Turntable

[Cadder]

Hi all,

We have been looking for a good turntable for a while and would benefit from the knowledge and experience in this forum. We want something with decent quality audio and looks good - a clean solid wood finish would be perfect. Some other notes:

• We will be listening to a range of records - Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Taking Back Sunday, Bon Iver.
• Bluetooth would be handy. Ideally I would connect it to my 5.1 amp setup for now.
• Budget sits around £400, maxing out at £500 unless I can persuade Mrs. Cadder..

Which turntable would you recommend?

 

[JonRGV250]

Pioneer PL-71 if you can find a good one.

 

[hornetstinger]

Hi all,

We have been looking for a good turntable for a while and would benefit from the knowledge and experience in this forum. We want something with decent quality audio and looks good - a clean solid wood finish would be perfect. Some other notes:

• We will be listening to a range of records - Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Taking Back Sunday, Bon Iver.
• Bluetooth would be handy. Ideally I would connect it to my 5.1 amp setup for now.
• Budget sits around £400, maxing out at £500 unless I can persuade Mrs. Cadder..

Which turntable would you recommend?

Good quality and Bluetooth? Ummmm....

Rega, project come to mind. You will need a phono stage somewhere either in the player itself, in a separate box, or in your amp.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

As above, Rega or Apollo. Remember that you’ll need a phono amp.

 

[kitfit1]

In all honesty, Bluetooth has no place on any sort of analogue platform let alone Vinyl.
That said, you do have some options that don't include Bluetooth at your budget.
The first is the Project T1 Phono. At £379 it falls within your £400 budget and includes a phono stage built in and MM cartridge. I have actually heard this deck and for the money it is hard to beat. I actually think it's biggest downfall is the phono stage itself. Because the deck is built to a price point the savings have come from the phono stage.

Pro-Ject T1 Phono SB (Walnut)

Shop for Project T1 Phono SB Walnut Turntable with Richer Sounds for a 6 Year Guarantee, expert advice and Lowest Prices Guaranteed

www.richersounds.com

The second would be the Rega Planar 1. A superior deck to the T1 at £329 which also come with an MM cartridge but no phono stage. But pair it with a Rega fono MK5 and it raises the whole game much higher than the T1 at a combined cost of £549.

Rega Planar 1 Turntable

The Rega Planar 1 is the new replacement for the RP1. The designers at rega have re-worked almost every detail of the best-selling turntable giving you the best entry level product they have produced by still keeping the price extremely competitive.

www.analogueseduction.net

Rega Fono Mk5 Moving Magnet Phono Stage

Rega Fono Mk5 Moving Magnet Phono Stage available now at Analogue Seduction

www.analogueseduction.net

A better choice again would be the Rega Planar 2, but with a phono stage that would move the cost up to £720.

Rega Planar 2 Turntable

Buy the Rega Planar 2 from Analogue Seduction

www.analogueseduction.net

 

[hornetstinger]

With the project one does it have dual output, one with phono stage and another pre phono stage? That way you could use the built in stage then later upgrade to dedicated phono stage.

I recall there is record player with two outputs not sure which one

Also check you avr that may have a phono stage also

 

[BF-Bert]

If you really need or want bluetooth the only quality option is the Cambridge Alva but it is a bit out of budget at £849 or £599 if you are a Richer Sounds VIP.

 

[kitfit1]

With the project one does it have dual output, one with phono stage and another pre phono stage? That way you could use the built in stage then later upgrade to dedicated phono stage.

I recall there is record player with two outputs not sure which one

Also check you avr that may have a phono stage also

The Project T1 does not have dual outputs. What it does have though is switch underneath the deck that removes the built in phono stage from the signal path, so that it can be used with an offboard phono stage.
If that was to be a plan for the future though it would be better to buy the Rega Planar 1 now along with the Rega Phono, a cheaper long term option and a better deck now.

 

[Cadder]

Spoiler

In all honesty, Bluetooth has no place on any sort of analogue platform let alone Vinyl.
That said, you do have some options that don't include Bluetooth at your budget.
The first is the Project T1 Phono. At £379 it falls within your £400 budget and includes a phono stage built in and MM cartridge. I have actually heard this deck and for the money it is hard to beat. I actually think it's biggest downfall is the phono stage itself. Because the deck is built to a price point the savings have come from the phono stage.

Pro-Ject T1 Phono SB (Walnut)

Shop for Project T1 Phono SB Walnut Turntable with Richer Sounds for a 6 Year Guarantee, expert advice and Lowest Prices Guaranteed

www.richersounds.com

The second would be the Rega Planar 1. A superior deck to the T1 at £329 which also come with an MM cartridge but no phono stage. But pair it with a Rega fono MK5 and it raises the whole game much higher than the T1 at a combined cost of £549.

