Need advice on a good record player (1 Viewer)

[ryan davis]

I have tons of records that never get played anymore because my record player broke about 10 years ago. I figure i might as well get one just because i have records that i cannot find on cd, or that im so use to the record sound that i prefer it. Im looking for cheap, but good. Any ideas?

 

[Tim Baldwin]

" ... cheap, but good."
Hey, aren't we all
If you are talking new, the entry level Pro-ject 1.2 or Music Hall MMF3 can be had for about 300 and the Rega P2 about 500. If even that is over your budget, there are used tables to be found for less. You might try some of these links:
www.audioasylum.com
www.audiogon.com
Link Removed
www.laventure.net/tourist
I have my first table, a 25 yo Pioneer still working great with a decent Grado that I use for my old scuffed up ones, and a newer Rega for those in good condition. Have a great time hunting for old treasures. Have fun!

 

[ryan davis]

Well, maybe i should rephrase it as "the best one i can get for the least amount of $$$"

Ill check out all of those sights. Currently i can buy a technics 1200 off of my buddy, but i dont know how nice they are. I know there about the top picks for dj's do to how long they last, direct drive etc., but i dont know good they sound. Any more info from LP lovers?

 

[Chris PC]

Depending on how much use the 1200 has gotten and how much the seller wants, it may be a perfectly good sounding platter for the money compared to other turntables. If its too worn-out or too expensive or both, then forget it. I have an old SL-BD22 Technics Belt-drive turntablle that I need to fix up. It was decent but I never used any spectacular cartridge needles with it. Its dusty and not spinning consistently. Not sure what to clean or fix.
[Edited last by Chris PC on October 27, 2001 at 09:11 PM]

 

[Saurav]

quote: Well, maybe i should rephrase it as "the best one i can get for the least amount of $$$"[/quote]
That's still a little vague, because there are great value-for-money options at many price points. Here are some that I have owned, so I can recommend these completely:
* Pioneer PL-12D. I bought one for $25 off of eBay. Put a $40 Grado Black cartridge on it, and it sounded better in some respects than my $250 Denon DCM-270 CD player.
That would be my entry-point suggestion. However, that doesn't even begin to touch the possibilities of vinyl. If you want a budget table that can give you an idea of what vinyl is capable of, look at the Rega P2 or P3. I can almost guarantee you won't be disappointed.
The Technics 1200 gets mixed reviews, I have read people who've modified them heavily and say that they can sound as good as anything, while others (most) say that they're workhorses, but not the last word in sophistication.
What's your budget, tentatively? You need to think about a table, a cartridge and a phono stage, I'm assuming you don't have any of these. And if you get into this seriously, some record cleaning options. If you're just looking to experiment with vinyl, I would recommend not spending more than a couple of hundred bucks in total, but keep in mind that while you'll be playing records, you won't even begin to taste what they're capable of. The reason is simple - retrieving information from a record inviolves tracking really tiny vibrations, which means you need something built to very tight mechanical tolerances to do it right, which costs money.
Edit: I should give you my frame of reference: I'm currently running a Rega P3 ($350 off of eBay) with a Dynavector 10X4 cartridge ($250, bought from someone else, goes for $350 new) and a Radio Shack phono stage ($25, don't laugh, it's better than it looks). This setup completely kills my CD player. The phono stage is temporary, I'm researching this area right now.
[Edited last by Saurav on October 28, 2001 at 01:19 AM]