Grew up with a Garrard 301 and original SME 312 with Expert Stylus MC and didn't think of it as high end ironically.
First seen was was an L-07D in 1980.
First bought was an Aphalson Sonata with HR100s...beautiful titainium.
When I finally bought an L-07D (the image of it having plagued me) I realised UK high and Japanese, were somewhat different. It started my love of DD tt.
Mine was a VPI Scoutmaster which I picked up at the end of 2004 during a hifibuys sale. Kept it and modded it significantly (3D arm, HRX pulleys, ADS) but recently sold it as the Continuum came up.
Over the past 50 years ...
A Panasonic turntable with associated receiver
Dual 1215 table with Shure V15 Type 3 cartridge (and a step up transformer that caused hum)
I guess "high end" started after the above
Rega Planar 3 with Benz MC Gold, Glider
Rega Planar 9 with Benz LP
Avid Acutus with Benz LP(S), then Clearaudio Goldfinger
Clearaudio Master Innovation with TT1-MI arm and Clearaudio Goldfinger (V2)
My first Hi-End turntable was Transrotor classic gold with SME V tonearm. The ones before that worth mentioning were Thorens TD160B-SME III and TD124 MkII-Ortofon RS212.
AR Turntable (high end?) with a Rabco arm. But was equiped with Win strain gauge startling improvement. Made my dog jump up and he had listened many hours to my Shure.
My first descent turntable was a Dual 1219 with a Shure M91 ED cartridge if memory serves me correctly. High end no but it go me kickstarted and into listening . It was a significant step up from my dad's console, lol!
Around that time in the early 70' I ended up working part time for an audio retailer and my exposure to better turntables increased exponentially. I got to listen to many turntables and tonearm new and used, many of them in my home system. So I experienced tables like the Thorens TD 160, the Transcriptor with a vestigial arm, Empire, AR.....amongst others. It was an excellent learning experience.
At home I briefly dabbled with Dual's first direct drive, 701?, but didn't find it to my liking. I was realizing that the arm and cartridge were really import and felt the need to move to a table that would accommodate more flexibility. I auditioned a Technics SP 10 and a Thorens TD 125 Mk2 both with SME 3009 / Shure V15 iii and found the Thorens a better fit for my system at that point. I think you could say that my Thorens was my first long term table and it provided me with years of entertainment and cartridge swapping.
The audiophile bug hit again and I purchased one of the very first Oracles. It was then that I realized more than ever that the table itself plays a very important role in the resulting sound. I had lots of fun arm and cartridge swapping before swinging back to a more stable VPI HW 19. The move to this particular table was arm related as I wanted to try the air bearing Eminent Technology. Career, family and a basic satisfaction kept me happy with this setup for quite sometime. A major flood and the loss of a considerable number of components which included my turntable meant more changes.
The next table was a VPI Classic 1 with JMW arm. In hindsight I probably should have been more thoughtful in my selection but it provided me with good sound and allowed some cartridge swapping. No real magic though. The arm seemed quite fussy and it was only when I got it " professionally " set up that I truly enjoyed it.
So the journey continues. My system has evolved and I felt that my analogue needed to move up a notch. I listen a lot to both my system and live music so it's part of my life. Breaking the bank on audio equipment is just not me so my approach has always been to try to find the sweet spot of audio offerings. My current table is a BrinkMann Bardot with 10 arm and Hana Umami. I will eventually upgrade the arm but it sounds quite good so I am not in a hurry.
My first was a Dais, made by Tom Fletcher and was a suspended design, sounded superb with a sumiko arm and koetsu rosewood signature. The stage width was larger than my late fathers Oracle premiere.
Great memories!
My first "high end" for me, turntable was/is the Linn LP12. It's been modified with a huge Swiss DC motor and DC power supply and new top plate and the Brazilian Rosewood Plinth. Using the Naim ARO tonearm with Benz Ruby Zebra Wood ZH S-Class moving coil cartridge.
It's given me many years of great musical enjoyment and at the end of the day, that's all I can ask for
This is a picture of my upgraded Swiss DC motor (pictured on the bottom of the much smaller original) It keeps wonderful time, sustained piano sounds sublime
Good morning everyone, I have owned many turntables in my life but the one that has remained in my heart is the Goldmund Studio coupled with the Triplanar arm, with its romantic hump the mid-bass offered truly exceptional live performances.
In the 1980s - like so many here - I started my first vinyl journey with a REGA PLANAR 3 - upgraded to the RB300 tonearm with an Audio Technica AT32E II MC cartridge. It all sounded great - but not perfect.
Compact Discs hit the market and I traded it all, on chasing the silver disc - and "perfect sound forever."
In the mid-1990s, I traded my three box MERIDIAN 500 SERIES CD front-end for a SONY XA7ES, which I thought sounded perfect, until...
I was asked to help at a garage sale, to sell some old bits and pieces. I spotted an old radiogram in the corner and some old Hawaiian LP records. I thought a bit of music ambiance would help loosen the purse strings around me.
Within seconds of dropping that crappy old cartridge into that filthy old groove, I heard what I had been missing for more than a decade.
...It sounded incredible!
A few weeks later, I picked-up a LINN LP12 / ITTOK for a song - absolutely nobody wanted them - and have been modifying it ever since.
Well, the ITTOK LVII has been replaced - and the old LP12 has been DC-powered for 20-years and doesn't even have springs anymore! But it's sounding pretty good!
AR-XA with Grado FTR, later Decca 4RC
Rabco ST-4 with Decca 4RC, ADC XLM, Decca V, V-15 III
TD-124 with JH Formula 4 arm
Rega Planar 3 with Grace 707
VPI 19 Mk 3 with ET-II, later JMW-10
TD-124 with Moerch DP-6
Galibier Gavia with DP-6, later Triplanar VII and Siggwan arms
That takes things from 1969 to 2023. It’s been quite a ride!
During college years, late 1960s and early 1970s, I ran a Elac Miracord 50H with a Stanton 681EE cartridge. This was followed by an AR table with a Shure V15 type V cartridge in the late 70s and early 80s. Then came a VPI HW 19 with Eminent Technology II tone arm with a Shinon Red Boron cartridge as well as others. I kept the VPI rig for thirty four years until I replaced it with a Clearaudio Performance DC Wood table with Tracer arm and Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cartridge in 2021. I think the Clearaudio Performance DC Wood is a great table for the price and is often underestimated.
Mine was a VPI Scoutmaster which I picked up at the end of 2004 during a hifibuys sale. Kept it and modded it significantly (3D arm, HRX pulleys, ADS) but recently sold it as the Continuum came up.
The first one was a Rega Planar 3 with a Mayware Formula IV and a Shure V15 Type 3 (around 1983). The second one was a Rega P3-24 with a RB-303 and an Exact cartridge. And my current one is a , you guest it, Rega Planar 8 with the RB-880 and an Ania Pro.
