Turntable Recommendations

[Gary Freed]

Well after reading all the posts about all of your favorite LP's I decided
that it's enough already!:realmad:

Flash Back to 1972

Once upon a time I had a long love affair with a vintage THorens TT.

Now lets fast forward again to 2003.

There has been a huge amount of renewed interest in turntables especially
over the past several years. :confused:

How sad that 20 years into the digital age, many folks either are fed up
with CD'sthey are looking for nastalgia or have other reasons for buying.;)

Whatever your reason, it's seems that most people on this forum agree
on one thing. If I am reading the posts correctly, most people feel that LP's sound better.:thumbsup:

So now I'm sold!!:)

Alright, my son wants me to buy him a new saxaphone my daughter
has a bunch of things she wants too. :agree:

I want to get the most bang forthe buck without severely compromising
sound quality.

Turntable thoughts anyone

Best regards,

Gary:)

[Sckott]

Lps CAN sound better. VPI, Rega, Music Hall, Pro-ject.

Gotta have the v15 by Shure.

Add your preamp and stirr.

[Gary]

What's your budget?

[Gary Freed]

Originally posted by Sckott
Lps CAN sound better. VPI, Rega, Music Hall, Pro-ject.

Gotta have the v15 by Shure.

Add your preamp and stirr.

Thanks Sckott!

Gary my budget is around $500

Is a new TT any better than a vintage used?

[mne563]

Gary:
My turntable set up (which I love!): VPI HW-19 MK-3, SME arm, Grado Reference Sonata cart. I'm running it through the phono amp in my old pre-amp, but I'll be upgrading soon to a phono stage, no clue as to what I'll get. I also highly recommend a vacuum LP cleaner, mine is a VPI.

Speaking of having the vinyl bug, last Friday night I began moving my lp collection (probably close to 2000 lps) and I started looking through some titles from the early 1980's. I'd not heard many of these for 20 years but I gave a few a spin, expecting them to sound, ...well, I was expecting to be disappointed in the sound. I played records by Magazine, The Spongetones (anyone heard of them?), Ramones, The Records, Robert Gordon and Talking Heads. Almost all of these sounded so great I just couldn't stop! What a joy to still enjoy old friends, and they still look and sound as good as they ever did.

I'm still in love...

[BradOlson]

A DJ turntable from Gemini, NuMark, Stanton, etc. for those that are on a budget, yet they want quality sound and quality construction. I use a Gemini XL-200 with a Stanton 680 EL II cartridge and stylus.

For a great selection of DJ turntables, check out NorthernLightFX in the site seeing section here at stevehoffman.tv

BTW Gary, in case you take my postings for NorthernLightFX as spam, I actually work for NorthernLightFX and we are authorized dealers of the products we sell so what I am doing is obeying the advertising rules.

[Joe Koz]

Originally posted by Gary Freed


Thanks Sckott!

Gary my budget is around $500

Is a new TT any better than a vintage used?

You can get a MMF-5 for $429.00 + postage. The cart is included with that. I'm serious looking at the MMF-5 myself.

[Tony Plachy]

I am a VPI man myself, but I have to say that MMF-5 is priced right and I have read good things about them.

[Casino]

Originally posted by mne563

The Spongetones (anyone heard of them?)


You bet. Brought a cassette tape of the LP to work, played "Here I Go Again," and had one girl absolutely convinced I had gotten hold of some old unreleased Beatles tapes.

[mne563]

Originally posted by Casino


You bet. Brought a cassette tape of the LP to work, played "Here I Go Again," and had one girl absolutely convinced I had gotten hold of some old unreleased Beatles tapes.

That album actually starts to get into early Who territory, with the same excellent results. Hard to believe it wasn't recorded in Britain in 1965!

[Jamie Tate]

Originally posted by Casino
You bet. Brought a cassette tape of the LP to work, played "Here I Go Again," and had one girl absolutely convinced I had gotten hold of some old unreleased Beatles tapes.

Sorry to continue the hijack. Give me two Spongetones recommendations so I can play them on my Rega P3 turntable (see how I got us back on subject :D).

