Bargains on ebay?

[Themis]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stunning-Akai-...item414c98526b

Vade retro satanas !

[Rare Bird]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Excellent-CJ-W...item3efc5ef5e7

Great little buget decks.. Four point suspension (which is all open frame wooden construction),you can fit extra longer than norm arms on this deck, tufnol platter, doddle to set up..Walker was good , i think he went to design the 'Chester' loudspeaker for castle acoustics if i remember..'CJ55' Sounds a bit like a Manticore 'Mantra'..

[The Grand Wazoo]

I remember this one Andre, and also the wooden biscuit tin shaped one too.

[Rare Bird]

I remember this one Andre, and also the wooden biscuit tin shaped one too.

Don't forget the 'CJ58' that was plain horrible & yes the 'CJ61' which was even more horrible biscuit tin, simular to the Systemdek'II'..Good old dayz.

[Marco]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Excellent-CJ-W...item3efc5ef5e7

Great little buget decks.. Four point suspension (which is all open frame wooden construction),you can fit extra longer than norm arms on this deck, tufnol platter, doddle to set up..Walker was good , i think he went to design the 'Chester' loudspeaker for castle acoustics if i remember..'CJ55' Sounds a bit like a Manticore 'Mantra'..

I completely agree - superb little deck, which would piss all over yer Rega P2/3s and entry-level Pro-Jects!

The 'Linn' LVV arm fitted was also made by Jelco, and thus was somewhat better than fanboys made out, who were at the time brainwashed into believing that 'straight' tonearms with fixed headshells (shite like the Akito) were automatically better, much like Rega fanboys were when the superb Lustre-designed R200 was replaced with the all-new 'improved', designed by Rega, RB250 (haha!)

The truth on both occasions was that was far from the case...

Yup, anyone looking to get into vinyl on a budget should snap up this little classic CJ Walker tout-suite. It has 'proper' written all over it!

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Speak of the devil:

Manticore 'Mantra' Looks like the original Mission arm fitted, like a suspended Rega but don't sound as poor..Plinths were veneered at Castle Acoustics as were ATC speekas...I bought one of these new when they came out, i loved the mega bouncy suspension on em.The oddest thing was my Zerostat gun used to switch the deck off Looks like a late-ish ones..there was a mega bearing available for this deck aswell..If anthing was a let down it was the surplus Logic lids.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Manticore-Mant...item335986b265

[DSJR]

Colin Walker was around in the very early Ariston days and could tell a tale or three about the goings on with Hamish Robertson and Linn all but stealing the designs, themselves a blue-printed Td150..

I got to know Colin in 1975 when he was marketing the original Fons deck, also designed by hamish I believe. It's main fault was a weak motor and hideously resonant one piece platter which rang like a bell. The first ones came with wooly felt mats and the ones everyone remembers had the stuck-on rubber rings and printed strobe.

The arm marketed by Manticore was the "Musician" IIRC and it was made by Helius I think, as was the arm Heybrook had made for them. The manta deck was more Linn-like than the Axis and basik and sounded very good with Rega arms (maybe it was the fibre arm board perhaps).

There were some great mid-priced decks out there all but ignored by the Rega crowd. the Systemdek IIX 900, AR Legend (with sorted main bearing), the later Heybrook TT2 with cast sub-chassis which lacked the boingy bass of the mk1 version and the Little Pink Thing (if looked after as they were a bit frail in places). I had all of these through my hands and respected them all.

Marco, the LVV was a bit variable and didn't take to user abuse al all. Linn replaced the few clunker samples we had and I thought the arm very musical, covering its tracks very well. This arm NEEDED its flexible headshell (and resonated better with it by the way) and sounded better with the little rubber gland left in place. Fitting a solid shell sans washer and it was worse. They fetch stupid money on ebay now - well over £100 and I think anyone paying this much for one must be mad

The Basik Plus is my favourite of all the Linn (Jelco) Basik arms, except that the counterweight decoupling rubber all but liquifies after a decade or so, making the counterweight spinn freely on the rear stub, when it should have been a firm fit.

Don't get me started on the Akito, let alone the early Ekos if the Ittok LVIII was the same as an early Ekos, why did it sound better at the time than the vastly more expensive replacement?

[Barry]

Vade retro satanas !

Is it that tempting Dimitri?

Regards

[Rare Bird]

Your right Dave the Fons 'CQ30' was Hamish..If you look at the Ariston 'RD11E' & Fons you can see the simularity..I think a lot know what i think about Linn, put it this way my old late version Logic 'DM101' with the additional spring pissed on it from great heights...O the Linn 'Axis' was a better listern than the 'LP12' anyday..well untill the 'Axis' PSU broke down anyway

I didnt like the Manticore arms prefered the Logic 'Datum S'..

The Pink Triangle 'LPT' was a great deck, i had the 'LPT' with built in 'GTO' Power supply (Think it was the 'Export' this was also used in, not positive), i loved it even thought it was a simple design..The most worrying thing was the Moth deck i had at the sametime sounded just as good!All these decks were great stuff even if the proper engineering of say the Garrard '301'/'401', Thorens 'TD124' etc etc were all gone.

Didnt Helius make the QED arm for there R232 turntable?

[Rare Bird]

Be Quick, Not a black un but you can't have everything

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Myst-TMA3-inte...item2c52c45ab3