Humans. Over 6000 languages, but I’ll wager that only German has the *mot juste* to describe the-performance-of-an-action-with-brute-force-whilst-using-the-utmost-delicacy.
Actually it’s not necessary. The Thorens TD 124 is better than any word.
Looking down on a rebuilt TD 124, complete with original armboard and Formula IV Unipivot tonearm. Forty Pounds Sterling (without arm) in the early ’60s……
This year I turned 40. It’s a “milestone birthday” that tends to get people seriously reflecting on their life. Where you have been and where you are going are some of the questions you might ask yourself. In addition to the life questions that I’ve been pondering, I started to think back to my 10th birthday. Particularly, I thought of the very first record that I ever purchased with my own money. My parents were always music fans and had it playing frequently in our house. As a result, I developed a taste for music very young and it’s been a constant in my life ever since.
Vintage Springsteen
U2 have released their first album in five years as a free release on iTunes while Apple unveiled its latest phone. At a launch event, U2 performed “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” from the band’s new album “Songs of Innocence”, which Apple announced it had been sent out to all iTunes customers worldwide at no cost.
Back in the day… “October” (1981)
Roy Orbison’s “swan song” and posthumous “Mystery Girl” finds this Travelling Wilbury at the peak of his powers. For such a modest man, he could sing with such brilliance that angels in heaven would take notice. His operatic voice was truly unique and earned him enormous admiration from fans and colleagues alike.
Mystery Girl – Roy Orbison
The beautifully easy-to-operate Technics SL10 is anything but simple under the smooth lines of its aluminum skin.
What follows is not a manual for disassembly and maintenance, but more of a tribute to the Golden Age of turntable design.
Such a table as the SL-10 could never be made again. Sad, but based on the economies of scale whomsoever tried to build and market such a machine would quickly find themselves selling pencils on the street corner. To design this table from scratch alone would involve massive amounts of R&D. let alone actually making and marketing it.
Technics SL 10 Turntable – A view of the arm assembly before the work begins… The problem – broken thread, no arm movement, no music. The dust looks worse than it really is…. many screws to remove, and some wiggling to remove the record clamp, and work can begin!
Technics SL-10 Turntable
Here’s one for the Gipper; the Technics SL-10 linear-tracking direct drive turntable. It’s odd how some tables just get to you – and for me, this is one of those tables. Yes, it’s just a Technics (SP10 Mk III anyone?), but it’s extremely capable. Continue reading
1965 Thorens TD150 Turntable with 1959 Quad ESL 57 Speaker – Yes, your grandfather had it this good!
When Thorens and Garrard were duking it out in the early 60s you had your choice: in the German/Swiss corner was that marvel of precision engineering, the workhorse of radio stations ands recording studios, the TD124. One of the most beautifully built idler drive tables ever conceived, and just so German; no one else would have added a belt to an idler drive (situated between the the idler wheel and the motor, and whose sole purpose was to isolate the platter from the really rather minor vibrations of the motor). The 124 has a permanent seat at the adult turntable table; used prices reflect its coveted status, reaching into the $1000s for a rebuilt example. Continue reading
Unity 1 Turntable with Grace Tonearm and Audio Technica 95E Cartridge – Created by the Gnomes of Zontar?
Here at the TT Shop we spend most of our time listening to music (how we suffer…) through a variety of turntables, and of course the trusty ol’ Quad 57s. I for one can think of few better ways to spend my days. Actually that’s a lie. There are no better ways.
Some of the tables we listen to are expensive, even works of mechanical art, and some are finds that materialize in the occasional dumpster. With a little attention even the dumpster tables can do a remarkable thing – and that is make music.
It gets me thinking. What’s better – nothing, Continue reading
Transcriptors Skeleton Turntable with Vestigial Tonearm
Perhaps the most beautiful turntable ever designed, the Transcriptors Skeleton, circa 1973, still arouses the same astonishment today that it did some forty years ago. Designed by the late genius, David Gammon (and apparently initially sketched on the back of a cigarette packet) the Skeleton is a true beauty.