Django wrote:In my opinion, the 8-12 is the best looking of the Orthophonics, but if you have an 8-4, you probably want to hold out for the Credenza. To me anyway, the hunt is a big part of the fun.
I'd agree the 8-12 is better looking than both the Credenza and 8-4. Part of the fun for me was always the opportunity to "upgrade" and that's basically now all I do if I'm to add anything in my own colection. The 8-4 is VERY comparable sounding to a Credenza, despite the slightly smaller horn, I own both and I really can't tell a difference. If I were Andy, I'd be making the best of the 8-4 I already have (find a nicer tone arm, for starters, they're out there...Geroge V for example). The right machine will eventually come along. I'm at the point now where they seem to find me, only I refused a super clean Granada and another 8-4 that was also very nice, I just don't have the room anymore and while I tried to convince a friend to grab the 8-4, he hesitated and it sold.
Incidentally, I didn't get my first Credenza until the late 1990s even though I'd looked for years before that. After I got my first one, I had a second just a month later followed by three more by 2002. That's just how it happened, I rehomed all of them except my nicest one which I got from the original owner who received it as a Christmas gift from her husband in 1925. I'll never part with it.
Sean