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Most hyped turntable, tonearm, and cartridge?

Which turntable, tonearm, and cartridge do you think are most hyped?

One of my friends who owns Garrard 301, Thorens 124 and EMT ?? told me that those three vintage turntables are as good as one can get for the price points, beating most modern turntables costing under $10K. However, I've also read that Garrard 301 is over hyped.
My friend also insists that Ortofon RMG 309 tonearm and the original SPU Silver Meister (not MKii) are best for Garrard and Thorens. I wonder whether the Ortofon arm and SPU cartridge are over rated. 
Your thought?
128x128ihcho

Showing 3 responses by dover

dover
2,173 posts
 
As regards Garrard 301 there is a factual answer.
An idler wheel taking motor noise and vibration directly to the platter is clearly a bad design.

I like a bit of rumble - reminds me of the great Kingsway Hall in London where you could hear the trains rumbling along the Picadilly Line during the quiet passages.

Some might say this is preferable to the electronic haze of direct drive error correction circuitry doing its darndest to ruin your listening enjoyment.
dover
2,173 posts
 
"most overhyped turntable" 

Depends on context.

Historically the most overhyped turntable would have to be the Tin Sondek. In the early days the Linn Doctor needed to visit multiple times a year to keep it stable.

On these forums the most overhyped TTs would be the 70's direct drives and their derivatives with their 70's low tech error correction circuitry inducng a lovely digital haze across the audio spectrum. No amount of fettling, magic oil or elaborate plinth can eliminate that glare.


dover
2,173 posts
 
You can’t ignore Technics because almost ever record made with Technics motor involved in lacquer cutting process on the Neumann cutting lathe. 

There is a Technics Direct Drive motor under the Neumann platter when the cutting stylus working on doing its magic. 

This is misleading. The Technics cutting lathe motor devloped for the Neumann cutting head was the SP02, Its about the size of a medium cooking pot with torque figures dwarfing even the SP10mk3.

Furthermore the SP02 was SPECIFICALLY designed to work in conjunction with the 70lb Neumann flywheel.

The majority of the direct drive turntables couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding by comparison to the Technics SP02 lathe motor, and their lightweight platters have little inertia compared to the Neumann flywheel.

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