Turntable advice-thorens questions

Vintage Linn Lp12 is overrated imo and are tweaky as heck, especially earlier versions. They can sound nice but suspension are a pain to setup and need alot of attention to be anything worth while. Look inside a vintage Lp12 and look inside a vintage Thorens TD150 and they are almost identical. Imo I'd get a restored and replinthed td125 with fixed suspension and call it a day.

With over 53 years in this hobby and having been down every route imaginable. My best advise is to buy a VPI or Sota. Both are American made tables, should service be an issue these companies remain in business and are financially stable. Both VPI and Sota have clear upgrade paths so that your purchase does not become obsolete. Plus one can call them and get advice. Another table I recommend is the Rega P2 or P3 as well as the Nottingham. With these tables that are UK built you will have to rely on your dealer for service, should that become an issue but both Rega and Nottingham are well built precision tables.

Jeremy 72, You abviously recognised the origin of LP-12.
I stated 'the best Thorens' that I know. There is no question about that the bearing, the platter and the suspension of Lp 12 is better than by any Thorens. BtW the
steel plate by LP 12 is the part of suspension. The Linn
may be 'overrated' in comparison with some other turntables
but not in comparison to Thorens. This however is what we are talking about. I owned LP-12 for 10 years and moved on to Kuzma Stabi Reference. I want mention the price difference. But to my knowledge geting a good second hand LP-12 for $1500 is still a bargain.

Regards,

Nandric, if one carefully shops, they can pick up a used VPI Classic for just a little more than $1500. Any preference or views about the "old" LP-12 versus the "new" VPI Classic??

I just want to make a few comments about support in response to Ferraris post. First, VPI has orphaned both the Jr. and MK1 though MK3 turntables that are so common on the used market. They are no longer supported by the company.

SOTA is now owned by the Bodinets and the marque is very well supported, however IMHO the prices that they are charging for support are quite venturesome. Take that with a grain of salt as I find much high end pricing venturesome.

There is an entire industry that has grown up around support for the Thorens TD124 and that support is excellent. Both parts and refurbishing are available from a number of sources. Perhaps because of the competition, parts prices seem quite reasonable, though complete rebuilds start at "expensive" and go up from there, again IMHO. I should also point out that the 124 is a much more complicated turntable than the VPIs, SOTAs and Linns of the world, with the possible exception of the SOTA vacuum platter models, but don't get me started on that one.