Vinylphiles...used/new TT/Cart combo under $700?

You all have highlighted the tables I have discoverd through some research and private tutoring from some kind Audiogon members.

My thinking is this. I don't have a problem with cleaning, lubing and replacing the belt on a table. I'm not likely to build a new plinth for a Lenco. From what I've read, the stock Lenco plinth is the biggest problem with the table, and therefore perhaps a Lenco with the stock plinth is not best suited for my purposes. If I have misinterpreted this, then please explain.

The Thorens TD-147, TD-160 or TD-125 are on my radar. Like most tables, these have their fans and their detractors.

Likewise AR, Denon DP-72L or DP-62L, and Garrard 701 or 1229.

I am beginning to recognize that the most highly regarded tables have substantial plinths...as indicated by the Lenco project tables and the VPI and Well Tempered tables mentioned earlier in this thread.

The Technics SL-1200...especially the KAB modified versions...seem to be the best new production table for my purposes. However, equipped the way I'd like it sends the price to nearly $1100.

Do the classic Thorenses really have detractors? I'm not familiar with the 147, but I've rarely, if ever, seen anyone diss the 145, the 160 or the 125.

Some like turntables with minimal plinths, such as the Regas. Personally I'm not a fan of the Rega sound, but that may or may not be due to the minimal plinth.

So far as getting a fully tricked-out 1200... you can always start stock, and add upgrades.

There's no doubt that Johnnantais is correct that an idler wheel drive would be killer, and from all reports the Lenco is particularly amazing value. I use a Garrard 301 which I picked up for a few hundred on eBay and had a carpenter friend rustle up a skeletal plinth from Baltic birch ply for about $160... it now has a more substantial plinth from a guy in Ireland name Neil Hollow (click System below to see it), and this TT blew away my multi-grand, 3-arm Acoustic Solid One (a Scheu-Eurolab-type table from Germany, which I promptly sold).

Patrick

The highest priority 1200 mod is the tonearm rewire. It's better done before shipping the unit, the same goes for the threaded spindle (I'm still deciding on that one). If you want 78 RPM, that would be next. The outboard power supply follows, then the fluid damper and last the strobe disabler (have it too, but not installed yet).

Patrick, I'm impressed by your system--and very few systems actually impress me. Anyone with plenty money can buy stuff. Carefully assembling a system and reaching particular goals is a whole different arena. Like yours, my interconnects use naturally insulated silver, too. Now, you're missing a lot of good music available in digital formats. I solved the issue when I switched to a belt driven transport, which Dan Wright later modded. It's a mean salsa and merengue playing machine...a machine gun with a silencer!

Deano sold me a Densen air suspension platform and that's what decouples the Creature. It's really effective at dealing with vertical & lateral vibrations.

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Deano sold me a Densen air suspension platform and that's what decouples the Creature. It's really effective at dealing with vertical & lateral vibrations.

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Psychicanimal  (Threads | Answers)

This is for the Technics table? Then this platform does the work of a custom massive Lenco plinth?

The platform is comprised of three metal boxes, each with an aluminum half sphere 'piston' on top. A granite slab is placed on top of the 'pistons'. When the whole load is pushed down the 'pistons' act as springs ( and also work in the lateral plane ). The frequency of up and down cycles is dialed in to about three to five per second and the turntable leveled. It works like industrial platforms where the resonant frequencies are shifted down, but with pumped air instead of metal springs. It's really good, especially because the 1200's problem is handling lateral vibrations--not vertical.

This device and sticking Marigo Dots on the gimbal bearing housings & cartridge has brought a new dimension in clarity and definition. Keeping the bearing oil all the way to the top brings big improvements, too.

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