Other turntable manufacturers

[record_spot]

Project, Rega, Technics. Who on earth would go up against those three, or so was a comment on an earlier thread.

My gut feel? In today's world?

Thorens, Hanpin (yep...!), Argon, Audio Technica, Edwards Audio / Talk Electronics, Cambridge, Clearaudio, Denon, VPI...the list goes on.

If you're looking for a new deck, what are you looking at?

For me, my current and previous turntables have included:-

Now - Cambridge Audio Alva ST - rather better than the 3 stars that the WHF review gave it IMO. Build quality up there with the Technics SL1500C / 100C - comes with Bluetooth and pnboard phono stage but both can be defeated. Somebody called it a lifestyle turntable recently, which I'm not quite sure what that means, but with a new cork mat, a Musical Fidelity X-LP phono stage (the tubular one from the mid-90s) and an Audio Technica VM-540ML, it's a pretty solid combination.

Previous:

1. Thorens TD-160 in modded plinth - great deck, but skips like a winner the minute you walk across the floor. Slight wiring issue with the tonearm causing dropouts so the plan is to have it rewired and thereafter sold on. With a stable base, the sound quality is excellent, but otherwise, a nightmare.

2. AT-1240 clone - can't quite recall the brand offhand, but I picked it up from Ebay for £250. The build was incredible, a Technics clone and with all the bells and whistles. Major benefit was VTA. Rega owners spit your dummies now! I partnered it with an AT-VM95C which was a good pairing. The performance per pound was outrageous and the build put MDF wannabees Rega and Project to shame.

3. Rega P3 - Going back a while now (2000), but the 2000 P3 was a decent performer. RB-300 arm and the supplied Elys cartridge. Shipped that out and added an AT-440MLa cartridge and yes, you can use non-Rega cartridges with Rega decks. A £1 shim to raise the tonearm VTA will do you fine. Okay, maybe today it's £5 or something, but if you can't be bothered with that, get an AT-1240 clone.

So, to respond to that "anybody going up against Project, Rega, etc....", then I think they could probably do quite well. And if you don't believe me, a trip to the Talk Electonics and Edwards Audio room at Cranage last year would've put your mind at rest.

Much as with all audio these days, there's more than one way to skin three cats.

And if you're shopping around, there's more to turntables than MDF.

 

[daytona600]

Project & Technics produce about 99% of the components in house , with vertical integration , huge purchasing scale and if f you have shipped millions of units

Hainpin/Yorung produce huge amounts of " lifestyle plastic " OEM re-badged for hundreds of suppliers

Once you get into Mid & Hiend price bracket the field does open up with dozens of other Suppliers
Vertere , Kuzma , SME , Avid , etc , etc

Dont forget the classics
Garrard 301/401 /, Thorens TD124 , Lenco GL75 , Technics SP10 , Sony TTS-8000 / PSX9 , Trio L07D etc
Fettled and well set up . Can still run rings around most modern TTs at any price., A great 70year old design will sound great today

 

[Integralista]

Hi, you have opened very fine thread related to turntables. I used in the past some Tesla Litovel (Czech made) turntables, today they make Projects and EAT tables there (very good ones). From 1999, I use only Rega turntables, several models but mainly Planar 25 and Planar 9, 2nd gen. From my experience, very few tables can be compared to them in their ranges. Brand which is also competitor and many years very good is Clearaudio from Germany. These are high quality, very revealing sounding machines, similar like Kuzma or Avid or SME tables for example. Small Kuzma Stabi S is also very special. It sounds nearly like his one size bigger brothers, but Stabi S is smaller, less complex and less expensive. Real Highend turntable. Another brand which is very quickly recovering from longterm hybernation is swiss-german Thorens. Their TD 124 after full makeover is a real diamond, Very good table, after comparison with upgraded "new" TD 1500 I recommend to keep saving for the full fat TD 124. The difference in sound is so Huge...And TD 124 is still a bargain in highend world. Or look for a nice refurbished old TD 124, still a great value, like old Garrard machines. BR.

 

[nopiano]

When I decided to sell my Linn Sondek in 2011 - because it needed considerable updating at some expense, and I was between jobs so not flush with money - I looked at the usual suspects. Rega sounded nice, but I couldn’t get over the ugly bolt holding the main bearing to the mdf base. Technics hadn’t had their renaissance back then, and I’ve since scratched that itch too!

Michell looked far better engineered, and I could still have a Rega arm. So I bought a TecnoDec, which in the event was the shop demo model, because it included the cartridge and saved a hundred quid or so. It has been faultless. I didn’t even need new oil, despite its maker saying it should after ten years - we disagreed that such oil evaporates at normal temperatures! Today they cost two grand, over double what I paid 14 years ago. Part of that increase is due to far superior packaging and the distribution via PMC.

I’d still choose a Michell or a Technics if I was starting over, though at under four grand the entry Linn Majik LP12 might be tempting. Project are great at almost any price point however.

 

[Revolutions]

After chatting a bit with @nopiano I think if I were starting again I’d think about direct drive.