Rega Planar 1 Turntable

The Rega Planar 1 is the new replacement for the RP1. The designers at rega have re-worked almost every detail of the best-selling turntable giving you the best entry level product they have produced by still keeping the price extremely competitive.

www.analogueseduction.net

Rega Fono Mk5 Moving Magnet Phono Stage

Rega Fono Mk5 Moving Magnet Phono Stage available now at Analogue Seduction

www.analogueseduction.net

A better choice again would be the Rega Planar 2, but with a phono stage that would move the cost up to £720.

Rega Planar 2 Turntable

Buy the Rega Planar 2 from Analogue Seduction

www.analogueseduction.net

Thank you so much for this. How do these two fit in with the list of recommendations?

TEAC TN350 - I'm leaning toward this for price and built-in phono stage.

Teac TN350 (Matte Black)

Shop for Teac TN350 Matte Black USB Turntable with Richer Sounds for expert advice and lowest prices guaranteed

www.richersounds.com

Roksan Attessa - it's on offer at nearly half the "RRP". Is it 3x better than the above TEAC unit?

Roksan Attessa Turntable (Satin Black)

Shop for Roksan Attessa Turntable (Satin Black) Turntable with Richer Sounds for expert advice and lowest prices guaranteed

www.richersounds.com

I see the general advice is not to bother with Bluetooth so I'm happy to go without. I also didn't know about the phono pre-amp so thanks all who mentioned that requirement.

 

[kitfit1]

Yes, it is better than the Teac, in fact it is better than any deck mentioned in this thread. The RS price of £599 is a genuine bargain...................most other etailers have it at full retail price.
What you do need to know about the Attessa though is that it does need setting up properly, it's not anywhere near the plug and play of other decks mentioned. Because of the arm construction, if it's not set up properly the stylus will skip and jump.

 

[hornetstinger]

What avr so you have?

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

That Roksan looks ace. If I had any vinyl I'd be looking to negotiate with the missus over it.

 

[hornetstinger]

That Roksan looks ace. If I had any vinyl I'd be looking to negotiate with the missus over it.

Or this it had a laser thing which you can align so the spindle is spot on central

IMG-20230617-145747857-2 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-20230617-145747857-2 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[lucid]

Hi all,

We have been looking for a good turntable for a while and would benefit from the knowledge and experience in this forum. We want something with decent quality audio and looks good - a clean solid wood finish would be perfect. Some other notes:

• We will be listening to a range of records - Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Taking Back Sunday, Bon Iver.
• Bluetooth would be handy. Ideally I would connect it to my 5.1 amp setup for now.
• Budget sits around £400, maxing out at £500 unless I can persuade Mrs. Cadder..

Which turntable would you recommend?

The Roksan is a tremendous bargain. It was launched at £995, but inflation being what it is the full selling price is now £1,095, so to have the chance to grab it at £649 or £599 if you sign up to the RS VIP club (a discount card if you like, no commitment) is a saving of £500, and that was your original upper-end budget. I can imagine that other retailers are a bit miffed at this.

@kitfit1 mentioned that the arm needs careful setup. That's absolutely true. Have a look at this image of an aircraft and the axes of rotation. LINK. Think of the tonearm as the main fuselage of a plane. More conventional tonearms only allow pitch and yaw. This means that the tonearm can ride the undulations of the record surface while the needle tracks towards the centre.

The Roksan and several other high-end tonearm manufacturers use a different type of bearing at the pivot point. It's called a unipivot, and it gets its name because there's just one point of support. If you're old enough you might remember kid's playgrounds with the Witches Hat. Unipivot tonearms use the same principle. The pivot point is above the centre of gravity, so when it's all balanced correctly then there's no roll in the arm. Here's another Roksan deck with a unipivot bearing. LINK At the rear of the Attessa tonearm there's a weight which can be moved from side-to-side to correct the roll.

For someone with a practical bent then none of this is too much of a challenge. It's just getting things level mostly. However, for a novice it could be a little more daunting. A Pro-Ject or Rega might be a better fit, especially if the amp and speakers aren't going to allow the extra resolution of the Roksan to be fully appreciated. It keeps the budget closer to what was originally intended, and those turntables are still tremendous fun.

 

[Cadder]

Thank you all for your help on this. I have the Onkyo HT-S3800 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver/Speaker Package. I appreciate that's low end so I take it the Roksan Attessa would be held back until I upgrade the amp?

 

[hornetstinger]

Thank you all for your help on this. I have the Onkyo HT-S3800 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver/Speaker Package. I appreciate that's low end so I take it the Roksan Attessa would be held back until I upgrade the amp?

Pointless getting a good record player maybe look for cheap second one upgraded your avr and speakers then get better player

 

[lucid]

Thank you all for your help on this. I have the Onkyo HT-S3800 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver/Speaker Package. I appreciate that's low end so I take it the Roksan Attessa would be held back until I upgrade the amp?

The Attessa will still do an amazing job of digging out the info from your records, but a lot of the finesse will be wasted because the amp and the speakers - especially the speakers - really aren't up to the job of relaying it to your ears.

