The Most Beautiful and Ugliest Turntables

[Marco]

Lol.... It's truly amazing how tastes differ!

Firstly, I like the VPI - always have, because it's engineered to be a proper turntable, and I like the looks. However, things go sharply downhill from there....

Sorry, that shiny-wood plinthed cream 301 is an abomination (love the T/T hate that finish or that type of plinth). The one on the LP12 is a little better, but still not my thing [sorry Karl]. Why does everything have to be so fooking shiny - are you all closet magpies?

And I simply can't join in the 'B&O love-in', as those flimsy, tinny looking platters with plastic bits on them, I presume acting as a 'mat', and toy-town looking tonearms, are gross in the extreme, and the only reason I'd fish one out of a skip would be to give to Adam as a gift!

As you were

Marco.

[Bigbird]

Lol.... It's truly amazing how tastes differ!

Firstly, I like the VPI - always have, because it's engineered to be a proper turntable, and I like the looks. However, things go sharply downhill from there....

Sorry, that shiny-wood plinthed cream 301 is an abomination (love the T/T hate that finish or that type of plinth). The one on the LP12 is a little better, but still not my thing [sorry Karl]. Why does everything have to be so fooking shiny - are you all closet magpies?

And I simply can't join in the 'B&O love-in', as those flimsy, tinny looking platters with plastic bits on them, I presume acting as a 'mat', and toy-town looking tonearms, are gross in the extreme, and the only reason I'd fish one out of a skip would be to give to Adam as a gift!

As you were

Marco.

Haha well my name is Bigbird..
i dont like piano gloss myself , thats too blingy/shiny for me, i think i just like the vintage wooden vibe.
My plinth is far more natural looking in real life than the pictures would suggest.


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[struth]

I didn't realise the macintosh was a real deck. I thought it a photoshop mockup It's hideous and deserves to be a bad mockup.

[Marco]

Haha well my name is Bigbird..
i dont like piano gloss myself , thats too blingy/shiny for me, i think i just like the vintage wooden vibe.
My plinth is far more natural looking in real life than the pictures would suggest.

Lol - I don't doubt it. What I like most about your plinth is the lovely wood grain, and there's no doubt that it's quality. I'd just prefer more of a matt finish, and probably a lighter wood. I generally prefer LP12s in something like light oak or ash:









For me, that looks fabulous, as I like simple, clean lines, and nothing too 'fussy'. I've also always loved the look (and sound) of an Ittok. It's just beautifully engineered and finished, and substantially built, unlike those flimsy tin rods, posing as 'tonearms', on the B&O [sorry, Jerry and Adam!]

It also has a proper platter......

Oh, and this is yer man for the highest quality, most beautiful looking plinths for Garrard 301/401s, TD124s, SP10s, and such like: https://www.artisanfidelity.com/gallery-turntables/

Check out his gallery! Yes, some of the plinths are shiny, but they're rather more tastefully done than most

This is about the nicest implementation of an SP10 I've ever seen:



If you're going to have a shiny/bling mat or platter, copper is just *so* much more attractive than gold!

Marco.

[ianlenco]

I didn't realise the macintosh was a real deck. I thought it a photoshop mockup It's hideous and deserves to be a bad mockup.

It's actually a mackup

[Bigbird]

Lol - I don't doubt it. What I like most about your plinth is the lovely wood grain, and there's no doubt that it's quality. I'd just prefer more of a matt finish, and probably a lighter wood. I generally prefer LP12s in something like light oak or ash:









For me, that looks fabulous, as I like simple, clean lines, and nothing too 'fussy'. I've also always loved the look (and sound) of an Ittok. It's just beautifully engineered and finished, and substantially built, unlike those flimsy tin rods, posing as 'tonearms', on the B&O [sorry, Jerry and Adam!]

It also has a proper platter......

Oh, and this is yer man for the highest quality, most beautiful looking plinths for Garrard 301/401s, TD124s, SP10s, and such like: https://www.artisanfidelity.com/gallery-turntables/

Check out his gallery! Yes, some of the plinths are shiny, but they're rather more tastefully done than most

This is about the nicest implementation of an SP10 I've ever seen:



If you're going to have a shiny/bling mat or platter, copper is just *so* much more attractive than gold!