I love my LP12 but it is all a bit fiddly. Having to tiptoe around after putting the needle down is amusing, but the fact any setup almost requires a full service means that cost of ownership over the years won’t get better. Also, the update thing is just crazy - I’d been planning on taking mine up to Selekt spec, but already they’ve launched new stuff at Klimax level that makes you think anything else will soon be redundant. Time to just enjoy how damn good it sounds as it is- so yes, an LP12 is a great thing. Second hand is far better value, but obvs a bit risky with all those parts.

Also, my old Rega P6 was pretty darn good. Only real improvement I’ve noticed with the same cart on the Linn is quieter clicks & pops, and lower noise floor.

 

[Al ears]

After numerous cheaper turntables I moved on to a Roksan with Tabriz tonearm and then found a nice second-hand Origin Live turntable with one of their own tonearms (cannot remember which exactly). Very well engineered and certainly on a par with Michell.
I never went the LP12 as, at the time, considered them overpriced and over-finicky to set up and keep properly set-up.
Origin Live still producing some mid to high end decks and amazing tonearms, and if I had the cash might have continued down that route. As it was I ended up buying a German deck and British tonearm which I still have.

 

[Rodolfo]

Still an amateur, I have had a rather vintage, yes Technics, for >several years -which replaced a less-vintage, I think, Technics.

My first was a Webcor that I got for my 12th birthday or so, back when they were called record players. It had a spindle on which I could stack a bunch of albums and 45-rpm records. I first bought four albums, but set a rule that I would never stack more than two albums or 4 records. Maybe the rule was more for my brother and friends.

Then, I also had a single-album Bang & Olufsen, and a Sansui (which is still around in an undefined role). I have not purchased a new turntable since the 20th Century.

My parents had a Grundig console which also had an FM tuner. I could play my parents albums on that. I don't remember what my grandfather had, but he did have the fanciest album collection.

 

[good_enough]

More than happy with my forty year old Axis, though it has had a heart transplant (new PSU) and obviously multiple carts and a couple of belts down the years.

To answer the question, if I ever strayed, as I've had belt drives all my life, I would be intrigued to try a new Technics. I'd probably only be looking if someone sat on the Linn though.

 

[BenWatts]

Edwards manufactures great TT.
Lucky UK, serious manufacturers.

Look at these beauties:

Turntables – Edwards Audio

edwardsaudio.co.uk

Wide range of prices. Each one can find a nice TT.

 

[skinnypuppy71]

I've had a couple of pro-ject tables over the years, a budget debut then, the first iteration of the xperience.
I don't really know what I was thinking in 2015-16, but I had this great idea to sell my records, sell my turntable and just rip and stream my cd's,....Well....it wasn't long before I started missing my records and decided to start from scratch again, I saved some of my extra money I was making from food deliveries at night and got myself a Avid Ingenium plug and play turntable with the Aluminium platter, I knew the turntable itself was a quality piece of kit, only let down by the cartridge and tonearm, which I planned to change asap. the cartridge was changed upon delivery to the dealer to a goldring g1042,..sounding very good but I always had plans to change the tonearm also, found a nice Rega rb700 in great condition on the auction site, fitted that and since then it's been sent off to Origin live for a full rewire and end stub/counterweight mod, along with a Nagaoka mp-500 cart upgrade , it's sounding very good indeed now and I'm planning to get the origin live power supply modification as the next improvement.
Avid's own power supply for the ingenium is £1500....far to expensive, considering the cost of the turntable....which was £1500 with the aluminum platter at the time I bought it.

 

[record_spot]

Acoustic Signature is another brand, they make some nice high end decks.

And not a manufacturer, but a dealer in Germany that refurbs and tweaks mainly Thorens, Denon, Kenwood and Yamaha decks. Art and Sound in Sasbach...

https://shop.art-and-sound.de/Plattenspieler

 

[Rui]

Project, Rega, Technics. Who on earth would go up against those three, or so was a comment on an earlier thread.

My gut feel? In today's world?

Thorens, Hanpin (yep...!), Argon, Audio Technica, Edwards Audio / Talk Electronics, Cambridge, Clearaudio, Denon, VPI...the list goes on.

If you're looking for a new deck, what are you looking at?

For me, my current and previous turntables have included:-

Now - Cambridge Audio Alva ST - rather better than the 3 stars that the WHF review gave it IMO. Build quality up there with the Technics SL1500C / 100C - comes with Bluetooth and pnboard phono stage but both can be defeated. Somebody called it a lifestyle turntable recently, which I'm not quite sure what that means, but with a new cork mat, a Musical Fidelity X-LP phono stage (the tubular one from the mid-90s) and an Audio Technica VM-540ML, it's a pretty solid combination.

Previous:

1. Thorens TD-160 in modded plinth - great deck, but skips like a winner the minute you walk across the floor. Slight wiring issue with the tonearm causing dropouts so the plan is to have it rewired and thereafter sold on. With a stable base, the sound quality is excellent, but otherwise, a nightmare.

2. AT-1240 clone - can't quite recall the brand offhand, but I picked it up from Ebay for £250. The build was incredible, a Technics clone and with all the bells and whistles. Major benefit was VTA. Rega owners spit your dummies now! I partnered it with an AT-VM95C which was a good pairing. The performance per pound was outrageous and the build put MDF wannabees Rega and Project to shame.

