Top ten most important turntables

[Gregadd]

What are your top ten Most Significant Turntables/?
HP's top ten in this months tas.*

1. Thorens TD 124
2. Acoustic research XA
3. Linn Sondek LP 12
4. Sony TTS-3000
5. B&O 4OOO
6. Goldmund Reference
7. Versa Dynamics 2.0

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
8. Magnetic-drive Discmaster
9. VPI Scoutmaster
10. Clearaudio Statement
The magazine has its' own top ten along with all the writers.

*Note the absence of the Sota Star. Becker and HP had a falling out.

 

[microstrip]

He forgot the Forsell Airforce One

I have owned 1. and 3. in the past. Not bad.

 

[naturephoto1]

I didn't own any of them, but I did and still own the successor to the Thorens TD 124, the Thorens TD 125 MKII (actually 2 or 3 generations later).

Rich

 

[MylesBAstor]

What are your top ten Most Significant Turntables/?
HP's top ten in this months tas.*

1. Thorens TD 124
2. Acoustic research XA
3. Linn Sondek LP 12
4. Sony TTS-3000
5. B&O 4OOO
6. Goldmund Reference
7. Versa Dynamics 2.0

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
8. Magnetic-drive Discmaster
9. VPI Scoutmaster
10. Clearaudio Statement
The magazine has its' own top ten along with all the writers.

*Note the absence of the Sota Star. Becker and HP had a falling out.

I was never a SOTA fan

Brain dump:

I think leaving the SME off the list is a real oversight.
The Forsell was good when it worked--which wasn't often enough.
I do remember a lot of debate in those days in TAS over the PL tt too.
What about the Mapleknoll or Oracle?
No Rockport?
Somehow Rega should be in there because many audiophiles began their vinyl journey with Roy's tt.

I'm also curious how many among the currently available crop HP's heard eg. Walker, Continuum, etc.

 

[Gregadd]

IMO the SOTA was never a finished product. Rega and Oracle are mentioned in the other lists.

 

[naturephoto1]

Shouldn't Garrard be on the list with something like the 301 or the 401 and Sony with the SP10?

Rich

 

[MylesBAstor]

IMO the SOTA was never a finished product. Rega and Oracle are mentioned in the other lists.

Oh and I forgot Basis for SOTA contenders.

 

[Gregadd]

Rich I should have been more specific. tas a list. HP has a list and all the writers have a list. I don't think I saw the Lenco either.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Shouldn't Garrard be on the list with something like the 301 or the 401?

Rich

This is why mags liking doing 10 best pieces It always engenders discussion. It's like Jayson Stark's The Stark Truth where he rates the 10 most underrated and 10 most overrated players at each position over the history of the modern era of baseball. Agree or disagree, going to debate his choices

I'm sure there's a lot of European tables that never were distributed widely here that might merit consideration. The Gale, a tt many consider the forerunner of the AR. Then there's the Pink Triangle, Verdier, Transrotor, etc. Actually, it seems that Germany is the vinyl/turntable capitol of the world!

 

[MylesBAstor]

BTW Greg---great post!

 

[Gregadd]

Oh and I forgot Basis for SOTA contenders.

I recall thinking the Basis was just a big hunk of plastic. Until I heard it.

 

[MylesBAstor]

I recall thinking the Basis was just a big hunk of plastic. Until i heard.

AJ knows his stuff Remember hearing his first prototype some 20 or 25 years ago

I know I would like to hear his new tts.

 

[Steve Williams]

This is my favorite Basis

 

[karma]

HI All,
Well, of course I Must mention Sota since I've had one for about 20 years. I think their vacuum turntables were (are ) among the best available. I have had the Star Sapphire and currently the Nova with the Cosmos arm board. Don't under rate them. They are good.

And one really can't have this discussion without considering the mating tone arm. Synergy is everything. My Nova has always had an Eminent Technology ET 2 (now ET2.5) arm. This is a great combination.

The other one left out that I have good things to say about is my Oracle Delphi V with another ET2.5. This one has my Lyra Skala on it.

I also recently bought a Thorens TD125 on which I mounted a Graham 2.2 Deluxe arm. As I have always thought, the TD 125 is a wonderful turntable. Vastly under rated, me thinks. I believe it is much better than the TD 124 which I owned back in its heyday with an SME 3009. Too much rumble but I certainly like its looks. I would own one now as a display piece but for the stupid prices they are going for.

Sparky

 

[microstrip]

I didn't own any of them, but I did and still own the successor to the Thorens TD 124, the Thorens TD 125 MKII (actually 2 or 3 generations later).

Rich

Great turntable. I also owned one, and as I never had an adequate plinth for the TD124, the TD125 sounded much better ...
Anyway you can think replacing it with a Chinese made Thorens Reference :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thorens-Reference-re-edition-/170668613872?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bca460f0

 

[naturephoto1]

Great turntable. I also owned one, and as I never had an adequate plinth for the TD124, the TD125 sounded much better ...
Anyway you can think replacing it with a Chinese made Thorens Reference :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thorens-Reference-re-edition-/170668613872?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bca460f0

Thanks for the suggestion. But, I think that I will just keep my Teres Audio Certus 450 with the Teres Audio Illius Tonearm.

Rich

 

[MylesBAstor]

I recall thinking the Basis was just a big hunk of plastic. Until i heard.

Another table that I think sounds real nice is the big Kuzma. Fremer gave a great review to the pivoted arm in SP but personally like their air bearing arm. Plus the table is eye candy.

http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/407kuzma/index.html

My question: was MF actually hearing what the Titan i sounds like in the Kuzma and the Continuum covered it up or vice versa?

 

[es347]

Not that they were the best by any stretch but if you are talking about TTs that were an important piece of audio history then Dual should be mentioned.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Not that they were the best by any stretch but if you are talking about TTs that were an important piece of audio history then Dual should be mentioned.

I had a 1009 with the idler drive in college

 

[Gregadd]

Not bad either.