SOTA Sapphire with Kiseki Gold arm and 1986 Kiseki Purpleheart. Cartridge has About 200 hours and Kiseki advised that suspension does not deteriorate with time. Turntable has an Audiophile Products hard vinyl mat with matching clamp. Arm has been rewired with Van Den Hul silver wire. This setup has served me well for about 39 years.
Great as an owner of the SP10-Mk2 they are built! And now retired if I had the money any of the SME ones would-be wonderful! And I read the only way to get that magnificent arm is on them, I do not know why but the dealers are selling old stock at incredible prices. This was a great presentation thank you.
I never got rid of my vinyl or my players (Rega and SOTA), so I sometimes use them, but there's no way I would splash out on high end gear now... CD and streaming sound so much better.
Good morning 🌅, I purchased my Linn LP 12 back in early 80s secondhand that have been refurbished, for £380, sadly the electronics packed up about 18 months ago, and because of my circumstances, retired, with very little income I cannot afford to have it repaired, I’ve been told it will cost somewhere between 1000 and £1500, it’s always serve me as a very good vinyl listening platform, I did go out and buy a cheap record deck which only cost me around €500, and it is a heap of shit, excuse the language, it sounds so tiny it’s unbelievable, so I do not play my vinyl very much nowadays, so I stream most of my music, I have a very large power of transmission line now speaker cabinets that I built myself from some plans back from the 70s, I’ve just recently replaced the drivers with SEAS , AND THEY SOUND AMAZING, , and I normally run a Cambridge power amp back from the 70s and NAD, i’m a English dude now living in France,
I don’t know who’s quoting those prices but it’s possible to fix your Valhalla PSU for much less than that. The parts to service it are less than £100. Alternatively, you could buy the excellent aftermarket replacement from Vinyl Passion for £400. The specifications are much higher than the Valhalla and it has the advantage of being able to run at 33 and 45rpm on the button. It’s simple to do the swap yourself as it goes straight onto the crossmember that holds the Valhalla. I’ve been using one on my LP12 for 2 years and it’s brilliant.
I don't doubt that these are excellent turntables. I have a 40 year old direct drive Technics turntable I acquired about 5 years ago. I had it serviced to eliminate some issues, bought a Nagaoka cartridge and needle and got a Cambridge phono preamp. I enjoy it a lot.
AI knows only what it is told, and this subject requires thought. I am skeptical of advice generated from the sellers of the products recommended here, for obvious reasons . buying with an eye towards sustainability is very important, but is completely omitted in the advice here.
NONE of these are "high-end" tables. Where are the models from Acoustic Signature and VPI (costing over 100K)? For true high-end tables see the reviews and recommendations from "The Absolute Sound" magazine, website, and UA-cam channels.
The VPI have some tone arm issues, I bought one and the do's and don'ts were not something that many would not want to deal with, I have another table with a magnapan arm same idea, but it is a Ferrari as compared perhaps a lesser car. An example I will give I could not get the arm to balance correctly called the help line and they said my cartridge was too light! In 50 years of so never head that one before. Some of the high end magazines mention this problem and you cannot change out the arm. Mine has a solid steel base no hole so what can you do?
@@Bess216 try Transrotor Artus or Clearaudio Statement. Hefty price tag, yes. Even the guys at Linn are impressed about those two, according to an interview in 2018
The Technics is the best here whichever way you choose to measure them. Turntable design is not black magic. Some (eg LP12) are simply fundamentally flawed designs.
![Best Turntables 2025 - [don’t buy one before watching this]](/img/n.gif)
SOTA Sapphire with Kiseki Gold arm and 1986 Kiseki Purpleheart. Cartridge has About 200 hours and Kiseki advised that suspension does not deteriorate with time. Turntable has an Audiophile Products hard vinyl mat with matching clamp. Arm has been rewired with Van Den Hul silver wire. This setup has served me well for about 39 years.
I have an Oracle ‘Delphi’, which I
purchased, just over forty years
ago! It ‘s been a great turntable and yes, the Linn LP-12, is very
legendary!!
