No more Linn LP12 means no more playing vinyl discs. So on sorting them out and valuing them, I really found myself not wanting to part with about 20 of them. What's the point? Well its mainly sentimental - there are some that are just too good to part with, in terms of their quality such as the Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs Studio Masters and there is the Sniff n the Tears collection that took some putting together then there are a few that were gifts and therefore have some meaning for me.
So a few weeks of hunting on ebay and missing a few near bargains and missing lots of nowhere near bargains I've ended up with a "new" turntable. Its a late 80s / early 90s simple deck from Thorens - a TD280 MkII. Belt drive, lightish alloy platter, two speed via an arm that lifts the belt up and down the pulleys, a lightweight very plastic looking arm and three bouncy feet for isolation. I put on a new belt (£7.50), and a Goldring Elektra cartridge (it came with an Audio Technica of some sort of unknown origin and condition) and all for the princely sum of £24. The photos on ebay showed the deck as being very dusty, but as can be seen below, its cleaned up remarkably well and plays tunes nicely.
Result.