Marco.

The grain is what drew me to mine, it has so much character and i wanted something unique. But those oak linn plinths are real beauties too. Id have been happy with either. I know what you mean about the Ittok, they are proper solid arms. Iv heard they do a test at the linn factory and if anybody can bend the armtube on one then they get a free arm as a prize. Nobody has yet managed it. So that says a lot about the engineering. I personally just felt that ultimately it lost out slightly to Nima in performance so i went for that. Shame its such an ugly little bugger. Oh well cant have everything.
funny enough Marco ive been looking at the artisan fidelity 401s this afternoon and watching their youtube vids. They are absolutely stunning. All of there work is second to none.
Alas, when i found out they were 15,000 bucks i quickly scurried off back to my nest to count my collection of tin foil and shiny chocolate wrappers and realised i was well off the mark so i will have to keep dreaming . Haha.


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[struth]

The grain is what drew me to mine, it has so much character and i wanted something unique. But those oak linn plinths are real beauties too. Id have been happy with either. I know what you mean about the Ittok, they are proper solid arms. Iv heard they do a test at the linn factory and if anybody can bend the armtube on one then they get a free arm as a prize. Nobody has yet managed it. So that says a lot about the engineering. I personally just felt that ultimately it lost out slightly to Nima in performance so i went for that. Shame its such an ugly little bugger. Oh well cant have everything.
funny enough Marco ive been looking at the artisan fidelity 401s this afternoon and watching their youtube vids. They are absolutely stunning. All of there work is second to none.
Alas, when i found out they were 15,000 bucks i quickly scurried off back to my nest to count my collection of tin foil and shiny chocolate wrappers and realised i was well off the mark so i will have to keep dreaming . Haha.


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yup, that works ...think the plainness of the deck makes it work

[Bigbird]

yup, that works ...think the plainness of the deck makes it work

Agreed, its a lovely contrast to the ebony veneer. Best get saving for my next project then


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[struth]

nice arm too, with the half black tube

[Marco]

The grain is what drew me to mine, it has so much character and i wanted something unique. But those oak linn plinths are real beauties too. Id have been happy with either.

Yup, the grain is lovely. What I find is that lighter-wood plinths tend to show off the arm and platter more, with less tendency for the constituent parts of the turntable to homogenise into an indistinct whole, and if the platter and/or arm are worth looking at, as was the case in my example, then it has served its purpose!

I know what you mean about the Ittok, they are proper solid arms. Iv heard they do a test at the linn factory and if anybody can bend the armtube on one then they get a free arm as a prize. Nobody has yet managed it. So that says a lot about the engineering. I personally just felt that ultimately it lost out slightly to Nima in performance so i went for that. Shame its such an ugly little bugger. Oh well cant have everything.

Ha - I'm impressed you ultimately chose sound before looks! However, I'm intimately familiar with the sound of the Nima (and Aro), and they both major at what unipivots do well (detail and flow), and both are very musical sounding devices.

They tend to have a lighter, 'airier' touch with music, than a higher-mass gimballed arm, such as the Ittok, which is more 'grounded' and majors on bass authoriity/depth, together with an infectious tunefulness and 'rhythmic alacrity', especially when partnered with Linn's own MC cartridges, and which is the type of presentation I prefer.

funny enough Marco ive been looking at the artisan fidelity 401s this afternoon and watching their youtube vids. They are absolutely stunning. All of there work is second to none.
Alas, when i found out they were 15,000 bucks i quickly scurried off back to my nest to count my collection of tin foil and shiny chocolate wrappers and realised i was well off the mark so i will have to keep dreaming . Haha.

Well, I didn't say they were affordable!

Still, you can see the sheer quality of the workmanship, which for me is second to none. It's definitely where my money would go (in conjunction with one of the direct-drive or idler motor-units in question), instead of on some blinged-up to buggery, so-called 'high-end' turntable with a 'desirable badge', which often sell for FAR more!!

Marco.