What are various turntables or vinyl players to consider?

[therollo9]

Hi! I guess happy new year and it would be my first post here...ever.

So I just got a vinyl of my current favorite band, and my brother is planning to have some form of player setup, and while I let him buy the speakers , I'm going for the turntable. And maybe for a CD player in the future but vinyl player or turntable first. As for which speakers, I'm making my brother steer towards a pair of JBL 306p MK2 or the Kali LP6v2.

So I guess what would be a really good turntable in various price ranges? Also what to know and such when considering a turntable? I might also be planning to buy an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso when I decide to go try DAC measurements, so I guess a bonus would be a "clean" turntable since I might plan to scrape my own vinyls (because why not.), but again it's not necessarily a super high priority.

 

[Svend P]

Let's get this out of the way first:

Turntables - help me understand the appeal?

I recently put together a nice 2.1 music only system ($3K USD range) and use streaming (Spotify HQ and Qobuz

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Apesbrain]

So I guess what would be a really good turntable in various price ranges? Also what to know and such when considering a turntable?

A good budget turntable is the Audio-Technica LP-70x at about US$280 (currently US$230 on sale.) Stepping up to the next level (Orbit Theory, Rega Planar 3, Technics SL) will run closer to US$1000.

Your turntable will need an internal "phono pre-amp" (as is the case with the LP-70x) or else you'll need to purchase an external unit.

Skip the CD player and get a WiiM Pro Plus instead.

 

[OldHvyMec]

One question you have to answer is, do you currently have access to your own CDs/Records, or are you going to collect from this point on? Records, depending on your location, can vary in price and quality. You can get some great deals on records, and at the same time, you might just purchase a bunch of scratched, dirty material. I'm sure you're aware of that.

The quality of your TT is as important as the abilities of the phono preamp you're using. The mighty "Puffin or Waxing" is great at making many noisy records palatable.
They literally work miracles vs an onboard phono preamp that many of the newer TTs have.

I've been into records for a long time, my choice will certainly be different than yours. Be aware, decent records (sonically) may not exist just because of the poor quality of the source they were taken from. One example is Janis Joplin. I have never heard a high-quality recording of anything she had done. You either love her music and deal with the sound quality or not. Personally, I love her music.

CDs, you don't need to be as picky, other than making sure they aren't ripped. Once again, I PAY for my source material and the rights to archive them. Many think quite differently. But then I don't rob banks either.

I will always prefer to own the material I listen to, and for pure convenience, I listen to the Music Channel and have since it first started broadcasting. The wife is a much bigger audiophile than I ever was. She has some pretty fancy gear compared to most people I know. I maintain most of the stuff, like calibrating the reel-to-reel and cassette. I did like maintaining the older turntables we have. I did/have built a few plinths for a few models like Thoren TD-121 or 124s, Garrard 301, 401, and my personal favorites QRK, Sparta, and Russco Broadcast turntables. I usually keep 1/2 dozen or so for my old customers or the occasional newbie who wants a bulletproof turntable and a ton of nostalgia.

You can pay as little as $30.00 at a garage sale for the older Thoren TD belt-drives or as high as 8-10K for a tricked-out TD-124 I/II or Garrard 301-401. I happen to have a few of the TD-124s and one or two 301/401s (not a big fan of Garrard). I prefer the QRK, Sparta, or Russco for a rim drive.

I'll say this: Some of the new turntables come with well-matched cartridges/tonearms and phono sections, but they are only as good as the source material you have to play on them. Consider the Parks Audio products for long-term playback and to record from. They have quite a following and great support from the manufacturer. I've had correspondence with the original owner. I have no idea who owns what now.

As suggested, a streamer is a nice piece to have if your source material is limited.

No matter what you do, think ahead a little bit. CDs are definitely the less expensive way to go for overall ownership. DON'T overspend on a CD player. I paid 200.00 USD for a great Pro Denon CD. Lots of goodies, including XLR for any potential noise issues. Mine is over 10 years old now. Bulletproof to say the very least.

Regards. Enjoy.

