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Advice on selling vintage Townshend turntable


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Hi folks. I was tasked with selling off some vintage equipment that’s been in storage 20 years following the death of a mate many years ago. 
 

Of the few items left is this glorious beast of a turntable that I can’t seem to nail down a precise value for selling. 
 

Its a Townshend Elite Rock turntable with its own power supply and an Excalibur arm. 
My searches so far have found some very high values alongside some mid-range ones. 
 

It works beautifully and I recently purchased a new belt from the UK for it. The only little thing is a missing piece in the mechanism to raise the arm (2cm length of metal - pictures below). 
 

Any feedback/advice appreciated!

 

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973C11CA-EA16-4E6C-A022-8EEA3FEE8F86.jpeg

37DEC2F4-6344-4E93-BA9B-CFCEAFE9C81A.jpeg

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Can you find out what it originally sold for, and that would give you an indication of which turntables it directly competed against.  Townshend may be able to help you with this.  Price it for the value the competitive turntables go for now.  It will probably be lower than the very high (unrealistic) prices.  Note that it is a relatively unknown turntable which would make it more difficult to sell.  Hence some of the lower prices you have seen it go for.  In your ad it would be wise to include a lot of information to educate potential buyers about it's unique design and quality.  GLWTS.

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You also appear to have the very rare and highly sought after Merlin power supply.

 

If you are prepared to pack it well for shipping then I suggest the international market will yield the best prices.

Edited by Graceman
correction
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4 hours ago, audiofeline said:

Can you find out what it originally sold for, and that would give you an indication of which turntables it directly competed against.  Townshend may be able to help you with this.  Price it for the value the competitive turntables go for now.  It will probably be lower than the very high (unrealistic) prices.  Note that it is a relatively unknown turntable which would make it more difficult to sell.  Hence some of the lower prices you have seen it go for.  In your ad it would be wise to include a lot of information to educate potential buyers about it's unique design and quality.  GLWTS.

Thanks Audiofeline. In my case i purchased it new in 1984 for around $3000,( the turntable itself+the Excalibur Arm+the optional plinth) which, now i come to think of  it,  was a sh..tload of money in those days. More money than sense? Linns wth an SME arm were around the same price.  A couple of friends went the Linn way , but I've never regretted buying the Rock as i like its  more solid and punchy presentation.  As for the suggestion of needing to "educate" potential buyers; I  can see where you are coming from but  I believe this is a "niche" product. If you dont know about it and its history, then  you probably won't be convinced.  e.g. noboby is going to be interested in that Armstrong Siddley Sapphire  in your garage unless they know the car and have always hankered after one.

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12 hours ago, t_mike said:

It seems to be raining these things at the moment.

 

There is another current thread going. I don't necessarily agree with the suggested pricing, but it gives you an idea of the discussion. 

 

 

Hi t-mike.....just to set the record straight ,  that  photo is not of my turntabke . I believe that is a Townshend prototype model. The turntabe i bought new in 1984 looks like this.......

Rock02.jpg

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13 hours ago, rockwombat said:

Hi folks. I was tasked with selling off some vintage equipment that’s been in storage 20 years following the death of a mate many years ago. 
 

Of the few items left is this glorious beast of a turntable that I can’t seem to nail down a precise value for selling. 
 

Its a Townshend Elite Rock turntable with its own power supply and an Excalibur arm. 
My searches so far have found some very high values alongside some mid-range ones. 
 

It works beautifully and I recently purchased a new belt from the UK for it. The only little thing is a missing piece in the mechanism to raise the arm (2cm length of metal - pictures below). 
 

Any feedback/advice appreciated!

 

D53F3C4F-CA02-4E8E-ACA9-4D0F4B6A8A36.jpeg

26393876-00F2-46F4-AC46-320F625DD6DC.jpeg

CA1EA8BD-C176-4F52-A115-2F59B69E1561.jpeg

CA5E7E75-A465-4BE1-A38F-A1EC4CDFE665.jpeg

973C11CA-EA16-4E6C-A022-8EEA3FEE8F86.jpeg

37DEC2F4-6344-4E93-BA9B-CFCEAFE9C81A.jpeg

Hi Rockwombat,  pretty much the same as mine...also in pre-sale mode :) Photos of mine elsewhere in this thread. Interested to know what the two verticle "prongs" are,   just to the left of the base of the arm. I haven't got  that. Also i never had the  dedicated "merlin" power supply, which seemed to impress somebody else in this thread.

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17 minutes ago, bevwil said:

...As for the suggestion of needing to "educate" potential buyers; I  can see where you are coming from but  I believe this is a "niche" product. If you dont know about it and its history, then  you probably won't be convinced...

I disagree.  I'd never heard of this turntable until it came up in a SNA thread recently, and I've learned that it is a very good turntable.  If I was a rich collector of turntables my interest would certainly be piqued to check it out. 

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1 minute ago, audiofeline said:

I disagree.  I'd never heard of this turntable until it came up in a SNA thread recently, and I've learned that it is a very good turntable.  If I was a rich collector of turntables my interest would certainly be piqued to check it out. 

Good point  audiofeline......in fact i will include the link to the HiFi+ article posted by Ian McP along with my ad....Emphasising, of course ,  that this  is background only as most of the article refers to the Rock V. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did not realise the Rock was so expensive over here, I bought mine in UK during 1986 I paid 299 pound inc DL110 and RB250, plus another 120 pounds for the plinth and dust cover.

It was probably the addition of the Excalibur and Merlin that pushed up the price. I'd love to try them on mine.

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On 05/03/2020 at 11:48 AM, Colin Rutter said:

I had a Lancaster AS?

Wow yes!  Worth quite a bit more these days than a Rock turntable. BTW is that your ID 19 in your profile pic?  Actually,  no more motor car questions . We'll get booted off this forum.

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