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The Best Vintage Full Automatic Turntable

i love my dp-52f. the music it produces is wonderful. it is fully automatic by design: however, mine doesn't want to cooperate when i press the start and stop buttons. it shakes violently every time i try to press either of them. otherwise, it would be the perfect "fire and forget" table for me. i had the tonearm controller chip replaced but it still does it. denons have produced some turntables that are held in high regards by a lot of people, except that you're SOL when something goes wrong with the table.
i've read that some vintage japanese dd turntables are notoripus for having unobtainable replacement parts when they break down so do take that into consideration when you narrow your list of prospects.
 
punprankster said:
i love my dp-52f. the music it produces is wonderful. it is fully automatic by design: however, mine doesn't want to cooperate when i press the start and stop buttons. it shakes violently every time i try to press either of them. otherwise, it would be the perfect "fire and forget" table for me. i had the tonearm controller chip replaced but it still does it. denons have produced some turntables that are held in high regards by a lot of people, except that you're SOL when something goes wrong with the table.
i've read that some vintage japanese dd turntables are notoripus for having unobtainable replacement parts when they break down so do take that into consideration when you narrow your list of prospects.
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Yeah but at $20 to $50 assuming you get at least a couple of good years out of them, who cares? MY $20 table has already given me plenty of fun. If it breaks tomorrow, I'll cannibalize it and move on.

However, at anything over that, then it's a good idea to make sure you can repair it if it breaks. I would hate to plunk down $100 or more for a vintage table only to find out it's an orphan when it breaks.

Ask any B&K Reference 20, 30, 50 or 70 owner how much that hurts.
 
MannyE said:
Yeah but at $20 to $50 assuming you get at least a couple of good years out of them, who cares? MY $20 table has already given me plenty of fun. If it breaks tomorrow, I'll cannibalize it and move on.

Howeverî, at anything over that, then it's a good idea to make sure you can repair it if it breaks. I would hate to plunk down $100 or more for a vintage table only to find out it's an orphan when it breaks.

Ask any B&K Reference 20, 30, 50 or 70 owner how much that hurts.
Click to expand...

Prices for some denon turntables have skyrocketed these last couple of months. I've seen dp-47s being sold for $750 and dp-59ls go for $1000. Even a denon dp-30 i saw at a local,recird store cost $175! Prices for vintage gear how gone up a whole lot. I think the days when you can buy a near mint dual 1229 for 10 bucka from a thrift store is gone now.
 
trueno92 said:
since no one has mentioned any of the sony biotracers, i'll just keep that as one of the best kept secrets in vintage vinyl.

from daily use, its clear that without getting into linear-trackers, from the gel-filled feet, up, its been engineered to be the best fully automatic turntable from the post-70's/pre-CD era.

it didn't get the press it deserved and I can think of a few reasons:

technological advancement
”
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I did in his first Fully Auto wanted thread:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=8808925&postcount=22
 
I would add to Don's very fine list my absolute favorite - the Pioneer PL-9. Fully auto, DD quartz lock, amazing tonearm. This is a link to a pic in vinylengine http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=63&image_id=2635

That upper plinth is cast aluminum and the unit itself is solid.

I bought mine new in '81 and it was my first really good turntable.

I also have a Dual 1229 and it is a very fine turntable that would serve you well.

My 2 cents
 
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punprankster said:
Prices for some denon turntables have skyrocketed these last couple of months. I've seen dp-47s being sold for $750 and dp-59ls go for $1000. Even a denon dp-30 i saw at a local,recird store cost $175! Prices for vintage gear how gone up a whole lot. I think the days when you can buy a near mint dual 1229 for 10 bucka from a thrift store is gone now.
Click to expand...

Tell that to my $20 DP-7F...lol No but I kid... You're right of course. I remember seeing them stacked up in dusty piles with no hope of ever leaving. I cringe to think how many of them ended up in landfills.

That doesn't mean it's impossible to find them however. They are out there and the difficulty makes each score that much more satisfying.

Then there's the thought of paying full price because thrift stores usually support a good cause. Hmmmm. :D I'd rather pay Lighthouse for the Blind, for example, $100 bucks for a nice vintage working table, than some douche on craigslist.
 
Dual 1219 - Bohey serviced and running a treat day in and day out (though it is about to make way for my TEAC once the plinth is built).

It's a lovely piece and easy to set up too. Wife loves it as she doesn't want to mess with the manual TEAC.
 
If you look at this thread it will explain why I thought the "best" is the best you can find locally. After doing some research about this myself for exactly the same reason and including 13 year old twins girls who like Tom Jones for some reason.

http://www.vinylengine.com/turntabl...sid=5d690df4016b9c495d888a83606f2de4&start=15

Hope that link works. Plenty of great ideas for tables in both this thread and that one. The important bit is at the end when he actually tries to buy one.


Sent from my TARDIS at the restaurant at the end of the universe while eating Phil.
 
upload_2022-3-1_12-5-57.jpeg upload_2022-3-1_12-7-38.jpeg Blowing the dust off this old thread, lots of good choices mentioned here, would like to add one more. The Pioneer PL-707 is an excellent full-auto table, with smooth operating functions, substantial weight, and a good moving coil cart. This one was completely gone through by Capt. Mark from Texas, and is pretty much like a new unit.
I find the convenience of full-auto to be a real plus.

upload_2022-3-1_12-5-57.jpeg
 
Love a good zombie thread. All this talk of full automatic TT's is timely as I just picked up my second Dual 1019. Awaiting a restoration.
 
punprankster said:
i love my dp-52f. the music it produces is wonderful. it is fully automatic by design: however, mine doesn't want to cooperate when i press the start and stop buttons. it shakes violently every time i try to press either of them. otherwise, it would be the perfect "fire and forget" table for me. i had the tonearm controller chip replaced but it still does it. denons have produced some turntables that are held in high regards by a lot of people, except that you're SOL when something goes wrong with the table.
i've read that some vintage japanese dd turntables are notoripus for having unobtainable replacement parts when they break down so do take that into consideration when you narrow your list of prospects.
Click to expand...
Yup, I had a Denon DP-47F w/ Ortofon Super OM-10 that lost much of it's auto functions. I sold it as a manual turntable for less than it was worth. They are troublesome for sure.
47f angle_2524.jpg

Not vintage but problem free, so I think the current Thorens TD102A is a nice fully auto turntable:
https://www.thorens.com/en/thorens®-td-102-a-en.html

Or the recently discontinued TD103A with is a rebadged Dual turntable
TD103AWALNUT_1024x1024.jpg

Also the discontinued TD148A if you can find one
thorens_td148aw_td148a_premium_fully_automatic_1495573.jpg
 
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