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Turntable Question


T2K

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Thought I would get best response in this forum...

I'm interested in buying a turntable to listen to the Classic Rock and other 60's/70's vinyl that I bought in my ute.Any suggestions at ~$300.Don't care about spending more.Prefer new as I would like to buy one time only.Any comments are appreciated.

Thanks,

Keith

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OK...what to buy in a turntable. Ole Ray gave you just about the absolute CHPEAPEST solution for analog that is NEW. This thing has pretty good sound to boot.

Here is a link to it for $279 w/ Cartridge on Audiogon:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ddanlgtabl&1013527711&demo&3&4&

There are many options used as well. The Rega arms are great...and the turntables are OK. Hard to find that great of a deal and I like the arms better than the tables.

For $300.... You can look at the Rega Planar 2 with the RB250 arm. This arm can be modified later with Origin Live wire that puts it in to almost super arm category.

Right now on Audiogon, there are also a couple of AR ES-1 turntables. These are basic sprung suspension tables that are good for the money too.

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?anlgtabl&1017195025&class&3&4&

Not a bad little table and nice wood to boot.

Some like the Thorens tables but many have to be reconditioned a bit to make it to top flight status.

Another good table to look for is the VPI Jr. in various incarnations. I have seen them go for good prices and they are built like a rock and very impressive looking. Can be upgraded as well.

I'll add some others later.

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Phono Linn LP-12 Vahalla / Linn Basic Plus / Sumiko Blue Point

CD Player Rega Planet

Preamp Cary Audio SLP-70 w/Phono Modified

Amplifier Welborne Labs 2A3 Moondog Monoblocks

Cable DIYCable Superlative / Twisted Cross Connect

Speaker 1977 Klipsch Cornwall I w/Alnico & Type B Crossover

system one online / alternate components / Asylum Listing f>s>

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ditto, had the Music Hall and loved the sleek black look, played with AR, can't even remember the looks, but remember liking the sound, strongly recommend Grado cartridges, but then I stopped listening to others once I had those (oops, not true, listened to Benz and Stanton recently, still remember loving the Grado), also strongly recommend a vibration isolation platform like tennis balls or inner tube ...

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Colin's Music System Cornwall 1s & Klipsch subs; lights out & tubes glowing!

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Keith...check out the MMF-5. You step up to a glass platter and a much better cartridge for just under 500.00 bucks. I looked at both these models a little over a year ago and decided for two-hundred more you get quite a bit more of a table. Easy to set up, comes with spare belt, a looks and sounds great...good luck..

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So now I'm "Ole Ray"... jeez, my 47th birthday was Wednesday, now all of a sudden I'm a geezer...

Keith, what is a "ute"? And, what condition is the vinyl in? One thing I'd like to caution you about (based on personal experience) is not to be too surprised if you find the sound on older records doesn't live up to your expectations, particularly given the very positive press that vinyl continues to receive. I have a LOT of records, most of which I bought between 1973 (discovery of stereos at school Smile.gif ) and 1984 (purchase of first CD player Cool.gif ). When I got around to setting up my turntable again for the first time in quite a few years (Thorens TD320 with new Grado Platinum cartridge) I was really depressed by the amount of noise, ticks, pops, scratches and general grundge I was hearing. Where was this "better than CD" sound everyone was talking about? Sounded really lousey to me.

Then, wife got me a VPI record cleaner (HW 16.5). I took several of the records I'd been most disappointed by, 'cause I remembered having really liked them in the distant past, and cleaned them with the VPI.

Made a BIG difference. Records sounded GREAT, with very little or no surface noise.

However, I still like CD's better. (...ducking as tomatoes fly by...) Yes, records can sound really good given proper care and good ancillary equipment, but I listen to CDs more than LPs by a long shot. Maybe the Thorens isn't as good as I thought it would be, or maybe I don't have the cartridge set up spot on correctly, or maybe the LPs I have are not very well recorded or pressed, or maybe I took such bad care of them way back when that no amount of cleaning and caregiving today will help, but whatever, CDs sound better.

Comparison chains:

CD:

Toshiba SD3109 DVD player used as transport

Audio Alchemy DTI Pro (original version) de-jitterer and resolution enhancement widget set to 18 bit dither

Adcom GDA600 D/A converter

Musical Fidelity X10-D tube buffer stage

Vinyl:

Thorens TD320 with original Thorens arm

Grado Platinum cartridge

Lehman Cube phono preamp

------------------

Music is art

Audio is engineering

Ray's Music System

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Ray,. "ute" New York pronunciation of 'youth'. "vinyl that I bought in my ute". ;^)

Thanks for the comments.Being a fellow 'uteful'geezer,I thought it would be nice to listen to some old LP's I have. Like 'Three Dog Night'(sounded bad live too),'Credance Clearwater Revival','Steppenwolf','Everly Brothers',etc,etc,etc.The vinyl has been somewhat mistreated for years but should be listenable.Hence the small monetary investment in hardware.

Thanks for the words of warning too,Ray.The DVD-A sounds great now.Imagine how it'll sound after a few minutes of listening to the above.

Ran across the MMF-2 for $269 somewhere.I'll have to re-find that.Noticed the Rega,too.I appreciate everyone's suggestions and will check them all out.No hurry.The albums will wait.

Thanks,

Keith

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ahhhhhh.... I cant believe you think we are snipping here! By the way, your post is the best post I have seen here in the last 28 days. Lovely quotes and lines.

As for Ray, we are fine here. No snipping. That is taking place in another forum! Here we are practically arm n arm!

I love to banter with various souls on here. Sometimes it gets heated. Sometimes it is limp as saturday's souffle.

Hell, I thought I was agreeing with everything ole Ray was saying? You mean I'm not?

Ole Ray needs to clean his stylus. heh...

kh

PS- CHRIST!!! PUT THE POST BACK! IT WAS CLASSIC! GreAT lines! A shame it was pulled.

Phono Linn LP-12 Vahalla / Linn Basic Plus / Sumiko Blue Point

CD Player Rega Planet

Preamp Cary Audio SLP-70 w/Phono Modified

Amplifier Welborne Labs 2A3 Moondog Monoblocks

Cable DIYCable Superlative / Twisted Cross Connect

Speaker 1977 Klipsch Cornwall I w/Alnico & Type B Crossover

system one online / alternate components / Asylum Listing f>s>

This message has been edited by mobile homeless on 02-02-2002 at 07:41 PM

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LOL!! - I Got Busted !!

I misunderstood what was happening and wrote a "Can't we all just get along??" typpa post. I then reread the thread and realised my head was where most women think most men's are mosta da time and did an edit - hoping that I had not got caught engaging my mouth before my mind was in gear. MH obviously spends too much time online and read my post before I edited it - ( The Bustard probably killed Kenny a coupla times).

The quote he refers to is my approximation of something Mark Twain wrote - (note to ye scholarly types - I know this will not be word for fer werd - I'm an oldy workin from memry - so farg off an lemme lone impydent young snotz -tha lotta ya!!)

Anyway back to that there Twain feller:

"When I was eighteen I was amazed at what an ignoramus my father was. When I was twenty-one I was astounded at how much the old fool had learned in the intervening three years!!"

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It is meet to recall that the Great Green Heron rarely flies upside down in the moonlight - (Foo Ling ca.1900)

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