 

[DSJR]

The below is mainly from a UK perspective, but hope it helps anyway.

Cheaper models won't be built too solidly, so SITING is by far the most important thing. This goes for the cheaper plastic-plinthed models as well as solid plinth models from Project, Fluance I suspect (I don't know them), Technics too. Decks like this need their sound-board lids removed when playing as well for best bass reproduction and less chance of feedback which is noticed long before howl-round occurs.

Cheaper models with the ubiquitous AT3600L can have an elliptical stylus upgrade now (3600LE for 3g tracking 3600l and the Rega Carbon Pro for the 2g tracking AT91/Rega Carbon - AT state in a 2017 brochure that the two base model stylus assemblies for the 3600 and 91 are NOT quite the same whatever forum 'experts' claim). The elliptical styli do improve rendition of high frequencies of these pickups - first hand experience here...

I'm a fan of Polish EM artist Madis. His JM Jarre-Inspired albums are on YouTube and the visual backdrop is a ~£250 ProJect deck - Primary E - which has 'exposed' belt drive around the platter (manual speed change) and a basic tonearm with Ortofon OM1S pickup. Said deck is available in the UK from Amazon as well as Richer Sounds and both platter material and stylus can easily be upgraded if desired later on (the styli definitely sound better with better tip profiles - again, first hand experience and an OM10 is a good value upgrade here if bought with the cheap Ortofon stylus pressure balance and set to 1.5g ideally).


I have no idea on the lower cost AT decks and have no need for a beer-budget Technics look-alike, but the LP5X interests me, the fitted cartridge can have a worthwhile stylus upgrade to the VM95ML or SH (Richer Sounds here only charge £16 more for the SH stylus over the ML version) and the built in phono amp is no slouch I gather from those who've compared it to a good external alternative.

Being in the UK, I should wet myself silly over Rega, as I sold this brand for many years. Not too expensive over here (unlike in the US), their decks are utterly reliable but if help is needed, they take the customers' side it seems, parts aren't expensive if not free sometimes, apart from the float-glass platters in most models. Their tonearms are legendary as is the Planar 3 deck, which is several hundred quid now over here. The 3 can have an external power supply used which offers fine-speed adjustment and better belts can be used which reduce wow apparently. The Planar 6 benefits from a massier platter and I always felt the music benefitted too (slightly better bass and 'musical flow,' although no objectives to back up my assertion here The Planar 1 is better finished than ever now and a solid buy at £329, but it's a bit exposed price-wise internationally at least.

Gawd I don't 'arf go off on one as regards the one thing I've worked with for half a century now...

Finally, I have to give a personal HUGE shout to the Technics decks. The SL1500C is superbly made and finished, has a good solid direct drive motor design and a perfectly good tonearm for mid-line MM pickups. It comes over here with Ortofon 2M Red (again, styli easily upgraded) and a built in phono stage.


P.S. Anyone here played with or used the Fluance decks? They're now available online in the UK, but I have no experience at all. Maybe some models share a Chinese parts factory, but no idea I'm afraid.

Same as regards U-Turn turntables. Only the £850 model is shown on Amazon UK together with their phono stage, but as John Lewis here has the Technics SL1500C for £799 with excellent after sales and warranty, it's maybe a moot point.

 

[whereisbrian]

The quality of the vinyl record is essential.

Buying used is a gamble; you don't necessarily know what it was played with, sometimes even a plowshare.

With new records, I sometimes have doubts about the origin of the digital master, which may have been cobbled together.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone, but good vinyl playback requires a significant investment: time, money, and precise setup.

I bought a turntable without a tonearm, a tonearm, a cartridge, wired it up, and set everything up myself. It's a good setup.

 

[Crook]

I inherited some vinyl and listen sometimes. I did not want to spend much, but not to have rubbish either. I went for AT LPX5 with an ML stylus. That is about £400, it is direct drive, has onboard phono (but I do use an external one), has USB etc. It sounds good, it is well built etc. I like direct drive, so next step would be a Technics 1500C. No idea if there would be any audible improvement here, I won't be upgrading, but it would be considered a better deck.

