THE EMPIRE TROUBADOR 598 ii
Ever since I was in college back in the 70's, I yearned for an Empire Troubador turntable. To me, it epitomized class and functionality. Over time, I acquired many turntables. Some of them were "record players", like my Garrard SL-95B, my Dual 1228, and my BSR 810X. Others, like my Neat/Channel Master and my ADC Accutrac 4000 were built to play one record at a time, and were actual turntables. But whenever I discussed them with friends, I tended to preface the discussion with "It's not a Troubador, but it's pretty good." Then, a couple years ago, I stumbled across an eBay ad with this beauty. It was my favorite model, the 598 II.
The turntable, as delivered, was in super nice condition. The entire turntable, including the tonearm, had little or no patina or finish flaking. It needed a new belt, the audio cable needed repair (pulled conductor) and a couple other tweaks, but I had it up and running in no time, The owner was a young woman who, ironically, lived only 30 miles north of where I grew up (Wheeling, WV). Since she was unfamiliar on how to ship a Troubador turntable, I sent some instructions to her. She did a great packing job. The turntable had a nice 1000Z/EX cartridge in it, and a microscopic examination revealed that the stylus was in excellent condition. At the present time, I'm using a JVC 4MD-20X with a Shibata styles. I've purchased several spare cartridge "sleds" and even more cartridges.
The photos and videos below tell the story. No captions are really necessary. This is the way classic rock was meant to be heard. Somehow, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, and Steely Dan just sound better on this awesome piece of audio equipment.
The photos and videos below tell the story. No captions are really necessary. This is the way classic rock was meant to be heard. Somehow, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, and Steely Dan just sound better on this awesome piece of audio equipment.
