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The Source turntable with Odyssey tonearm

Tony L

Tony L

Administrator
Well regarded combo in its day. I’ve never understood how the tonearm works, looks a very odd design!

www.ebay.co.uk

Source Odyssey Turntable, RP1 XG Tonearm, complete with 'coffin' Power Supply | eBay

Has a real presence about it and is beautifully finished. A stunning turntable and beautifully crafted tonearm, well worthy of the high level of praise showered on various forums and wish lists. An Icon of the 80's there are very few of these still around and very few appear for sale and...
www.ebay.co.uk
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Remember hearing a Source when they came out... FGTH - Two Tribes (Annihilation)... it was stunning. Have never forgotten it.
 
They have five springs IIRC. Never worked on one, just remember hearing one at Music Room in Manchester. Mentioned it on my Magnum P100 thread in classic, as that’s where I remember Magnum from too.
 
Tony L said:
They have five springs IIRC. Never worked on one, just remember hearing one at Music Room in Manchester. Mentioned it on my Magnum P100 thread in classic, as that’s where I remember Magnum from too.
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That's right Tony, 5 springs and very stable. Closest to set and forget for a suspended deck imho.
 
Tony L said:
They have five springs IIRC. Never worked on one, just remember hearing one at Music Room in Manchester. Mentioned it on my Magnum P100 thread in classic, as that’s where I remember Magnum from too.
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Was trying to remember the name of the shop earlier, it was indeed The Music Room, it was on Bridge St.
 
I've read before that it was better than the LP12, but the Linn took off, and this one didn't. What a gorgeous combination they both are.
 
IIRC it was quite a bit more expensive than the Linn, which was already viewed as very expensive at the time. I’ve got in my mind it was about £600 when the Linn was £400, but I may be misremembering. I remember striking it from any serious audition list on price alone (the Oracle too). There was a fair bit of competition back then; DM101, PT, Dais, Xerxes etc, but it was all pitched a few quid less than the Linn. I ended up with a Xerxes as I had/still have a lot of 12” singles.

PS If I knew then what I know now I’d obviously have bought a really nice used Garrard or TD-124 for £40 second hand and been done for life!
 
Tony L said:
IIRC it was quite a bit more expensive than the Linn, which was already viewed as very expensive at the time. I’ve got in my mind it was about £600 when the Linn was £400, but I may be misremembering. I remember striking it from any serious audition list on price alone (the Oracle too). There was a fair bit of competition back then; DM101, PT, Dais, Xerxes etc, but it was all pitched a few quid less than the Linn. I ended up with a Xerxes as I had/still have a lot of 12” singles.

PS If I knew then what I know now I’d obviously have bought a really nice used Garrard or TD-124 for £40 second hand and been done for life!
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That would explain a lot, in that case. Oh, the fun to be had with pricing/quality hindsight, indeedy.
 
Blue Belle said:
I've read before that it was better than the LP12, but the Linn took off, and this one didn't. What a gorgeous combination they both are.
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At the time I had a top spec LP12 with an Ekos (I think or it may have been an Ittok at that point) and Troika I think and I did feel the Source was better, but then other upgrades arrived for the LP12 and better the devil you know etc. As said I'll never forget the sound of it though. Can't remember what arm it had sadly.
 
I did a cosmetic refurb in one, sounded great and it’s up there with Delphi being a belt drive I could live with.

The platter and bearing were immense, yet all hung together with a piece of rough galvanised steel sub chassis.
 
I've never heard a Source, and have never really like the aesthetics, but I'm sure its a very well engineered item. I do use an Odyssey tonearm on a regular basis, 12" version with a variety of arm wands which are relatively easy to swap over. John delivered and set it up for me a few years back, lovely guy and very knowledgeable. His blog page has some interesting articles:

ODYSSEY TONEARMS

Information on the Odyssey HiFi Tonearm...... including the original RP1, RP1-xg and Gold Signature......
odysseytonearms.blogspot.com odysseytonearms.blogspot.com

Emporium had a recent listing for an RP1 which sold very swiftly at over £1K.

Here's mine with a vintage SPU

IMG_2525 by Neil Tully, on Flickr
 
Tony L said:
Well regarded combo in its day. I’ve never understood how the tonearm works, looks a very odd design!

www.ebay.co.uk

Source Odyssey Turntable, RP1 XG Tonearm, complete with 'coffin' Power Supply | eBay

Has a real presence about it and is beautifully finished. A stunning turntable and beautifully crafted tonearm, well worthy of the high level of praise showered on various forums and wish lists. An Icon of the 80's there are very few of these still around and very few appear for sale and...
www.ebay.co.uk
Click to expand...
I've always wanted this combination. The arm is beautiful. I think this listing is fairly priced - though beyond my means. Sad to read that the arm designer no longer repairs or rewires them - it sounds as though his health is fragile.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I used to go to The Music Room as a hifi obsessed teenager in Manchester. They had The Source on display there for ages and I always lusted after one. Managed to finally get one many years later and it's a wonderful deck. Never managed to get an Odyssey arm but it sounds fab with a Kuzma. Kind of sad it's all boxed up now that I'm only listening via streaming, it has a lot of memories for me. Can't decide what to do with it.
 
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