More Turntable Porn

Go on then Dean I'll bite. Where's the vinyl playback lunacy from 1972 for example? Who was spending £2K (to allow for inflation) back then?

Then why are you only posting the butt ugly ones then?

That's my point. You paid for quality engineering. But you were not paying "high end" prices. The SL1200's we used in the late seventies/early eighties with Unicorn cost only slightly more than a Dual 504/5 IIRC. Even the over the top statement designs cost about twice the price of an LP12/Ittok. Due to the volume of production, the tooling costs had far less of an impact on the retail price than some idiot's hand build these days. You only have to look at the Teres and Brinkmann DD's to realise how ridiculous high end pricing is.

You left me off that list.

Absolutely. It's a cancer as I said before and these monstrosities are gross examples of how it can damage a pure and nostalgic persuit.

And I don't actually know if anyone does buy these. Certainly Blue Pearl sold precisely zero of the world's finest turntables and I've never met an owner of the Musical Fatality TT.

 

Tony, the Germans also make some very attractive cars, churches and bar maids but we are talking about turntables here. Turntables don't have tuning knobs and antenna inputs.

 

I tell you what Dean, forget HiFi, if that's got some nice Telefunken or Saba drivers in it (or something similar) it will sound gorgeous. I heard a large Grundig thing recently which, in terms of musical involvement, was sublime.

 

Murray, if it's got some Gordon's in it it'll sound gorgeous regardless of the drivers.

 

Wow, that brings me back to my best mates nans (from the west indies) front room in notting hill in the 70's, along with crochet coasters and plastic flowers and fruit in a bowl.

We were not alowed to touch the blue spot raidiogram on pain of death!

 

Hi,

When the Technics SP10 came out it was around £450 to £500. This was when the LP12 was less than £100. Also this turntable cost over a £1000









This is from days when people were earning less than £50 a week.

The decks that I have posted show the range of decks over the years, some are beautiful some are ugly.

You can argue that the price of SL1200 should have been cheaper due to the number sold but I agree the price of a number of decks does rise the eyebrows Roger Moore style. But it's the same for a lot of expensive goods.

They get away with because people are prepared to pay that amount of money.

I left myself of the list as well.

It's true that a number of deck have sold very little or none at all. I am aware that the Blue Pearl audio Jem has not sold any. It was on sale for £50,000 (I think). It's a well put together deck and it gave a good performance when I tried one of my records on it at a show. It weighs a ton and is not cheap to put together, tons of marble. But is it loads better than the competition? I don't think so. I have seen one going for £10,000 inc arm.

It's the gamble a turntable maker takes. It would be interesting to know how many of these turntables have sold?

SCIDB

 

The Bishops Finger isn't bad either but I don't know what the stuff with the skull on it is!

 

Wow, that Blaupunkt Florida thingie reminds me so much of my late grandma's flat when she lived in South Kensington once upon a time. She had a similar looking unit in her living room, and I remember playing 45s on the little record player. Very faint memories now as it was a long time ago, but I don't think it was in anything like as good a condition as in SCIDB's photo. What a memory though!

 

50,000 quid for something this ugly?



That'll be the British sense of humour, then.

 

No Markus, we didn't get the joke either!

 

I have to say I'm quietly proud I didn't rise to SM's bait. I agree the Scheu design study he's shown above is spectacularly ugly, but at least us Germans don't buy it. The same cannot be said about the British and record players with - wait for it - fluted afromosia plinths. Ugh!

 

The soft aestetic of the classic fluted afromosa can be considered a national treasure next to this



Jeez! The only turdtable with a bleeding throttle to start it. I remember the SME30 next to it. It was like seeing a Jaeger & Couture in Ratners.

 

Hi

Here's another Germany effort.

The Clearaudio Statement



SCIDB

 

I saw that one as well Dean - at least that looks like it was made by craftsmen - even if it is totally unneccessary and ostentacious.

