A good used turntable for less than £50?

**horace** · 17-10-2010, 13:30

A mate of mine has recently come back from abroad and found that his turntable has gone missing in storage. The deck in question was a Rotel RP-830.

I'm thinking of getting him a replacement deck. I know he liked the Rotel, so I could look out for one of those, but could I do better for £50 (or less)?

The heart of his system is a 70s-tastic Technics receiver with a fairly reasonable mm phono stage in it.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Martin

**Rare Bird** · 17-10-2010, 14:14

Hi Martin
Theres loads of Rotel 'RP830' on E-Bay

**horace** · 17-10-2010, 14:30

Originally Posted by Andre

Hi Martin
Theres loads of Rotel 'RP830' on E-Bay

Hi Andre - yeah, and they aren't expensive either.

I don't know the Rotel very well - how would it rate against (say) a Dual 505 or Sansui SR222 (both decks I have owned in the dim and distant)?

Cheers

Martin

**Rare Bird** · 17-10-2010, 14:42

The Dual 'CS505' should have the edge but a lot don't like the asthetics too much. The 'CS5000' is a nicer looking deck but i'd have thought more than £50 for one of those..If he likes the Rotel you may aswell just buy another..

**John** · 17-10-2010, 15:08

I get a lenco and make a home made plinth; lots of info around and with the right plinth the lenco will sound very good

**DSJR** · 17-10-2010, 15:54

The Lenco GL75 is the best of the cheapies, but it's not quite so cheap now and now "Technical & General" have retired, it may be more difficult to obtain the tonearm bearing blocks they all need every ten to fifteen years or so and also idler wheels etc...

That Rotel RP850 is the one to look out for. HiFi Choice recommended it, but didn't like the overly resonant plinth in the 830 model.

The Sansui and a whole host of others will suffer with the plinths IMO...

As for Duals, the idler driven auto decks are in a different sound quality league, having the potential to be excellent. The tonearms are in a different league as well and can take surprisingly good cartridges. "£50" ones to look out for are the 1019 (classic gaining value now), 1216, 1218, 1219, 1229 (the best of this series), 601, 512.. The 505 series sold by the bucketload but all of these have a modest performance ceiling beyond which they cannot be taken, regardless of mat or cartridge. Some of the Ortofon based cartridges are the Ortofon OM series, of which the OM20 stylus works brilliantly in the Dual. However the Ortofon/Henley pension pots now dictate the OM20 stylus as dangerously near £100, more than double what a 505 would cost.

Can you get a used Pro-Ject Debut for around fifty notes nowadays? The cartridge was an OM5e I think (?) and as the bodies are the same......... Treated to a light but rigid support, a Debut sounds really good, if a little "raw" with supplied cartridge and the arm was super-glued together in parts, but don't let that bother you

The pro-Ject 1.5 was better, but may still be fetching over a ton...

**The Vinyl Adventure** · 17-10-2010, 16:47

If you could stretch to a little bit more, I'm gonna be selling my thorens td160 at some point... ...

**DSJR** · 17-10-2010, 16:53

That's a much better bet allround. What are you going to look at next Hamish?

**The Vinyl Adventure** · 17-10-2010, 16:59

Still thinking dave, maybe a more moddable thorens, or a long term vintage project ...
I have more pressing plans for my money though at the moment as we have discussed

**Beechwoods** · 17-10-2010, 17:21

I agree with Dave on the Lenco point - excellent turntables, but likely to cost nearer £100 for a basic L75 these days. Garrard > Thorens > Lenco, prices seems to be rising for Thorens and Lencos in line with Garrards going astronomical

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