Mediocre Turntables From The 70s & 80s

[Sparky137]

Why is it that the more medocre turntables from the 70s and 80s that were never considered 'audiophile' are now reaching stupid prices on ebay? It's not as if they are rare or in short supply, tens of thousands were produced and there must be attics still full of them.

I've got probably ten to twenty Technics, Pioneer, Sanyo, Dual etc turntables in the loft, none of which are the sought after models (PL12D, CS505 etc), but together are now probably worth in excess of £1000.

I really don't get it!!

[bristolracer]

The PL12 was considered a good deck in 1975.

The CS505 was a major player when launched, it got rave reviews when tested and remained a class leader for many years.

[anonymous-user]

Sparky137 said:

Why is it that the more medocre turntables from the 70s and 80s that were never considered 'audiophile' are now reaching stupid prices on ebay? It's not as if they are rare or in short supply, tens of thousands were produced and there must be attics still full of them.

I've got probably ten to twenty Technics, Pioneer, Sanyo, Dual etc turntables in the loft, none of which are the sought after models (PL12D, CS505 etc), but together are now probably worth in excess of £1000.

I really don't get it!!

20. So £50 each. I bet they cost a weeks wages each at the time!

[Sparky137]

bristolracer said:

The PL12 was considered a good deck in 1975.

The CS505 was a major player when launched, it got rave reviews when tested and remained a class leader for many years.

I probably should have phrased that at bit better. I was quoting those two as first step 'audiophile' models, not as an example as to what I have in the loft. Although I am currently using a Dual CS505 in the system in my conservatory - but don't rate it very highly as it is very microphonic due to flimsy construction and needs to be mounted on a very solid base to get away from that.

Jimboka said:

20. So £50 each. I bet they cost a weeks wages each at the time!

Yse, in 1974 I at the age of 14 I bought a PL12D and seem to recall it was £49.99. In the early eighties I bought a CS505 and think it was in the region of £65.

The point I was trying to understand is why it is in the last year or so turnatbles that you could hardly get a fiver for at a car boot sale (not PL12D's or CS505's etc but more things like Technics or Pioneer stack system turntables) are now commanding 10 to 20 times that amount? It's not as if they are in short supply or rare, or even very good.

[PistonBroker]

Are they selling though?

I responded to a post on Nextdoor from an old lady a few weeks ago. She wanted to offload her late husband's Technics deck and Aiwa cassette player and receiver.

I went along that evening getting all excited about the prospect of an SL1200 on the cheap, only to find it was an SL-D4.

I ended up buying the lot as she wanted to donate to charity so I figured it was a nice cause and I fancied having a play. She was worried I gave her too much!

I've stuck them on eBay - the possibility of treat funds in Paypal was too much! - but they've stuck around despite regular price drops and Best Offer being on there.

Agreed, I was surprised some of this stuff was popular as it's not the stuff my Dad and I used to get excited about back in the day, but perhaps not that many others are either?

On the other hand, if they are getting excited, perhaps it's just because of nostalgia? If their parents had this sort of kit, then that's why they fancy it themselves? Like me not really understanding people going mad about old Fords, because my Dad was driving SAABs. (#middleclassproblems :-p )

[mr_fibuli]

I guess the prices are rising because demand is at an all time high, and when people see the plastic tat that they are offered these days for £100 - £200, a mid range deck from the 70s or 80s is a much more attractive idea.

I paid £60 for an SL-B2 a few years ago that was sold as "great condition, full working order", but I ended up getting it for free as it turned out to be completely knackered. Probably spent £50 on bits to restore it, and have just seen that one has sold on eBay recently for £171!

I guess the D4 might struggle to sell as linear tracking decks are seen as a bit complex to fix if anything goes wrong, and people prefer the looks of a proper tonearm?

[Sparky137]

mr_fibuli said:

I guess the prices are rising because demand is at an all time high, and when people see the plastic tat that they are offered these days for £100 - £200, a mid range deck from the 70s or 80s is a much more attractive idea.

It's a good point but I also wonder how many of these are simply sold to 'Hipsters' being trendy so that they can have a retro looking turntable in their fashionable appartment more as a conversation or boasting piece? I doubt that these muppets could even tell the difference between a high quality deck and a piece of rubbish!

Irritating if that is the case.

[TonyRPH]

You also need to consider the vinyl tax which seems to be in vogue at the moment.

Record cleaning devices, cartridges etc. (especially vintage* stuff) seems to be attracting a massive vinyl tax.

Vinyl has become trendy.

• I often muse to myself when I see "*RARE*" in Ebay listings for audio kit, as invariably if you wait a week or so, suddenly Ebay is awash with the same items.

Quite amusing really.

[Crackie]

mr_fibuli said:

I guess the prices are rising because demand is at an all time high, and when people see the plastic tat that they are offered these days for £100 - £200, a mid range deck from the 70s or 80s is a much more attractive idea.