Thanks for the pics - is that a Gale?

The SP10 was a professional deck wasn't it? still five times the cost of an LP12 equates to about £5K these days. I think that's fine. It's the five figure sums for nasty glitzy turdtables I can't stomach. Honourable exceptions in the five figure club include the SME 30, the 20/12a and the Brinkmanns. Classic, understated, quality engineering. And one of them is German Markus!

 

Yes, I’ve got the record it’s playing in the first pic if not the deck! Also for price comparisons you need to think of things like the big 70s Nakamichi and real heavyweight Micro decks – I don’t know exactly how much they cost but they can’t have been cheap. I agree there are some hugely silly and profoundly ugly decks about these days though.

Tony.

 

Very Demis Roussos with a luke warm glass of Mateus Rose

 

Hi Mike,

I saw this at the London show last year. It didn't look any better put together than say the Blue Pearl Audio turntable. This is not say it is badly put together.

It wasn't playing, it was just standing there.

It's a Gale GT2101, at around £1000 it was for the rich playboy. In fact it featured in an issue of Playboy magazine. There were other decks that cost a lot of money but a lot of them looked the part.

I don't think the SP10 was designed for the professional market. I think Technics wanted to get a good design for the Audiophile. They were trying to get the Garrard market. In those days, some hifi buffs would build their own plinths. The figures and build quality were good enough for pro use. I think cause of this the MKII was developed. The SL1000 was issued for home use. This package included the Obisdan plinth and titanium arm.

The SME and the Brinkmann are very well engineered decks. They also have excellent level of finish. I own an SME V and it is a class act. I have a Helius Cyalenne which looks home made. The Excalibaur on the rock I have works well but again hasn't the look or the level of finish of the SME.

Hi Tony,

What music was on the record?

SCIDB

 

Almost certainly ‘Music For Percussion Volume 1’ which is several modern classical pieces played by the Tristran Fry Percussion Ensemble and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. It comes in a box with a booklet (which mine is sadly missing) and a warranty card. It’s a seriously good sounding record of some pretty interesting stuff. It reminds me a lot of John Cage’s percussion works. I think there were a couple of other Gale releases of classical works in the series, but Music For Percussion Vol 1 is the best known by far as it really is a ‘hi-fi stunt’ record.

Tony.

 

Well the Dragon cost Y1M in the early eighties. At that time, the Dollar was worth Y250 and the pound was worth over $2. So the cost of the Nakamichi would have been somewhere around £2,300 at a time when an LP12 cost £425. So again 5 times an LP12 or £6K in today's money so to speak.

Dean, the thing with the SP10 (along with the EMT's I suppose) was that 99% ended up in professional installations at the time. There was a market for them, but in reality the high end audio segment was inconsequential other than from a marketing POV. I can't see that pattern emerging with the Continuum or Goldmund Reference 2.

 

Hi Mike,

Very true. The Ultra High Market for hifi has grown since then. In the 70s, hifi became more desirable. Alot companies released high end/expansive products because they could.

Companies like the Goldmund don't need to go for the professional market. They are after the well heeled. There are enough of them to buy this sort of kit.

Companies like Goldmund have to complete with other companies who sell luxury goods. Goldmuld have built a reputation of selling high end kit. The new reference turntable is a limited run of 25. With Markets in the far east, Europe and USA, they are bound to sell them whether they sound great or not for the money.

Goldmund have splashed out on house in the US full of their stuff to help cater for their market.

http://www.goldmund.com/areviews/usa/2004_HomeEntertainment_General.pdf

http://www.goldmund.com/areviews/usa/2004_CEPro_House.pdf

A number newer high end companies don't have the predigree so they are going to stuggle.

The Continuum turntable looks interesting. The company is choc full of science/engineering bods, web site looks interesting but will the goods sell? Maybe, maybe not.

http://www.continuumaudiolabs.com/index.html

SCIDB