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Sony PS LX250H -- Good Turntable?

Steven Holt

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I have a chance to get the Sony ps lx250h turntable. Does anyone have experience with it? It is belt driven, automatic, with a built in phono preamp. You can't replace the cartridge, but you can change the stylus. I may need a new belt for it, do they still make them? Looking at it, it's not fancy, but is it a good basic turntable? It seems to be from the late '90's. The seller wants $50 for it, fyi.
 

Doodski

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For me it is a big fat N O. Nonreplaceable cartridge, a basic turntable. $50.00 is too much anyway.
 

Cote Dazur

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I may need a new belt for it
What make you say that? I would be more worried with the state of the stylus. A complete TT with phono stage from Sony for 50$ In good working order, does not look that bad, from my perspective depending on your objective and expectations.
Worst case you can always resale it if you have set the bar too low.
Specifications. Drive system: belt drive. Motor: DC motor. Platter: 295mm die-cast aluminium alloy. Speeds: 33 and 45rpm. Wow and flutter: less than 0.25%.

TURNTABLE BELT FOR SONY TP-6850 PS-LX200H PS-LX250H PS-LX295 WARRANTY NEW, on Amazon: 9.29$​

 
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Steven Holt

Steven Holt

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What make you say that? I would be more worried with the state of the stylus. A complete TT with phono stage from Sony for 50$ In good working order, does not look that bad, from my perspective depending on your objective and expectations.
Worst case you can always resale it if you have set the bar too low.
Specifications. Drive system: belt drive. Motor: DC motor. Platter: 295mm die-cast aluminium alloy. Speeds: 33 and 45rpm. Wow and flutter: less than 0.25%.

TURNTABLE BELT FOR SONY TP-6850 PS-LX200H PS-LX250H PS-LX295 WARRANTY NEW, on Amazon: 9.29$​

Well, as far as the belt goes, I just wanted to be prepared 'just in case'. Good point about the stylus; I'll inspect it. Thank you very much for the Amazon link! I'm still considering it.
 

deniall83

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Wouldn't touch it. Honestly, unless you have a ton of records already, vinyl really isn't worth it. If you're set on a turntable then try and find a good vintage unit at a thrift store or the like.
 

DVDdoug

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BIAS WARINING - I'M ANTI-VINYL!* ;)

Why are you thinking about buying a turntable and have you ever owned one?

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but if you have some old records that you want to play and/or digitize I'd say that's a good reason. But if you've never owned records or a turntable, I'd advise against adding one to your setup. Or, if the money means nothing to you, go ahead and have fun!!!

Knowzy.com has lots of turntable reviews and recommendations. Tons of good information but it's mostly focused on USB turntables and digitizing records and he doesn't have a review of that particular Sony model.

Based on what seems to be an original price around $300 USD, I'd say the Sony is in what I consider the "sweet spot" of $300 - $500.

And I'd just assume it might need a belt and/or I'd just go-ahead and buy a spare while it's available. And if I was buying a used turntable I'd plan on buying a new cartridge, or at least a new stylus if it comes with a good cartridge.

The biggest limitation on sound quality is the records themselves and there's nothing you can do about that. :( With analog, more money can buy better sound quality, to a point, but no matter how much you spend you're never going to match the sound quality** of a cheap CD player.

So.... If you go too-cheap you'll get poor sound quality. If you spend too much money there is little or no improvement in sound quality.

On the super-cheap end you might end-up with a ceramic (instead of magnetic) phono cartridge and they have lousy frequency response (and they might even damage your records). A cheap magnetic cartridge will be a lot better, but a better magnetic cartridge is even better, to a point.

The main difference between (good magnetic) cartridges is frequency response. That can be tweaked with EQ and if you are playing older records they don't have "flat response" anyway.

Mechanically, a cheap turntable can have rumble or other mechanical vibration/noise that gets picked-up by the cartridge. And a cheap tone arm can have trouble with low tracking force and compliant cartridges.

My personal preference would be for a direct drive turntable. I've seen worn belts & drive wheels. But my ~30 year old direct drive Techniques is still going strong. It only gets used occasionally to digitize a record, and I only do that when a recording isn't available digitally. If I was buying a turntable today, I'd seriously consider the current version of the AT-LP120-USB. It's in my price-quality sweet spot, it comes ready-to-play with a built-in preamp, a not-terrible cartridge, and as a bonus it has USB for digitizing.


* I don't "play records" anymore but I grew-up with vinyl. My main complaint is (and was) noise. There is always some audible surface noise, and no matter how good your playback system, you get noise from the record. And then there are the clicks & pops which are usually caused by damage, but even if you take care of your records the clicks & pops seem to "develop" and most old records left-over from the vinyl days will have clicks & pops. The clicks & pops ALWAYS drove me nuts! In those days, I could with some background hiss & crackle, and maybe even a little hum from the preamp. But now, I appreciate the dead-silent background of digital.

The frequency response (or "frequency balance") on older records was rather bad too with most having rolled-off highs. Occasionally you'd run across a good one I assume modern vinyl is better in that regard.


