BitLess

No, it's the 103 that you're thinking of. It does have a conical stylus, but you would never know it with how much detail and tight bass it pulls out of the grooves. The non-replaceable stylus is what has always kept me away from MC carts as well, but the 103R is so reasonably priced for its performance. I was debating between the 103R and a 2M Bronze, but replacing the stylus alone on the Bronze would cost more than the 103R. Plus, I know a lot of people get their 103Rs re-tipped with better styluses; so that's always an upgrade option.

Including the cartridge and shipping, it set me back just shy of $2,000. Certainly the most I've ever spent on a single piece of audio equipment, but I have no regrets. The cartridge is a DL-103R. I was a little nervous about making the switch to a Moving Coil, as I had no experience with them, but I have a phono stage that can easily handle low-output MC carts, and I read that the 103R was a great match for the Jelco SA-750D tonearm.

My custom Thorens TD-160 Super from Vinyl Nirvana finally arrived last Friday, and I spent most of the weekend doing nothing but listening to records. I'm very pleased. Sorry for the crappy quality of the photo; I snapped it quickly this morning in pretty low light.

I upgraded from the Red to the Blue, and it was a big improvement. One piece of advice: don't replace the whole cartridge, just buy the Blue stylus. The Red and Blue cartridges are exactly the same.

I'll add my endorsement for the Red to Blue upgrade. I've had my Blue for about a month now, and am astounded by how much better it sounds than the Red. I figured going from a Red to a Bronze or Black would be a huge leap in quality, but I really wasn't expecting this big of a difference between the Red and Blue. Definitely worth it.

I'd really love to buy it, but I need to curb my spending a bit or my spouse will murder me. If it still isn't sold a few weeks from now, I'll probably go for it.

Yeah, I know exactly the type of connection you're talking about. That's one of the options we were discussing. It's probably the most user-friendly way to go, but would also mean that from the inside of the unit, the hardware would be somewhat visible. But that's not a terrible trade-off. The other thing we want to figure out is the best way to mount it to the wall. Mine just has 4 holes drilled into the back panel, and I used four 4" cabinet screws with washers, that I drove straight into the wood studs in my wall. While there's nothing wrong with mounting it that way, it does take a little bit of finessing it to get everything perfectly level. I'd like to come up with something more foolproof.

That was one my main impetuses for asking my dad to make this for me. When I saw what companies were charging for unsightly, cheaply welded metal brackets, I thought there had to be a better option. Surprisingly, there was not. I also knew that in order to convince my wife to let me mount my turntable to our living room wall, it would have to be something that looks really nice.

Well, once I saw how well this one turned out, I started talking to him about the viability of creating a little side-business. I'm gauging interest here and on some other forums, and if it seems like it would be worthwhile, he will definitely make more of them to sell. We just need to work out some build modifications, so that we can offer it as a more user-friendly, Ikea-esque kit. The way the joints in this one are done, it would either have to be shipped pre-built -- which would increase the cost -- or the customer would have to have at least some building skills, as well as access to a set of clamps.

Thanks! I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out.

Thanks! My dad has been a cabinetmaker going on 35 years now, and he is a true craftsman.

Shortly after I bought my AR turntable, I knew that getting it off of the Kallax bookshelf that sits on a bouncy hardwood floor was an absolute must. I didn't like any of the purpose-built options for turntable wall mounts, and I didn't want to go the low budget DIY route, so I asked my dad if he could design a custom wall shelf for me, that included some record storage. This is what he came up with, and I could not be happier.

That's too bad. That would have been a decent deal. At any rate, my advice is to be patient, and see if another good deal comes along for some vintage gear. The fact that you're on this site asking questions leads me to believe that you're dedicated to getting something that's at least decent, so I hope you don't settle on that LP60.

Ah, ok. There doesn't seem to be a ton of easily found information about those Luxmans out there, so I wasn't sure. And yeah, I get that the theoretical downside to any direct drive TT is that the motor isn't decoupled from the bearing/platter. That's why it seemed like an odd design choice when I mistakenly thought the Luxman had a proper sprung sub-chassis. Makes more sense now.

Very nice-looking table, Allen. Am I correct in thinking that's a direct drive motor with a sprung sub-chassis? That would seem to defeat the purpose a bit with the motor not being decoupled from the platter and arm, no? Just wondering.