are there any good all in one turntables?

In the '50s and '60s Califone had some very industrial-looking phonographs with a tube amplifier, direct drive (long before Technics invented it :)), a stroboscope, continuously variable speed adjustment, a strange cantilevered headshell, and a tonearm long enough to play 16-inch transcription records:

Those were NOT direct drive. They were IDLER drive.
 
Here's what you need, I pulled this from an antique shop recently. A couple new belts and it works great, 2x AT91 cartridges and a 28 watt clean-sounding amp.

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Those were NOT direct drive. They were IDLER drive.
But in the video, he pulled off the platter and there was no idler wheel visible... unless it's underneath the plinth?

Edit: OK, I saw in the comments: "Those use a cone type idler for infinitely variable speed, so their not direct drive. Still though they have very low rumble and play 78s and mono vinyl very nicely and get very loud."
 
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Most of the "all-in-ones" being suggested here do not include speakers, so they are not enough to take the place of a Crosley or old Califone educational record player.

Pairing the turntable of one's choice with a pair of Klipsch R-15PM powered monitors (with preamp) would be a much simpler solution than some of the vintage units that have been proposed.
 
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Lovely!
 
Im sure its been mentioned already, but...
If I HAD TO have a vintage all-in-one and couldn't find/afford a KLH I would go with a unit that uses the Zenith Micro Touch 2g record player/changer.
I have dealt with a couple of them and found the Micro Touch units to be pretty solid and gentle (all things considered).
Though you'll have to expect to put some work into it (clean & lube at least).
My 2 cents worth.

Ben
 
Im sure its been mentioned already, but...
If I HAD TO have a vintage all-in-one and couldn't find/afford a KLH I would go with a unit that uses the Zenith Micro Touch 2g record player/changer.
I have dealt with a couple of them and found the Micro Touch units to be pretty solid and gentle (all things considered).
Though you'll have to expect to put some work into it (clean & lube at least).
My 2 cents worth.

Ben
Zenith advertised it as having a "scratchless" tonearm and being able to play records up to 2000 times with virtually no wear:

 
Numark PT-01 or Vestax Handytrax?

But why not go for a Technics SL-10 style turntable, an itty-bitty phonostage and some small powered speakers (or passives powered by Class D amplification)?
Or look into the late 70's/early 80's mini-systems from Aiwa, Aurex, Pioneer, Sony, etc. Some of them are really nice.
 
Numark PT-01 or Vestax Handytrax?

But why not go for a Technics SL-10 style turntable, an itty-bitty phonostage and some small powered speakers (or passives powered by Class D amplification)?
Or look into the late 70's/early 80's mini-systems from Aiwa, Aurex, Pioneer, Sony, etc. Some of them are really nice.
Those Numarks and Vestax are basically the same garbage as a Crosley.
 
This isn't an all in one system but it's a pretty small system. Pioneer Series 3000 mini system. The turntable pops up on ebay every so often as does the cassette deck. The tuner, integrated amp, and receiver not as much anymore. From the late 70's, small footprint and sounds awesome for no bigger than it is. This one is sitting one end of my bedroom dresser to give you an idea of how big it is.

Actually there is a tuner and integrated amp on ebay with a pretty resonable BIN price right now.


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I tried the VPI Player once when Harry and Matt were throwing a club meeting, and I thought it would be pretty good if were willing to settle for listening through headphones. It looks like you could plug the output directly into powered speakers and have the modern high-end equivalent of an all-in-one phonograph.

Of course, it's not cheap, but the quality is way above anything mentioned so far in this thread.
 
2a06ea3cc12f0a14c79fd71fa7f8b255.jpg You've got me thinking back to my teens and the yearly catalog from the local HiFi chain - Tech HiFi. The catalog always started at the budget end and built up to the totl systems. The budget systems were always geared towards college space constrained types. That won't work?
 
rmoreau61 do I remember Tech HiFI? Sure do, they also had weekly flyers in the Boston newspapers. As you said from budget systems to the TOTL and anything in between. I might of posted before re the OPs question re an all in one, anything new is junk, anything old and half way decent is collectable and priced to reflect it. OP is going to use some imagination, small integrated amp (ADCOM), compact speakers (ADS), compact turntable (Sony PS-X500).
 
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