Turntable beginner

Sasso

Sasso

Sasso

Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2007
Posts
3,939
Location
Swansea, Wales
hey all :) just been to visit a friend in berlin and has converted me to the way of the record xD

already have a home cinema system:
onkyo 507
acoustic solutions floorstanders
kef floorstanders
eltax center

so now i want to add a turn table into the mix as got a few good ones from the shop he worked :)

so what do i need to know? do i need a preamp going to my av receiver or will it be fine? do some turntables come with them already? what should i been looking for in a decent model? want to spend as little as possible to be honest so definitly going for a second hand and prefer black to match everything else :)

any makes/models that stand out that would be suitable for me? all advice welcome :)
 
Firstly you will probably need a phono pre amp as I doubt you will have one in your AV amp and turntables dont normally come with them but there are exceptions out there.

Project do some pretty cheap turntables that seem to get pretty good reviews but I havent listened to them myself, and they normally come with an arm and cartridge already fitted.

Personally getting as cheap a one as possible is possibly a mistake as you get what you pay for up to a point.
 
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Sasso said:
would like to spend under 80£ ideally 50£.
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With that budget, don't bother. Cheap turntables are usually seriously nasty. Good turntables require genuine high quality engineering, unlike say a PC, that can simply have the latest chip stuffed in it. Good engineering costs real bucks, and that's not really changed in years.

Save your money up and spend it on the music format that you already own.
 
mmm well i already have some records i just bought and a stack of old ones in the attic somewhere, just tried the really only one i got here but don't work, pretty much an antique hehe

well that's the thing i don;t want to buy a cheap one hence why i want to find a decent entry level one that will give decent sounds and second hand
 
your alomost definately going to need a phono stage as most av amps dont have them built into them ( most cheaps stereo amps dont either )

a half decent set-up new will cost you about £400 - £500 your talking cd quality then of well over a grand, performace wise.

2nd hand rote..... hmmm i'd say try looking for a rega p2 or p3 .. thats just for the turntable ... if your lucky it will come with a needle ... still need a phono stage .. not sure about 2nd on those tbh...

example on cost , just to give an example i bought this modest setup about 5 years ago :-

rega p3 turntable £300
super elys cartridge £150
trichord dino phono box £300
trichord dino+ offboard psu £300

and thats probably classed as just about midrange ... shame my hifi has been sold .. thank god for headphones is all i'll say :)

think about what your after
 
:eek: hummmm that's a **** load of money that i dont have xP i was planning on scannign the bay of electronics or maybe going to the local cashgen to look for it xP

and well seeing as i dont really know what i want are there any tips on what to look for in an entry level one? like do i want belt or direct drive? that sorta things :)
 
you wont find one in a cashgen shop i can assure you :D ebay is your best option .... but strangley i'd avoid names you know in this instance ... sony for instance ... dont do good turntables .. you need to look for rega / project ... almopst all teh good stuff 2nd hand will still be way out of your budget
 
You'll want a belt drive but I very much doubt you will get anything that you are wanting, for the amount of money you want to pay. I really wouldnt bother, you'll only end up spending that money on some POS.

Try looking for a Project Essential, you can pick one up new for £150 so might find one second hand for < £100 or so which leaves you to get a phono amp.

Personally I would keep the money in your pocket and dont bother :)
 
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its got the word "shoe" crossed out :P

you have a much better chance of gettign something for £200 i'd say .... its not something i look for tbh .. i buy new :)
 
right well you said not to look for the usual names... what about this one xP
Citronic PD-1 Direct Drive Turntable MK 3??? or PD-1 ?

it certainly looks the business :)

what about numarks? tt-100?

or gemini's?

my mate wants one too so think gunna look for a pair for decent price so we get one each then just sell on the mixer xP or keep it and hook them up so we can try spinning xP
 
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It depends on what you want. Do you want a turntable for mixing or do you want a turntable for hifi. Those ones you mentioned are not for hifi.

As said, just give up on the idea or just buy what ever you want and waste your money, at least £90 isnt that big a deal.
 
There's a NAD 533 up at present with no bids, you might get lucky with that, or look for used Project decks, or Rega. Keep an eye for a Dual CD505-3 old classic budget deck, might go cheap..... Apart from that don't both as others have said
 
Bear said:
It depends on what you want. Do you want a turntable for mixing or do you want a turntable for hifi. Those ones you mentioned are not for hifi.

As said, just give up on the idea or just buy what ever you want and waste your money, at least £90 isnt that big a deal.
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well could explain why would they not be suitable for putting through my amp? i mean what's the real difference? im sure there are a lot of people out there who don't wana spend lots and lots and lots of money on a turn table and so have to settle for something that isnt going to break the bank?

why couldn't the ones i suggested be suitable for a hifi? i mean if they are going to be used for mixing then they would work fine on a hifi? :confused:
 
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This signals coming from a turntable are I believe around 100 times lower than that of a CD player for a Moving Magnet pickup, or 1000 times lower for a Moving Coil pickup... Also there is very little bass signal, so turntable inputs have a correction circuits which convert the signal back into a form you would enjoy... So basically to use a turntable at all on an AV amp you'll need an external phono amp, which will convert the turntables signals into line level ready for your AV amp.

I wouldnt want to subject records to a cheap deck, or a mixing deck on a regular basis, when your going "wakawakawaka" and making funky sounds with your hands on the record you probably dont really care that your probably puting a bunch of scratches and wear on the record. DJ's who mix like that are getting paid, and if they damage/wear out a record they will simply replace it.. On the other hand if your trying to build a music collection you surely want to do everything possible to keep it in good condition.
 
lol i aint gunna be goining wakawaka xP (im not the bear from the muppets :p ) its gunna be used for playing only so they should get damaged and yea i know i need to invest in a preamp :) so if im not going scratchy scratchy would a mixing deck be ok?
 
Sasso said:
well could explain why would they not be suitable for putting through my amp? i mean what's the real difference? im sure there are a lot of people out there who don't wana spend lots and lots and lots of money on a turn table and so have to settle for something that isnt going to break the bank?

why couldn't the ones i suggested be suitable for a hifi? i mean if they are going to be used for mixing then they would work fine on a hifi? :confused:
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As I said, it fully depends on what you want a turntable for. If you only want one just to play records on then it will be fine. If you want a turntable so that you can listen to music that sounds as good or or some would say better than CD then it isnt going to happen with one of the turntables you have listed.

Just buy what you want and if its a mistake then its only £90 down the drain and on the up side, you might find the quality acceptable then its all good.
 
thanks :) yea am working on a tight budget but found 2 decks for 60£ so theres one for me and my mate xD but will keep looking :) hoping the quality will be good enough *crosses fingers*

next is the pre amp :P tempted to try and build my own xP cos some are silly expensive :p
 
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