Your turntable history

1974 - BIC 960 w/ Stanton 681 EEE cartridge. 
note: piece of junk! I think it was engineered pretty well but quality of materials & construction were cheap. Should have bought a Dual or Thorens. 
 

Thorens 160 w Shure V15 Type 3

NAD turntable w / what I think was arm made by Rega. As it turns out, the factory arm was mounted in the wrong place & there was no way to get the set up geometry close to correct so back it went to the store which they corroborated ! 

Thorens 160 Super w/ a Signet arm & their best cartridge. Arm barely fit on the table! Sounded quite good!

Sota  Sapphire Turntable which just came out w/ an also new Souther Linear Arm that I got a lecture from on its design & construction by Lou Souther in his home!  The arm could sound excellent when the moon was full & the barometric pressure was exactly 30.624 inches of mercury…Seriously, it was a challenge to set up & chaging one small parameter changes everything! Royal PITA! I think I had an Adcom Cross coil cartridge that needed to be warm to sound its best. 
 

Basis original excellent turntable w/ SME V arm & a Madrigal cartridge. Probably better than the vast majority of any turntable made under $20K today! 

Sold the whole excellent system ( CJ Electronics & Duntech speakers)moved cross country & started again. 

Rega 3 turntable w/ Rega arm & their best cartridge at the time. Sounded pretty good. 

Michell Gyrodec w/ a Rega arm & cartridge.

Basis 2500 w/ Vector 4 arm still in perfect use today 20+ years later! Replaced belt once. Started w/ a ZYX mc cartridge & more recently got a Hana cartridge. This will be my last turntable!! Sounds excellent & easily on the same level as my very good digital source ( Innuos & Bricasti M 1 series II DAC. ). Each is better at certain things but both very enjoyable! 

Pioneer PL2, Shure M97 ED

Revolver Rebel, Grado Signature Jr

Rega RP3, Elys II, Exact

Rega Planar 8, Apheta 2, 3

Luxman PD151 MKII, Hana ML

Nice thread - brings back lots of memories!

1969-71 - hand-me-down GE portable changer with speakers, metal case

71-75 - BSR 610 changer, Shure cart

75-78 - BIC 980 changer, Grace F8

78-80 - B&O pivot arm (don’t remember the number)

80 - Sansui DP something, wouldn’t quartz lock

80-81 - Revox B795, Empire cart (stolen)

81-84 - Rega Planar 2, RB arm, Ortofon Concorde (awful), later Dynavector 23R (awesome)

84-present - Sota Sapphire III, Magepan arm, DV23.  Mostly upgraded to V in 2012 (platter, bearing, suspension, power supply - motor still original), now Graham Phantom Supreme and DV XX2 Mk II

Second tables

88-2022 - Pioneer PL-15 II, Ortofon LM15, then OM10. Gifted to a friend’s son (if you know who produces Ice Nine Kills, you know who he is).

2022-present - mid 80s era Rega Planar 3, Grace 505 arm, ATC 440 ML.  Did the platter speed fix with a rubber band from a head of Romaine lettuce.  Works perfectly.  Least expensive fix for a known problem ever.

Decades of happy listening!

My first "turntable" was part of an all-in-one record player by Zenith in about 1958.  I had a Dual turntable after that, in college, but I do not remember the model.  I went into the Army in 1967 and still had the Dual until about 1977, when I purchased a Thorens TD 126 MKII while stationed in Germany.  I "retired" it in about 1990 when I purchased a CD player.  In 2021, I began upgrading my 1990s system, and three years ago I brought the Thorens out of retirement and had it thoroughly serviced and an Audio-Technica VM540ML cartridge installed.  It is now getting frequent use--I have several Sheffield and 45 rpm LPs I purchased in the late 1980s that sound incredible(!), and I am considering upgrading the cartridge.

1. High School: Motorola Portable Suitcase (the original boom box?), detachable speakers, flip down turntable, flip over stylus 33/78.

2. College: BSR from Sam Goody’s, I don’t know what cartridge it had

3. Age 25: Garrard Changer (in the Fisher President II I inherited) (still had the BSR).

4. Working Youngster: Gift, to repair: Thorens TD124 with SME 3009 II

Helped my elderly friend choose/setup new stuff for himself. (also gave me his Fisher 500C). This is when I started buying better MM cartridges, up to Shure V15VxMR & AT440ML. Avoiding MC, they all hummed back then.

5. My ’CDs are Better’ Era: Audio Technica AT-120 (with adjustable arm height). Replaced my Thorens because it’s bearing didn’t like my springy wood floor. This is still my recommended ’starter TT’ to prove you will stick with vinyl. Still MM.

6. Covid Era, joined Audiogon 2019, with help here: Overhaul Everything: My current beloved JVC TT81 with 3 tonearms. Finally tried MC with SUT, no hum.

7. Office Overhaul: Mitsubishi LT-5V Vertical TT

8. Garage Shop: Technics Compact Programmable SL-J33 (gave to my son)

9. Garage/Shop Overhaul: Stackable Sony FL-1 with upgraded cartridge with ML stylus, allowed a taller stack below (no need to open the top of the SL-J33). My Vintage ’everything’ system: 8 Track; Dual Cassette; CD Changer, Full Featured Yamaha Receiver. Of course a Chase RLC-1 for remote volume and mute while working down there.

Receivers back then were wider than other components.