 

[Crook]

The quality of the vinyl record is essential.

Buying used is a gamble; you don't necessarily know what it was played with, sometimes even a plowshare.

With new records, I sometimes have doubts about the origin of the digital master, which may have been cobbled together.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone, but good vinyl playback requires a significant investment: time, money, and precise setup.

I bought a turntable without a tonearm, a tonearm, a cartridge, wired it up, and set everything up myself. It's a good setup.

I'm not convinced you need a significant investment to enjoy some vinyl. I wanted ok on a budget, so got AT with microline. It was super easy to set up out of the box, AT stylus can be easily swapped out and it sounds absolutely fine. Good friend has Clear Audio Signature (£1,400, so a material cost upgrade on my set up) but to be honest it doesn't sound any better to me, we have totally different speaker set ups anyway, a much larger driver of any variations in the sound of systems I'd say.

 

[whereisbrian]

I'm not convinced you need a significant investment to enjoy some vinyl. I wanted ok on a budget, so got AT with microline. It was super easy to set up out of the box, AT stylus can be easily swapped out and it sounds absolutely fine. Good friend has Clear Audio Signature (£1,400, so a material cost upgrade on my set up) but to be honest it doesn't sound any better to me, we have totally different speaker set ups anyway, a much larger driver of any variations in the sound of systems I'd say.

I bought the base of an Ariston RD80 turntable, a Linn tonearm, and I assembled, wired, and tuned everything myself, using an MC AT cartridge and a phono preamp.

It cost around €700.
That's a significant amount for my budget.
I have about 1000 records that I listen to once a month

 

[Crook]

I think €700 is a really good price, for what you achieved there, I figured you were into the €'000, as significant can mean a lot in the audio world!
Nice.

 

[Joe Smith]

I have many vintage turntables and have used them off and on the past 30 years. Nothing fancy. My Yamaha tables have run well and have auto-return, which is a nice feature that's lacking in many low-priced current tables. But one can live without that.

You'll get a lot of advice on this topic. A couple years ago, I bought a current Audio-Technica AT-102xUSB table. It comes with an elliptical cartridge that is good, but their 95 series ML (microline) stylus is better and lasts 3-4x times as long as an elliptical stylus. I think current prices are around $350 for the table (they come in silver or black, and look just like the classic Technics 1200 tables, albeit using lighter materials) and $150 for the microline stylus (you can then save the elliptical as a backup). $500 and you're done with a reliable, direct drive table that runs well. It also has a built in preamp if you need that - can be switched off if you are using an external preamp.

Let of good vintage tables to be had, but you need to know what you're buying. The AT is a good low-muss, no-fuss solution to getting into vinyl/LPs. The 120 is a better and more enjoyable thing than the 70 model mentioned above, IMO.

 

[Cwopete5]

I’ve bought and sold all sorts of turntables over the past decade. My daily driver turntable, a cheap (by audiophile standards) Fluance RT-81+ has proven to be very reliable and fine sounding for my needs. The only change I made was upgrading the stylus to the nude elliptical version.

RT81+ Elite High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable

Fluance RT81+ Hi-Fi Turntable is the next evolution of our Elite vinyl record player. Featuring the best of the RT81 with multiple upgrades, this belt-drive turntable is ready for you to enjoy your record collection with improved frequency response, enhanced imaging, and greater signal clarity...

www.fluance.com

 

[mhardy6647]

One gets what one pays for. Pay for a Technics.

 

[Joe Smith]

A main question to ask yourself is how dedicated you are to the format now/near future, and price your deck and cartridge accordingly. There are very decent cheaper tables in the lower price range (Fluance, Audio-Technica, Rega, etc.) to start out, if you are not wanting to commit a lot of money upfront. If you want to dive into the deep end of the pool right away, well yes, Technics has many options but I believe it's about $1,300 for openers. This is a part of the hobby that can be a rabbit hole - because of the inherent limitations of the format, there's a limit for me on how much I want to spend. And that's for someone with a vinyl collection of roughly 2,000 items.