If they are working properly the best mid range decks from 70s/80s ( Systemdek 2, Little Pink Thing, various Thorens, Linn Axis ) will be better but for £165, a Lenco L-3808 make a lot of sense imho; reviews have been great ( for what they are worth ), Hi-Fi World's review in June 2017 was very complementary. Has a phono pre amp built in and can output via USB too to make ripping archiving easy too.

http://theaudiophileman.com/lenco/

Edited by Crackie on Thursday 31st August 22:58

[Frances The Mute]

You can ignore much of what is happening in the latest vinyl resurgence.
Most of it is propagated by 'millennials' or forum fanbois who don't have the first idea of what makes a good TT, jumping on the bandwagon and passing off opinion as fact.

It certainly makes it more difficult for the genuine guys to get reasonably priced vinyl now but it will quieten down again....until the next zeitgeist in 2035...

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Crackie said:

If they are working properly the best mid range decks from 70s/80s ( Systemdek 2, Little Pink Thing, various Thorens, Linn Axis ) will be better but for £165, a Lenco L-3808 make as lot of sense imho; reviews have been great ( for what they are worth ), Hi-Fi World's review in June 2017 was very complementary. Has a phono pre amp built in and can output via USB too to make ripping archiving easy too.

http://theaudiophileman.com/lenco/

Lenco L-3808 is a rip off of the old Technics SL1200. I have an Audio Technica LP-120, which is also a rip off of the SL1200, but in my view a slightly better rip off.

Of course Technics have recently started re-making the SL1200 for 2017, at a cost of about £1300.

[telecat]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Crackie said:

If they are working properly the best mid range decks from 70s/80s ( Systemdek 2, Little Pink Thing, various Thorens, Linn Axis ) will be better but for £165, a Lenco L-3808 make as lot of sense imho; reviews have been great ( for what they are worth ), Hi-Fi World's review in June 2017 was very complementary. Has a phono pre amp built in and can output via USB too to make ripping archiving easy too.

http://theaudiophileman.com/lenco/

Lenco L-3808 is a rip off of the old Technics SL1200. I have an Audio Technica LP-120, which is also a rip off of the SL1200, but in my view a slightly better rip off.

Of course Technics have recently started re-making the SL1200 for 2017, at a cost of about £1300.

That's relatively cheap and in line with the prices of desks back in the day

[Sparky137]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Lenco L-3808 is a rip off of the old Technics SL1200. I have an Audio Technica LP-120, which is also a rip off of the SL1200, but in my view a slightly better rip off.

Of course Technics have recently started re-making the SL1200 for 2017, at a cost of about £1300.

I wouldn't call it a rip off of the SL1200 as it has no quartz control on the motor and is of flimsy construction. Having extensively used SL1200s as a club DJ back in the 80's, those two factors alone place it worlds apart from the Lenco.

There are numerous other SL1200 lookalikes but none of them could be considered a rip off just because they look similar. I have a Soundlab turntable that looks very similar to the SL1200 (and actually performs extremely well as a DJ turntable and sounds pretty decent as a HiFi turntable), but again is not a rip off.

[Crackie]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Lenco L-3808 is a rip off of the old Technics SL1200. I have an Audio Technica LP-120, which is also a rip off of the SL1200, but in my view a slightly better rip off.

Of course Technics have recently started re-making the SL1200 for 2017, at a cost of about £1300.

Yes there have been many 1200 rip offs and clones over the years https://thevinylfactory.com/features/the-8-best-dj... . I've had an SL1800 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Technics_S... for almost 40 years and used SL1200s many times

My reason for linking to the Lenco was because its had good reviews in the press for its sound quality, it only costs £165 and has an inbuilt USB output ( and software ) to help with ripping/archiving your vinyl. Also has an inbuilt RIAA amp too, so you don't need a phono stage. Good starter solution imho plus it will have a warranty rather than a 70/80s deck which has years of use ( and possibly abuse ). The Lenco's weight suggests its been made with better materials than most too.

Edited by Crackie on Thursday 31st August 22:57

Edited by Crackie on Friday 1st September 16:00

[Howard-]

It's the same deal with vintage audio / "hi-fi" in general. 15 years ago when I was a youngster I could walk around car boot sales and spend £5 on a nice old Pioneer/Technics/Trio stereo amp or receiver. Now, the car boot sales don't seem to have anything of the sort, and the eBay prices for these items are ridiculous.

I really want a nice old amp or receiver to pair with my recently-acquired B&O speakers of 1973 vintage (which sound absolutely wonderful), but I'm not prepared to pay £100+ for the privilege when I can spend £150-200 on a modern unit which will likely perform much better and not need another £30+ spending on new capacitors, resistors, ICs, and pots.

Even crap mid-fi speakers and amps which were firmly in the "Currys special" category back in the 70s/80s let alone any good nowadays are being advertised for silly money.

It's annoying.

[Flip Martian]

Seems the same with anything. Look at what "rare classic"s like Morris Marinas now go for... I also see old analogue synthesisers from the 70s and early 80s going for daft money now - not just the good ones from that time but the rubbish ones too. At least, people are asking daft money. Its amusing when you were there first time around and know how crap some of that stuff is.

Visit any antiques and collectables type place: 25 quid and up for an old metal watering can, anyone?