need advice on purchasing a record player.
 

I was hoping for some suggestions on what would be the best place to purchase a vinyl record player for personal use. Sound Quality matters, so I will probably want something newer rather than a 1970s antique. As always, I want the best "bang for my buck."

Thanks

the Technics SL-1200MK2 Turntable is widely held as the "best" turntable on the market. it is known as the djs turntable (for djs that still use vinyl). brand new it is very expensive ($400-$500). i recently sold 2 used ones in the $300 range.

here are some reviews:
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Turntable...splay_~reviews


here are price comparisons:
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Turntable...~latest_prices

If you don't need the best a Technics semi-auto from Best Buy or Circuit City should be fine. Even the Sony they sell is pretty decent. I'm talking $120 or less.

I think I would be more interested in the less than $120 range.

Maybe it's the best for DJing, but there are many better turntables that that. I'll probably be getting a Thorens in the near future to convert my vinyl collection to CDs.

You can't get a good turntable for $120 or less. You probably need to look at spending at least $300-$400 for something of reasonable quality (if that matters). If it's for very casual, non-serious listening then maybe you can get a $120 model but it's kind of like thowing money away on junk IMO.

You may want to look at a used Technics 1200 (they are very durable).

I don't know much about Thorens but the higher end models ($1000+) seem much better than the lower end $300 models according to this review:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr...1525&read&3&4&

Yes, I wouldn't buy one of their cheap ones.

I wouldn't agree with this at all. I got a turntable recently from J&R and am more than happy with the sound quality. I'm using it to put my vinyl onto CD and it even has pitch control on it (which helped A LOT). You don't need to go high end to get the quality you want. Not throwing money away at all.

if you go cheaper.. be sure to get a direct drive and not a belt drive.

Well, it's all relative. Different people have different expectations of what quality is. A $300-$400 player is actually pretty low end if you look at the range of prices for quality turntables.

Here's a nice review of the Technics SL-1200Mk2:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr...0514&read&3&4&

go to audiogon.com and get a used belt drive model from MusicHall or Sumiko or Rega.
Great sound quality.

My advice to you is: don't call them record players.

That's nice but your mouth doesn't help him play his records.

:confused:

i purchased a sony ps-lx250h a couple years back after reading nothing but positive reviews. it's automatic, and plays 45/33 with ease. i found it cheapest for $89. it's been very well worth it, and extremely easy to put together/use.

Hey sometimes ya just want a so called piece of junk to dust off your old records and listen to the white noise on...thats what i like ;-)

You do realize the better turntables are all Belt drive?

Well, to be honest, I am not sure about high end/home stereo related turntables, but for DJ use, its well known that the direct drives are much better. especially in the low end brands like numark, gemini, stanton, etc. which I was referring to. The highly favored technics mentioned in this post many times are direct drive.

A lot of the $1000+ turntables have bullshit features like automatic song selection. A laser finds the grooves in the record so you can put the switch on song 2 and the needle will go to song 2. Most of those Ultra highend players play no better than The Technics SL1200.

What is very important is the quality of the needle you get. The better the needle the better the sound!

I never knew about that song selection feature on the higher end tables. That's pretty cool. It's just another thing that can break down though.

I agree that the best bang for the buck is the Technics SL1200. It's a quality machine that is built like a tank and will last forever. It's not an audiophile quality table but it will meet the needs of the vast majority of people out there.

The <$100 needles I see mentioned most often for non-DJ use and which produce decent sound are the Shure M97xE for $60 and the Audio Technica AT440ML for $90. The Shure is supposedly more subtle and laid back and the AT brighter and more in your face. Any other recommendations?

Thought I'd resurrect this thread.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...O.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

I'm needing something similar to the type of turntable shown above. I don't really need the CD or tape player that are usually integrated into these models. Just a stand-alone record player that won't be hooked up to my primary stereo system (i.e. no external speakers). They don't have to be the old-fashioned wood cabinet look.

The prices I've seen on these are usually $100 or $300. Does anyone have any of these they'd recommend? Or know of any good deals? Is there a particular brand that's better than another, or they all pretty much the same. Obviously, I realize the integrated speaker isn't going to be the best thing in the world, but are the $300 players that much better than the $100s?

Thanks for any advice.

EDIT: Or would I be better served with something like this:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

300 players are better than $100 players. Some people prefer belt over direct drive. If you aren't scratching it really doesn't matter. The moden tables all have good speed control.


Some recomendations:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--NUMTT1600MKII <$99.95 and I like Numark a lot (I have a TTX1)

http://www.zzounds.com/item--STAT50X <-Stanton is cool too

http://www.zzounds.com/item--IONITTUSB <-Has USB out so you can record to your computer.

http://www.music123.com/Numark-TTUSB-i399654.music<-This one does too and is direct drive. This is probaly your best value It also includes a cartrigde with a stylus (i.e. a needle)

Or the much cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8 Portable

Thanks for those links - I wasn't thinking about getting something like that, as I already have a decent player hooked up to my main stereo system in a different room. However, I'm very intrigued by the ability to connect it to your computer via USB. I have been wanting to transfer several albums, and I could use my computer speakers (fairly decent) for day-to-day output.

Have you had any experience with the USB hook-up? Do the recordings sound pretty good?