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Up to £5000-ish Turntable discussion (not argument)

If we're supporting our choices, Kuzma 12 stabi s. Fit and forget setup. Great company to deal with, spares for years, lots of 2nd hand on the market, new uk importer.
 
If I was buying new, WT or Rega would get my vote at that level but I'd personally wait til a PT Anniversary came up and spend the rest on some records and some beer .
 
Similar story to BLACKMASS here.

25 years+ with an LP12 that I bought because, er, well that's what you had to do according to the mags I read. But thanks to lack of funds and then the system being boxed up and out of use for 15 of them I never got too far down the upgrade path - just a Hercules, new cartridge and a service when it came out of storage.

Then the itch came back and I started off planning a new arm and maybe a Cirkus, but having read the same threads - including yours @BLACKMASS - thought that that way led to effort (to understand and choose between all the upgrade options that were new to me) and expense, so hearing good things about WTL, liking their style and the distinct lack of upgrades decided to try one.

A used Amadeus became available locally at a good price and sounded great to me at the seller's house, but honestly I was quite lazy and didn't listen to any other decks (neither have I since I bought the LP12) and went purely on what I picked up from reading everything I could find. Sacrilege eh? :D

I'm very happy with it and can't see me hankering for anything else any time soon, but I really don't know how it (or my system either for that matter) stacks up against anything else. It sounds so good to me that I've stopped caring. Still got the old fruitbox though and lately have been enjoying it anew, even with a cheapo MM on it.

My point? Apart from the sound I'm happier with a deck that doesn't have suspension that is easily damaged or knocked out of whack and doesn't have lots of expensive upgrades to tempt me. I can change cartridge without taking the arm off or risking killing the bearings, I've got gloop and enough invisible thread to make new belts until long after I'm dead.
 
Just for context, a Well Tempered Record Player (the first WT) replaced my Aro'd LP12. I said at the time it was better but it probably wasn't; it was different and netted enough for a DV XX2, so it was better. I then bought a WT Classic. Happy with that but again the prospect of money made me investigate the Disco Deck. I bought a very nice one from a member here. It had a few mods already and I've added others. So, that's were I am. Be happy to go back to WT but not further back to LP12. The Linn was my pride and joy for decades. I want it to preserve it's nostalgic glow; it would be as bad a Facebooking an old girlfriend.
 
As you know, £5000 will get you very far especially if you buy s/h or dealer-discounted turntables. Really, there are so many great and stunning turntables around. I had a fancy-looking battery-powered Amazon Audio Rerenz here for a short while and it may well have been a much better turntable than my current SME 10 but it did not give me the kind of pride that I feel now whenever I spin up the SME. I look forward to seeing what you end up with, enjoy the ride!
 
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Thank you. I’ll start by rewiring the SL1200 arm. It’s the last thing I can do before getting all AOS on it’s ass and turning it into a £5k deck.
 
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Alex S said:
Thank you. I’ll start by rewiring the SL1200 arm. It’s the last thing I can do before getting all AOS on it’s ass and turning it into a £5k deck.
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In which case, you could replace it with a SL1200G/GAE, with a superior motor and superior resonance control to the legacy SL1200s. I’d do this over pimping my existing SL1200 deck. :)
 
My pig is already three quarters lipsticked; may as well finish it off. But yes, will not be adding £000s with PSU's, platters, bearings etc. Also, it's a bit like old cars, each mod makes it worth less, but I'm past that point.

KAB/Kevin is convinced a fully KABed old one sounds better than a new one. Before, 'well he would wouldn't he', he also does a range of mods for the new ones. A lot of that he seems to put down to the (re)wiring. I'm not convinced but food for a bit of thought, anyway.

SP10 has always been on my wish list - the guy who sold me the SL1200 had recently found a lovely one, it was fab. Tony, do you know what an SP10 in good nick should roughly cost these days?
 
I went from a Gyro (Gorbe) SE / SME IV to a 301 with a custom plinth and kept the arm. That was about 8 years ago and I haven't changed anything since. Honestly both of them are great but I couldn't justify hanging on to both and the 301 was slightly more to my taste. I'd recommend the Gyro to anyone though. It requires a bit of setting up, but not much subsequent tinkering and SME IV / V arms are a breeze to align.
 
Alex S said:
Tony, do you know what an SP10 in good nick should roughly cost these days?
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I think around £1k without plinth or arm. If you are really condition obsessed, as I am, finding a really clean one is very hard as most come from broadcast environments. I guess if you are going there it is worth shortlisting the EMT direct drive decks too (the idlers will be over budget). They days of getting a bargain are long gone though (a friend found an EMT 950 in a skip!).
 
FWIW, I demo'd decks from Acoustic Signature (Challenger), Michell (Orbe) and Nottingham Analogue (can't remember) about 15 years ago at Walrus systems that would now fall into that sort of price range new. All with the same cart, but with different arms. I doubt they've changed significantly since then, but have all increased in price somewhat.

They were all universally excellent, but I felt the Acoustic Signature Challenger just pipped it. It also looks fabulous. Shame they've trashed the looks by building the controller into the base of the deck on more recent models.

I honestly don't think you will be disappointed in any of these. I would, however, counsel against messing around with MM carts and stages if you want to retrieve everything from your grooves. I recently tried some top end MMs and they really can't touch similarly priced MC's for detail, low noise floor and sheer grooviness. IMHO, of course.
 
As others have suggested, a new Technics 1200 series deck would be hard to beat. Excellent performance, top class build quality and proven durability. The stock arm is not bad at all, just add a KAB fluid damper.
 
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Thought that the OP was keen on getting a Gyro se ? The SL1200G would be great but there is so much choice these days , hard to believe thinking back about 15 years ago.
 
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