Personal turntable/cartridge evolution

Well, I guess I missed a table or two in there. From 1973-1976 I owned a Garrard table which had a ceramic cartridge. It was an idler wheel job that also had a built in tube amp. My Dad gave me this and I truely enjoyed listening to 45's. I cut my rock and roll teeth on this unit when I bought my first Lps, Pink Floyd, "Dark Side" and Zep 1 and listen to them until I wore a groove through them.

I think shortly after that, when it bit the dust in a house fire, I got a Zenith "solid state", circa 1972. It was built like a tank, used a cermanic cartridge but did not have the same sound as the Garrard, which was fun and easy to listen to.

My dad saved the day when for x-mas he bought me the Pioneer belt drive listed above!

well, in 1970, i had this electrophonic combo unit. it looked good with its wood cabinet. but i knew there was more, i had a neighbor with ar3s and dyna tubes and a garrard tt and had seen other stuff in the barracks in guam.

pacific stereo, here i come.

dual 1215/shure m91e (plus a sony 40wpc rcvr, dynaco a25s).

rabco st4/adc XLM!! then a second arm wand and a grado F1+, a great tracker and vg cart, wish they were still available as i do the XLM. then i got another complete arm so i could swap carts in a flash (which is why i just got the sota sapphire/mmt and keep the phase linear tt).

technics SL120/grace 707/XLM.

kenwood kd500/707/XLM,grado fte+1 (epuiv of todays black, you should have seen the orbital grado dance in the 707! wish i had videotaped it. cured with a 1 gram blob of black modeling clay on top of the headshell)

st4 again

pioneer PLL1000a (exactly the same as phase linear 8000a)

vpi hw19III/sme IV/sumiko virtuoso dti vdh (for sale in LA area only)

sota sapphire/mmt

numerous carts-XLM (retired), F1+ (sold), atML170/150, krell mc, ortofon mc200, atOC9, shure v15Vxmr, stanton 881s, original sumiko blue point (actually a pmount in a crappy styrene adaptor) with aluminum block mount, and a grace f9e.

1970s Original LP12, Grace 707 with a Dyna 10x4
Stopped for years...then read in Stereophile that no system is complete without the analog experience, so jumped back in again.

1987 VPI HW19 Jr, AT PT9 with a Dyna 10x4. Somehow wasn't quite satisfied with this setup, so traded up to
1989 Kuzma Stabi, Stogi Ref with a Dyna Te Kaitora.
2003 Got the Herron VTPH-1mc phono stage - a real gem.
2004 Got the Living Voice Mystic Mat and the Schroeder Model 2 tonearm - another gem.

1977-1979 Plastic all-in-one changer with speaker (RCA?)
1979-1984 Bic changer with ceramic cart
1985-1999 Thorens TD-145 with standard arm and Stanton 681 EEE, later replaced with Grado Silver and then Gold; arm later replaced with Origin Live/Rega RB-250; then cart changed to Benz L2
2000-2003 Acoustic Solid One with 3 arms: the aforementioned Rega, the Graham 2.2 with Shelter 901, and the Ortofon RS-212 with SPU GM Classic
2004 Been using a Thorens TD-125 Mk II with the Ortofon arm/combo noted above and preferring it to the much more expensive Acoustic Solid, who knows

Turntables:

1. BIC 960

2. Garrard GT-55 (with articulated tonearm!)

3. Thorens TD146

4. Linn LP12/Basik Plus

5. upgrade to Ittok LVII

6. regression to Basik LVX (sold Ittok to help buy Ekos, but got laid off work the next day; got good deal on used LVX)

7. upgraded to LP12 Cirkus/Ittok LVIII
(though I bought this package with the basik power supply and intended to later add the Lingo, the Cirkus upgrade alone proved so satisfying that I just haven't felt the need; no further changes since 1993)

Cartridges:

With the exception of a brief flirtation with a Linn Asaka, I've stuck with reasonably-priced moving magnet or moving iron models (various AT's, Shures, Pickerings, Stantons, ADC's, Goldrings, Grados, all the K series Linns, etc.). My ears have tended to prefer the balance of strengths offered by the Pickering/Stanton fold, but Grado also has some very appealing qualities.

My experience has been that Linn's hierarchy of 'table, arm, then cartridge is correct, and that satisfying sound can be had even from quite inexpensive cartridges when mounted on a quality 'table and arm. I'm satisfied with what I've got, but should the upgrade bug hit, I think I would get a better return on my investment by moving to a Lingo power supply than throwing money into expensive annual re-tipping fees.