turntable recommendation II

i've heard good things about the music hall MMF-2.1, though it's slightly more than $300. that's pretty much the model i'm looking at buying someday, when i get sick of the beat-ass technics i have right now.

http://www.furious.com/perfect/vinyl26.html

Also, look around at estate and yard sales if you have the time...who knows you might find an old Linn.

a friend wants a turntable that comes with speakers built into it, like an all in one. Any ideas?

hmmm well...i dunno, why does he want that? i would not recommend it, esp considering you could cobble together a great sounding stereo on craigslist for less than you'd spend on one of those things

^^^^

It's a she and she's not an audiophile. She's wants a suitcase like record player for her bedroom.

go to target

srsly, they sell one, my mom sent me the link when i mentioned off-hand that i was getting a turntable

Thanks I looked on the Target website and I think they have something like what she's looking for.

yeah i think crosley makes them and they are easy to get

oh also they will ruin your records btw.

Yeah, I can't recommend AGAINST Crosley strongly enough. I got one of their "top models" for free and it is an absolute piece. No joke, it has a sub-Fischer Price quality turntable with even worse sound. I can not imagine who is paying for these things.

ah yeah i figured they suck...

your best best quality would probably be finding an old school one on craigslist or garage sale and replacing the cartridge w/a cheaper grado or something

it's a shame that no one make an all-in-one unit that's also a little better sounding and a little nicer to your records.

Crosley is not the only brand that makes those retro portables with the speakers. They might be fun to have around as a second turntable if you're that picky about quality. My mom and grandma have them and frankly for an old lady on a budget living in a one bedroom apartment, it is fine. The design is cool, I have to admit.

[img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BRIbIAcYL._SS500_.jpg";]

By the way, I just got a brand new Pro-Ject, it is AWESOME but I paid $400 for it. It is worth it to me, the less expensive models they put out today look cheap and insult my intelligence. I mean they look like alien poo, they really do.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BRIbIAcYL._SS500_.jpg

I am sorry that my formatting sucks.

if one was going to "cobble together a great sounding stereo on craigslist for less than you'd spend on one of those things", what would you guys recommend? And exactly how much $$$ are we talking about?

I don't know about Craigslist, I personally don't trust the lack of formality of it, I would prefer to use garage sales or used places. I bought some of my components on Ebay but even a complete "retro" stereo can cost you five hundred bucks. I decided against buying anything TOO old sight unseen as you could pay a couple hundred dollars on something and have it fall apart in a year or you have to buy new parts for it.

Then again if you use Craigslist you could probably go to the seller's house and have them demonstrate the product for you.

here is what i cobbled together

turntable -- free from parents' friends who don't use it anymore...pretty nice technics
receiver -- h/k 330c on CL for $65
speakers -- boston acoustic jobs that sound really, really, really good. $150

i've got an airtunes setup that pipes my mp3s to the receiver, so that's all i need. basically, ~$200 for a very nice sounding stereo. what i didn't pay for the turntable i made up for by splashing out for the speakers.

gbx did great!! yeah that's exactly what i'm talking about...i got a really nice old NAD CD player for $25 on craigslist once

in fact, if you lived in mpls i could cut you a deal a totally good technics receiver w/phono ins and some old JBL speakers that are pretty decent.

Honestly the Crosley sounds fine in my mom's apartment, she has one of the more expensive models (over $200 with CD player) it is very dorm-room sounding, but I know we are music buffs here.

ayo M@tt i know at least two ppl that are in the market

ie - that have seen my DOPE HIFI and were surprised to learn that I got it all for so cheap. and are realizing that there's loads of great old music on vinyl that can be had for cheap, etc.

so basically i've got two med school pals that are trying to ape my style (receiver, phono, speakers, computer input) and are shopping. med students be shoppin

gbx if that's a 80s/90s pretty normalish but nice technics and you need a new needle, a grado black will really improve the sound a lot for about $60

http://www.needledoctor.com/Grado-Black-1-Prestige-Series-Phono-Cartridges_2?sc=2&category=374

had one on mine til i got the rega and i loved it.

