Top Ten Turntables of All Time??

That Sony did not keep it's value. The original price of $850.oo list, and a resale in today's market of under $100. per Orion.
Some tables of the non-audiophile sort which HAVE held a major portion of their initial cost:
AR turntable two speed: sells for MORE than new price
Denon DP 37F ... still sells for over 90% of original price
Denon DP 59L ... On ebay heading for over 90% of list
Dual 1219 at 70% of original cost, A lot of midpriced Duals are holding their own at 50% to 40% original cost.
Kenwood KD-600 120% of original cost!!!
Pioneer are all worth next to nothing.. the worst resale of any. A $400 Pioneer table now sells for $32.
Sony is only a tiny bit better than Pioneer.
Technics is an odd make... a few good resale.. and a lot of dogs.
Yamaha is all junk too, except a few PF, PX prefexs, and even those are around 40% max resale.
So if you got that old AR... fire it up, and head over to ebay... :^)
Just some figures I have laying around for your enjoyment

Well lets throw Rega Planar into the mix here. The Model 2 and 3 have become legendary hallmark turntables almost since day one. The early versions had the Lustre Arm, then Rega developed their own arm the RB 300. The Planar 3 with Rega RB 300 tone arm is truly an outstanding combination.

Few products in high end audio have enduring value. The Rega Planar 3 certainly fits that description to no end. Is there better? Sure there is, but at what cost. The return on investment, one would be sorely tested to do better and with a company still in business all these years,it becomes a moot point. Truly a icon product that has passed the test of time.

Elizabeth... I thought this was about good performing turntables, not investments. Actually I have never seen one for sale at any price. Can you direct me to one?

What? an AR?
There is a beat up early AR at SoundStage in Bayshore mall, Milwaukee Co. Wisconsin. It is a total hunk of junk, but it does still run... and they are asking $100. It's real worth is about $3, in my opinion.

elizabeth...As it happens, for the first time I have seen a Sony PSX800 turntable for sale: current bid is $115 and we'll see what it sells for. You may be right about the price, even if I am right about the quality of this item.

The question is: Why would an outstanding turntable not command a higher price? Here is a theory...Only audiophiles still have any interest in turntables. The PSX800, as I stated, goes against all the accepted characteristics of audiophile turntables. It is direct drive, ugh! (Well maybe some direct drive tables have problems, but not this one). It was made by a mass market manufacturer. It is fully automatic, ugh! ugh! The servo controlled "biotracer" arm requires an engineering degree (and microprocessor experience) to understand. (I was always afraid it would go into "woodpecker mode" but it has never happened). Since I plan to keep mine forever, its resale value is interesting, but not a concern.

By the way, popularity of the AR turntable is easily explained..nostalga. I was around when it was introduced, and it really was a breakthrough. Soft suspension with the arm moving with the platter, belt drive instead of those horible rubber idler wheels, synchronous motor, and all for an affordable price. Many people feel about the AR turntable the way I feel about 1947 Dodge cars, and my first real girlfriend.