cjgeraci Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 I have been truly blessed by God with respect to my family and my career - and have a tolerant wife that puts up with my audio madness. As a result, I've been able to acquire some pretty nice stuff. But.....it always brings a smile to my face when I discover cheap or inexpensive finds that sound so much better than I thought they would. Occurred in the eighties with respect to finding various speakers at garage sales, occurred last year when I found the great vintage stash at that estate, and occurred again earlier this year with the discovery of the little 'ol Teac amp. It happened again. On a whim - a couple of months ago, I decided to get back into vinyl. Picked up a belt-driven Kenwood turntable off of ebay for 50 bucks. It sounded decent enough to wet my appetite, and I ended up finding a nice Thorens TD160 Super rig with a nice Grado cart. I decided to see what the Kenwood could really do because it would be nice to have an auto return table going (as an alternative) when you are doing chores and you do not want to go flying downstairs at the end of the record. Last night, put a new Shure M-97XE cart on the Kenwood table, and now, it sounds surprisingly good. I mean really good. I am surprised. [] So, including the new Shure cartridge, I have put about $110 total (plus shipping) into this combination. The Kenwood/Shure does not quite have the refinement of my Thorens/Grado combo. But, on some songs, the Kenwood/Shure combo actually has more dynamics. I am going to run both tables, and it should be a nice holdover until I can thoroughly play with the Thorens down the road by tweaking the suspension and a new arm and cart. Anyone care to share the cheap/inexpensive find that either blew you away or at least brought a smile to your face? Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwhaples Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 Carl, Glad to hear that you are enjoying vinyl. My old Kenwood always sounded better than the other low end tables I have. I just got the same Shure cartridge tonight and hope to install it on the Thorens TD160 I bought. What arm are you going to upgrade to? Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgeraci Posted November 10, 2005 Author Share Posted November 10, 2005 Larry, I am still torn between going with something simple such as the Rega RB300 or more exotic such as one of the nicer SME arms. Who knows? Maybe I will go even more exotic by the time I get around to the upgrade, probably next fall. I have the Japanese-built R200 Rega arm on my Thorens 160 (the s-shaped one). That arm is "ok," but it does not have the best track record dependability-wise. When I upgrade the cart down the road - I am probably going to do the arm as well. For the meantime, I did not want to upset the apple cart - pushing my luck with a working R200 arm, so I did not try the Shure 97 cart with the 160 (just yet). Why push my luck when I have to go adjust things (especially the fragile anti-skate on the R200) and have to end up upgrading the arm before I wanted to..... What arm are you running with your 160? Curious to hear your thoughts about the Shure cart pairing with your 160. So far, I'm impressed with the cartridge on the Kenwood - especially for the money. Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Glad to see you like that Kenwood. If you haven't visited this site, it's worth a look. I think some of tweaks are a waste of time but I like the bottom board and general assembly/cleaning/set up instructions. http://www.theanalogdept.com/thorens_td_160_dept_.htm As far as cheap finds, I picked up this little Bell integrated for practically nothing and it still puts a smile on my face when I hook it up. It had some nice old RCA 6V6 tubes in it. Not much power but it has such a happy sound! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 I thought my pair of Chorus II's for $150 was a great deal until kenratboy got a pair for $75! [6][] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwhaples Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Carl, My Thorens has the stock arm. I am happy with the Shure cartridge so far. I it got on Ebay for 59.95 still new in the box. I'm still learning the set up part and hope to have it dialed in better this weekend. Still need to get a better record cleaning system. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieHeartKlipsch Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 I know exactly just what you mean. My Heresies (model I) were only $200 for the two of them and I am VERRRRRRRRRRY happy with them. If I owned my own home I would most definitely consider Cornwalls, Belles, or the giants (Klipschorns). Of all the pictures I have seen I like Oak with Cane grills best of all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 I know exactly just what you mean. My Heresies (model I) were only $200 for the two of them and I am VERRRRRRRRRRY happy with them. If I owned my own home I would most definitely consider Cornwalls, Belles, or the giants (Klipschorns). Of all the pictures I have seen I like Oak with Cane grills best of all. I knew you had good taste JulieHK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myhamish Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Nice thread, We need a smile this week, anyway this find could almost be considered a laugh. Over the past couple of years, I've found a few pawn shop and flea market bargains - like the Marantz scope tuner for $45, the Crown OC 150 meter bridge for $20 and most recently, there's a post somewhere here about the KEF's from Value Village. Anyway, getting back on topic here, seeing the topic is bargain turntables - about a week ago I found a Bose turntable for $10 - yes - Bose turntable and cartridge. Knock me over with a feather. Who ever thought that Blose even made a turntable? It was such an oddball item that it was hard to resist. Apparently, it's an early '70's belt drive semi-automatic about the size of a Thorens. It came with a Audio Technica cartridge with a good needle. The belt was gone, but I had one from an old Sansui that was just the right fit - so stuck it on, balanced the arm and dug out the old Yes albums. Everything works but not a whole lot of hydraulic arm damping left, so let's see............didn't they make a receiver way back then too?...........gotta get me one of those............and that pair of 501's didn't look too shabby either other than the foam rot..................and maybe I'll get a set of those 901's or even six for the ht, and what about those nifty little swivel speakers.............let's see................get rid of some of these big black things up here....................gotta have bose.......................pinch me..............this is a bad dream................slainte! Hamish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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