Turntables, turntables, and more turntables

Ahh! Now we are getting to the heart of the matter. Very close to heart. I am now officially laughing at most of the rest of the world for scoffing at me. Anti digital in 1985, I was misquoted in the local Democrat and Chronicle as saying "CD players will never replace conventional models", price related. Journalism sensationalism, what I really said was CD players truly suck and I would rather drink goat pee! Funny they never quoted me verbatim. (Just kidding.) I actually talked people out of buying CD players back then, they all looked at me funny. Convenience sold. All sorts of technical reasons why they sounded worse,nobody was interested in hearing about it, and now today almost every serious music lover  realizes the truth. BWAH HA HA HA HA HA! The only problem is vinyl prices have skyrocketed! Have you priced a used copy of the Carpenters at the local thrift store lately? Three dollars! Outrageous! Seriously, a new release could cost you between $20- $30. In all fairness, the quality is there. The vinyl is better, thicker,the artwork is better and the recordings themselves generally first rate. The price is just forcing us to be a little more selective about what we buy. Before I embark on this rather lengthy pictorial about the different turntables, a quick snapshot of my record collection. A woman once said  to me "you can only play one at a time!" I asked her how many pairs of shoes she had..........

Proceed

A Madrigal offering, known as a poor man's Mark Levinson. Had the "toaster" cd player, and this PAV/PDSD  pre pro pair which worked very respectably as a preamp. Modular main frame type design, which had plug in cards and modules for the options. One of the first casualties of Madrigal before the company was sold to Harmon International.

Kinergetics Chiro

Value products famous by reviews that probably qualify more as surround sound, but I still use this C-500 amp today.

Mission Electronics

Much better known for their speakers, they had a small group of electronic offerings marketed under the Cyrus name. This was a Cyrus One, a 20wpc integrated amp that sounded extremely good. Years ahead of the NAD 1020.

Theta Digital

Uh,oh, I said the "D" word! True, I am not an ardent fan nor expert on digital gear but the Theta stuff probably represented the best sounding that I had. Data II and III transports, DS Pro Prime dac. Both the Datas were based on Laser Disc players, the II was Philips, the III was Pioneer.       Awesome to look at and sometimes quite fickle from a reliability standpoint.

SAE- Scientific Audio Electronics

A bit off the tube amp products for now, this was one of my favorite american solid state companies of the '70s and '80s. Many famous designers got their start here, James Bongiorno (later of Sumo fame) was one. I had numerous SAE amps and preamps, far too many to mention, some are pictured here. They were one of the first companies to popularize the parametric EQ, both stand alone and built into their preamps.

Eico 666 tube tester

With all this tube gear a good quality tester can be a handy gadget and I have had this one for several years. Any significance to the 666 model designation? The fire and brimstone of tubes? Thinkin' someone at Eico had a sense of humor...........