Your First Turntable/Arm/Cartridge

[Joe]

BSR thingie with Empire cartridge.

[SteveW]

My first deck was a Trio belt drive (no idea of the model number) which was originally bought by my dad in the early 70s.

It was quite a looker - the plinth was either rosewood or mahogany. Sounded very 'pipe and slippers' and sent a strangely comforting gentle metalic 'kerr-ploink' through the speakers whenever the semi-auto mechanism operated.

Ah, those were the days.

The Trio later made way for a Dual 505, which sounded better but was horribly plasticky and didn't provide the same sense of pride of ownership.

My first 'proper' deck was a Manticore Mantra, which blew me away completely. All upgrades since then have been relatively minor by comparison. One hell of a record spinner, that Mantra........

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.



Martin

Well...if yer gonna do nostalgia and Dad's
I still have terribly fond memories of my Dad's Pye Black Box.
Bless' im.

I can remember getting back late from the pub/parties, whatever,around '75 and putting a cushion on the floor with the two speakers forming a triangle over my spinning head.
We woz too poor for 'eadphones in them days.

Did Lindisfarne or Yes ever sound better? Probably not.

[DSJR]

Garrard AP76 with Goldring G800 (later, M75-ED) and Goldring VV7 phono stage.

[Alex_UK]

It was a Sharp something or other, from Second-Hand Land in Norwich. No idea what cartridge it had, I just bought it because my midi system one was crap and broken... Then I got given the Garrard 401/SME 2009/Shure M75 combo - happy days, though I never knew anything of it's pedigree or desirability until relatively recently.

[Batty]

First stand alone TT..... Amstrad TP12D with standard arm and either G800 or MP11 can't remember which was first (c'mon it was 1976)

[Rare Bird]

First stand alone TT..... Amstrad TP12D with standard arm and either G800 or MP11 can't remember which was first (c'mon it was 1976)

It'll be Goldring 'G800'

[Batty]

Probably, I've had a few sleeps since then and I know I had both at some time and a shure of some form possibly a V15

[Haselsh1]

Garrard GT35 with an Ortofon FF15E cartridge. I liked it a lot at the time but it was replaced with a Thorens TD160BC with a Mayware Formula IV arm and a Lentek Entre 1 cartridge.

[Rare Bird]

Probably, I've had a few sleeps since then and I know I had both at some time and a shure of some form possibly a V15

Well the MP11 wasnt out then

[kcc123]

My first turntable was a JVC QL-70 fitted with a SME III arm and Signet TK7E cartridge which I bought from the now deceased Radford Hi- FI in Bristol. But within a few months I bought a Denon DP80 with Micro Seiki MA505S and SAEC 308L tonearms from Hong Kong, since then my itch has never stopped.