** I'm talking about technical sound quality (noise, distortion, and frequency response). Some people like the sound of vinyl and are not bothered by the background nose and other limitations. That's fine and I'm arguing about what sounds best so someone else.
 
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Steven Holt

Steven Holt

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BIAS WARINING - I'M ANTI-VINYL!* ;)

Why are you thinking about buying a turntable and have you ever owned one?

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but if you have some old records that you want to play and/or digitize I'd say that's a good reason. But if you've never owned records or a turntable, I'd advise against adding one to your setup. Or, if the money means nothing to you, go ahead and have fun!!!

Knowzy.com has lots of turntable reviews and recommendations. Tons of good information but it's mostly focused on USB turntables and digitizing records and he doesn't have a review of that particular Sony model.

Based on what seems to be an original price around $300 USD, I'd say the Sony is in what I consider the "sweet spot" of $300 - $500.

And I'd just assume it might need a belt and/or I'd just go-ahead and buy a spare while it's available. And if I was buying a used turntable I'd plan on buying a new cartridge, or at least a new stylus if it comes with a good cartridge.

The biggest limitation on sound quality is the records themselves and there's nothing you can do about that. :( With analog, more money can buy better sound quality, to a point, but no matter how much you spend you're never going to match the sound quality** of a cheap CD player.

So.... If you go too-cheap you'll get poor sound quality. If you spend too much money there is little or no improvement in sound quality.

On the super-cheap end you might end-up with a ceramic (instead of magnetic) phono cartridge and they have lousy frequency response (and they might even damage your records). A cheap magnetic cartridge will be a lot better, but a better magnetic cartridge is even better, to a point.

The main difference between (good magnetic) cartridges is frequency response. That can be tweaked with EQ and if you are playing older records they don't have "flat response" anyway.

Mechanically, a cheap turntable can have rumble or other mechanical vibration/noise that gets picked-up by the cartridge. And a cheap tone arm can have trouble with low tracking force and compliant cartridges.

My personal preference would be for a direct drive turntable. I've seen worn belts & drive wheels. But my ~30 year old direct drive Techniques is still going strong. It only gets used occasionally to digitize a record, and I only do that when a recording isn't available digitally. If I was buying a turntable today, I'd seriously consider the current version of the AT-LP120-USB. It's in my price-quality sweet spot, it comes ready-to-play with a built-in preamp, a not-terrible cartridge, and as a bonus it has USB for digitizing.


* I don't "play records" anymore but I grew-up with vinyl. My main complaint is (and was) noise. There is always some audible surface noise, and no matter how good your playback system, you get noise from the record. And then there are the clicks & pops which are usually caused by damage, but even if you take care of your records the clicks & pops seem to "develop" and most old records left-over from the vinyl days will have clicks & pops. The clicks & pops ALWAYS drove me nuts! In those days, I could with some background hiss & crackle, and maybe even a little hum from the preamp. But now, I appreciate the dead-silent background of digital.

The frequency response (or "frequency balance") on older records was rather bad too with most having rolled-off highs. Occasionally you'd run across a good one I assume modern vinyl is better in that regard.


** I'm talking about technical sound quality (noise, distortion, and frequency response). Some people like the sound of vinyl and are not bothered by the background nose and other limitations. That's fine and I'm arguing about what sounds best so someone else.
Thank you for your comment! There's a lot of good information here, I appreciate it!
 
OP
Steven Holt

Steven Holt

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Some listeners can separate noise and distortion from the music. I can't.

Thank you. I understand that vinyl has some inherent flaws that cannot be corrected, no matter what. I must say that I am somewhat in your camp, as I am a casual vinyl listener. It simply does not pay to listen to vinyl too close!
 
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Steven Holt

Steven Holt

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Thanks guys, the jury's in. So, I offered the guy $30 for it, he declined, so I walked away. I'll probably take Denial183's advice and look in the used shops. I want to thank all of you for offering your considered advice, and taking the time to respond to my post. Wisdom only comes from listening to the wise.
 

4Real

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Thanks guys, the jury's in. So, I offered the guy $30 for it, he declined, so I walked away. I'll probably take Denial183's advice and look in the used shops. I want to thank all of you for offering your considered advice, and taking the time to respond to my post. Wisdom only comes from listening to the wise.
just came across this thread. don't know if you got a table but if you didn't any of the direct drive Technics with a P mount Cartridge would be a great starter table. add a new Audio Technica cartridge and you'll get very good sound.
 

dlaloum

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A couple of (late) comments

The cartridge that is built in is basically an Audio Technica AT3600 - one of many variation on the AT95/VM95

There are a wide range of Styli available for this ubiquitous cartridge... ranging up to line contact needles like:

Uprades on this sort of Turntable are always going to be limited - but potential performance with proper vibration control of its platform, and a good stylus upgrade, would, I expect, frighten many $1000+ turntables.

Much like speakers - setup often has a greater impact on TT's than the TT itself.... a well set up TT, even a bottom end one like this, is guaranteed to outperform a top end TT poorly set up. - And these Sony's have a decent reputation for reliabililty... so to me, $50 seems reasonable.
 
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