Rusty Messages: 1205 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Amazingly, the new Technics 1200 G and GR have the same specifications as the old steel wheel. The technology developed decades prior has not been significantly bettered. And the boutique and standard belt drives of today can't match it. They can't economically produce such quality without prices comparable to buying an automobile. The VPI Classic direct drive goes for 30K. The few other exclusive low production dd tables are similarly priced. That Technics could revive and produce a refined version of the 1200 for a couple of grand speaks of the economy of scale a large company can wield in production cost. With the revival of vinyl the market is full of a lot of very ordinary products. Chinese direct drive and belt drive of moderate quality aimed at the entry level market. It just depends on what your priorities are and enthusiasm are for how much you pay and what you get for it.
gofar99 Messages: 1955 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I don't know if I buy all that. The cost of building a good turntable in the 70's vs now are most likely equal if you allow for inflation. I would expect the motor/control assembly that I use in one TT (came from a Dual 701) would cost easily $1000 to duplicate today. The plinth, arm and cartridge double that figure. However, I am quite picky about performance and as I mentioned earlier have three turntables in the main system and three more on standby. (Dual, Empire, Sota, Transcriptor, Pro-ject and Philips) I believe it is not necessary to spend mega dollars for good performance. Rega and Pro-ject (and others) make quite nice and well performing turntables. Some are quite inexpensive. Unless you are really well off financially and are seeking the 99.5% of the range you need not pay huge dollars. You get nearly the same performance at much lower prices. I suggest you browse the vinylengine.com forums and see what is available and how well regarded it is. Just my 2 cents.
Floyd Messages: 27 Registered: July 2018 Location: London
Chancellor
gofar99 wrote on Mon, 26 March 2018 16:31
BTW I only have 6 turntables at present. You can never have too many if the bug bites you.
Six turntables? Now that's just plain greedy!
I remember once asking a guy how many motorcycles he had, and when he answered "Twelve", I thought he had misunderstood the question. He hadn't. Where he kept them all, I can't imagine.
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