alang wrote:I'm sorry, I do appreciate that the Thorens is a high quality turntable with its roots in the old Dual technology. But priced somewhere close to $1,000 it is three times more expensive than the Audio Technica, it is belt driven, and - what irks me the most - it is fully automatic. If I want to play/record all kinds of old records I don't want the arm to move automatically and I definitely don't want auto-stop when the player thinks the records is over. It may be great for playing 45s and LPs, but for 78s it only works well for anything from the 1930s or later with standard run-out groove and label size. Little Wonder records often get cut off before the end, and early records with the outside "rim" don't work well either. In addition, the At-LP120 offers 20% +/- speed adjustment which is very helpful with playing early records and DDs.
Again, I'm not saying that the Thorens is a bad turntable, I just think that it does not provide the flexibility that I want for playing and recording all my records.
Andreas
I'm afraid this is what the market offers if you can't stand the look of a poor man's Technics SL-1200 clone, not my fault fellow!
I know that some Pro-Ject turntables with a decent furniture-style look can also play 78 RPMs, but as far as I understand a change of a pulley is needed, so I don't consider it a practical option.
To those who can stand the look of a Technics SL-1200 wannabe, I would instead personally recommend the Stanton ST 150 (or ST 150 M2) that has built-in 33, 45 and 78 RPM speeds and a 50% pitch control who makes it a truly universal turntable who would even play 16 RPM records and every kind of shellac record one can imagine up to nearly 120 RPM.