Buying a Turntable help and advice please !

[Michael loves music]

A relative has given me a case of records from the 70s and 80s I have never had a Turntable and would welcome any advice and help on to what to look for all I know is the brand names Rega dual technics etc ! My amp a Denon 350SE has a phono input it's with Tannoy Mercury speakers on Atacama nexus stands and a Denon AE 520 CD player . Thankyou in advance for your advice cheers Mike

[rigger67]

How long is a piece of string ? :eek:

Given your current system is solid "budget" gear I would either look for an entry level new deck or maybe something a bit better on the used market. It all depends on whether you just want something half-decent to play the records you've been given or whether you intend to build up a collection of vinyl in the future.

Project decks at Richer Sounds are an obvious starting point if you want something new.

For second-hand there's eBay, but check GumTree first - you can get bargains on there.
Anything from Pioneer, Technics, Sony and the like should be okay.
Cartridge/stylii and belts might need replacing and can be costly so beware before leaping in.

I bought a Pioneer PL12D for my gf for the princely sum of £10 on GumTree a year ago and it was in perfect condition.
All I did was buy a new stylus and even that was a "just in case" purchase (it was a Shure and cost me about £15).

Another alternative is to buy a DJ deck if you just want to be able to play the stuff you've been given.
Numark, Gemini, that kind of thing - they'll do the job just fine.


Happy hunting !

[Michael loves music]

Many thanks for your reply just having a quick look on eBay a chap is selling a pioneer pj 500 very close to me at £25 so far ! The record collection I have been given is really what I want the turntable for and I don't intend to buy any more records as I have a vast cd collection

[Roy S]

Is it this one Michael?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PIONEER-STEREO-TURN-TABLE-PL-J500-/122200293525?hash=item1c73b48095:g:Jr0AAOSwXeJYEik W

Won't work on it's own -

'To make things clear, part of full system, you will need some thing like the Pioneer tuner/amp, I`m selling, to plug this into, Unless you have one, of course.'

[Michael loves music]

Yes Roy I will keep looking

[DSJR]

So many old *cheap* turntables available and most of them are cack, frankly (opinion and experience)! My favourite idler driven Duals all need servicing and prices are climbing now and even the later popular 505's can need work to bring them up to snuff. The 505's in wooden plinths (Audiophile Concept) always sounded better for the more solid plinths and the Ortofons they came with are fine with say, an OM10 or OM20 stylus. Pitch and drive belts can be easily obtained I think.

Second hand Regas cost loads now, but are very simple with cheap spares, far better made with superior engineering in my experience, than cheaper Pro-jects and imo sound better too! (why they cost loads!). The Pro-ject Debut sold very well though, but may need a new belt and mat.

Some of the old techie models can work very well. I seem to remember SLB2's and 3's and so on (SLD2's and 3's too) being sonically ok if properly sited. I don't know the equivalent Sony's I'm afraid.

Next level up means a couple of hundred as a minimum now. Thorens 150's are suddenly more desirable and the Td160 is finally being regarded as a more serious model. As long as these haven't had total numpties messing with the suspension, they're very good and usually stay set up once correctly set.

Over this price the market is wide open for so many great used options, but I HAVE to give yet another shout for the excellent Rega Planar 1 at £250 or so. They make many hundreds a month apparently for a worldwide market, so they can afford really nice plinths and covers, the motor is now a 24V type and the tonearm, despite being the most 'basic' model, actually performs better I think than the original RB250 did. The AT91 based 'Carbon' cartridge is also surprisingly good and plays to its strengths well, never showing it's low cost unless directly compared with something good at a ton or more...

[rigger67]

It's worth looking at a few Technics, Sony, Panasonic automatic decks out there.

They tend to me silver in colour, look rather plasticky and lightweight and have thin black arms.

I got one for a mate for a similar reason to you - he wasn't about to spend £30 on a 180gm LP, but liked to rummage in charity shops and had built up a selection of old 45s and about twenty classic albums he wanted to play through his existing Denon mini-system.

It cost about £45 and does the job just fine.
He's happy - he doesn't want audiophile quality, just to be able to hear anything he buys for 50p :D

[rigger67]

Just buy this - it looks perfect for what you want and is in great nick :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Sanyo-TP-250-Belt-Drive-Turntable-Audio-Technica-Cartridge-Manual-/122203235934?hash=item1c73e1665e:g:Cc8AAOSwMNxXbBh 5

Or here's another one, not quite so good ..


