I got an email from our friends at Tracer Audio announcing they were now selling a turntable with tonearm length/mounting to handle 16" diameter transcription discs. It's based on the Technics 1200 series and made by Esoteric Sound which is manufacturing under the venerable Rek-o-Kut lable. Here's a link to Tracer's website which has more info:
http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=2457627&s=56464081
I posted this here because I know of one of these turntables that is available for a couple of hundred less than Tracer is selling theirs for ( which is still a very good deal at about $100 less than list - and I don't know of anyone who is selling it at other than list). The unit is, for all practical purposes new - opened and set-up for a restoration job that didn't come through (any of you had that experience :-). The unit doesn't come with a cartridge but has all the other pieces including a dust cover.
I bought one of his two units but have no interest in what happens to the other one. If you are interested, send me a private message and I'll get the two of you together.
I'd been looking at this model for a couple of years but didn't feel the features were worth the $700 price Esoteric was asking. (For example, it has infinitely variable speeds from 16rpm - 90 some and a switch to conveniently rewire the cartridge to go between lateral and vertical cut records -- both of which I can do for free within DC software.) At Tracer's price it could be a different story with some of the other features - and at less than $400 it definitely was for me.
Brian
PS: I am aware of only one other currently manufactured turntable that can handle 16" records - the KAB Transcription II at www.kabusa.com
http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=2457627&s=56464081
I posted this here because I know of one of these turntables that is available for a couple of hundred less than Tracer is selling theirs for ( which is still a very good deal at about $100 less than list - and I don't know of anyone who is selling it at other than list). The unit is, for all practical purposes new - opened and set-up for a restoration job that didn't come through (any of you had that experience :-). The unit doesn't come with a cartridge but has all the other pieces including a dust cover.
I bought one of his two units but have no interest in what happens to the other one. If you are interested, send me a private message and I'll get the two of you together.
I'd been looking at this model for a couple of years but didn't feel the features were worth the $700 price Esoteric was asking. (For example, it has infinitely variable speeds from 16rpm - 90 some and a switch to conveniently rewire the cartridge to go between lateral and vertical cut records -- both of which I can do for free within DC software.) At Tracer's price it could be a different story with some of the other features - and at less than $400 it definitely was for me.
Brian
PS: I am aware of only one other currently manufactured turntable that can handle 16" records - the KAB Transcription II at www.kabusa.com
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