with various footers and then sited the table on a thick maple platform. The improvements were quite startling. While I'd never try to bs anyone about the modded 598 being some sort of real competitor with a good modern table, it could perform at a respectable level with attention to vibration/isolation issues.

My dad owned a Gerard 301 in the 60's. It was his initial stab at seperates from our Grundig console. He later bought a Benjamin Miracord ELAC with a Sure Cartridge. This table had an optional long spindle to accommodate record stacking which no one would do now and it also was automatic with a repeat play set for 7" or 12". Of course it played all 3 speeds. As of this writing it is still fully functional.