I've been mulling over your options as I've been doing other stuff. In the normal course of events the Attessa would be £1,100 and unlikely to be on your RADAR. What throws the cat amongst the pigeons is this £599/£649 price. Bearing in mind that the Rega P1 + Fono tips in at £550-ish, the small difference in price to get the Attessa is (IMO) and absolute no brainer. You're then left with a turntable that's massively better than the amp and speakers it will be used with, but a turntable that you'll never need to upgrade.

Let's pretend money isn't a consideration. What sort of AV-cum-Hi-Fi system would someone have that could come close to tapping the Attessa's potential? This is all very subjective and there could be any number of possible systems, but to put it in perspective, a mid-range ARCAM receiver (£2.5K) with a Focal Aria 5-speaker kit + 3rd party sub such as a BK would be about the level. The total would be around the £5.5K.

With your current amp and speaker kit you could live quite happily with a Denon DP-29F or Audio Technica AT-LP60 but they're not exactly stylish. The Sony PSLX310BT at £229 would be thoroughly decent though. It's fully automatic, and includes a phono pre-amp. It even has Bluetooth. That deck would see you through to a £600~£800 AVR upgrade and £750~£1,000 speaker package.

IMO, your choices depend on where you see yourself going with the amp and speakers. If you think you'll upgrade the speakers but stick with bookshelf speakers such as the Q Acoustics 3020i then something like the Sony deck makes sense. The Pro-Ject T1 would sound better, but not twice as good. Where you can afford the Attessa though, even with your modest gear, that would be my pick.

 

[Cadder]

Spoiler

The Attessa will still do an amazing job of digging out the info from your records, but a lot of the finesse will be wasted because the amp and the speakers - especially the speakers - really aren't up to the job of relaying it to your ears.

I've been mulling over your options as I've been doing other stuff. In the normal course of events the Attessa would be £1,100 and unlikely to be on your RADAR. What throws the cat amongst the pigeons is this £599/£649 price. Bearing in mind that the Rega P1 + Fono tips in at £550-ish, the small difference in price to get the Attessa is (IMO) and absolute no brainer. You're then left with a turntable that's massively better than the amp and speakers it will be used with, but a turntable that you'll never need to upgrade.

Let's pretend money isn't a consideration. What sort of AV-cum-Hi-Fi system would someone have that could come close to tapping the Attessa's potential? This is all very subjective and there could be any number of possible systems, but to put it in perspective, a mid-range ARCAM receiver (£2.5K) with a Focal Aria 5-speaker kit + 3rd party sub such as a BK would be about the level. The total would be around the £5.5K.

With your current amp and speaker kit you could live quite happily with a Denon DP-29F or Audio Technica AT-LP60 but they're not exactly stylish. The Sony PSLX310BT at £229 would be thoroughly decent though. It's fully automatic, and includes a phono pre-amp. It even has Bluetooth. That deck would see you through to a £600~£800 AVR upgrade and £750~£1,000 speaker package.

IMO, your choices depend on where you see yourself going with the amp and speakers. If you think you'll upgrade the speakers but stick with bookshelf speakers such as the Q Acoustics 3020i then something like the Sony deck makes sense. The Pro-Ject T1 would sound better, but not twice as good. Where you can afford the Attessa though, even with your modest gear, that would be my pick.

Thanks @lucid - this advice is incredibly helpful.

With it all in perspective I think the Sony is the right choice. I can't see us spending £5.5k on a sound system so we would likely never reach the best of what the Atessa can offer.

If the Sony still has a little headroom on our current entry level Onkyo setup then it seems the best option. We'll only replace our amp/speakers if something breaks and we'll be happy with around the same.

Thanks again for your help, it is very much appreciated.

 

[Grimley]

That Roksan turntable, I havent seen a flat Tonearm one for donkeys years. I owned a TT with a flat tonearm back in the 80's. NAD 5120. Good value at the time but buzzed like a bee. Ended up selling it & gave up on vinyl once CD arrived.
Cant give you an opinion on buying one, due to the length Ive been out of 2 channel hardware for so long. It does seem to be a bargain at almost half the price of other retailers.

 

[kitfit1]

That Roksan turntable, I havent seen a flat Tonearm one one for donkeys years. I owned a TT with a flat tonearm back in the 80's. NAD 5120. Good value at the time but buzzed like a bee. Ended up selling it & gave up on vinyl once CD arrived.
Cant give you an opinion on buying one, due to the length Ive been out of 2 channel hardware for so long. It does seem to be a bargain at almost half the price of other retailers.

The second record deck i owned also had a flat tonearm, not only was it flat it was also tangentially tracking. It also had strobe speed control as well. It was the Garrard Zero 100s and i think i bought around 1976 but can't for the life of me remember what i paid for it.
Although not mine, the one in the pic below is exactly the same. It came with an acrylic cover and the aluminium covered base. It was a very good deck and would always track a record spot on. I wouldn't say that the speed was always spot on though