Should I Get A Turntable?

[Ninanina]

I've been thinking whether I should get a turntable or not

I keep thinking what would I be gaining? then on the other hand I am pretty sure that vinyl CAN sound somewhat more refined than CD

I definitely don't want to spend too much on it if I do go down that route, but would I gain much having a simple/inexpensive set up? or would I need to spend lots to get a decent sound against CD?

Thanks for any help and guidance; I really am a turntable virgin, I pretty much know nothing about the beasts

[southall-1998]

Just get a Rock Turntable and be happy !!

[Graeme]

Have you got lots of vinyl?
If yes, get a TT.
If not, dont bother unless your happy to spend lots of money on records!

I love the whole thing, crate digging, second hand vinyl shops, the ritual, the sound, it all goes together.
But i'd say if your not 'into' vinyl then think carefully as it will get expensive

[Ninanina]

Just get a Rock Turntable and be happy !!

Is that made by Townshend Audio? They look expensive, are they?

[John]

I think you have to ask yourself how much you will use one and do you really need one. Remember you will have to factor a phonostage also in as well as a cart and arm. There some great TTs around but no point if you will not use it
What price are we talking about

[Rothchild]

If you've already got a vinyl collection then probably you should have a turntable, but from my rudimentary dabblings I think you need quite a lot of investment to get the kind of vinyl sound that folk rave about. The majority of my vinyl pleasure comes not from the sound per-se but from the finding and exploring vinyl as a relatively cheap way (I tend only to crate dig charity shops and markets) to access music.

If I'm honest (and I'm sorry, I know this is the analogue board) I quite regularly put a flac file on after a good vinyl session and think 'fuck me that sounds great!'

Now, to be fair, I don't have the greatest reproduction system and I'm sure with some greater level of concern and expenditure than I'm able to make good vinyl sounds,,, good, but for me the enjoyment of vinyl is in more than the sound. (being the geek I am sometimes the fun is noticing the stuff that sounds better one way or the other e.g George Michael's 'Faith' album sounds better on CD but Portishead's 'Dummy' sounds better on vinyl)

So if you've got vinyl and/or you want to go shopping for some then yes you should have a turntable, if not then well I think it's a more marginal matter!

[Stratmangler]

If you have an existing vinyl collection then get a turntable.
If you haven't got any vinyl then don't tread the path - it's more effort than it's worth.

[Idlewithnodrive]

Just buy yourself a second hand deck, something like a Rega P3 that is well liked and known to have a decent sound for not a lot of money, a couple of your favourite albums on vinyl and jump in and see for yourself.

If it's not for you, you won't lose much money on resell and if you love it, you have my commiserations cos that's when the real problems begin

[chelsea]

Yes.

[Audioman]

Come on Bev how have you managed to avoid Turntables? I'm sure you can remember the vinyl era or were you a cassette person? As far as TT's are concerned the more you spend the better the sound more so than CD players. You really need to give us a budget but against your CD player I think something better than a Planar 3 or the cheaper Projects.

Good older designs at reasonable cost would include Michel Focus, Heybrook TT2 and Systemdek IIX. The later 2 need more skills in setting up the suspension. How about Michell Techno Dec or Project Perspective for newer designs. These are about the same ballpark price as that ex dem Tellurium Q Ultra Cable. Of course will need to buy a separate arm for most of these as well as a cartridge. Also has your Otto got a built in MM stage? If not a phono preamp will be needed.

Also consider the cost of building a vinyl collection from scratch these days. Decent used vinyl is becoming harder to find in my experience though there are far more reissues coming out. The better produced reissues aren't that cheap though many can be found for £15 or less.

Paul.