turntable help

maybe try contacting sumiko?

Thanks for the replies, even the non-empathetic one. As Michael Jones suggests, the Speed Box seems to have gone into decline since, oh, 9/11. Although the new Debut Carbon Evo actually has a speed button!

I don't think the speed box is covered by warranty, so I'll give a shot at looking inside despite my ineptitude with these things. This hasn't changed much since I was complaining about this turntable upthread 13 years ago -- after the hum issue, I contacted the (now sadly departed) Needle Doctor and they ended up just sending me a replacement, which is the one I have now.

Hi, I received a SL-1500c for my birthday. It’s awesome. What do I need to get good quality rips of my rare dance music vinyl? What cartridge? Amp? Pre-amp? I don’t know anything!

Does it have a cartridge on it already? I'd start with the minimal setup and upgrade from there. The sl-1500c has a built in pre-amp if you plug into the "line out" ports. You can buy a 2-channel usb audio interface that takes RCAs as input, download audacity, and you are in business.

If you want to upgrade, I'd guess the best place is at the usb audio interface. The nicer ones will have separate gain on the 2 channels and 1/4"/XLR inputs. I'd focus on obtaining a low noise capture. You can add equalization after capture if needed. But if you'd rather plug in external stuff that gives you a sound you like, that would indeed be convenient. So you might look at swapping phono pre-amp and cartridge.

hoping ILX's home audio hivemind can help me out here. i'm trying to set up a record player with a preamp/receiver to speakers. i'm using the following equipment:

- technics 1200-sl mk2 turntable
- bellari PA550 phono preamp
- onkyo tx-8220 stereo receiver
- audioengine hdp6 passive speakers

the turntable was purchased used off ebay, everything else is brand new. i have everything connected but can't get any sound to come out of the speakers.

- when i plug headphones into the preamp i can hear sound in the left channel, but not the right.
- when i plug headphones into the receiver, it's the same except it's far more faint, like i basically have to turn the volume on the receiver all the way up in order to hear it at a normal volume.
- the ground wire from the turntable to the preamp is bare and attached to the preamp's grounding post. the RCA cables from the turntable are going into the PHONO plugs in the preamp, the RCA cables are going from the preamp's OUTPUT to the LINE function in the receiver, and the speakers are attached to the receiver with banana plugs.

am i doing something wrong or do i possibly have a defective part somewhere? my feeling is something could up with the ground wire from the turntable to the preamp but i have no idea why no sound's coming from the speakers.

how is the sound for CD, radio, AUX?

i think you should start by plugging your 1200 directly into the PHONO jacks on the onkyo and see how it sounds.

Does that receiver have A and B speaker inputs? If so make sure you have the right one selected.

If something was up with the ground wire it would most like just produce a hum or buzz. It wouldn’t stop sound being produced.

i would definitely start with budo jeru’s suggestion of plugging the technics directly into the phono input on the onkyo.

Yes, bad preamp most likely

update: followed budo's suggestion and plugged the RCA cables directly into the receiver, and it definitely sounds much better now. the bare wire on my turntable is really short so we had to electrical tape some additional antenna wire that we had lying around to get it to reach the receiver. as for the speaker issue, i think i just had the cables in the wrong outputs - played around with it and it now sounds pristine. thanks y'all :)

also uh anyone need a preamp lol

great news! happy listening :)

can you return the preamp? and happy listening!

The other thing to check is if the preamp and the receiver both have volume controls, make sure the volume on the preamp isn’t all the way down. Usually you would have the receiver volume at max and just use the preamp to control the volume.

I would probably put the preamp near max, or match volume with other line inputs, and control volume from receiver which likely has a remote.

Any thoughts on the differences between Pro-ject's Primary E (£149), A1 (£269), E1 (£269) and T1 (£299)? Or anything else that's going to be £300 tops?

I have an ONKYO A9010 amp and B&W DM601 S2 speakers, if that makes any difference?

Must admit I can't even decide between one where you have to lift up the turntable and manually change the RPM or one with a switch!

(Also, moving to the top of the posts ahead of the sales starting tomorrow!)

well if it matters, supposedly the ones with the switch have *slightly* worse sound quality since there are more moving parts, that's the logic of the manual belt. I have a manual one (Music Hall MMF-5) and switching has never bothered me, I play a fair amount of 45 rpm stuff too

in my exciting TT news, my Music Hall has developed a ground hum that I can't get rid of. Good times. my next step is gonna be an old electrician trick of using a 3-prong plug that has hot and neutral stripped, so just a ground plug, and running the ground directly to that. But my fear is that it's in the cartridge somehow (already tried swapping needles). It's 16 years old and has seen tons of use, so...

Ta, sleeve.

I have a Rega and at some point I won't. It isn't the quietest turntable and has intermittent hum issues - probably because they don't use a ground wire like every other turntable in the world.

Ah, the Rega Planar 1 was the other one I had pondered.

I have no idea what can just be connected to my amp or whether I'd need a pre-amp??

Does your amp have a “phono” input? If not you’d be looking for “built in preamp” or “line level output”on the specs of the TT. Otherwise it’s preamp time.
By the way you can use a secondhand amp with a phono input and e.g. tape output as an inexpensive pre.

if you don't know whether you need a phono preamp or not, i'd get either the A1 or the E1 with phono preamp, seems like best bang for the buck. you probably don't need to worry about the T1.