(also if you go to the needle dr. dudes will throw it on for you for free)

Your vinyl needs the best if you are converting to mp3, I learned this the hard way. Have to re-do a lot of my vinyl.

oooh new cartridge might not be a bad idea. i spend all day like 300 yards from the needle doc

yeah that grado black is a great "budget" (lol audiophile pricing) cartridge and should go well with any basic techniques arm, or maybe an ortofon om-5, but the dudes that work at needle doctor have been real princes to me in terms of giving good advice on stuff

Any recommendations for a decent portable turntable? I used to have a Vestax Handy Trax and sold it, but my wife misses it and it's good for the porch on summer nights. Thinking about buying another one of those, but am wondering what else is out there.

oh good timing. my niece wants one for her birthday. she's gonna be sixteen. looking to spend ~$100 or a little more form something "nice" with auto-return. hoping for a nice rec (?). wish i cld afford a pro-ject for her but likely it would get slightly abused anycares....

Was the handy trax good or did you sell because it was bad?

I liked it pretty well. Not too loud, but good enough. Nice and light.

a friend rec'd me this and it looks like exactly what i was looking for fwiw
http://www.lpgear.com/product/ATLP60.html

Anybody have any opinions about Denon turntables?

http://www.needledoctor.com/Denon-DP300F-with-2M-Red-Package?sc=2&category=1143

Hello. I guess there might be a more up to date thread but ...

I'm looking for a sub-£200 record player. Any recommendations? I've been looking at Richer Sounds and a few seem to be USB turntables, which I'm assuming means it would be easy to convert vinyl to digital recordings? If so, that would be good.

Ta

Under 200 I would go for a Project, as they are well respected, if I was recommending a budget turntable, I would try to stretch for a Rega P1.

I dont know all the HIFI brands, but guess they might all be very similar in terms of build quality, and at least the project will have easy to get spares ( replacement needle/cartridge)

USB will allow the turntable to be connected to a computer as an audio interface, to record vinyl on your computer, but the parts used in this USB analogue > digital converter will be far lower quality than anything else, so you pays your money.....

I have never used a USB turntable, so maybe someone else can chime in if there is a big difference between brands.

Thanks my opinionation!

And/or is there a relatively cheap and cheerful way of converting to digital if I buy a non-USB one?

Does anyone know of something to connect a Technics turntable to a computer for sound in place of an amplifier or the other unit to which it normally connects before connecting to speakers?

I think you need a digital audio converter (DAC).

A used turntable from the 70’s/80’s could be the best bang for your buck.

I’m considering buying a refurbished Technics myself. There’s a 1360 from c.1975 and a slightly later Quartz model (5210, I think). The former is more expensive, but I’m thinking it might be lower maintenance. Any opinions?

I think you need a digital audio converter (DAC).

A used turntable from the 70’s/80’s could be the best bang for your buck.

― Cow_Art, Monday, May 23, 2022 11:56 AM (two hours ago)

you wouldn't need a DAC i don't think as the conversion is happening the other way (i.e. the analog signal from the turntable is being converted into digital).

i think you'd just need a typical phono preamp (with RIAA curve adjustment) and you could feed that into the mic/line input of your computer for digitizing via audacity or whatever your recording software of choice is. you could probably get better results if you bought an external interface as built-in mic/line inputs in a computer tend to be pretty noisy.

Does anyone know of something to connect a Technics turntable to a computer for sound in place of an amplifier or the other unit to which it normally connects before connecting to speakers?

― youn, Monday, May 23, 2022 11:53 AM (three hours ago)

some quick googling suggests it's more trouble than it's worth as the signal from your turntable is too weak to be picked up reliably by the computer and so you'd still need a phono preamp to handle the RIAA curve and boost the signal etc.

yup. I haven't used one, but there are phono preamps with USB now
I've owned this brand of phono preamp and this looks like a new model with USB:
https://artproaudio.com/product/usb-phono-plus-project-series/

Pro-ject has one here:
https://pro-jectusa.com/product/record-box-e/

(these are technically ADCs afaict)