How to buy a turntable?

[Dominick22]

I have been interested in vinyl lately and was thinking of spending a few hundred on a beginners set up.

Do you all have any recommendations of a good starter unit that still sounds decent?

I would really like to buy a nice vintage piece that produces good sound if possible.

And the needle is exchangeable for future upgrades, isnt it?

Some help please,

Thanks,
Dominick

 

[RichTeer]

I'd avoid buying used vintage stuff if I were you because you have no idea on how well it was looked after. For a few hundered bucks you can pick up a brand new entry level turntable complete with cartridge. A couple examples are the Pro-Ject Debut III, the Music Hall MF 2.1, and the Rega P1.

Good luck!

 

[Jeff Zaret]

I disagree.

I think with help from other people who have knowledge of turntables can offer advice for you to make a wise decision. With any piece of audio gear there is always a risk whether it is new or used. I have done both and knowing what you are getting is more than half the battle.

I would ask as many questions as you can and visit other forums which have a greater knowledge than here in some instances.

Good luck

BTW yes I have a turntable. I actually have three but only use one now,

So ask always, take your time and most of all enjoy the ride.

Jeff

 

[Bernard]

I tend to agree with Rich. If you buy something vintage and the bearing is gone, you are SOL if you cannot get parts.

OTOH, tonepub likes a vintage Technics table, for which I assume you can get parts.

 

[tonepub]

I tend to agree with Rich. If you buy something vintage and the bearing is gone, you are SOL if you cannot get parts.

OTOH, tonepub likes a vintage Technics table, for which I assume you can get parts.

Not sure what you are talking about... I bought my SL-1200 brand new two years ago.

The SL1200 was a better deal about two years ago when you could get them under 399. Now that they have become in shorter supply, the price has almost doubled. Still a great table, not quite as good of a value.

I'm a big rega fan, but I'd skip the P1. Not terribly robust.

Does your system have a phono input, or do you need a phono preamp?

If you want something very bulletproof to start, I'd consider the Audio technica. 120D with a Shure M97. You should be able to pick that up new for about $300 brand new. It's easy to set up and will at least give you a taste of vinyl.

However, if you have a fairly decent digital front end, this may not be enough to whet your appetite.

 

[Dominick22]

Thanks for the help guys.

Tonepub,
If I go with your suggestion and quickly realize I want to upgrade, would I be able to simply replace the cartridge?

I am running 2 channel Ascent i's with emotiva preamp, and 1000 watt emotiva amps mono. The preamp does have phono hook up.



I am very open to used gear if anyone has something laying around gathering dust!

Thanks,
Dominick

 

[Bernard]

Not sure what you are talking about... I bought my SL-1200 brand new two years ago.

Sorry, I thought that you had bought it used. I did not know that Technics still made turntables.

 

[robertawillisjr]

Buy the most expensive NEW turntable you can afford. There are lots of good robust TT's in the 3 to 5 hundred dollar range. If you don't know what you are doing and/or have someone to hold your hand, used turntables can be a chore.

 

[JMAUSGP]

Dominick22,

I have two Technics turntables, one is brand new that was reviewed by Jeff, in a previous Tone Audio review last year. I had that one fully modded by KAB and got the upgraded cart to boot. That Technics turntable is in my system and currently in use.

The other Technics turntable is basically the same model but is vintage 80s. I believe it also has a new cart and works fine. I just couldn't get KAB to mod it because it was too old, they only do new tables, oh and they sell the new turntables too, which I am sure has something to do with it. So I had to order a brand new model from them and then have them mod it, which actually ended up costing a small fortune.

Anyway, I will have to check the older Technics TT out and make sure it is still okay. It was working fine when I put it in to storage after I got the new Technics last summer. I don't want to ship it, because it may get damaged in shipping, as I don't have the original shipping boxes for it. But if you are interested in the older Technics, since you live in Columbus, you could drive over to Indy in about 3 hours and pick it up and then take it back home check it out for yourself and if you like it, then you can send me $150 bucks which is actually less than what I paid for the new cartridge and needle that is in it.

If on the other hand after you check it out for a few days and decide you don't want the turntable you can take it to a box and ship place and just ship it back to me. I can handle the risk of you shipping it back to me, that's not a big deal.

Either way, no big deal, but you asked about stuff laying around so as has been said before, be careful what you ask for.

 

[tonepub]

This is a great deal.....

 

[Bernard]

Joe, why did you not just buy a higher-quality turntable? Was there something in particular that you liked about the Technics that made you spend a small fortune on the mod?

