12-04-08: Mapman
Albert,
Your first table was a Thorens?
That's a pretty good place to start! How old were you?
Ever own a ceramic cartridge and replaceable needle as your main rig?
Back in college days when I used to work at a well known NY based hifi chain, the Thorens were the bomb!
Mapman (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)
Yep, very first turntable was a Thorens.
Years earlier my parents gave me a used RCA 45 singles player, one of those with single speaker hidden behind a funky striped grill. Guess I was about 13 or so, I still remember playing Elvis's "Heartbreak Hotel" on it.
I bought the first Thorens when I was about 21 years old. I caught a lot of grief from friends about the price, because I also bought an Ortofon arm and Ortofon cartridge. It was about $325.00 for all, including the plinth and cover. At that time a lot of money, you actually could have bought a system.
My reasoning was that my records were too expensive to buy twice and I treasured them. So, I should buy the best turntable, arm and cartridge I could find, and then settle on the remaining gear as I could afford it.
I still have all my original Beatles and other old LP's from back then, and they still sound great in my current set up, even after all these years.
Maybe my idea was not so crazy, some of my original albums are now worth more than my current turntable :^).