It is I think a nice thing to get a MM microline cartridge - long life and generally, less groove wear.

Starting out, without a large vinyl collection, keep in mind that the cost of acquiring content is fairly high - for new vinyl, and often for old, depending on category and condition. Yes, don't buy bad condition vinyl that will just irritate you and the stylus. I buy very selectively now. We have some great stores in our local market, fortunately, and one that has more reasonable pricing, as well as a nice CD and tape selection.

The more you've used streaming, the more annoying changing record sides may be, particularly for some modern pressings where they turn what was one LP into two and there are maybe three tracks a side. I'm a child of the 60s and it still annoys me now, but I persist because I do like the format and have the collection. But for someone starting out, it may be a different thing. In other words, don't get swept up in the hype. Vinyl is cool, but you can "date it but not marry it."

 

[mhardy6647]

The very asymmetric stylus profiles are considerably less EDIT more demanding of precise setup, though.
On one hand, this fits in perfectly with the OCD/neurotic vinylista personality but for a dilettante it may be asking too much. Plus, there's the cost.

Technics knows how to design and build a good DD turntable.
I have a couple of (very) vintage ones here -- on deck, so to speak ) , and they are still very fine. At this late date, for a tyro, though, I cannot in good conscience recommend a 40 year old deck.

 

[Joe Smith]

One other bit of advice: if buying something used, pick it up if at all possible. People often don't ship turntables correctly and the stories of broken in transit are sad to read. Another reason for buying new if it has to be shipped to you.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Technics knows how to design and build a good DD turntable.
I have a couple of (very) vintage ones here -- on deck, so to speak ) , and they are still very fine. At this late date, for a tyro, though, I cannot in good conscience recommend a 40 year old deck.

(Make that more like 45.) Unless you are willing to invest some elbow grease, that is. My dad recently got a new-to-him Blaupunkt P-150 (basic auto direct drive) in good working order, polished up the dust cover some more and rewired it from DIN to RCA. Santa then brought a new AT VM95ML.

Nice SL-Q2. I have its straight-armed Grundig relative, the PS 4500, been meaning to rewire it for 15 years (but I only have 3 discs these days as the old ones stayed with my parents). I have also identified a suspect 100µ/10V capacitor that may be the reason why the unit initially takes a long time to react to a start command. Never been much of a priority, I'm all digital and PC-based after all...

The used market may not be much of an option for the OP anyway, as he seems to be in the Philippines. The tropics don't tend to be too kind to electronics long-term, and the country wouldn't exactly have been rich in the 1980s, so I would expect to find little more than the most basic of models from back then. (Which might still have better tonearm bearings than your average Hanpin OEM, but that's another story...)

It has to be said that vinyl is a hobby for people who have the money. It is by no means cost-effective. You'll be spending more and have lower sound quality than with a digital download or CD. If you're a headphone listener and/or like classical music, you may not be satisfied with the best turntable in the world. Digital is not the same experience, of course. I like watching a turntable play, too.

 

[PVW5599]

I know that buying a 40 yr old deck does seem crazy but I have 2 direct drive Technics that work perfectly so if you can find one that hasn't been abused for $100 or so, then spend another $100 - $200 on a new cartridge you should have yourself a nice turntable that's easy to set up and maintain. The only thing I'd do is put a bit of oil on the platter shaft. The reason for the new cartridge is never trust a used one because most sellers have no idea how many hours are on it and when they say like new, best to ignore that and start with a known new one.

 

[Bob from Florida]

Given this is a first turntable, depending on your budget, it may be best not to get an "end game" table. By "end game", I mean spend between $4000-$5000 - think Technics SL-1300G, Waxwing preamp, and a good Audio Technica MM cartridge ie VM95 SH. I still recommend Technics - they do have a entry package at $899 - includes phono preamp and Ortofon Red cartridge. This is not a trivial amount and the tonearm does not have adjustable VTA - not as critical as some people believe. Anyway, check out the link below for a detailed review of its features.