Thanks - yes, it does have a phono input.

I've had a Rega p1 for years, I have not personally had any hum or ground issues, been a champ

if you have a phono input on your amp then i’d go for the cheapest unless you think you’d benefit from the automatic features of the a1

all five 1200s i’ve owned were bought used and then internally grounded as part of the initial service appointment. i don’t know how much it would cost to have the internal grounding done by itself but these guys took the whole thing apart, cleaned all the gears and bearings, replaced all the belts, tuned it up and internally grounded for about $100 each. no hum at all

of course 1200s are built on a big metal frame. not familiar enough with rega or project turntables to know if internal grounding is possible. if it is, i recommend it! very nice not to have to screw around with a ground wire

i had a line on a used rp-1 for $250. regret passing on it, what made me skip it - aside from needing to buy a preamp, since the stereo i wanted to connect it to only had an aux input, not phono - was not wanting to deal with having to switch a belt to play 45s!

Do you listen to your 45s or do you like to think about listening to your 45s? Cuz I'm in the latter camp and I think most are

I have a few recent punk lps that play at 45, (granted they are only 10-15 minutes per side)

I mean sure I have 45rpm albums

Oh but wait late great might have a lot of dance stuff

well i am in that camp too. house, disco, techno tends to be on 12” not 7”. the one genre that sticks to 7” 45* is funk edits, and i guess funk and soul singles also tend to be easier to find on 7”. i only have a few dozen, and since 7”s don’t fit in the kallax with the non-dance records, or in the kallax-sized fiberglass ikea bins on the floor with the dance records, i put them in a cardboard longbox. the longbox is ugly and fits nicely in a closet, so it lives there, and it never occurs to me to grab them. somewhat related i had a copy of “funkier than a mosquito’s tweeter” on 7” with me at my thing last week, and it would have slayed, but i totally forgot about it because it got buried deep in the bag between the 12”s

* = i have not yet descended into the madness that is reggae 45s

Can't work out the most current turntable thread.

Anyway, anyone fancy explaining the difference between the various Pro-Ject turntables currently on sale at Richer Sounds.

E1 - £249
E1 Phono £249
T1 - £299
E1 BT - £369
T1 Phono SB - £379
Debut Carbon EVO - £399

BT = Bluetooth. Can't quite decide whether that is going to matter/future proof a bit?
The EVO comes with a £100 needle, apparently. And is £100 off. And comes in fancy colours.

If it helps, I have an ONKYO a-9010 amp. Don't have a pre-amp or anything like that.

This is partly a "plagued by indecision" sort of question (being meaning to replace a broken record player for years but failed).

Would I regret buying the cheapest rather than the fanciest (don't want to go over £400)?

The E line are the budget/entry-level models; the most lightweight material (in theory the lighter the plinth and platter, the more susceptible to vibration and therefore distortion). The T line uses better/heavier material and (I believe) a better tonearm so supposed to be less prone to vibration etc. I believe that both the E and T lines have a fixed anti-skate setting, meaning you’d probably be best sticking with the same or similar Ortofon cartridge down the line as they’ve been optimized to work with that one.

The Debut line uses better material still, has the motor suspended from the plinth to reduce vibration even more, comes with better cart, and has adjustable anti-skate which will give you more options for future cartridge upgrades.

The ones with Phono in the name include a phone pre-amp. I’d skip that personally; the one in your Onkyo should be fine. BT includes Bluetooth and phono pre-amp; I’d skip that too unless you know you need it now; if you ever need it in the future you can add a transmitter. One thing to pay attention to if it matters to you is which models come with a speed selector switch. With the non-phono/non-Bluetooth models you often need to manually move the belt with a little tool to select 33/45 RPM (I’ve been doing that for close to 30 years with my Pro-Ject and it doesn’t bother me but some people find it annoying).

I’d probably skip the E line; if you’re just looking to be able to play your existing collection and aren’t doing critical listening you’ll probably be fine with the T; if you’re still collecting records, have time to sit and listen to music without doing other stuff, like the idea of trying out different carts/needles eventually, I’d go with the Debut.

I have a carbon debut and it has always had some motor rumble. If you have any place near you that sells refurbishment turntables, I’d get a classic older model instead of any pro-ject.

Also, having to buy an additional component to easily change from 33 to 45 = duuuuud

Thanks both.

I have $1k to spend on a turntable, amp and speakers. What would you all recommend ?

If I was doing it from scratch I'd get...

NAD C316BEE V2 - $400
Elac Debut 2.0 bookshelf speakers - $230

Take your pick of turntables. I might get something like the Denon DP-300F - $329

i'd go so far as to say that setup would be "tite"

Sweet! Thanks buddy

You can check out the cheap audio man's recommendations.
Randy doesn't have great taste in music, but I like his videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOYicgCSPA8

Here's a couple of receivers that have caught my eye recently:

Refurbished Marantz PM6007

Dayton Audio HTA200

speakers as the cheapest part, really?

never built an all new system. watching with interest.

The Elacs sound amazing but yeah there are a million right answers here