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Holy Grail Turntables

MannyE said:
A Holy Grail table is (IMO) one that you both love to look at and listen to. In my case, I love the commercial look of the SL. It also should be something somewhat achievable that you can afford (LIKE SAY AROUND 3-4 THOUSAND BUCKS) but it's the Holy Grail because it's not something you can just buy without some "quest."

But then, as I see way too often in any discussion about turntables, what is the Holy Grail cart?? Most of the turntables in this thread are the kind that come without carts. And congratulations to you if your Holy Grail is one that does, but most don't.

I think we need to amend the Holy Grail turntable to include the Holy Grail cartridge, which can often cost breathtaking amounts of money. In my case it's the Goldring 1042 MM cart. I have not yet heard a cart that sounds better than this (I like the simplicity of MM carts) on the kinds of music I listen to most. But even this relatively cheap, by high end cart standards cart tips the scales at close to $800. My current cart is the Goldring 1012GX and even that is incredibly expensive (considering it was included on my MMf-5 turntable) which at the time cost $499.
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My holy grail cartridge is an Ortofon MC Diamond.

Whilst I love my Cadenza Black, even i was a bit shocked by how much the MC Diamond improved on it. Sadly, there are eight thousand, five hundred reasons why I won't be buying one any time soon! :(
 
I put together a Fairchild recently that was pretty darn nice, and which when new, cost more than 3 other turn tables, widely considered to be "holy grail" tables.
I set this one up with a 9" SME arm and a denon DL103R cartridge with 2 cinemag transformers hidden under the plinth.
It sounded epic. Ex Girlfriend still has it...
 

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trainbuftony said:
I put together a Fairchild recently that was pretty darn nice, and which when new, cost more than 3 other turn tables, widely considered to be "holy grail" tables.
I set this one up with a 9" SME arm and a denon DL103R cartridge with 2 cinemag transformers hidden under the plinth.
It sounded epic. Ex Girlfriend still has it...
Click to expand...
It's amazing how "ex's" are often associated with things (like cars), events (like movies), and food—forever in one's memory.

It's just not fair.

anime_-_couple_mad.gif
 
To me Holy Grail is something that is unattainable for me, you know the 50lb platter style. Several yrs back just before I retired I decided to build my rest of life system. I wanted new not vintage. I set a $15k budget, when the dust settled I was just north of $18k, I got several good price breaks for very low mileage, and open box units. Total retail would have been over $25k. I got back into vinyl at the same time. I went through 3 tables. Project Carbon Debut 2M Blue cart (fully hot rodded) really good clean sound, but still well short of my digital side. Then an AT-LP120USB, didn't match the Project. My attainable Grail TT at this point was the Mofi Ultradeck. So I watched and waited and found that great deal $1800 (retail - $3k) on a table with just 20 hrs on it, and came with the Mastertracker cart. I picked it up from an audiophile who needed a TT while his Basis was in the shop getting upgrades. This may not be my Holy Grail, but I am no longer looking for a better table.

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trainbuftony said:
I put together a Fairchild recently that was pretty darn nice, and which when new, cost more than 3 other turn tables, widely considered to be "holy grail" tables.
I set this one up with a 9" SME arm and a denon DL103R cartridge with 2 cinemag transformers hidden under the plinth.
It sounded epic. Ex Girlfriend still has it...
Click to expand...

Nice amps in the background. You'll have a better turntable before you know it.
 
Coolhandjjl said:
A $4000 tt is not achievable by 90% of the people. A necessity such as a $4000 hospital bill is not even achievable by 90% of the people.

From my window, most people who could afford a $4000 luxury good would rather spend it on their boat or something for their third home. But to not only have $4000, have it burning an hole in their pocket, and see the value of a $4000 tt, is a very very tiny percentage of the population.
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I look at it another way:

I bought my GT 2000 in 2008. If I spread the cost of ownership across the time I have owned it, The result would be a little over $100 per year. The bonus being that I could resell it today for twice what I paid for it.

I got my speakers at 20% of new price and they were one year old and virtually unused. The GT 2000X I'm waiting on usually sell for more than I paid to land it in Australia. So I will make a profit when I sell that also.

Not that I bought them to sell and make a profit. I bought them to use and listen to.

I drive a 20 year old vehicle that I've owned for 8+ years. The money I save not going on foreign holidays, wearing clothes until they need replacing and being single with no kids goes a long way to paying for the excellent bargain hifi components I own. All of which I will make a profit on when I sell but you'll have to kill me to get them.
 
Yes, there is modern and vintage stuff that is way better... But, when I fell in love with playing records (circa 1980 - 1989) these were the objects of desire:

Pioneer Pl-L1000 (linear)
Phase Linear model 8000 (essentially same as above)
Linn Sondek Lp-12
 
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