cbf@allegra.UUCP (09/02/83)
Now that Sony has decided to go Low End and discontinued their highly-regarded PS-X turntable line, does anyone have any nominations for a table to replace the PS-X600 as the choice selection in the mid-range bracket? My thanks to all those who responded to my dbx NR query. Except for Mr. Bill Mitchell, all (two who posted and three who replied by mail) concurred with my findings about single-band dbx's chronic difficulties with music that is chordal in nature. Charles B. Francois Bell Labs, Murray Hill --decvax!allegra!cbf
shauns@tekcad.UUCP (09/04/83)
I've been staring at several mid-range turntables to replace my old one and
have come up against the wall of linear-tracking P-mounts, particularly in this
fall's new crop of tables. It seems that one must make a choice between $200
gosh-whiz feature laden units with middling performance or the $900 and up
audiophile fully manual tables - that there is no such thing as a mid-priced
integrated TT in today's market.
In direct answer to your question, Sony still does make a universal mount
Biotracer, the 555ES, which is a restyled version of the PSX-800 linear tracker
at only 1/2 the price (most purchasers won't buy a table over $400, it seems).
In a recent store demo, the PSX-800 acted very sick. Although it
worked well once we got it to auto-balance, I got the distinct impression that
somewhere soon down the line it was going to stop working well. The pivot
type Biotracers and the Denons (except the DP-11) seemed to work much better.
Denon now is the only company with a full line of universal mount pivot-type
servo arm tables, and has just released two cost effective versions of their
(apparently excellent) DP-51F, the $390 DP-45F and the $280-$300 DP-35F.
Unfortunately, none of these tables, Sony included, isolate their platter and
arm from the base a la Thorens, Linn, Oracle, B&O, etc. and as a result they
are rather microphonic.
Absolute Sound (suprised? yes, I read it sometimes) is at least not totally
bummed out by the H/K T60, which is a passive pivot arm, floating suspension
type table at $400. It has an excellent, acoustically dead
platter mat and comes with a record weight to nail the record to the platter.
Apparently this works, as attested by Audio's review of the Oracle
turntable
a year or so ago. Monster Cable makes a clamp type of disc stabilizer which
should work much better than H/K's weight. The T60 has also been reviewed by
Audio in the past year, in case you want some hard numbers.
The Sony and Denon turntables are the most cost-effective at mail order, with
25-35% discounts common. H/K is, from my source anyway, discounted around 15%.
If I had my druthers, and about $1000, I'd get an Oracle Alexandria turntable+
arm. An Oracle in a cheaper package. However, since I expect to be playing
mostly CDs within a couple of years, it makes a heck of a lot more sense to
keep the costs down to about (list) $500-$600 for a semi-automatic TT+cartridge
and put the rest towards a 2nd or 3rd generation (read less expensive than
right now) CD player. I think that the performance of the average Japanese
$300 turntable is more than adequate for most anybody's needs.
Do I hear any comments or additions?
Shaun Simpkins
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--
Shaun Simpkins
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