 

[JMAUSGP]

Yeah, first I was already sold on the Technics direct drive TTs and then the mods brought it up to a standard that competes with tables at more than double the cost........And I was listening to Jeff again.......I can't buy it.... I won't buy......oh no, I did buy it,..... again.

I have Vinyl simply because I have hundreds of vinyl albums but truth be told I have invested mostly in SACD, DVDa, SHMCD, HDCD, and CDs with a DAC, so digital 5.1 is now my source of choice.

Sometime down the road, I may go back and work on Vinyl, ie buy a better TT and cart but for now, I am listening to the bass recomendations off of Justin's subwoofer thread........OMG this is scary.

 

[Dominick22]

Joe,

Let me first say thank you for inviting me into your home, that is very kind of you. I checked out your system and got that feeling kids get the night before they know they are going to an amusement park. I totally get your emotion when you talk about experiencing the music instead of just hearing it. I think thats something all of the forum members share.

Anyway, I would be thrilled to visit your home, but still, 3 hours one way is quite the journey. With a discerning taste that I can see you have and with a member like tonepub backing the quality of the product, I would have no problem purchasing your TT. I understand if you don't want to ship, but I am willing to pay for that too.

And either way, I hope you wont mind a drop in visit sometime if I am ever out there? I have exposed my wife to an above average audio experience that she has grown to appreciate, but she has no idea what it can still be...what a set up like yours is really capable of. We have never had a room totally dedicated to HT or 2 channel.

Thanks again Joe,
Dominick

 

[JMAUSGP]

That's fine, it's no problem either way. This turns out to be a bad weekend since my property manager is going on vacation for a few days, so I am doing horses morning and night in addition to a lot of other animals, trust me it's a long boring story.

Suffice to say, it is not possible to just drop in to this place, but if I know you are coming we can cut the power to the electric fence and make sure the safetys are on all the weapons.

But with that said, I will put some time in to the Technics and see if I can get what I need from the local box and ship. Next week I should be able to get it out UPS ground which will be cheap and it will get there in two days or less.

I will let you know how it goes as the weekend progresses, assuming the horses don't stomp me to death.

 

[Dominick22]

Joe,

That sounds great! I will be very patient as I understand you are really doing me several favors. Price, product, and shipping efforts.

Just let me know when you want me to pay and how. I can send a check to avoid paypal fees.

Dominick

 

[tonepub]

Dominick,

You will be able to upgrade the cart a bit, but on a stock SL-1200, i wouldn't seriously spend much more than about 3-400 on a cartridge.

The biggest question with vinyl is really how much do you want to spend on software and how maniacal do you want to be about collecting, cleaning, maintaining it?

If you just want to have some fun spinning records, getting some music that isn't really available on CD and digging up bargain records wherever you can, that 1200 will be ducky.

But if you are going to start really investing in good pressings, buying new audiophile releases in the $25-60 range and collecting early pressings of your favorite recordings in the $50-500 range, you'll quickly grow out of the 1200.

Analog can be as easy and reasonable or as obsessive and expensive as you'd like to make it.

 

[DrJRapp]

After Tonepubs comments and reviews of the Audio Technica 120D a year ago, I bought one to use as my second player when I have discs that I don't necessarily want to play on my Oracle Delphi/Lyra Argo I/Rega IOS because of the age or condition of the discs potentially damaging the gear. And, some poor discs just sound better on less expensive more forgiving gear!

The 120D is surprisingly good when coupled with a decent cartridge and external phono pre (the built in one is noisy). I use an Ortophon 2M Blue...but Jeff's recommendations of a Shure XV97 are good too and I've even had the opportunity to run a Grado Sonata which was really good! All three were run through a Cambridge Audio 640P phono pre which is a true bargain at less than $200 and only lacks a bit of bass weight over something significantly more expensive. I think one couldn't hope to do better for an entry level than any of those combinations.

 

[tonepub]

I just threw out the Shure, because you mentioned you wanted to do this on a tight budget. The Shure is only about 85 bucks, has a replaceable stylus and is a decent tracker. That Ortofon of Jerry's is a nice step up if you decide to stay there...

Vinyl has been a real love/hate thing for 35 years, so it may be something you truly enjoy or it may prove to be too much bother. Digital has gotten a lot better and it's not like the 80's where a modestly priced turntable will dramatically outperform even a fairly expensive CD player.

Dip your toe in and see if it grabs you or not.

 

[Bernard]

Digital has gotten a lot better and it's not like the 80's where a modestly priced turntable will dramatically outperform even a fairly expensive turntable.

I think that second "turntable" should be "CD player".

 

[tonepub]

You are correct and I think I need a vacation...