[ratskrad]

Well a couple of months ago I decided to replace my 20 year old Technics turntable. I was on a budget so to speak myself. I ended up getting a Music Hall MMF-1 for $190, a Shure M97eX cartridge for $79 and spent the rest of my $500 budget on vinyl. Some of the vinyl was new but most of it was used and in great shape. What gets me is I can pick up a 30 year old copy of a Beatles record for less then the same piece would cost in cd format, and the 30 year old record blows away the cd. For now I am way happy with my entry level purchase but I can see sometime in the future going to a better rig. What I find fun is turning my teen age kids onto the music I grew up with and also sharing this music with my friends who themselves have all gotten away from vinyl and seeing their faces when I put on a new-old piece of music.

[Casino]

Originally posted by yesman


Sorry to continue the hijack. Give me two Spongetones recommendations so I can play them on my Rega P3 turntable (see how I got us back on subject :D).

The LP I have is called BEAT MUSIC (Ripete 392152). The tracks (along with a few others) were later released on CD.

[mne563]

Originally posted by yesman


Sorry to continue the hijack. Give me two Spongetones recommendations so I can play them on my Rega P3 turntable (see how I got us back on subject :D).

This will sound great on your Rega:

Spongetones "Beat Music", Ripete Records 392152.

Ripete is/was out of Elliott, South Carolina. Evidently this was the beat music capital of the Carolina's in 1982. It'll be hard to find (independent release), but they sent out lots and lots of promos when the record came out, so they are out there.

There's also this, I just found it:
http://www.spongetones.com/

[FreiheitZecher]

Gary, I'll second what Joe has to say re: the Music Hall MMF-5. For under $500.- you won't be disappointed with this - a very musical table. And you can READ about the Walker Proscenium and Rockport tables, with Koetsu Onyx Platinums and drool like we all do . . .

[Clay]

VPI HW-19 MK-3, SME arm
I think this is the one I want to get.
Guess I should hook up the Thorens TD124 and see how it sounds then sell it and a few others (like the ones in classified) so I can get the VPI.
I think it will cost at least $900 used though.

[Sckott]

Originally posted by Joe Koz


You can get a MMF-5 for $429.00 + postage. The cart is included with that. I'm serious looking at the MMF-5 myself.

I was going to mention that. The MMF models would be in the budget. $130 more, and you're into good Rega terriory. Go for as much as you can. If $429 is best you can, a Music Hall would be fine with a good cart...

...see if the bug bites hard after that.

[Ted Bell]

Gary,

I bought a turntable when I first joined this forum, rediscovered LPs and haven't looked back. I started with a used Rega 3, then upgraded three months later when I discovered what I had been missing with CDs only. I guarantee you won't regret your decision. Only issue I have is cleaning records. I have stacks that I bought and haven't been motivated to clean yet.

Jay N.

[poe_man]

Gary, I'd go with the MMF-5 as well. I have the 2.1 and love it! Eventually, you could replace the cart with a Shure V15, and never look back!

[Joe Koz]

Would the MMF-5 and the Shure V15 be a good match?

[Gary Freed]

Dear Forum friends,

I am overwhelmed with the enthusiast responses to my post. It is only match by the passion that so many members here have for owning
a turntable. I'm quite excited. Now if I can figure a way to keep my
young children away from the LP's I'll have it made.

Thanks once again!

Gary

[poe_man]

Gary,

Keep us posted as to your turntable choice!

[Damián]

Gary,

I think this one hasn't been mentioned yet. Since the cost of a Shure V15 is (I believe) about 1/2 of your budget, you might want to look into the Audio Technica AT440ML cartridge.

It gets a lot of praise over at the Vinyl Asylum forum, which I read regularly, and it did get some here when I asked (sadly I couldn't get one yet, but that's beside the point).

I has a fine-line stylus tip which supposedly makes it a very good tracker, I believe I've even read someone referring to it as the 'poor man's V15'.

Just a thought, best of luck

[RetroSmith]

the AT 440ML is a GREAT cart. Excellent reproduction from older records from that baby.

[Gary]

Gary:

I just have to say that this thread is making me dizzy. So many "Gary" posts and not one is for me! ;)

Gary

PS: Didn't Todd Fredricks have a cart. for sale at one time?