3. Rega P3 - Going back a while now (2000), but the 2000 P3 was a decent performer. RB-300 arm and the supplied Elys cartridge. Shipped that out and added an AT-440MLa cartridge and yes, you can use non-Rega cartridges with Rega decks. A £1 shim to raise the tonearm VTA will do you fine. Okay, maybe today it's £5 or something, but if you can't be bothered with that, get an AT-1240 clone.

So, to respond to that "anybody going up against Project, Rega, etc....", then I think they could probably do quite well. And if you don't believe me, a trip to the Talk Electonics and Edwards Audio room at Cranage last year would've put your mind at rest.

Much as with all audio these days, there's more than one way to skin three cats.

And if you're shopping around, there's more to turntables than MDF.

i think you have a point there, but the thorens TD160, old was very good but newer versions i didn´t try them , all other brands had good turntables and today i see brands i know releasing ok turntables, so you are right.

Some of my friends might have it but never saw any problems with it as the old TD160 was very well built, but one thing, Pro-Ject as Rega only is worth buying starting in close to 4.000€ without cartridge as others bellow are a pit of problems,

i´m saying this maybe because i have early 70´s turntables that are not even comparable with this two brands i refer, from far, and refering to Technics and Pioneer only,

but have a thorens professional from the 60´s , a huge one that still works perfect with mandatory maintenance, with many many hours of playing like 24 hours a day for years. Well divided by other turntable,

as all the others, new technics that i already played records on them and looked at them inside are much less well built compared to 70´s ones, as the SL-1200MKII is the best of all as in diferent years, use them all new versions ,when a dj ,

but was one night only ,felt that they weren´t that well built, or working as perfect as they should but still very good.

One of mine i threw it from a balcony , more or less like a new second floor and thought that was destroyd, drinking and very high had destroyd it, next day i was a bit with hangover drinking coffee and smoking in the balcony of my old house to breathe some fresh air,

when looking to the street ,old stone pavement, I noticed a turntable on the street and thought "what the hell is a turntable doing there?",

then i went to my music room where i had both turntables to make and learn new mixes or sampling parts of songs to mix with other records, but noticed only one turntable,

that´s when i reminded me being mad because i told everyone to not touch my records or equipment, if anyone wanted, to ask me and i would play is wanted song ,

but i saw a guy playing a record and i don´t touch the grooves only with mixing 45 rpm 12", i noticed it was a new album from the cult, "Love" and saw him touching the record with all hands and trying to put it to play being a friend since we were 4 years old and also being very drunk and high,

after a not so good conversation with my at the time girl that is a very close friend and girlfriend sometimes and was a bit down and had smoked a lot of crack cocaine and didn´t had after smoked a bit of heroin and that can make one feel rage ,

so i grabed the turntable and threw it on the street, this maybe at night not reminding me all but bit by bit i was putting my memories of the last night, last day, the night before that day and day again and night and afternoon of the previous when all started,

i went to the street and thinking it was all broken and it landed upsidedown, the cover landed first by chance and took it inside the house ,when looking at it the cover was broken but everything else was ok except the stylus but at the time i had at home 3 or 4 needles, connected it, thinking all was broke inside,

but no, i even let a record play for a while and it worked perfect, i think no other released after was so strong and played records in many bought after,in clubs, parties etc., this the 1979 SL-1200mk II, really a tank and sound quality is as good as the cartridge one puts there,

to listen to music i had better technics or other brands turntables with top quality cartridges.

From modern days i already bought two turntables a Rega P10 with a Hana Umami red ,

and kept the alpheta 3 to put in a never used PL-514 from pioneer,

only today seems a well built machine compared to all others.

and because i had not bought nothing since the late 80´s and early 90´s and 1996 , i bought a entire new system and i´m happy with it, sounds really good , also bought a Goldnote Bellagio with a goldnote cartridge in gold, but sounds great , and too expensive there are some i would love to have them,

like some signature turntables that really look well built and in demonstrations i noticed the quality being very high with a well designed plinth, well looking good with diferent cuts and many not usual assemblings like regular turntables design, also the Nagra aniversary edition , some years ago i went to a hi-fi exposition and there it was, perfect.

Once when looking to the door of my father´s last car a E class Mercedes, saw some tweeters with a designed letters saying , Burmeister, also in the same exposition i saw a complete assembled Burmester system and again i wanted to take it home but somethings first ,i´m not my father

sincerely, i would avoid Pro-Ject and Rega but the ones who like them ,it´s a option, only vinyl readers not real turntables to play records. When younger i started to work and having fun first but always setting aside some money and at the end of 5 years i could buy all i wanted at the time.

and also buy my father Mercedes-benz 600SEC V12 from the 90´s, starting in 96 they started to call it CL600 and had already the 80´s Mercedes 500SEC also his, my dream car when young and broke,

I´m saying this because one can have expensive and good things but a litle effort is needed to live and work enough to make some money to buy our favorite things, like anything that almost puts you down to the floor but well paid, but first live the life is worth living, i did the reverse or many wrong things.