The photo above is not made by me, and this is not the deck I had. I can't find any images of my TT althought I made some photos for the internet auction on witch I sold it. Anyway it is the same model with more or less similar gear.
I bought it very cheap and I used it for about an year. I learned the basics about how turntables work, how to configure the cartridge and overall pitfalls of handling vinyl records. The cartridge mounted was Audiotechnica AT-120 E and it had a warm and clean sound. I had to replace the signal cables because the original one generated annoying humming sound when touched.
After I sold the 8012 I turned to Technics products. They had quite good reviews on the internet and were rather cheap. I wanted a good looking solid deck with all the basic options especially the ability to replace the cartridge and the headshell (it's hard to match the weight of the headshell to the stylus pressure, so usually you have to change both). So the best option for me was SL-1910, a European market version of the SL-1900. It was also direct driven, what back then was a must have for me. I didn't want to have any problems with finding a replacement belt in case the old one warn of. It took me some time to realize that belt drive decks are much better...
I mounted the AT-120 E cartridge taken from the ITT 8012. I was very pleased with the sound so I decided to keep it. The deck was very cool and it played well, but it still was just a plastic toy compared to what came next.
After a year or so I decided to move forward and change the deck to something more soulful. I really liked the design of early Thorens models, so I bought myself a TD-145 with a unique plinth.
Of course it was a big move forward in the quality of the sound as well as in the overall look and fell. Also I change the cartridge to a modern Ortofon 510 MK II. It was still a budget gear but I was on the right track. I'll tell your more about the Thorens in the next post. There is much to tell, I really loved that deck, in fact I still have it and I don't thing I'll be ever letting it go... So. Stay tuned.
