Despite the 'sense' of a linear tracking tonearm, a good system was surprisingly expensive due to the precision required. B&O & Revox had decent linear tables but Regas et al still sounded a lot better (imho) due to the ‘audiophile’ design of the whole package. Pierre Lurné’s T3 that was used by Goldmund & Goldmund’s own T5 were very good examples of linear tonearms but they were very costly. The Goldmund Studio tt + T5 was the reference for many of my dealers back in the day. Put on a Koetsu Rosewood & you had sonic nirvana.

Ian

That Harmon Kardon t/t might be worth keeping just invest in a decent NEW stylus. I just ordered a new Grado cartridge for my 1970's(?) Thorens TD 145 MK II t/t The cartridge is 100 bucks from the Needle Doctor and I hear stuff I have not heard before on my old vinyl. Have 1500 'slabs' of the stuff. Never warmed up to cd's....

Dude from Michigan, Thank you for the above links to the alignment tools. Those will come in handy !



(PS) I just came across a nice AR xa turntable with an Ortaphone stylus (the needle alone retails for about 50 bucks)
I will check it out see how it works.
Let me know if you are interested in playing your vintage record on vintage equipment. I will let it go cheap.

That Dual wouldnt be a 1229Q would it?

I recently picked up an old dual for $10 and was surprised at how well it sounded. Will probably pick up a cs-5000 or cs-7000 or a golden stone if I can find one. I am collecting some older HK citation stuff lately and want to do a vintage rack set up.

I have a modified and tweaked Dual 503 CS with a Grado Sonada cartridge. Plus a tube phono section and Cardas neutral Reference interconnects.

It gets the job done, more than sum of parts.

I have an old NAD turntable. Were those any good? Model is 5120. I don't recall it being expensive or ooh-aah-ish back in the day.

The best of the cheaper 80s tt:
Rega 2 and 3
Thorens 150 and 160
Systemdek
Ariston

Then in the 90s:
Project by Sumiko
Music Hall

Look for a non-plastic plinth, a platter with a bit of mass, belt drive and a tonearm with decent bearings.

Ian

I originally looked for a vintage turntable, but it seems like anything fun was either more than I wanted to spend or had "issues".

The OP was asking about new turntables. Most of the stuff out today seems to be geared towards the DJ market and not good ol' 2-channel listening. I ended up getting the Audio Technica I mentioned a couple of pages ago and am very pleased. What else new is out there worth looking at?

I have a Music Hall as well, although I think it's a different model. Works very well, no BS, just the essentials.

Unfortunately our housekeeper somehow broke the effin stylus off while trying to clean around it. :confused: I have a new Grado cartridge to put in, but I've been too lazy. I do have some pretty cool classic 70's-80's vinyl that would be fun to pull out.

I've still got this guy from awhile back; a Marantz SLT-12U linear tracking turntable. Still has the Shure V15-Type III cartridge, but not sure about the condition of the stylus. What's a suitable replacement stylus?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1254464868.jpg

Sherwood

Check with the needle doctor...link given earlier in the thread.

I have a Thorens TD 165 from 1974