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TECHNICS-SL-B2-TURNTABLE-/201704969734?hash=item2ef68d9606:g:2tAAAOSwKOJYF67 S

[karma67]

Make sure your amp has a phono stage in it as it was an optional extra when new :)

[Gordon Steadman]

Of those two, I'd go for the Technics just based on the look of the arm. Those straight, thin jobbies always look a bit weedy. Maybe they are better than they look:)

Never like the auto stuff either. I've desecrated quite a few and thrown out all those clanking, grinding bits, even some of DSJR's favourite Duals. Always sounded better for it.

[rdpx]

How much do you want to spend? You can get a new Rega for under £200.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

[walpurgis]

Keep it simple Michael. Get something cheap and reliable that (assuming it's belt drive) you can obtain belts for.

The earlier suggestion of a Pioneer PL-12D was a good one. Or a PL-112D. They may be old, but they are simple and seem to go on running forever. Just the occasional new belt and a drop of oil and that's all they need. The sound quality is perfectly adequate for a first venture into record playing. And prices can still be sensible.

If you buy an old turntable, you could save yourself a bit of time and money if it comes with a half decent cartridge, with a straight, unworn stylus.

[walpurgis]

Here's a PL-112D about half an hour away from you: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pioneer-PL-112D-record-deck-c-w-Shure-M75ED-II-cartridge-VGC-serviced-tested-/201703542789?hash=item2ef677d005:g:ddIAAOSwkd5YFg8 e

Sounds as though It could be OK and may go cheap.

[Gordon Steadman]

I got mine for £30 including a cracking Shure M75ED which I still use on one of my TTs. Nice players.

[RothwellAudio]

My amp a Denon 350SE has a phono input



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PIONEER-STEREO-TURN-TABLE-PL-J500-/122200293525?hash=item1c73b48095:g:Jr0AAOSwXeJYEik W

Won't work on it's own


Why won't it work within the system the OP has already?

[walpurgis]

Why won't it work within the system the OP has already?

It will if provided with a 12v DC supply, but that'd be a lot of bother for a flimsy plastic deck. I'd avoid it.

[RothwellAudio]

It will if provided with a 12v DC supply, but that'd be a lot of bother for a flimsy plastic deck. I'd avoid it.

Ok, didn't spot that, sorry.

[Michael loves music]

Many thanks indeed for your replies very kind of you

[wee tee cee]

I bought a Rega rp1 new this year, its a good deck for the money. Well made,easy to set up and if the notion takes you-to upgrade. If you want hassle free plug and play it ticks all the boxes.

More importantly it sounds really rather good!!!!

[Kvaal]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-1980s-Dual-CS-505-1-Turntable-Record-Player-In-Good-Condition-/131978649586?hash=item1eba8a5ff2:g:FmUAAOSwB09YCNh N

[09mike69]

So many old *cheap* turntables available and most of them are cack, frankly (opinion and experience)! My favourite idler driven Duals all need servicing and prices are climbing now and even the later popular 505's can need work to bring them up to snuff. The 505's in wooden plinths (Audiophile Concept) always sounded better for the more solid plinths and the Ortofons they came with are fine with say, an OM10 or OM20 stylus. Pitch and drive belts can be easily obtained I think.

Second hand Regas cost loads now, but are very simple with cheap spares, far better made with superior engineering in my experience, than cheaper Pro-jects and imo sound better too! (why they cost loads!). The Pro-ject Debut sold very well though, but may need a new belt and mat.

Some of the old techie models can work very well. I seem to remember SLB2's and 3's and so on (SLD2's and 3's too) being sonically ok if properly sited. I don't know the equivalent Sony's I'm afraid.

Next level up means a couple of hundred as a minimum now. Thorens 150's are suddenly more desirable and the Td160 is finally being regarded as a more serious model. As long as these haven't had total numpties messing with the suspension, they're very good and usually stay set up once correctly set.

Over this price the market is wide open for so many great used options, but I HAVE to give yet another shout for the excellent Rega Planar 1 at £250 or so. They make many hundreds a month apparently for a worldwide market, so they can afford really nice plinths and covers, the motor is now a 24V type and the tonearm, despite being the most 'basic' model, actually performs better I think than the original RB250 did. The AT91 based 'Carbon' cartridge is also surprisingly good and plays to its strengths well, never showing it's low cost unless directly compared with something good at a ton or more...

love the use of the word "cack".....hehehe...very fitting...anyway buy a cheap p.o.s an tweak it, use gumtree so you can buy something local an test it first...cos everyone wit a record player thinks its worth a fortune now. and its part of the fun to tweak...welcome to circus...