Vinyl recording gear WANTED

[piotr4]

Hi TROLLS!

I am new into vinyl recording, but I am a proper vinyl lover and dj... I want to start cutting one off's in Poland and I am looking for gear to start of with. Probably best would be Souri's T560 Lathe or Neuman vms80. I have a budget of around $4000.

If you guys are selling gear or know someone who is please let me me know (especially in Europe). I want to start cutting ASAP !!!

Looking forward to hear from you !!!

Best Regards,

Piotr

[opcode66]

Piotr,

You won't find a quality cutting system for 4K USD. For a max budget of 4K you are looking at a mono system. Don't forget its not just the cost of the lathe. To get started you need a variety of things to cut. Not the least of which are lacquers and styli which are also expensive.

There is a fake lathe for sale on eBay. The person who made this fake lathe calls it a VMS80. THAT IS NOT A VMS80. This is a VMS80

Neumann-VMS-80.jpg

The differences are immeasurable. Also, what is posted on eBay doesn't work.... At all.

A real Neumann VMS80 in fully working condition would probably run you in excess of 100K USD these days. Maybe 80K for one that is not functioning. However, all VMS80's that are anywhere near functional were restored or parted out. I don't think that there really are any hanging out in a closet anywhere on the planet.

I would suggest that you have some patients. Everyone wants cutting gear these days. And, there just isn't much left at this point. Souri isn't making any more Vinyl Recorders it seems. So, you are likely going to have to wait. Especially if you want something for 4K or less.

Take Care,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Opcode66

[Aussie0zborn]

Welcome to the forum. For what you want to do, I think the Vinylrecorder T560 that you mentioned I a good choice.

A VMS80 / SX74 / SAL74B was recently sold for US $5,000.
Another one on the market has a price tag of over $100,000. This is the type of seller you have to avoid.

A VMS70 was recently sold for GBP 1,000.
There was one for sale on Switzerland for $99,000. Again, this is the type of seller to avoid.

You just have to be in the right place at the right time. Thanks to the late Al Grundy, the cost of lathes has skyrocketed. Stick with the idea of a VinylRecorder. Good luck in your search.

[piotr4]

Thank you guys for all the replies, another thing which is actually burning my mind is actually building this thing. I know there are few manuals running around and I can find find some comments, tips etc on the forum...

Is there actually some proven constructions made from scratch here?

BR

Piotr

[opcode66]

Whoever sold a full Neumann system for $5K USD or 1K GBP was practically giving it away. There are people who would pay 5K for just the motor. Those are insanely low prices. I've never seen a full working system for that low.

[Aussie0zborn]

The VMS80 was sold in Taiwan after sitting in storage all these years. The buyer uses it as a turntable.

The VMS70 was sold in Africa, again after being in storage for many years. It's installed in a pressing plant now.

These are ofcourse rare finds. Best to stick with the idea of a VinylRecorder.

[piotr4]

Well I start to believe in this case that thee are still some machines hidden in the garages... I will definitely do some local esearch...

[concretecowboy71]

I saw pics of the one in Africa last year. Looked OK. I tried to make an offer then never heard back.

Al Grundy had nothing to do with the prices of lathes. My first machine was purchased at a reasonable cost vs. the revenue it generates for my business. The reason prices go up is because people see a bandwagon to jump on. Al had the supply, I feel he would have laughed at the demand that exists now.

People jumping on the bandwagon right now have no idea what the state of the industry is right now. We are spending as much time trying to get stylii, lacquers and decent plating than cutting records. After five years, everyday in this shop is a roller coaster of issue not caused by myself or my gear. It takes fortitude to deal with it everyday, but those of us who power through will be buying the lathes of those who can't take it.

I wouldn't sell either of my machines for under 65k right now and that is not what I paid for them.

[opcode66]

I would probably want a little more for mine given all of the modification I've done on it and the amount of spare parts I've collected.

[dietrich10]

Someone could throw 100k at me and my VMS70 stays here. Been through too much in a short time to start with another even if at a fraction of the price.

[drdub]

been offered 70K Euros for our complete vms66 setup, and some training. sell it and start with a new project ?
it's cracy...

[Bonati]

Thanks to the late Al Grundy, the cost of lathes has skyrocketed.

Hard not to take offense with a comment like this. "Thanks to..." infers that you're assigning blame. Which is complete bullshit. The situation is actually the opposite: while Al was alive he served as almost something like the Blue Book value for lathes. He was the only one that had a retail sticker for them. Now that he's passed it's the wild west. Prices are willy-nilly. Any asshole selling cutting equipment now thinks it's worth a million bucks.

Al sold reconditioned/repaired VMS70 systems for $30k. Completely fair price. Myself and many other cutting engineers are grateful we were able to buy systems from Al. He taught us a lot. It is a debt that cannot be repaid.

Anyone who's using a Neumann system as a trophy turntable can fuck off.

[concretecowboy71]

I did not mean to infer that I WOULD actually sell one of my machines. As others have said, we have be through too much together to part ways now!

I agree with Josh 100% concerning Albert. Getting my machine from him was part of the journey and his friendship meant the world to me. No matter how down I ever got, he had something funny and encouraging to say. That is priceless.

[dietrich10]

Al Grundy was selling Neumann VMS70 systems complete, working, refurbed, etc etc etc including with phone support and customer service for 30k set price. this was a bargain price.

[opcode66]

I agree with Josh, Dietrich and Clint.

[Aussie0zborn]

Well let's agree to disagree shall we?

My comment was based on the fact that the late great Al whose work is to be admired, was the first to sell lathes at $30K and this was at a time when others were selling them for 10K or less.

As we found out he refurbished the electronics and not the lathe at all as we saw from Concrete Cowboy's post showing a lathe that had not even been cleaned internally. I felt sorry for him when I saw the mess in his photos and formed this opinion at that time. I dont think my opinion is going to change anytime soon. As the great Rodriguez sang, "thank you for your time, and you can thank me for mine'. Cheers.

[opcode66]

The value of the parts plus the labor and instruction on pickup. In addition to the phone support after pickup. I'm sorry, but you are just not making your point. If you like I could make a spreadsheet detailing the value of the parts and a rough estimate of the hours it took to recap, calibrate and test every card, have the cutterhead repaired if necessary, piece everything together and make it sound and functioning. Yes, you are correct, they didn't dust out the insides for you. Maid service was not what I contracted them for... You are being unnecessarily harsh. The labor, the parts, the fully working system, training and support more than well justify the price.

Lets flip the script Aussie. I've heard and seen pictures of ultimate nightmare stories of folks buying lathes for a song. The prior owner carelessly packs and ships it or freights it. It arrives mangled. In ruins. And, no one to complain to. No one for support. No help whatsoever. No recourse. Nothing. A pile of parts. I've heard of folks buying cheap lathes that simply don't work. Aren't complete. Were not functional. The amount of blood sweat and tears, not to mention time and money sunk into those projects (not lathes projects) gets you from the poultry 5K purchase price up to the 30K Al was asking. That is what you aren't mentioning. Tons of guys worked months to get a system running that they got for a song. All I had to do was connect everything and power it on. Huge difference. Enormous.

All I'm saying is, the last time I checked, there is no free lunch. You get what you pay for. If you get a Neumann for a ridiculously low price, expect issues. Some may be hiding and very costly to repair. Others may just cause bad cuts because so many caps need replacing. Last I checked, lathe techs are not cheap.

Finally, I know several others who purchased a system from Al over 10 years prior to me. They paid 1/3 the amount at that time. So, just not seeing what you are saying.

Food for thought.