Gotta be the Linn hands down no competition
The best turntable is the one that gives you the most enjoyment. You don’t have to spend 5 figures and up to get this enjoyment.
Great as an owner of the SP10-Mk2 they are built! And now retired if I had the money any of the SME ones would-be wonderful! And I read the only way to get that magnificent arm is on them, I do not know why but the dealers are selling old stock at incredible prices. This was a great presentation thank you.
I forgot to say, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everybody if all that way inclined,
Thanks for the insightful video, it would be good to see the likes of TechDas, Kuzma and CS-Port reviewed. 😄
It’s hard to see beyond the LP12, I can’t imagine changing to anything else.
Totally agree, the LP12 is the reference in vinyl playback. Had mine for over 20 years, it’s a joyful thing to own.
I never got rid of my vinyl or my players (Rega and SOTA), so I sometimes use them, but there's no way I would splash out on high end gear now... CD and streaming sound so much better.
And I have no idea how Bergman’s flagship ‘table wasn’t on this list, or for that matter, Kuzma’s Stabi M….interesting.🌹✨
Good morning 🌅, I purchased my Linn LP 12 back in early 80s secondhand that have been refurbished, for £380, sadly the electronics packed up about 18 months ago, and because of my circumstances, retired, with very little income I cannot afford to have it repaired, I’ve been told it will cost somewhere between 1000 and £1500, it’s always serve me as a very good vinyl listening platform, I did go out and buy a cheap record deck which only cost me around €500, and it is a heap of shit, excuse the language, it sounds so tiny it’s unbelievable, so I do not play my vinyl very much nowadays, so I stream most of my music, I have a very large power of transmission line now speaker cabinets that I built myself from some plans back from the 70s, I’ve just recently replaced the drivers with SEAS , AND THEY SOUND AMAZING, , and I normally run a Cambridge power amp back from the 70s and NAD, i’m a English dude now living in France,
I don’t know who’s quoting those prices but it’s possible to fix your Valhalla PSU for much less than that. The parts to service it are less than £100.
Alternatively, you could buy the excellent aftermarket replacement from Vinyl Passion for £400. The specifications are much higher than the Valhalla and it has the advantage of being able to run at 33 and 45rpm on the button. It’s simple to do the swap yourself as it goes straight onto the crossmember that holds the Valhalla.
I’ve been using one on my LP12 for 2 years and it’s brilliant.
Hi Thank you Mark I will try and contact you, about my LP 12 , regards from Phil,
LP12
I don't doubt that these are excellent turntables. I have a 40 year old direct drive Technics turntable I acquired about 5 years ago. I had it serviced to eliminate some issues, bought a Nagaoka cartridge and needle and got a Cambridge phono preamp. I enjoy it a lot.
You can buy a Sony es CD player gives you 90 db decibel scratch free sound stage you won't believe.and you don't have to turn the disc over. 😅
AI knows only what it is told, and this subject requires thought. I am skeptical of advice generated from the sellers of the products recommended here, for obvious reasons . buying with an eye towards sustainability is very important, but is completely omitted in the advice here.
NONE of these are "high-end" tables. Where are the models from Acoustic Signature and VPI (costing over 100K)? For true high-end tables see the reviews and recommendations from "The Absolute Sound" magazine, website, and UA-cam channels.
None of hi-end turntables can give so specific wonderful sound like Linn LP12. Period!
The VPI have some tone arm issues, I bought one and the do's and don'ts were not something that many would not want to deal with, I have another table with a magnapan arm same idea, but it is a Ferrari as compared perhaps a lesser car. An example I will give I could not get the arm to balance correctly called the help line and they said my cartridge was too light! In 50 years of so never head that one before. Some of the high end magazines mention this problem and you cannot change out the arm. Mine has a solid steel base no hole so what can you do?
@@Bess216 try Transrotor Artus or Clearaudio Statement. Hefty price tag, yes. Even the guys at Linn are impressed about those two, according to an interview in 2018
The Technics is the best here whichever way you choose to measure them.
Turntable design is not black magic.
Some (eg LP12) are simply fundamentally flawed designs.